Pointed Discussion

great ability, but for that cost, and common. dang that is excellent

Scary.

A distant relative to Wellwisher, perhaps? Quite a useful creature, but nothing too exciting. 3/5

Inexpensive Allies will play a major part in that synergy, and this also provides some nice life-gain support.

I had 3 of these on the field to start with, (so thats 13 life alone), then every ally after that made life gain ridiculous, the next ally to land is 12 life, then 15 then 18.. and so on.

I dare say the *only* reason this is common is its body. The ability can prove to be a monster if left alone in an all-ally deck, or even a deck with a few allies splashed in. I run 4 in my 5 colour ally deck, and can usually get 3 out before the end of a multiplayer game, and the health gains are phenomenal - even with just the 3 of them, the third entering play creates 9 life - for 2 mana! The only card I can think of in standard with that kind of healing power would be Soul's Grace, and you'd need one heck of a tough creature for it to work. Even with this as the only healing ability in an ally deck, it really does the job nicely.

It's a ''must have'' in any Ally deck. I once played a game with it and one of them became 18/18 thanks to three Kazuul Warlords! I played a Standard game against a Kor/Soldier deck and I won 2 to 0. The last game, I had 77 life. I love Ondu Cleric.

Good in any ally deck, but can die to anything.
3.5

Soul Foundry

This guy gets out of control very quickly in an ally deck. My opponent had two of them at the WW release, and next thing I know his life is blasting up every time an ally hits the field. Brutal.

5/5

I love this guy, if our opponent use a removal spell to kill it, that is one less removal to kill the Blademaster or Evangel. if he him there and keep his removal for your other creature, well, it's a huge amount of life coming your way.

Always my target for Jwari Shapeshifter. This card will keep you way above imminent death, and when played in a deck with Celestial Mantle you may never lose a game due to loss of life. 5/5 cheap and powerful, but not broken 'cause it only works with allies =)

@Donovann: You are mostly correct. Ally cards' rulings read that their abilities count the number of allies as they resolve, not when they are cast. Here's how you would play it:

You play Diabolist. Diabolist gets put on the stack. Diabolist resolves. All ally abilities get put on the stack, meaning Ondu Cleric x2, Oran-Rief Survivalist, and Diabolist. Before they resolve, you play Excavator. Excavator gets put on the stack, then it resolves. All ally abilities get put on the stack, meaning Ondu Cleric x2, Oran-Rief Survivalist, Diabolist, and Excavator.

For Excavator's resolving, here's how it works:
Ondu Cleric's abilities resolve at the same time as everything else. They count the number of allies that are under your control currently. There are six. Cleric1 heals you for six. Cleric2 heals you for six. Oran-Rief Survivalist's ability resolves. He gets a +1/+1 counter. Diabolist's ability resolves and counts the number of allies. There are six, so you choose a target player and they lose six life (or you may have had to choose a target player when his ability went on the stack). Excavator's ability resolves. X is six, again, so you mill your opponent for six.

Now, all the other triggered abilities resolve. They include six allies in all their calculations, but Excavator's ability only triggered once.
So Ondu Cleric x2, Survivalist, and Diabolist's abilities all resolve. Net change:
gain 24 life.
Survivalist gets 2 +1/+1 counters.
Target player loses 12 life.
Target player puts the top six cards in their library in their graveyard.

If you played Excavator first, then played Diabolist (after he resolves but before the triggered abilities resolve), target player would instead lose 6 life but would be milled for twelve cards.

That's how it works from what I understand. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm very new to the game.

So what if it's a 1/1? No one is going to waste a zap on it, unless they're running about 18 creature-kill spells or if it's something like Searing Blaze, where they need to target a creature anyway. Ally decks have the Blademaster, the Paladin, and the Evangel, just in white! Jund and vampires are the only deck type I can see beating a solid mono-white ally deck, since Jund has crazy card advantage and its cards are all well above the curve, and vampires go nuts with removal and deathtouch. I'm surprised more people don't use them, especially at places like FNM...I know only 2 people who run allies, and they play heavy green.

I shrugged this guy off when I first saw him. Then I built an Ally deck. Wow, lifegain is usually weak, but the amount of lifegain over the game (w/ four copies and several more allies) is amazing with this card. Not quite a 5/5, but awesome for a common.

decks with Jwari Shapeshifter, Rite of Replication, Clone, Join the Ranks, Felidar Sovereign, and this card make life gain a very viable win stratagy.

There's something I need clarifying about how allies wok
So let's say I had two Ondu Cleric out, one Oran-Rief Survivalist out, and one Stonework Puma out. (This is a real situation.) Then on my next turn, I play two allies: Hagra Diabolist and Halimar Excavator. The way I understand it, I would then be able to gain 24 life, mill someone for 12 cards, and make someone lose 12 life.

I don't know if this is right. It seems too good. But my reasoning goes like this: I played two allies this turn, so I control a total of six allies, right? Two came into play this turn. So the "Whenever another ally comes into play" mechanic was triggered twice for each ally that gave me an ability when this happened. Therefore, I would put two +1/+1 counters on Oran-Rief Survivalist. But I would also gain 24 life. One of the Ondu Clerics would give me six life because Hagra Diabolist came into play (six because I control six allies) and it would also give me six life because Halimar Excavator came into play. This adds up to 12 life

But since I have two of the clerics out, they would each give 12 life, giving me 24 that turn.

Does it work like this? Do the allies count themselves as they come into play when they trigger their abilities? Do they come into play at the same time if you play two in one turn?

I need help with this, if anyone knows the answers

@the-unbeliever: Okay thanks, that's really helpful actually.

Join the ranks is powerful with this guy. (actually it's great for most allies).

i was using these in a deck with jwari shapeshifter and i got out 2 of each against my friend. He was swinging for 10+ a turn and i was gaining so much life that it really didn't matter. i ended up killing him while i had 112 life. This card is not to be underestimated.

@Donovan:

When the hagra diabolist comes in, you gain 10 life from the 2 ondu clerics, oran-rief survivalist gets a +1+1 counter, and the opponent loses 5 life. Then, when halimar excavator comes in, you gain an additional 12 life, oran-rief gets another counter, the opponent loses 6 life, and your opponent mills 6 cards. You must choose which card (diabolist or excavator) resolves first after casting; they do not both come in at the exact same time. After casting both, you gain 22 life, opponent loses 11 life, orean-rief got two counters, and your opponent mills 6 cards. If excavator was played first, your oppponent would mill 11 cards, and lose 6 life.

Back to the card....

He's fantastic. My brother runs an ally deck, and this guy is virtually a win condition. The life gain is incredible, especially if you get him in at the beginning. And don't get me started on a kicked rite of replication. I'm serious. Casting one of those bad boys on him gives you an amazing life gain, especially with other allies on the field. You will get over 100 health in no time. I don't care if I have to use kill spells on him. It's worth it.

This is obscene in a well-made Ally deck. I think I've gotten up to 80 life with him.

And people say Life gain sucks.

obviously, they've never played against this guy.

Life gain is bad when it is one time, expensive and by itself. Here we have none of those things. Reusable, on a creature, and inexpensive. Lets your ally deck just ignore attackers. The ally mechanic is parasitic and only works with very few cards, but even within that small pool, it has some real killers like this.