Yesterday's card of the day was strongly aligned
with the token-generating and death-advantage
styles of deckbuilding, and this card takes that
affinity up to eleven. And not just in the
manner where you re-label the 10 setting to 11:
its game text is less specific but even more
helpful. Not every board state has all the
components required for an Eldrazi Scion to give
you an immediate advantage. Every deck faces
opponents with removal, and every deck can
benefit from ways to deter it. And that one
extra word in its type line - "Ally" - adds a
whole new dimension to that tribe.
The Ally deck doesn't typically run much black,
but there are enough that a black-variant Ally
build might be viable, especially with graveyard
recursion to recover lost Allies. While the 1/1
for 1B is nothing exciting, the fact that the
life drain ability triggers for ANY creature
dying is very nice. It forces your opponent to
focus on an otherwise-underwhelming creature
before he removed the creatures he actually
wants to remove, and can turn a tumultuous
blocking phase into a reversal of momentum or a
Pyrrhic victory for your opponent. For extra
style points, play a Languish or the like with
this guy out to deal the final points of damage
to win the game!
