All Magic: The Gathering players - what's your opinion on the Ally archtype?

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They are good if looking for a cheap (money-wise) deck, but they get absolutely thrashed by Jund Aggro or Vampires, and in most cases a mono-White Soldier deck will win more than 50% on them as well.

They have a lot of potential, but with all that there is in just Zendikar, it's just not enough. They are just too spread out. In White, Kazandu makes a good early Ally, and Kabira allows for some vicious strikes, but the other two are garbage. Green has Oran-Rief (a ghetto Kazandu if you feel you need insurance on low-mana Allies) and Turntimber Ranger, but the other two are garbage. Red has Kazuul Warlord and arguably Highland Berserker, and again, the other two are garbage. Blue has the only ally with Flying and an ally that lets you draw through your deck (but is really mana-expensive). Black has Bala Ged Thief, who is really the best of them all (except for Kazandu's utility outside of an Ally deck), But isn't all that useful if your opponent has been efficient in killing your other allies.

So ultimately what you end up with is almost a need to run White, Red, Green, and Black in order to make a good ally deck. But the power of the allies isn't all that effective unless you can get a good head start on p-laying them, which that mana spread is going to make impractical. Once each color gets a few more in Worldwake, I'll start thinking about them seriously, but as it is right now, they are too spread out across the colors. Plus, the power of most of them is in the +1/+1 counters on them, so things like Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring, and even Vampire Hexmage can cripple one of them, even if you have the card to immediately break them out of the enchantment....Show more

Allies are ridiculous in Type 2. I mainly play 1.5, but I'm toying around with a few of them in my good 1.5 decks, showing success so far. Kazandu Blademaster seems to be the most effective in my mono white, even without any OTHER allies. But they can be some of the most powerful things to hold in draft, too. Umara Raptor is too good. I haven't had anybody in my area create an ally deck yet, but they seem legit so far....Show more

they are beast i LOVE them
summon one every other one now have +1/+1 and double strike + vigilance...Show more