One of the strongest Heroic cards, the Leader
pumps up your entire team (including himself)
with every spell that targets him. This creates
a situation where you want the Leader to be one
of the last creatures you play, but you want to
target him with spells early and often. All this
despite the fact that the Leader starts out as
an underwhelming 1/1 for WW. Sure, you can throw
an Aura on him and make him a force to be
reckoned with, but he seems to want a lot of
resources devoted to him. What if you want to
use your Gods Willing to save a different
creature? What if that Titan's Strength might
force a better trade for you somewhere else NOW,
but you want the +1/+1 counters because they
last longer? You really have to be good at
combat math to make the most of a card like
this, but the payoff can be glorious.
Sadly, this kind of strategy really only pays
off in Limited, where combat is what wins games.
In tournament constructed, you roll over to
control decks who can dismantle an army like
this with a single Supreme Verdict. In casual,
this may be an interesting addition to a
Selesnya token swarm deck, but combat tricks in
casual tend to pale in comparison to infinite
combos and 20/20 beatsticks.
I think of creatures with the heroic ability
word as being something like Zendikar's Ally
tribe - almost any ability they have can be
devastating when used at the right time and
underwhelming at the wrong time. The difference,
of course, is that heroic cards' "tribal"
affiliation is broader while their trigger
condition is narrower. A card like Phalanx
Leader is, however, a strong example among
heroic cards, as it comes down early enough to
put pressure on an opponent and works well with
the sorts of cards that are usually played
alongside two-mana aggressive creatures anyway
(Gods Willing, Giant Growth, et al).
Today's card of the day is Phalanx Leader which
is a two mana White 1/1 with a Heroic ability
that puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you
control. This is a very powerful effect in
a mono-White swarm or token based deck,
particularly as it has both the soldier and
human types which are well supported. The
double White hurts it a bit for Boros or other
multicolor builds, but with auras and combat
tricks this is a solid basis for a deck that can
quickly ramp up to multiple large threats.
Overall it requires a fairly dedicated deck of
low cost creatures and beneficial effects to
target it, which may keep it out of the higher
competitive levels, though it will certainly be
played in Casual settings.
For Limited the double White is a bit of a
drawback and it requires other creatures or
multiple triggers to be efficient, but either or
both are quite possible and it excels in those
situations. In Booster this is a solid
second or third pick towards a mono or mostly
White deck that is relatively easy to draft
support for. In Sealed it depends on the
pool, as many such effects do, and benefits from
a primarily White build to reliably cast it
early.
Phalanx Leader is a gritty uncommon that is
obviously meant for mono-white agro. I’ve played
with this card a few times and I realized that
Phalanx Leader is good in the early game but
amazing in late game situations. I found myself
holding this card in my hand until I had enough
creatures on the board to take full advantage of
Phalanx Leader. In Limited play Phalanx Leader
can be very dangerous even if you only get to
use his ability a few times. To me, Phalanx
Leader opens a different door for white weenie
players. There are definitely a lot players out
there that are intrigued by this little +1+1
counter machine!
