Pointed Discussion

Why exactly is crap like this rare?

I dont know why people rate this card so low it is clearly a very ver solid 3/3 for 3 with an amazing game changing abiliity. Definitely one of my fav from the new set

Dauntless Escort is a solid 3/3 for 3 with a useful ability. Although he doesn't have any other useful combat abilities, the fact that he can come down a turn before Wrath of God in a deck that swarms is a huge "answer me now" type card. I only gave him 4 stars because his usefulness decreases, and it would suck to topdeck him with no creatures out, but otherwise he is a solid creature with a solid ability, especially in a metagame full of cheap and efficient board sweepers.

This card is not crap. With the right combos, this card can be extremly devastating. Used with Wrath of God it can kill every creature your opponent has and give you an offensive advantage. The same combo works with Martial Coup, Mass Calcify, Fight to the Death, and other mass destruction cards. In addition this card can completely alter a combat phase easily and change the course of the game. You, Th3_Dark_On3, should be thankful that this card isn't mythic.

Great Card No Doubt I Just Dont Know How To Use It Effectively

Anti-Wrath of God, enough said...

This is an amazing card for colors that like to swarm like, i don't know, white and green? Great 3-drop. 5 stars

i love this guy,3/3 and make a strong team,he win my game couple of times

use wrath of god then sack it to save ur own creatures

This, plus Cauldron of Souls and Juniper Order Ranger.

he needs trample or lifelink

It doesnt protect against cards like Infest .

A must-have for any Green-White soldier deck. I run him and Martial Coup together and use them to wipe out my opponents board and get a bunch of soldier tokens at the same time. And if nothing else, you can chump block an attacker and then sacrifice him to save your other chump blockers.

This guy is gonna be an awesome combo when used with the upcoming Novablast Wurm !!!

i think its cool and all,but why this card was so expensive?

3/3 for three mana that has an ability that protects you from....well, just about everything.

Sun Titans little bro.

I have a deck with him and Sun Titan and it's true that it really rocks. What I am wondering is if I play Destructive Force that deals 5 damage to all creatures, if I sacrificed him before playing Destructive Force, are my Wall of Omens and Overgrown Battlement staying on table?

@MagicNovice: Yes. As long as nothing else happens to your walls before the effect resolves, they will survive the Destructive Force. Indestructible means no amount of damage will kill a creature, nor will any "destroy creature" effects like Wrath of God. They'll still die if they are reduced to 0 toughness, though, and they can be bounced, exiled, or sacrificed.

As for the card, it's a modern-day Loxodon Hierarch. No life gain, but unlike the Hierarch your creatures can can survive Wrath.

Best card combo I can think of, which I didn't see mentioned is novablast wurm attack, and sac him cleaning the way for your wurm, and other creatures, or in exalted only a very heavy hitting wurm and with finest hour or Rafiq it should just be dead. The Wurm is good in itself and so is this.

He seems good on paper, he really does. In reality this guy isn't that sick. Cool? Sure. Useful? A little. Game changing? Not really, no. 3.5

its a good card but i think it would be even cooler with exalted... (good with wrath of god) 4.5/5

Aran got fat and turned in to a Rhino. LOL <- from Honor Bound, Part 2. Elspeth

Soldier deck, use some Brave the Elements too. That's what I call well rounded temporary protection.

He's a well-costed creature with an ability that can prove useful. The problem is that no one plays destructive boardwipes on you at all until they remove this man through other means. Which they probably can.

I personally use Ghostway because it can surprise the opponent, it beats all Wrath effects, including Mutilate/Infest/Black Sun's Zenith/Final Judgement etc. and it even triggers ETB triggered abilities like on my copies of Avalanche Riders, Eternal Witness, etc. A much bigger role-player than a 3/3 for 3 in many cases.

Its funny, the shield he's carrying bears an emblem with Elspeth on it. It uses the same exact posture that Elspeth, Knight-Errant does. And Volkan Baga is responsible for both arts.

Loxodon Hierarch Jr.

Not bad at all, I like it. Best thing is that if he has to take one for the team your creatures aren't tapped like they would be if they were regenerated.

Sun Titan seems to be in order if one is to run this in any W/G deck.

If he only was 3/4, he would be tremendously powerful... he is great like he is, but bolt survival would make it excellent

My experience of this guy is nearly the opposite of bowlofgumbo's ("He seems good on paper, he really does. In reality this guy isn't that sick. Cool? Sure. Useful? A little. Game changing? Not really, no. 3.5"). Basically, this creature is a sitting 'soak', or counter spell, for destruction magic.

When I first looked at the card, I thought it could be nice and occasionally helpful, but would generally turn out to be not all that great. I've now played a number of games with a deck in which I have 4 Escorts, along with a number of other excellent and effective creatures. My experience is that, so long as you have a bunch of other creatures in play of the type an opponent would want to destroy or remove as quickly as possible, alongside the Escort, Escort is by far worth much more than the three measly mana paid for it. It's a buffer for all of your other creatures for one turn; not one card - one turn. If you have more than one in play, the opponent just has to sit there and sigh, knowing that she or he must expend a number of destruction spells (even mass spells like Wrath of God and Plague Wind) equal to the number of Escorts in play before beginning to have an effect on creatures other than Dauntless Escort. If those destruction spells have mass effects (like Wrath), they must be expended on separate turns, taking more time and allowing more damage from the creatures being escorted. So, so powerful.

The only way to get around it is to use mass bounce like Evacuation - then maybe counter it as it heads back out, since you're running Blue at that point. Otherwise, you've just gotta use your spells one-for-one on Escort (unless you've got some kind of awesome, repeatable ability on a permanent - maybe Temporal Adept, Royal Assassin, Flameblast Dragon) before getting to the other creatures in play - the ones you're really after.

I see a 5/5 rating as indicating perfection in a card. I'm not sure that any card printed after '94 deserves a 5 rating (examples would be Mox Sapphire and Black Lotus), though several cards do warrant a 4.5 - such as Counterspell. I give Dauntless Escort a 4.5 of 5 rating. I feel that it's one of the very best creatures that a creature-driven deck could have in play. Having more than one in play at one time creates a nearly hopeless situation for a one-on-one opponent - at least, it's basically hopeless for a number of destruction spells played (and separate turns to play them) equal to the number of Escorts in play - or for a number of turns equal to the number of Escorts in play, if Wrath-like spells are the destruction at hand.

Is there a card that 'exiles', say, target creature and all other creatures that share a color or name with target creature? That would really be the best way to deal with multiple Dauntless Escort cards in play - even better than the mass bounce like Evacuation. Clearly, though, such a mass effect would have to be exile or forced sacrifice or something - "destroy" is negated at the sacrifice of a single Escort.

Also, the ability to simply willfully sacrifice is another element making the Escort so incredibly powerful. It's instantaneous and doesn't require even as an additional cost. Just use the sac as a response to something - even if the Escort is already tapped, blocking, or blocked. Also, I don't think you can respond to Escort's sacrifice with any effect that's going to prevent Escort's effect, because Escort would not be in play to be affected; that is, sacrificing Escort is the activation to its ability. Therefore, once you sacrifice Escort, the ability is on the stack, and Escort is no longer in play to be affected. (Say I sacrifice Escort to activate his ability. My opponent wishes to respond by Bolting Escort. Escort is no longer there to be Bolted, and the Bolt either must be cast targeting a different creature, or must not be cast at all. Alternatively, say I sac the Escort to activate its ability. My opponent responds by casting Rout as an instant. In this case, Rout's effect would actually resolve before Escort's ability takes effect. Hm. I hadn't thought of that, before. Pretty cool. Still, casting Rout as an instant requires what, 7 mana? That ain't easy, and isn't too likely to happen in the game of one-on-one Magic.)

Just an amazing creature - and card.

Forgeling:
This would not work, as the creatures Sould Cauldron gives persist will loose persist when they enters the battlefield as a new creature.

This card shines in EDH when you can Chord of Calling in response to a Wrath effect.

Compare this with Loxodon Hierarch. I think this is proof that we can safely retire regeneration now.