Speaking of white Heroic decks, today's card is
one of their favorite Auras to throw on a
creature. The Ordeal cycle has really helped the
general strategy of "throw Auras onto cheap
attackers" for a number of reasons. First, it
encourages you to swing with your souped-up
creature, not just hold it back because your
opponent has a 1/1 and MIGHT have a trick.
Second, because they each grant their benefit in
the form of +1/+1 counters first and then a
secondary effect unrelated to their target, they
aren't vulnerable to a mid-combat disenchant
suddenly leaving you with an undersized creature
charging into a bad block. Third, the "three
swings until payout" format forces your opponent
to deal with them NOW-- if he doesn't draw the
kill spell in time, then it doesn't matter if
the original target dies-- you've already got
your extra 10 life (or two lands or so on.)
Heliod's ordeal is interesting in that its
secondary payout is 10 life. Traditionally, life
gain is a weak effect, merely prolonging a game
without putting you any closer to winning it. As
I've said before, a card that gains you life
needs to do something else in addition to it in
order to be worth a spot in your deck. The
Ordeal does that handily-- it's +3/+3 to a
creature first and foremost, and maybe 10 life
second if you're lucky. Of the five secondary
effects provided by each Ordeal, I'd count this
as among the worst. The two lands granted by
Ordeal of Nylea will almost always come too late
to be of use, but Purphoros, Erebos, and
Thassa's Ordeals pay out so much better. So why
is Ordeal of Heliod the one drafters inevitable
scramble to pick up? Because Ordeals excel in
Heroic decks, and all the best Heroic decks are
at least part White. Ordeal of Erebos is a
better Aura in a vacuum, but it's likely landing
on a creature less capable to taking full
advantage of it. And since white's Heroes
usually put +1/+1 counters on themselves,
Heliod's Ordeal tends to pay out sooner than any
other. (Except possibly Nylea's, whose creatures
often put more than one +1/+1 counter on
themselves, but those creatures also tend to hit
the board later.) As for the 10 life, it's most
useful in a "racing" situation, where you and
your opponent are swinging as fast as you can to
get the other down to zero, and that comes up
most often in Limiited. There, a big chunk of
extra life really is worth a card, especially
when that card also makes your creature better
at racing.
The Ordeals are in an odd sort of place as
beneficial Auras go. Part of the appeal of that
sort of card is casting it eagerly onto a
creature that's ready for action and launching
it in your opponent's general direction. From
that point of view, the impact of the Ordeals is
significantly less than most other Auras
(compare even Eland Umbra, or something). If
you're playing one, you're probably hoping to
build up to the payoff, which is generally kind
of insane by most standards. Ten life? Really?
Five wasn't enough to make sure you can rebuild
from whatever your opponent was doing and win
the game? Still, the fact is that game time is
not on the Ordeals' side, and it's difficult to
use them in larger card pools outside of
relatively obscure combinations.
Today's card of the day is Ordeal of Heliod
which is a two mana White aura that when it is
sacrificed gives the controller ten life and it
adds a +1/+1 counter to the enchanted creature
when it attacks and if it has three or more
+1/+1 counters on it sacrifice the aura.
While gaining life by itself isn't a major
benefit, combining it with other effects is
often a viable play and a potential ten life for
two mana is extremely efficient. Getting
all three triggers from Ordeal may be difficult,
so combining it with any source of two +1/+1
counters already on a creature turns this into a
+1/+1 counter and ten life for two mana after
the attack. Effects that trigger from life
gain, targeting a creature, and counters all
work well with this and it will see play in a
variety of decks including those using Heroic
and multiple auras.
In Limited this can trigger Heroic and is at
worst a +1/+1 for two mana if instant speed
removal isn't played. The ten life bonus
is a big boost in the format, especially if
behind on life from early attacks, and this can
potentially mitigate payments of life in a
Black/White deck. A decent second pick in
Booster and an easy inclusion for any White
using Sealed build as more often than not it
will trigger itself or another card.
Ordeal of Heliod is a pretty easy way to gain
10 life. If you play Ordeal of Heliod on a
creature that already has +1+1 counters on it
then you’re almost guaranteed to gain 10 life on
the first attack. The knock against this Aura is
that it is not permanent like other Auras. I can
understand why some players don’t like Ordeal of
Heliod, but gaining 10 life is hard to overlook.
If you’ve been paying attention to Pojo’s MTG
card of the day, then you should know that Hero
of Iroas is a perfect creature for Ordeal of
Heliod. If you want to be evil, then try
Sanguine Bond with Ordeal of Heliod. Overall,
this Aura is not the best one out there but it
can change a game very quickly.
