I think Wizards of the Coast might actually love me. I just found out this morning that they printed an instant that puts TWO allies into play. Join the Ranks, I welcome thee! I've always found allies relatively interesting. Especially the GW selection we recieved in the Zendikar set. Kazandu and Survivalist make great threats to the opponent if not taken care of early. Ondu cleric (which is almost my favorite ally) can gain tons of life and are a pain in mutiples. I believe the star ally for me (and everyone else) is Kabira Evangel. The evangel is perfect for ally alpha strikes.

Now, these are all fine and dandy... on your turn. As far as playing tricks on your opponent's turn, there are very few options. Here are the two I have conceived upon playing with allies:

- Use Oblivion Ring or Journey to Nowhere on your own ally, then Into the Roil the Ring on their turn.
- Violent Outburst.

Obviously, the first option is exptremely situational and I believe does you no real good other than, "being clever". I chose the easier and more effective route, Violent Outburst. If's instant and beefs up your offense. Here's my current deck list:

I think this set-up is pretty straight forward. Main priority is to get the allies in play. With 12 two-drops, you should have a pretty easy time getting critters out by turn two. Pretty naturally, the games I've played, the opponent doesn't heasitate to use removal on the two-drops. This is alright, however, since you have virtually 31 critters in your deck.

The real meat is when the Evangel hits the board. Violent Outburst suddenly becomes an excellent utility card and the evangel transforms from it's usual alpha-strike functionality to a very strong defensive maneuver.

Join the Ranks

Now, back to Join the Ranks. This card is absolutely phenomenal in my books. Really, I couldn't be happier about Wizard's response to the lack of instant ally abilities. This will easily replace the four Bituminous Blasts in my current deck setup. This will also help stabilize my mana pool. Instant is cool, but I believe I am even more excited for the fact that it puts two.... TWO!!! Allies into play at the same time. The implications of this are phenominal.

• Kabira Evangel says the team is pro-two colors (the instant factor is more important for evangel, however).
• Kazandu Blademaster and Oran-Reif Survivalist become 4/4's.
• Ondu Cleric says you just gained at least six life.
• Kazuul Warlord says two 3/3 soldier allies just entered the battlefield.
• Turntimber Ranger creates two 2/2 wolves and becomes a 5/5.
• Murasa Pyromancer deals 6 total damage to up to two different targets.
• Two Ondu Clerics on the board means 16 life gained.
• A Murasa Pyromancer and Cleric on the board means 8 life gained, 8 damage dealt to two different creatures (bye, Broodmate)

On top of it, you got yourself two chump blockers as well! HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG?!!!?? SERIOUSLY! It's what allies have been missing so far in order to be a competitive matchup, I think. At very worse, you just spent four mana to chump two attackers (which if that's the case, I think you have more problems to worry about in your game). At marginal, you get one of the effects I stated above (of which can be pretty drastic game-changers at that). But, if you have at least two other allies out (which is not uncommon), you are seriously swinging the game in your benefit.