Introduction
"Chain Veil Gideon? The one from the duel deck!? Are you out of your mind?" -Spike player, 7-9 turns before losing to Chain Veil Gideon.
Chain Veil Gideon is a casual mono white combo deck that is built around abusing Gideon Martial Paragon's +2 ability in combination with The Chain Veil in order to generate value and win the game. The deck has a high concentration of mana dorks and manlands for our boi Gids to untap as well as Karn Silver Golem, Karn the Great Creator, and Toymaker to allow him to untap our rocks, The Chain Veil and other things such as Trading Post. Additionally, the deck has a "Plan B" of Elspeth Sun's Champion, who synergizes well with the rest of the deck, and can kill Djeru so we can re-cast him and fetch our real commander, Gideon Jank Paragon.
Play this deck if you want to run a challenging and powerful combo deck in mono white built around planeswalkers.
Don’t play this deck if you want to have the same path to victory each game or if you want to curb stomp n00bs.
The Gameplan
Gideon sure gets a lot of undeserved flak. People say he's a boring character, a “natural fit” to die in War of the Spark, easily replaced by any other white walker. Well, whatever. This deck aims to show all those haters that our boi Gideon has some depth and finesse, and we do it with mana dorks.
In the early game we want to focus on building up our mana. Play all your rocks and maybe a few dorks, but be wary of boardwipes. They are our weakness. Once you get up to five mana it is usually best to slam Djeru down and grab a planeswalker. If you have most of your combo in hand and feel as if you are ready to go you can grab Golden Boy Gideon. Otherwise, Karn or Elspeth is usually the best option for the mean time. Use your walkers to buy time and build up value. Sometimes, you don't even need Gideon, Sexual Paragon, and the deck is able to win using other value engines. You can end the game by attacking in with your creatures. The deck contains a good amount of anthems and even if you can't go infinite with Gideon, you can often +2 him enough times to ult, at which point your dorks have become pretty deadly. There are combo options for victory as well, which we will go over later.
The Geek Squad
This deck has a heavy focus on mana dorks, as they are essential to our combo. Generally, it is best to have 2-3 out at a time. Our best one's are the two mana ones and the ones that can tap for white. Palladium Myr is also pretty sweet, acting as a Worn Powerstone on a stick. We also have some other creatures that work well with Gideon's + ability.
Argivian Archaeologist: Some sweet recursion. Works well with trading post
Deal Broker/Endbringer: These guys generate card advantage
Endbringer/Witch Hunter: These cards both have the ability to deal direct damage. Witch Hunter also has a unique off-color ability.
Junktroller: One of the few ways to recur Planeswalkers.
Myr Welder: This guy can steal an opponent's dead mana rock, become a copy of The Chain Veil, or even just be used to hate out decks that like to recur artifacts.
The Combo
The main crutch of our combo is untapping The Chain Veil off of Gideon's +2. There are two main ways to do that.
Karn, Silver Golem/The Great Creator/Toymaker: Turning The Chain Veil into a creature means it untaps with Gideon's +2. Add 4 mana worth of dorks/manlands and you have yourself a combo that allows you to kill someone with The Chain Veil itself.
Clock of Omens: With enough artifact creatures you can untap The Chain Veil. Still requires dorks for The Veil's activation cost.
Once we have achieved I N F I N I T E G I D E O N we can end the loop any time by ulting Gids and blowing out our opponents with creatures the size of Gideon's ego right before his friends died and his spark ignited.
Other combos:
Since Mycosynth Lattice is in here due to synergies with Karn/Toymaker, I included Consulate Crackdown as well due to both pieces being independantly strong on their own.
Voltaic Construct can also partner up with Metalworker or Karn/Toymaker and a Gilded Lotus to generate infinite mana and untaps.
Tutors and Card Advantage
Mono white doesn't have much for tutors. If only The Chain Veil was an equipment somehow. To make up for this I tried to include as much card draw as I could reasonably squeeze in.
Kuldotha Forgemaster: Probably our worst tutor. He barely makes the cut IMO but I have decided to leave him in due to the abundance of recursion in this deck.
Recruiter of the Guard: Mostly says grab Toymaker but this guy can fetch the vast majority of our creatures in a pinch.
Thalia's Lancers: Can fetch Karn, a walker, or The Chain Veil. Also is a 4/4.
Loreseeker's Stone: One of our card draw engines. Can actually draw our deck off of a Chain Veil Gideon (CVG) combo. We generate a lot of mana and dump hand frequently so this card often is at a low cost.
Mind's Eye: One of our best draw engines.
Ring of Three Wishes: Another questionable tutor. It is expensive but we often have a lot of mana. Skyship Weatherlight could also go in this spot if you are willing to trade risk for cost.
Trading Post: One of the best value engines in the deck.
Enlightened Tutor: Fetches most of our pieces. Our best tutor.
Gideon's Resolve: Can also bring him back from the dead. Gideon Undead Paragon.
Karn, Scion of Urza: A bit unorthodox but a draw engine nonetheless.
Inventor's Fair: Another reliable tutor.
Cards on the Edge
Gideon liked to live on the edge. So do these cards that almost/just barely made the cut.
Sunseed Nurturer: 3 Mana for a dork that taps for colorless and has a pretty meh ability. The only reason he made the cut is because I thought it was charming how they could be both a divine and arcane spellcaster at the same time.
Land Tax: This card is kinda pricey but I like how it thins my library. Could be replaced with another dork.
Thunder Totem: Being like Guardian Idol and turning itself into a creature is appealing but I didn't like it at 3 mana.
Warden of Geometries: I like the vigilance but this dork is expensive for just one colorless mana.
Lotus Guardian: Not at 7 mana. Never :(
Elspeth Knight Errant: I would say this is a fair replacement for Gideon Ally of Zenkidar. I like Gideon for the anthem and being Gideon but Elspeth being able to jump Djeru to a 3 swing kill is pretty cool. Her Emblem is also pretty good against boardwipes.
Second Sunrise: I am still on the fence with this one. I don't like how it brings everything back but we do lose to wipes pretty hard. Faith's Reward doesn't seem like enough. I went with Selfless Spirit over this.
Mentor of the Meek: Maybe a more token/creature focused iteration could make more use of this but I ultimately didn't like the idea of having to play my hand in order to get more creatures with this deck.
Conclusion
Overall, this deck is a fun casual combo deck to play and to play against. I would recommend it for any combo player who may struggle to power down to a casual table or anyone who just wants to try something crazy and shuffle up some jank. No matter the motive for play, Chain Veil Gideon is sure to give some pause to anyone who says that Gideon isn't going to survive the latest block.
NEW: Karn, Mobilized District and Karn's Bastion from WAR
