Hello my fellow Kaijudo Duelmasters! Today we’re taking a look at a very thematic card for the month of October, Ninja Pumpkin! I recently sat down with my wife to carve some pumpkins of my own and I took the time to actually make my own Ninja Pumpkin head! It’s no major work of art but I had fun doing it. Make sure to check out my twitter account (check my link under my picture) for the image. Let’s get to today’s review, shall we?

Name: Ninja Pumpkin
Civilization: Nature
Type: Creature
Race: Wild Veggie
Level: 5
Power: 5000
Flavor Text: “You call that an attack?”
Rarity: Rare
Set Number: 37/80 l 9SHA
Abilities:
Hack-o’-Lantern- While this creature is tapped, each time one of your opponent’s creatures attacks; it attacks this creature if able.

Ninja Pumpkin in himself isn’t anything out of the ordinary at first glance. He’s just a level 5 creature with 5000 power and his race isn’t really supported as of yet. His effect ingeniously named “Hack-o’-Lantern” offers a new strategy for some players. Just to clear up any confusion for the newer players out there, if you have two tapped Ninja Pumpkins in the battle zone, your opponent can still attack whichever pumpkin they feel like attacking. It doesn’t create some kind of infinite loop/lock or anything like it would in Yu-Gi-Oh! with Marauding Captains.

Let’s say for example that you’re playing against a low level rush deck. They keep bringing out their 500 to 4000 power creatures for little cost. If you can make it to your turn five, you can play Ninja Pumpkin and as long as he is tapped, you force all of your opponent’s creatures to attack him or not attack at all. Not a bad strategy as long as they don’t throw down a big evolution creature.

Once we find out what the Nature Monarch does, it might make this card significantly better. Only time will tell for that. As for now, if you can find ways to boost Pumpkin’s power level, then you might have yourself a nice little blanket of protection until you’re able to deal with the threat that your opponent has in their battle zone.

In a limited match I was put in a very awkward position. My opponent had several Blockers out including Aqua-Reflector Nomulos (if it would be banished it returns to the owner’s hand) alongside Ninja Pumpkin. If I wanted to attack, I had to attack the pumpkin but my opponent would just throw their Blocker in the way, ready to play it again next turn and draw a card in the process! Talk about an uphill battle! The card is a lot of fun in the right circumstances but right now this card doesn’t seem to have what it needs to be competitive. If you can prove me wrong, please feel free to message me on twitter; I’d love to hear some original and innovative ideas! 

Constructed: 2.25/5.00 (This card is easily dealt with via removal spells or dragons like Lyra. I suppose it can hold your opponent at bay from attacking with their Keeper of Laws though…)
Limited: 3.75/5.00 (A 5 cost for 5000 isn’t bad in limited and forcing your opponent to have a bigger creature deal with it instead of rushing in could prove to be beneficial.)

I hope you enjoyed the reviews this week! Make sure you check out my twitter pic of my own Ninja Pumpkin and as a heads up, you’ll really want to stop by next week! ;)  Until next time my fellow Kaijudo Duel Masters, keep calm and game on!