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Ninjas and Umezawa's Jitte
What this set is
Betrayers of Kamigawa is the small second set of the Kamigawa block. It keeps Champions' Spirits, Arcane spells, splice and flip cards, and it adds two mechanics: ninjutsu and offering.
Ninjutsu is the one players remember. You return an unblocked attacker to your hand and put the Ninja onto the battlefield tapped and attacking in its place, so a cheap evasive creature becomes a delivery system for combat-damage triggers. Ninja of the Deep Hours and Mistblade Shinobi are the commons that made it famous; Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Higure, the Still Wind are the legendary Ninjas.
Its other headline card is Umezawa's Jitte, a legendary Equipment that gains charge counters from combat damage and spends them to pump, shrink or gain life. 38 of its 165 cards are legendary.
Themes
Every mechanic in Betrayers of Kamigawa
Ninjutsu
Pay the ninjutsu cost and return an unblocked attacking creature you control to your hand: put this card onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. It enters after blockers are declared, so it is unblocked too.
Offering
You may cast the card any time you could cast an instant by sacrificing a creature of the named type and paying the difference in cost. Each is a legendary Patron.
Where You Can Play It
Format legality
Betrayers of Kamigawa is a single code with one Modern ban.
Not Standard-legal, and never Pioneer-legal: Pioneer starts at Return to Ravnica (October 2012). Everything here is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander unless a ban list says otherwise. Modern bans Blazing Shoal. Nothing is banned in Legacy, Vintage or Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Commanders
The most played commanders from Betrayers of Kamigawa
The legends this set is best known for. Tap one for its printings and what it costs.
Boosters, precons and singles from Betrayers of Kamigawa are on TCGplayer.
FAQ
Common questions
Where can I play Betrayers of Kamigawa cards?
In Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander, minus the cards each format bans. Betrayers of Kamigawa left Standard long ago and was never in Pioneer, which starts in 2012. Modern bans Blazing Shoal.
Did ninjutsu start in Betrayers of Kamigawa?
Yes. It introduced ninjutsu on 8 cards, and Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty brought it back in 2022.
How does ninjutsu work?
Pay the ninjutsu cost and return an unblocked attacker to your hand, then put the Ninja onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Betrayers of Kamigawa released on Feb 4, 2005; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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