I would rather say that
master hunter is the only really defensive banish.
Sure, it's an recruit-only attack card, but for its cost, its damage is rather low.
The main effect is the discarding one. Recruit only cards are most of the time attack cards, so it will hit some big threads when played in the right way. (
Bahamut, for example)
On the other hand, it got far sight, which reveals cards (and in tower+decks, you are almost playing everytime far sight cvards, so that is usefull here.)
And, last but not least, it costs recruits. You will have most of the time an abudance of them, so it does not cripple for the discard your building tactic and you got most of the time enough recources for it. ^^
Edit: Of course, there are no really defensive ones or ones which gather recources. It would be nice to see some more defensive ones.
[moderator DPsycho: Added card links]