Pointed Discussion

Not really rare worthy. : unless you have 3 or more Allies, this guy might as well be a 4 CMC, 2/2 ravenous rats.

This card needs a lot allies to work properly, otherwise it just is a 4cc 2/2 that forces your opponent discard a card.

Shiduba, I think it does a little more that that. It also lets you see cards in your opponents hand which is always valuable. Granted they will be cards that your opponent chooses but the more allies you have the less wiggle room they have.
Also Im wondering, what if your have 2 or three of this guy out? Do the effects stack? I would imagine they do in which case you could be picking killer cards out of your opponents hand in short order.

Well Alone he's not much cop, but none of the Allies really are, thing is, if he's not answered immediately and your running a decent number of allies it will totally wreck the opponent. For some reason Ondu Cleric, Bala Ged and Hagra Diabolist seem fun together, turns every ally you play into a life eating, card stealing, healing fellow.

I'm noticing a lot of us are feeling the same way about this whole Ally business... For me I'm thinking: on average the cost is high but the set (Zendikar) has some good non-basic land and land activity, ok fine so each helps this set's play, but still... there's something that bugs us... maybe it's just the case where some creatures/creature types transcend their sets while others are very specific to their set... obviously at the moment the Allys are very specific to Zendikar... although I am pretty sure there have been earlier ally cards? or maybe it's just the name "ally" in the card that i remember seeing and not actually part of the creature type. But once again... even if they are revisiting and developing a creature type I think it's safe to say that we have a few favorite cre types we'd rather see developed.

For a very simple example: Wolf... it's not impossible to scrape up a wolf deck but it's no walk in the park either... and I'm talking both functionability and a pretty theme/story-like deck (Also: damn elves are tied into wolf action, I'd like to see a bit more separation there)

Yeah, not all my decks are killing machines ;) maybe because lots of other people do the same, and that's great... who hasn't built some massively obscure deck? lol

Now one of the good things about these ally cards is that they are attaching a bunch of other creature types along with the ally type... so the test will be pushing these cards across sets to see what we can come up with... otherwise go get a bunch of Zendikar allies and throw them in a pile and play.

This is one of the better allies. Always relevant, you're never sad to see it.

Not bad in limited where it has trouble getting removed and you can discard a card every few turns (that is, assuming you actually drafted other allies - otherwise there's very little point in having it in the deck).

The effects do stack if you have more than one out. Your opponent can just kiss their hand goodbye. That said, requires a number of allies to be really useful.

This should be more like " when Bala Ged Theif, or another ally enters the battlefield under your control, target opponent discards cards equal to the number of allies you control.'

Bala Ged Thief + Nath of the Gilt-Leaf + Conspiracy = All opponents discard their hand during your upkeep and any time you play a creature, and you get a 1/1 Elf Ally for each card discarded.

Since you're already using B + G, may as well throw in Turntimber Ranger. That + conspiracy = infinite (or arbitrarily large) number of wolf allies.

Throw in the 2 uncommon B & G allies from ZEN, and now you're draining life & killing fliers along with it.

This might not be a powerhouse in extended/limited/etc., but it sure sounds like a fun casual multiplayer deck. Going to throw in some Essence Wardens & Megrims to act as lures for spot removal. :)

This card is waaaay better than Ravenous Rats... Its effect can trigger multiple times, and you choose the card to be discarded. Combined with discarding effects like Megrim this thing could be a royal pain in an ally deck.

3.5/5 with some upside.

Join the Ranks make cards like this a lot more playable. Also makes instant speed discard.

I think you guys dont see the pure awesomness of this. Just imagine: you are attacking with all ur creatures but opponent uses prevent all dmg spell. So just use this thief and get rid of annoying cards in opponents hand.

Interesting card and I think this would help to splash Allies in Black and gives it a good Black theme for it.
2.5

Every time you drop this or another ally you can see part of the opponent's hand and make them discard a card... what's not to enjoy? You will have them hell bent in no time with this in an ally deck.

Does he/she count her/him self? Just wondering.

this guy + mimic vat in an ally deck. I don't think anything else needs to be said.

It should have been a highwayman, rather than a thief, constantly telling opponents to "stand and deliver" their hands ;)

This was the first rare I pulled out of a Zendikar booster.

Well i got this but not other valuable allies ...
Wait i got a red/black changeling deck where i put little changeling creatures among masters creatures like slivers or scarecrow king ...

Just to put simply, you won't win with discard by itself. You need Megrim/Liliana's Caress.

That being said, if you want a black rare ally, use Agadeem Occultist. He can win you the game.

Is she putting that crystal into the squished man, or taking it out?
3/5 Stars