Please let us know how did it go with your games. I am very interested in building something around Drana/Allies.

Will do.

Next Wednesday will be its first play as I had to make some Sideboard changes, then wait for cards I ordered.

What do you think about adding an Angelic Captain to this deck?

I thought about Angelic Captain but with all the mana ramp and aggro floating around in the meta this deck does better when it's faster. A Creature being played for 5 mana is too slow. By that stage I could be playing two other Creatures that buff everything else.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

I would suggest mainboarding all crackling dooms and side boarding in ruinous path if you need the extra removal. It lets you get rid of hexproof dudes and big dudes and your little dudes outclass other little dudes. maybe mainboard 1 march that way making trades or blocking isnt so painful where you can over come the trades into turn 5 or 6.

4 Crackling Doom2 valorous stance2 citadel siege2 swords1 march

in your swag slot.

Ruinous Path is in my Maiboard as a "bait and switch". If the Opponent is playing something that is annoying to remove, I don't want them to know I can get rid of it until the 2nd game. That's when I board Crackling Doom in.

You know Crackling Doom can get rid of Indestructible Creatures too, right?

I won't drop below 3 Citadel Siege in my Mainboard. It is proving too valuable.

I prefer March from the Tomb in my Sideboard. Due to the speed of this deck there are many, MANY matches where it just doesn't provide me with much value. It's in the Sideboard mostly to deal with board wipe.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I see your points on everything other than crackling doom. If you are playing Mardu colors you will be expected to have crackling doom. so i dont see the point in not having the powerful removal right off the bat in game one and boarding in extra removal if needed.

Also, No Gideon, ally of zendikar? he becomes an Ally to receive all your buffs and summons an Ally to trigger your buffs and Buffs all creature +1/+1 to get out of burn/languish ranges. I feel like He would be PERFECT in this deck.

Crackling Doom is not as powerful as Ruinous Path for killing Planeswalkers.

So I guess the idea of powerful is subjective.

I know what Gideon does.

I love how people tell me that he gives all Creatures +1/+1 AND spawns Allies. You pretty much have to choose one or the other unless you are incredibly lucky and your Opponent has not heard of Ruinous Path. You know, the card you want me to take out of the Mainboard.

He does NOT get my Creatures out of Languish range at all. You know what card actually does that? Citadel Siege. That is partially why I don't have him in this build. I did have him in, but repeated playtesting against a variety of decks showed that this deck is more effective without him.

If you want to make an Allies deck with him you can. For now I'm not going to.

I probably sound a bit tetchy. It's late here and I'm very tired of talking about Gideon, Ally of Zendikar with all and sundry. In fact, I think I'm going to make a note about that so I can stop having this discussion.

Nice and flavorful, I like your method for dealing with Eldrazi. +1

im just letting know your deck is amazing and very good i like it alot and im building it as well i will tell you how i do in my local FNM

Have you thought about adding Rally the Ancestors? Since you have haste, the only downside would be the 6th mana to cast achieving haste, but would trigger a huge load of rallys from your Homies.

What About Munda, Ambush Leader he looks for your allies and puts stuff you dont want on the bottom

Also i would cut like 2 lands your curve tops out at 4 and with the sword you can just get a land

I considered Rally the Ancestors but I like the effect of March from the Tomb better.

It lets me keep Rally effects on the field.

I have tried Munda, Ambush Leader. The problem I found with it is that you often want cards to support your Allies and that forces you to put them on the bottom of your library.

I also prefer to have Chasm Guide as my 4 drop.

Sword of the Animist often doesn't see play, as there are only two copies in my deck.

I always end up running one more land than a lot of people. Maybe that's why I am rarely mana screwed.

Thanks fireblake00. Let me know how it goes.

My biggest fear is losing Citadel Siege when it hits the field. If that becomes a huge issue I may need to sub Gideon, Ally of Zendikar for it.

this deck is very explosive i like it alot but when vs Eldrazi decks.(RUG/Grixis)its a race to see who gets to be first i did have a question on sideboarding when going againts that do you bring in all Crackling Doom and or Deflecting Palmand take out Citadel Siege and maybe a sword the only thingthat hurt this deck is counters and my local is heavy blue counter spells.

Good questions.

This is how I Sideboard against Eldrazi Control:

3x Chasm Guide
3x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
3x Drana's Emissary
2x Expedition Envoy
3x Firemantle Mage
3x Kalastria Healer
3x Kor Bladewhirl
2x Zulaport Cutthroat

4x Crackling Doom
4x Deflecting Palm
3x March from the Tomb
3x Valorous Stance

4x Ally Encampment
2x Battlefield Forge
4x Caves of Koilos
3x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
3x Plains
4x Swamp

You play as many spells as you can each turn to bleed your Opponent of their Counter spells. Every now and then that will leave you with one or more Creatures on the field who can attack before they are removed.

Against Eldrazi it is most certainly a race to do as much damage as possible before they enter the field, then try to take out their bigger Creatures with removal spells like Crackling Doom, and get final damage through with Deflecting Palm.

March from the Tomb becomes an important tool to use at the right time. I take out Citadel Siege, and Sword of the Animist because they are unlikely to stick around.

Dragonmaster Outcast comes out as well because it won't be on the field for very long. Creatures that do extra damage when on the field are good for leeching life, eg. Drana's Emissary.

There's no doubt that Control is a tricky match up for this deck. You can still overcome it with timing.

Is Chasm Guide really effective?

I run an allies deck that would love to have it if it were only 3 cmc.

My own sideboard is a bit more focused on dealing with Dragon Control decks but I see where you're coming from with the cards you chose.

I love Chasm Guide. Being able to hit with Allies right away gets more damage through.

I'm always very happy to see it go into the graveyard. I know it will come back with March from the Tomb, and I'mll be able to attack right away.

However, it is my highest cost Creature, which is part of the reason why it works in this build. Also, this deck aims to be very aggressive. I don't know how it would work in something that was a bit slower.

I'mll is not a word.

Stupid autocorrect.

I like your deck. Still having a hard time believing in the lifestealers, but I guess they're good because almost no matter what, they'll always cause a lifeswing of 2 at worst. You might be right about Gideon, which would be cool, because he's the most expensive hooker on the harbour. I'll try and gather the deck on mtgo when it releases in the weekend.

Look, I'm not going to say that this build is 100% correct.

It's worked in all the simulations we have run against a variety of decks. By now that is a couple of hundred plays.

It will go to tournament for the first time tomorrow.

We shall see how it goes.

The other strong Ally build I have seen is this one:

Abzan Company Allies

Honestly, more people should check that one out.

Interestingly enough it also doesn't run Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.

I have tested Munda and found that for all the advantages he brings he does sometimes put things you need at the bottom so that makes sense

Maybe try one or 2 of Angelic Captain