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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Akroan Crusader
Image from Wizards.com

Akroan Crusader
- Theros

Reviewed November 18, 2013

Constructed: 3.10
Casual: 3.50
Limited: 3.30
Multiplayer: 2.80

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Akroan Crusader

Heroic can be a powerful ability, but this one just doesn't live up to the promise. To trigger the Crusader, you must target it with a spell you cast. The trouble is, the Crusader itself is a 1/1, and each spell you target it with gets you one additional 1/1. Usually, you get the best out of Heroic by sending it into battle and using combat tricks on it, or by throwing Auras on it to turn it into a fearsome beast. But there are better options for those spells than a 1/1, and the tokens will lose their relevancy pretty quick.

After a certain point, 1/1 tokens just don't do anything unless you can crank them out en masse, and the only way for Akroan Crusader to do that is with copy effects like Elite Arcanist or Isochron Scepter. And in both cases, you're using the other piece of the combo for far below its potential.

Constructed- 1.5
Casual- 2
Limited- 2
Multiplayer- 1


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Akroan Crusader
 
It's tempting to look at this card and say that its controller is generally somewhat unlikely to get a lot of tokens out of it in most red decks, and therefore it's not much of a threat. That's the sort of assessment that is going to cause you to lose games to it. You're going to ignore it until it's enchanted by Unflinching Courage or Spearpoint Oread, or until it stalls your 3/3 with the aid of Gods Willing or kills it with the aid of Thunder Strike, and the opponent's side of the table is filled with tokens and you're sure you have Supreme Verdict in your deck somewhere and what do you mean they have haste and the opponent also has a Soul Warden . . . yeah. Try not to do that.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5


Paul

Welcome back readers todays card of the day is an aggressive one drop that can create an entire army if you dump some spells into it. This card creates hasty tokens and they can soon overwhelm opponents, but the grand question is, what makes this card superior to cards such as Rakdos Cackler as you need to invest more cards in order to turn out an army rather than being just a solid card by itself. This card is a build around and the potential for cumulative advantage can be powerful but does require some dedication. In standard I can see this card sliding nicely into red decks that have a heroic theme and ways to abuse these triggers otherwise there may be better choices. In modern and other eternal formats this card is outclassed and not worth investing effort into in most circumstances. In casual and multiplayer this is a solider giving it some relevant tribal support and this card is much easier to build around and churning out an aggressive army. In limited it’s a staple in heroric decks running red and can create overwhelming board presence in no time. Overall a powerful card that does require some effort but has a large potential payoff.
 
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.0
Multiplayer: 2.5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Akroan Crusader which is a one mana 1/1 Red with Heroic that whenever you cast a spell that targets it put a 1/1 soldier token with Haste into play.  This is a very solid card in a deck built to utilize the effect as it generates card advantage for minimal cost.  Decks using Red mana with combat tricks or auras have little reason not to include this at the one mana level of the curve as it offers useful early game options and has no real drawbacks.  The types are heavily supported as well and overall this is a card that is likely to see play in most formats and at the higher competitive levels as well.
 
In Limited this is an excellent common as both a 1/1 and for the ability as token generation is almost always beneficial.  The card advantage and threat of 1/1 Haste tokens is noticeable and this is a strong second or third pick in most packs for Booster.  In Sealed there is no reason to not include this is in any deck using Red mana as even with minimal spells to target it, the 1/1 for one is still playable.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 4.0


Skid Rambo

Try to think of every 1 drop Common creature in Magic. Now try to think of one that is better than Akroan Crusader! I’ll give you some time… Seriously, this little guy may be the best Common 1 drop ever created in MTG. (I hear a War Falcon shriek from above!) Akroan Crusader can give you two maybe three creatures on turn 2. Those tokens can also attack! Yes, I’ll play first! Think of the possible turn 2 damage. This little red guy has the potential to be much faster than a Young Pyromancer. When running Red, it never hurts to have a turn 2-3 kidney punch in your deck. There are plenty of spells out there that can target Akroan Crusader. Find your own and try to build an all Common deck!!

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5   


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