Rare Review: Assault Formation

"Should I play Assault Formation?" Ever get passed it and confused whether to pick it or not? The cheap Enchantment have an unique passive ability that turns any high toughness creature into a nightmare, but it looks really defensive. What creature benefit the most from this card? This card had me wondering for some time, let's see what it really got.

1st effect gives bonus to creatures with toughness higher than its power, and completely sucks with your other creatures that have low toughness.
2nd effect is a pretty narrow effect as it only affect defenders.
3rd effect can be used in any deck, and what it does is actually a +1/+1 to all your creatures, that's pretty interesting.

From the 3rd effect alone, this card should secure a position in your draft deck, if you ever need a late game mana sink. However, not all creatures benefit from it, namely cards with very high power with lower toughness (such as 3/1 and 4/2).

First things first, in Draft or Sealed, do remember that this is only one of your forty cards, you shouldn't plan to depend only on this card, in the same time, you should try to get the most benefit from the Formation. For those reason, cards that have high toughness but is not all that bad on its own should give you good edge, after all, the better your defense is, the better chance you will draw into this card and gain some good advantage. Lets look at the list:

Tier 1
Nicely benefited from Formation but also decent creatures on their own, they are your best choices when you decide on playing Formation.

Elusive Spellfist
Colossodon Yearling
Circle of Elders 
Gurmag Drowner
Student of Ojutai
Updraft Elemental
Ukud Cobra
Lurking Arynx
Rakshasa Gravecaller
Sibsig Muckdraggers
Marsh Hulk

Tier 2
They are all creatures with higher toughness compared to its power, but still close in value (like 3/4 or 2/3).These benefit only a little bit from Assault Formation, in other hand, they are great on their own and doesn't get hindered at all when the Formation is active. 

Tier 3
They are purely defensive creatures and high toughness makes them monsters when Formation is active. They have nice abilities though so that should come first when you are considering to pick them.

Jeskai Barricade
Orator of Ojutai
Qarsi Deceiver
Sidisi's Faithful

Tier 4
Those are not really decent cards, and their selling point is that Assault Formation pumps them a lot. Same as above, imagine first whether you like the card or not when there are no Assault Formation. Personally, I like Territorial Roc and nothing else on the list but it's not rare to see Custodian of the Trove and Wandering Tombshell got played.

Territorial Roc
Arashin Cleric
Dragonlord Servant
Dragon's Eye Sentry
Qarsi Sadist
Renowned Weaponsmith
Minister of Pain
Ancient Carp
Custodian of the Trove
Defiant Ogre
Great-horn Krushok
Wandering Tombshell
Sibsig Host

Verdict:
Assault Formation is not bad at all to be picked, there are a lot of solid creatures that you can pick along the draft. Have a try of it when you have the chance!