RCotD #163

Random Card of the Day #163:

Allied Strategies - 4U
Sorcery
Domain — Target player draws a card for each basic land type among lands he or she controls.

Initial thoughts:

Compare to Tidings. I mean, it has a potential 5 cards for 5 mana draw. If you wanted instant speed you would have to compare it to Jace's Ingenuity.

So besides the cards drawn and potential, there still is the splashability. Allied Strategies is much easier to splash, as it should be. If this had UU in it's cost it would be ridiculous trying to splash it to get the other land types. Yes, you can use Tundra and Volcanic Island and the others to get a higher Domain count, but card drawing (at least in my opinion) should be on instant speed, especially on blue so you have a lot more options between choosing to let your opponent play a spell or draw. You are playing blue. You want to be the one to make decisions to influence the game.

It's an interesting card, but it's over-costed. If I had to make a choice between this or Concentrate (four mana) it would depend on the deck--but because it's five mana it will most likely never be played. Or I don't know.. make it instant speed. 2/5