What's the difference between feint and ninjutsu, other than that this creature isn't attacking?

Nothing — but Feint can appear on things other than creatures.

Well, that and you don't lose tempo, since you didn't have to return a creature to your hand.

Hey, SFletcher, have you thought of making some sort of Flourishing Duelist that gives cards in your hand Feint?

I think it’s one of those things that sounds better than it actually is. Feint works as a surprise; showing off that you can do it whenever you’d like kind of ruins the effect.

Also with ninjitsu doesn't the creature with it get put into play attacking in place of the attacker? With Fient it is just put into play, right?

I think alot of laughs is going to come with this cards name. Plowwurm... What's the art going to look like?

Have you thought about keeping Feint strictly on instants and sorceries to distance it from Ninjutsu? It cuts down on rules confusion, and flavor-wise, it makes more sense to me as well.

Ben, while I'm not Sean, I think one of the primary benefits of Feint is that it can be applied to both Permanents and non-Permanents.

There's a lot of value in that function in terms of the flavor that Sean is building the set around, as it plays into the military skirmishes that are happening amidst some civil unrest. It can represent tactical reinforcements (like here) or spell-based strategic maneuvers, as seen elsewhere.

I guess I'm failing to see the "tactical reinforcements" part of this mechanic. It seems like you're simply trading some points of damage for some mana. With sorceries and/or instants, that affect the combat-in-progress, it becomes more than simply a cost-saving mechanism.

Perhaps all of the cards with feint should have some way (even if it's tricky) to affect combat. So, the permanents with feint would have ETB effects that can be utilized in combat a la Affa Guard Hound

While that's been discussed and is still very much on the table, I feel very strongly that we should also show "vanilla" applications of Feint. It gives players a baseline for the most elementary use of the ability: tempo. Without any mana acceleration, it allows you to play Pendarvian Bloodhounds on turn 2. That's pretty solid pressure to put on an opponent in the early game, and likely worth the 1 point of damage you spotted them .

As for "tactical reinforcements", think of it this way:

"I'll keep them busy. You go get the dogs/spider/huge-worm-that-f's-them-up-in-a-few-minutes!"

Taking a minute to get a bigger gun is entirely tactical.

Thank you, Houlding for initially fielding that one for me. Excellently put.

I'm not arguing the power level of the mechanic, as individual cards can always be adjusted. It just seems that the mechanic should be applied to cards that interact with the type of situation into which they're likely to be placed.

Since it's so similar, take Ninjutsu for an example. Every single creature with Ninjutsu has a "Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, ~" ability. The benefit of Ninjutsu wasn't (just) a savings on mana. It was the surprise of the triggered ability.

Since Feint doesn't put creatures onto the battlefield attacking (nor do I think it should), a better way of adding value to Feinting is through ETB effects. Specifically, ETB effects that are relevant during combat, after blockers are declared. Imagine Vanquish as an ETB on a creature with Feint! Give players a reason to hold onto their Feint creatures, even when they have the mana to cast them outright.

Simple answer: not every card needs to do everything it could do.

The common green feint creatures hit the board faster because they can be feinted into play. That alone is a trick relevant to combat, albeit the next combat. Yes, apart from feint two of them are vanilla. This is perfectly reasonable since they are aggressively costed via feint.

Again, I'm not saying "enters play" tricks won't happen; I can guarantee they will. I just don't believe it's right for these three slots.

Fair enough.

Adjusted feint cost to minimize splash usage.