In either form, he'll only count himself once,
since he's only ever a creature OR an Aura.
Conversely, he'll count himself in either form,
so he'll always be at least a 1/1 creature or at
least a +2/+2 Aura (since he'll then count the
creature he's on). The only real downside here
is that size is all he has going for him-- if
you've got a whole bunch of creatures or Auras
out, he might be pretty big, but he's
"combat-vanilla". This is less of a problem if
the creature you Bestow him on isn't. A creature
like Blighted Agent, Two-Headed Cerberus, or
even Hopeful Eidolon would definitely appreciate
the power boost, and the fact that he remains in
play after his wearer is killed is a bonus. In
an Aura-based deck, he also wears Auras as well
as Aura Gnarlid or Yavimaya Enchantress ever
did. I like that there's two parallel strategies
that benefit from this card-- Enchantress-style
decks, and token swarm decks. Both of those
strategies are strictly casual-caliber, though,
and so that's the crowd that wants this card.
There have been many Keldon Warlord variants
down the years, but relatively few who have
applications beyond the obvious "HORDE OF
CREATURE ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK". This guy can do
that, yes, and sometimes do it even better
(Griffin Guide!). He can be a strong addition to
a bestow-based deck, or do a passable impression
of Yavimaya Enchantress (although she still
really should have been in M14). It's
surprisingly rare in Magic that you see a wide
range of options come out of simple game text.
Take advantage of it.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Eidolon of Countless battles an interesting
creature that grows stronger the more creatures
and auras you control. In standard this creature
is decent enough in a weenie strategy or a deck
filled with auras although I doubt how powerful
that would be. Being three mana with a bestow
cost of a reasonable four means this creature
more often than not can hit the table early. I
see this card seeing a small amount of play and
I think its cheap enough to make a splash. In
modern and eternal formats this card is too
reliant on you having a good board state and
there exists better aggressive creatures that
are not weak to enchantment removal making this
more of a poor choice. In casual and multiplayer
this card can provide reasonable value by being
an aura and then getting your creature due to
cheap bestow cost, this guy works phenomenally
in token decks or decks based on heavy use of
auras making him a solid addition to a wide
variety of decks. In limited he is a decent
sized creature who also serves a powerful
enchantment, hes a solid creature and a decent
pick up if in white but maybe not a first pick
although it becomes a must deal with threat that
can have a huge body. Overall a card I feel with
casual and competitive applications.
Today's card of the day is Eidolon of Countless
Battles which is a three mana White with Bestow
four that has or adds +1/+1 for each creature
and each aura you control. This combines
well with Wombat/Enchantress style themes and
targets with Hexproof. It can survive
removing the target and if the boost is based on
other permanents in play will remain a threat.
The one extra mana for Bestow is a bargain that
should be utilized whenever possible as casting
it as a far more vulnerable creature is a
notable loss in efficiency. This will see
play in Casual and Multiplayer, though the
perception of two for one is hard to overcome
and despite the potential it may not break into
competitive formats as it stands currently.
In Limited this is a great first pick in Booster
with the double White as the only real drawback
aside from being a poor topdeck. Played into a
stalemate or on a creature with evasive and some
other permanents as support it can and will win
games. A Sealed pool with this and other
Bestow or even a solid low cost creature
selection can play this in the midgame as a
major threat.
Eidolon of Countless Battles is a great card
for current white weenie decks. I had the
pleasure of getting my face wrecked by Eidolon
of Countless Battles at the Born of Gods
pre-release. While Nighthowler is great in a
multiplayer game, Eidolon of Countless Battles
is not very good in multiplayer game. I like how
this card counts creatures and auras because
there are a lot of creature/enchant spells in
Standard right now. I also like that the Bestow
cost is only 4 mana because most of the other
Bestow spells cost too much mana. Overall,
Eidolon of Countless Battles is a great draft
card and I’m sure that it will see some standard
play at some point.
