MTG Salvation

Nice choice. Feed the Clan is a bad card but a great thing to do on Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pretty good in the G/B sacrifice deck and B/x Devoid decks. Not worth it or a 23rd everywhere else.

I've even cut this in GB sacrifice decks, as you only have so much room for spells, removal is important, 18 lands is a thing, and Vampiric Rites is better and goes around late. I'd still take it if in GB with a lot of Scions, but it may not always make the cut.

This is one of those cards that really doesn't have a place in the set. The amount of time it's correct to put this in your deck is miniscule, and it's basically a total trap.

I don't know if it's a *trap* but I don't think I've ever played this, nor would I be happy to. It's not that hard to net a card off of it in response to removal.

Seems fairly meh. Works okay with the double-striking guy, but otherwise you just want to be in RG to make this guy any good.

(This also dates me fairly substantially because a 4/3 for 4 is meh these days in Limited... what's happened?)

If this was 3R, splashing for it in the WB Ally deck would help get Bloodbond Vampires through.

Well, it's true that a 4-mana creature with 3 toughness is pretty low-priority in a format full of 3-mana 3/2s and Touch of the Void, but this guy does work in RW allies, with or without Blademaster. Trample is pretty relevant against chump blockers, and it makes a lot of your combat tricks much better, but most importantly RW allies is one of very few decks in the format that really values a good size-to-mana-cost ratio. When your high priority cards are 2/2s for 4 and 2/2s for 3, it's nice that you can pick up a late 4/3 for 4 that is on-plan (i.e. is an ally).

In my view Ondu Champion is above average in a heavy red allies deck, and actually okay filler in a heavy red non-allies deck if it does not give you too many 4 drops (which can easily happen). I would not prioritize drafting this unless I was in an allies deck, but I usually end up playing 1 or even 2 of these in a red deck (although I very much try to avoid that in a colorless matters deck).

The double red, though, is a big problem in a deck which is not running at least 9 (just to pick a number) red mana sources as it is not worth it if you have it stuck in your hand until near the end of the game to cast it.

Yeah, in this set 4/3s for 4 are bad (but last block few they were fine). I am happy to play 1 or even 2 if I am red allies -- it's actually the only common CMC 4 ally.

Trample is unusually important in this set, between the scions chumping and the temporary nature of the hitting power of allies and landfall creatures. That has made this guy more important than I initially expected, definitely something I'm wanting in any RG or especially RW deck. I do wish it was 3R instead of 2RR, as those decks often look to splash, especially the ally builds, and between this guy and the Recruit the red allies don't play that well in 3 color decks.

He's a decent enough card that you can expect to wheel late if you're drafting the R/W Allies deck. He helps to fill out the curve, provides a decent body, and can help to punch through extra damage via Trample triggers. However, like most of the Allies, he's awful on defense and dies to practically everything. That said, he's not a terrible 22nd card in a Red/X deck short on 4-drop beef (though I'd much prefer a Vestige; not sure if that's the correct preference though)

Good in the archetype, less so elsewhere. C+ sounds fair.

I honestly think this guy is underrated. I find room for him in blue decks every once in a while and he usually does okay. His ability makes him a good-enough topdeck in the late game a lot of the time, and if he sits around in the midgame doing nothing, well, that's what 23rd cards tend to do.

Coralhelm Guide is not great, but it's good enough to be the last card I include in decks more often than that it's my last cut.

I also think this little gal is better than a lot of people give her credit for. She's certainly got some strikes against her, as a 2/1 body doesn't match up well against a lot of things in this format, and she doesn't really synergize very well with what the best blue decks are trying to do. But as a card that can be picked up super late in a lot of packs, you can do a lot worse than a two drop that can get in for early damage and still have late game utility as a finisher of sorts. This is a card that is easy to cut when everything goes your way, and relatively painless to include when you need to fill out your deck.

Just wins games (if you get to 5 mana in a board stall). Uh seriously, card is pretty ok.

I agree that Coralhelm Guide is decent. Part of its value is as an early blocker or early aggression so I do not like this card in a deck which has more than a few other 2-drops to do the same thing, but that type of deck is rare for me. Another part of its value is having decent power non-evasive creatures to be unblockable late in the game, so it goes down in value somewhat in a deck which does not have that. This is usually a 20th-23rd card (out of 22) in my blue decks.

Fine filler. Interesting in that in many environments it would be a good aggro card, but in this one it is almost better suited to defense. The 2/1 body just does a better job on defense than offense, as it matches up terribly as an attacker, just too many scions and 2/3's or 1/4's running around. OTOH on defense it is fine at threatening to trade with some of the better aggressive creatures like Sliderunner, Castigator, and some of the RB devoid 2 and 3 drops. So its the kind of thing you could play as curve filler in a deck that was vulnerable to a fast opposing start, then still get some utility out of later in the game thanks to the ability. I've lost to that ability a couple of times, with Ruin Processor seeming to be the most common target for it.

Card is good. CMC 4 is overloaded so it's not like you need to take it highly, but C+

I think it's more like a C than a C+. I see this regularly make it to the second half of a pack and even then I'm often inclined to take other stuff over it. The card is totally fine and I'd be hard pressed to cut one, but 4-drops are a dime a dozen, and this one does nothing special.

Incubator Drone is a classic example of a card that I end up taking if the cards I want aren't in the pack.

"No Mist Intruders or Eldrazi Skyspawners... well, this thing's in my colors, at least." *takes the Drone*

I've lost to Greathorn before. It has some legitimate power if you can keep making land drops. The problem is that landfall is just not a well-supported mechanic in white, and this isn't consistent enough to be worth much if you aren't making landfall. That said, if you've got a RG landfall deck with multiple Evolving Wilds, this may be the splash card you want.