On Jebus Cross, Ivor is unmatched in SoD, imho.

Why Ivor can be taken on 8mm6a. mm6 is a game of tempo. You immediately need to buy many heroes and quickly scout everything. Ivor's army is guaranteed excellent breakthrough power with 112. It often allows you to clear Dragon Fly Hive guards on the first week, and for Rampart it's even possible to break a max Dragon Fly Hive early. + all external dwellings are easily taken, including 7th-level ones, a max Dwarf dwelling not on grass is easy if you have 13+ Elves, even on Advanced Archery, in short, there are plenty of bonuses, and what's very important in SoD is that choosing Ivor gives you confidence on restarts, while for something like Fortress the starting army usually plays a decisive role.

Also, for Rampart, considering all restarts, there's about a 25% chance of getting Kyrre as the second hero, which is not that low, while Kyrre+Ivor usually means breaking all castles. And there are 2 more excellent native heroes and 1 just good one besides Ivor himself.

Betting on Kyrre is still somewhat of a gamble on the opponent being lazy. One who will allow you to survive unhindered until the middle-end of the third week.

In short, I won't try to argue with anyone, there are pros here anyway:D :D

P.S.
Playing on Jebus Cross with someone other than Ivor is definitely a handicap.