One mana Ally ahoy! For those bringing a soldier deck to a FNM, I could see this being the one-drop alongside Elite Vanguard . Turn one freeblade, turn two Kazandu Blademaster , to state the obvious. I wasn't a big fan of allys, but this might make them playable in white weenie.
It is nice to see ally decks get a bit beefier. If they get a some type of search or draw they may just be a fun little agro deck. (maybe they already do)
I'm both orderly and rational. I value control, information, and order. I love structure and hierarchy, and will actively use whatever power or knowledge I have to maintain it. At best, I am lawful and insightful; at worst, I am bureaucratic and tyrannical.
i think they really messed up with allies in zendikar. if they were planning on making cards like this (and some other cheap allies that are in the set) why did they wait until worldwake? allies were basically unplayable in zendikar, because they were mostly costed too high and spread too far over every color. why not save some of the wackier ones for worldwake and put stuff like this in zendikar with the blademaster?
why not save some of the wackier ones for worldwake and put stuff like this in zendikar with the blademaster?
Probably some issues with limited? When there's a pool of 24 packs for this guy to be in, chances are good someone's going to draft maybe eight or nine. When there's only a pool of 16 packs this guy can appear in, there's going to be far less to go around.
Of course, it's likely much simpler than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Zendikar development was already done, and then someone said, "Ummm... why didn't we make any cheap allies?"
why not save some of the wackier ones for worldwake and put stuff like this in zendikar with the blademaster?
Probably some issues with limited? When there's a pool of 24 packs for this guy to be in, chances are good someone's going to draft maybe eight or nine. When there's only a pool of 16 packs this guy can appear in, there's going to be far less to go around.
Chances are never good that someone is going to get 8 or more of a certain uncommon. With 24 packs, there is a 0.3% chance that there will be 8 or more of a certain common at the table. And that is with perfect distribution. With WotC's print runs I bet the chance of such an anomoly is much less. And remember that is for a common, not an uncommon like Hada Freeblade (I did the math for a common before noticing its rarity, and dont want to do the math again).
Of course, it's likely much simpler than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Zendikar development was already done, and then someone said, "Ummm... why didn't we make any cheap allies?"
I really doubt this is the case. While WotC R&D does make mistakes, I am sure they understand that a constructed ally deck would have needed a good aggressive curve to be playable. Considering that allies are already a good archetype in Zendikar limited though, they probably made tough decisions about how many allies to put in the first set.
Each color had 2 common, 1 uncommon, and 1 rare ally (black only had 1 common, and colorless had the puma). So WotC perhaps had to decide between Hada Freeblade and Kazandu Blademaster for Zendikar's white uncommon slot. Since Blademaster is clearly the more interesting, fun, and powerful card I think WotC made the right choice.
