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Sakashima's Student

Creature — Human Ninja

Ninjutsu {1}{U} ({1}{U}, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's a Ninja in addition to its other creature types.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
The List
Price
$33.25
EDHREC rank
#3551
Buy on TCGplayer
Sakashima's Student card art
Sakashima's Student is the ninjutsu engine's best enabler — a Ninja that enters as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, triggering ninjutsu payoffs while dodging the usual clone tax. Cloud of Faeries is the classic return target, but the real reason Sakashima's Student is a staple is that it fuels Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow's trigger chain better than almost any other piece at this slot.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

55.6% of decks · synergy 0.49

Sakashima's Student appears in over 55% of Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow decks because it's both a cheap Ninja to trigger Yuriko's ability and a copy of whatever threat is already on board — doubling up damage triggers while keeping the ninjutsu package functional.

02
Splinter, Radical Rat

Splinter, Radical Rat

48.3% of decks · synergy 0.47

Splinter, Radical Rat rewards running a critical mass of Ninjas, and Sakashima's Student fills that count while copying Splinter itself or another high-value attacker to maximize the triggered payoffs.

03
Gyruda, Doom of Depths

Gyruda, Doom of Depths

47.0% of decks · synergy 0.40

Sakashima's Student is the linchpin of the Gyruda, Doom of Depths loop — copying Gyruda lets you trigger its ability repeatedly, milling opponents and reanimating creatures until the table is empty.

04
Goro-Goro and Satoru

Goro-Goro and Satoru

30.7% of decks · synergy 0.30

Goro-Goro and Satoru incentivizes attacking with large creatures and triggers off first strikes and attacking tokens, and Sakashima's Student can copy whichever creature on board makes those triggers fire most efficiently.

05
Satoru, the Infiltrator

Satoru, the Infiltrator

27.1% of decks · synergy 0.20

Satoru, the Infiltrator draws cards whenever a creature connects for the first time, and Sakashima's Student copies a large evasive threat while qualifying as a Ninja to sneak in via ninjutsu — stacking draw triggers with the same card.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Sakashima's Student earns its price tag — Ninja tribal, Yuriko lists, and Gyruda combo shells all want it, and the copy-enters-the-battlefield rules text generates value that scales with the power level of the table. In Legacy, it sees fringe play in Ninja tempo shells that want a resilient clone with evasion, though the competition at four mana is fierce and it rarely displaces more efficient threats. Vintage is legal but the format's pace makes a four-mana clone largely irrelevant outside of very specific shells. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — synergy-dependent, powerful in the right shell, ignored outside it.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Ninja of the Deep Hours costs under $1 and keeps the ninjutsu package intact, though it trades the copy effect for a simple card draw trigger — you lose the enters-the-battlefield exploitation but keep the evasion and Ninja type. Phantom Ninja and Skullsnatcher are even cheaper role-players that maintain Ninja count without replacing what Sakashima's Student uniquely does, so if the copy effect is the reason you're sleeving it up, there's no true budget swap — the clone-plus-Ninja combination is the card's entire identity.

Price Context

Current price

$33.25 premium tier

At $33.25, Sakashima's Student sits firmly in the premium tier, priced where it is because of its unique combination of the Ninja creature type and a copy effect with no direct reprint at a lower rarity. It holds value as long as Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow remains one of the most-built commanders on EDHREC — a reprint in a Commander precon would move the price, but demand is structural enough that it's unlikely to crater without one.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.