Daru Encampment might be a better choice.
Posted By:
mrredhatter
(10/2/2009 5:13:13 AM)
Hm, I agree with you most of the time Mode, but in this case I think the card is not as bad as your irony (and his rating at time of this writing) tries to indicate. I admit that he is far from being an allstar and you expect at least a 2/2 for 
, especially in modern times taking such powerhouses as Veteran Armorer or Veteran Swordsmith for granted. But this little guy can decide a late game when you can pump the one unblocked soldier for the last few points of damage.
That said he is probably not making the cut today with the huge m.a.ss of possible soldiers for a casual tribal deck that lets even better candidates fall by the wayside with ease.
Posted By:
holgir
(9/26/2009 5:52:01 AM)
Other casual variants aside, this guy is actually fairly useful in EDH soldier tribal. For example, rock him with Commander Eesha for pro-creatures white firebreathing, or with Odric, Master Tactician for soldier synergy and commander damage.
Posted By:
WolfWhoWalks
(10/30/2013 10:14:31 AM)
maybe as a 1-of.
Posted By:
metalevolence
(10/11/2011 1:38:00 PM)
He's not particularly bad, no, but the main concern is that there are just so many soldier lords that are probably better.
I'd generally say Daru Warchief, Field Commander and Captain of the Watch are better choices. Granted, this guy's only two mana, but you have to put mana into him for him to do that lording thing. Besides, then we remember the Veteran Swordsmith, as mentioned.
Posted By:
Kirbster
(6/10/2012 10:25:13 AM)
I believe this was the first Soldier support ever printed.
At the time, tribes with support almost always paid for it by being generally weak individually (eg. goblins, merfolk); the reason he's weak is because he was supporting a tribe that was decent already. Obviously things have changed a lot since then. Technically he's better than he was because the Great Creature Update gave many more things the Soldier type, but we also got far-better support for it since then.
Posted By:
Aquillion
(3/6/2014 7:45:31 AM)
This card is a must-have in any Soldier deck!
Everyone knows Fallen Empires is one of the most notable Powerhouse candidates concerning tribal decks.
Posted By:
Mode
(9/11/2009 6:33:15 AM)
Since when did the Icatians turn Chinese?
Posted By:
Laguz
(7/21/2010 3:51:54 PM)
i remember a write-up in inquest magazine about how awesome this guy was (he was a soldier, so he could also boost himself!). i counted my soldier cards so many times, but the deck never quite came together. probably for the best. btw, anybody need some icatian skirmishers...?
Posted By:
thevegetable
(8/16/2013 6:32:45 PM)