Hello, and welcome to Ideas Unbound.  This will be a weekly article covering various aspects of Magic strategy.  This is my first attempt at writing Magic strategy so it will improve over time.  Since we are deep into spoiler season for Gatecrash, I thought we would take a look at a card with a lot of hype around it.  Let’s take a look at a few different ideas as to how best to utilize our newest Planeswalker.



Gideon, Champion of Justice



Gideon is probably the most anticipated card from the new set.  I know he was the one I was looking forward to the most.  I think most people were surprised to see that he was mono-white as opposed to red/white.  Personally, I’m glad that he is mono-white because it will open him up to more decks.

It’s not really fair to do a straight comparison of this Gideon to the original, because they fill different roles.  The original was more of a defensive card, taunting your opponent’s creatures into attacking him instead of you.  Then he would swing through for the win after you had used that extra time to stabilize the board in your favor.

This Gideon is all about being aggressive.  The goal will be to drop him, get as much loyalty as possible, and then start bashing face.  While his +1 does give you the ability to gain loyalty very quickly, he doesn’t have any way to protect that loyalty.  It’s important that we realize this and mitigate the damage as much as possible.

The first option is to play Gideon in an aggressive, creature-based deck.  Your opponent might be hesitant to attack into Gideon if you are going to swing back for a lot of damage.  This would fit well in a Boros or mono-white list with cheap efficient creatures.  We would want to play something with aggressive creatures that keep your opponent on their back foot and not really focused on Gideon.  Then if your opponent trades away everything in combat, Gideon can start smashing in to tidy up.

I feel like a good place to start for this list would be:

4 War Falcon
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Boros Elite
4 Knight of Glory
4 Precinct Captain
4 Skyknight Legionnaire
4 Silverblade Paladin
3 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Firemane Avenger

It plays enough Humans and Soldiers/Knights make sure that Champion of the Parish and War Falcon are getting good early attacks.  Precinct Captain is a great way to ensure you have enough creatures to trigger assault and also protects Gideon as well.  The deck would want some sort of burn spells, I’m sure, to remove the opposing blockers.  I know Lightning Helix is too much to ask for, but I wouldn’t mind seeing something along those lines.

Another strategy is to use your creatures to protect Gideon for a turn or two while he bulks up.  The defense strategy would be ideal in a token deck where you are getting chump blockers at a premium rate.
Lingering Souls seems like the perfect complement to the new Gideon.  If we choose the Orzhov path, we also get removal spells to deal with aggressive creatures.  High Priest of Penance seems ideal at blocking for Gideon.  He will soak up some damage and remove the worst attacker.

Imagine:
Turn 1:  Duress
Turn 2:  High Priest
Turn 3:  Lingering Souls
Turn 4:  Gideon

I’m also keen on the idea of combining Gideon with Jace.  It will be hard to remove the loyalty from Gideon when everything is -1/-0.  This also puts the opponent in the position of attacking Jace or Gideon.  Attack Jace and Gideon gets to hulk up and face smash.  Attack Gideon and Jace will start to net card advantage and possibly ultimate.  I also like the idea of adding Tamiyo to the mix to keep their biggest attacker locked down.  And since we are in white/blue anyway, Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere seem like great ways to keep Gideon alive.

One thing is certain:  this Gideon is going to see play.  It might take a while for him to find the right home, but I people are going to find it.  When looking at Standard post-Gatecrash, make sure Gideon is on your radar.