There's just something funny about a 1/1
trampler. The Loyalist offers an amazing boon to
its brothers-in-arms, but as a 1/1, I doubt
it'll live long enough to do it twice. Like the
Battle Cry mechanic from Mirrodin Beseiged,
Battalion is built for alpha strikes. And like
Signal Pest from the same set, Legion Loyalist
is actually pretty worthless unless you're
attacking with him and a bunch of other dudes.
But at least Signal Pest had an evasive ability.
Legion Loyalist can grant himself an evasive
ability if he has back-up, but practically
everyone can find a "nontoken creature" to block
with. He can't make much use out of trample
either, so unless all your other attackers also
have Battalion and provide power/toughness
boosts, he's going to struggle.
He's good as the icing on the Batallion cake,
but worthless in a deck that isn't devoted to
the ideal. I guess he really is a Loyalist!
This card is mostly pretty
self-explanatory, as we all have the
experience of being attacked by one
or more creatures with one or more
of the abilities the Loyalist
grants, and the attendant memories
of how hard it can be to deal with.
The only thing standing in this
guy's way in Standard is, arguably,
the competition - Champion of the
Parish has an almost Tarmogoyf-like
growth curve, and Dryad Militant has
a static ability relevant against
control decks. If anyone ever finds
a way to put them all in one deck,
be afraid.
(Of course, neither of those cards
has the Boros watermark, which you
might find yourself building around
at some tables!)
Today's card of the day is Legion Loyalist
which is a one mana Red 1/1
goblin soldier with Haste and Battalion that
gives creatures you control
First Strike, Trample, and evasion against
creature tokens until end of
turn. This is an impressive creature that
two of the most supported
types in the game and abilities that make it
valuable from turn one up
to and including a final alpha strike in the
endgame. The Loyalist ends
stalemates, can get in early for some quick
damage, or force unequal
blocks because of First Strike. A great
benefit to a goblin or Red
soldier deck and a card that will see many
tournaments for the
foreseeable future.
In Limited this is good for the same reasons as
Constructed, aside from
the types having less value, and is an excellent
card to open in Sealed
when playing Boros or Gruul. In Booster it
is worth the first pick both
for the possible finishing effect in combat,
though it can still be
played on turn one for damage and possibly
building into Battalion, and
to prevent someone else from using it against
you. It also becomes a
magnet for removal, which can help more direct
threats survive or at
least encourage blocking it which can be
exploited on that turn.
Welcome back to the Pojo.com
card of the day section. Today we
are looking at the Legion Loyalist
from Gatecrash. Legion Loyalist is a
rare red creature goblin soldier
that costs one red mana and is a
1/1. Legion Loyalist has haste and
has a Battalion ability that gives
attacking creatures you control
first strike and trample and says
that attacking creatures cannot be
blocked by tokens this turn.
There really is nothing not
to love about the Legion
Loyalist. It is simply one of
the best creature cards printed
and has some of the best
Battalion abilities. Evasion,
and two combat tricks all for
one creature that will drop so
early in the game is truly
amazing.
I'm really not sure what
else can even be bothered to be
said. Fits in any deck that runs
red. We have seen a great deal
of Mono-Red decks using this, as
well as Gruul, Boros, Jund, and
Naya decks. So well versatile it
is ridiculous!
