The copy editor in me likes this card just from
the proper usage of the plural possessive
apostrophe in the name. I'm glad they didn't shy
away and make it "Crusade of the Cathars" or
something. But that has nothing to do with how
good this card is.
Obviously, this is a card all about having an
army of creatures. It wants you to play
creatures. A LOT of them. The reward for doing
so is pretty sweet-- a universal Kazuul Warlord
effect. The downside is that this will make you
very vulnerable to board wipe-- you pretty much
don't want to play this in the same deck as Day
of Judgment. What you really want is a solid
repeatable way to make tokens-- or maybe you
don't. Keeping track of counters on tokens,
especially when all the tokens have a different
number of tokens on them, is a real hassle even
if it is a sound strategy. Blink effect like
Cloudshift would be a good idea too, as they let
you trigger the Crusade at instant speed in
addition to everything else a Cloudshift is good
for. But since the Crusade's trigger resolves
after the creature that triggered it is already
on the battlefield, that means that you'll
likely be wiping off all the counters from
whoever you Cloudshift. A worthwhile play to
save a creature from a kill spell, but still not
a fun moment.
The other big problem here is the lack of
immediate effect. You have to play the Crusade,
and then you have to drop a creature to get any
real gains. Which means if you run this as the
top of your curve in a white weenie aggro,
thinking it'll pump your White Knights up to
around 6/6, you'll find that it's the last card
out of your hand most times and leaves you
waiting to topdeck another creature.
Cathars' Crusade may be a good card in a
creature-heavy deck, but you still need to do
something better with it than just play
creatures as you draw them. Repeatable
reanimation like Emeria, or tricks like
Cloudshift, Deadeye Navigator, or even Seance or
Village Bell-Ringer could make this a great
card, but you need to think before you throw it
in a deck.
This is one of those cards where the first time
you look at it, you wonder why it costs so much
mana. Then you start looking through your older
cards for things that might go with it. You pick
out Captain of the Watch and Imperious Perfect,
because those are the obvious ones and everyone
else in the world did too. You start looking for
slots in your Ally deck, because you remember
the Rule of Two and hey, it kind of fits
flavorwise. You flick through a bunch of cards
from the original Ravnica and Mirrodin blocks,
and wonder what kind of combos you can make with
Cytoplast Manipulator or Power Conduit. You
start thinking about what the Crusade does with
things like Rage Forger, and wonder how much it
would cost to hire an accountant to track the
damage on a spreadsheet. By this point, you know
why it costs five mana - five of the most
worthwhile mana you'll spend on recent cards.
Today's card of the day is Cathar's Crusade
which is a five mana White enchantment that
gives all of your creatures a +1/+1 counter
whenever a creature enters play under your
control. There are quite a few cards that
put multiple tokens into play and token builds
are definitely where this card excels. It
is a little high in cost for an earlier swarm
style, but works very well whenever the game is
slowed down a bit through control or Multiplayer
formats. This also has potential in decks
where creatures leave and return to play
regularly, though that requires more maintenance
for often smaller results compared to massed
tokens. Either way it is likely that
Cathar's Crusade will see some play and if
supported well can be a serious threat.
For Limited the option for tokens may not be
available, so cards with Undying or other
reusable creatures to carry the effect. Hitting
only one +1/+1 counter in a turn instead of
large single turn boosts may make this seem like
a weak card in the format, but the cumulative
effect over the course of the game can make this
pay off in a big way. Five mana is
reasonable and should enter the game early
enough to allow at least a few triggers to
activate before things wrap up. If a early
show of force with low cost creatures isn't
viable this is a good way to gain momentum later
on. For that it is a viable first pick in
Booster and should be considered a solid
incentive to run White in Sealed, particularly
if specific support is available in your pool.
