Hey guys! I'm looking for feedback and discussion on the burly frontman of the Gatewatch in the Modern format.
Since the Planeswalker legend rule change in Ixalan, I've wanted to do Gideon Tribal. At that time, most brews were B/W and the mana base was too pricy for me in order to play the deck consistently. Since, I've been able to make some adjustments and hit a critical mass of solid Gideons with War of the Spark giving us arguably the second best Gideon right behind Ally of Zendikar. The goal of the deck is simple: Play Gideon walkers and use their abilities to overwhelm an opponent with multiple indestructible beaters. There are bonus points for Gideon flavor now that we have his spellbook for some cards.
This deck has the potential to be viable with a decent, but not great curve, and being able to play a lot of answers as a midrange style deck. Matchups get noticeably better after game 1, but game 1 has the surprise factor of multiple walkers that the opponent may not have answers to. Also, many of our cards are three of's due to legend rule, but some others have weird numbers because we have three of's in other slots. Trust me, for having odd amounts of cards in the deck irks me too.
Below, I've broken down why each card is in the deck, starting with the Gideons.
Gideon of the Trials
- This card makes the deck super frustrating to play against, coming down on three and making an emblem that keeps us in the game as long as we have a Gideon. And we have many, many, Gideons. Also can uptick to prevent damage from a thing, but mostly starts of the curve of being a 4/4 clock, which is pretty solid for modern. (looking at you
Thrun, the Last Troll
and
Hollow One
).
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- One of the most powerful white walkers in existence, Gideon, Ally protects himself with a token, he upticks to become a 5/5, and he can emblem right away to anthem our creatures for the rest of the game. Solid dude, definitely invite him to your wedding.
Gideon Jura
- The Big daddy Gideon, Jura becomes a 6/6, facilitates our other creatures, and is a huge finisher. This is the K.O. Punch of the deck. We're talking
Gideon's Reproach
to the jaw of the opponent.
Gideon Blackblade
- The newest Buff man to the party, blackblade becomes his creature self each turn, and gives a plus to buff his fellow selves, or can "ultimate" to take down whatever troublesome thing is in the way of winning.
Kytheon, Hero of Akros
- At first, I wasn't sold on the kid, but Savannah lions is a pretty good card. Filling our one slot is very needed, and with a few tokens or big brothers, he can grow up to fight alongside the rest of him. Sometimes will eat early removal too, leaving an opponent open to another Gideon.
Gideon, Champion of Justice
- Lastly, in the sideboard we have one large man, and his job is to come in against aggro, provide a secondary life total, and sometimes win the matchup in one snap of his fingers. That and I'm not sold on him maindeck, which is why I'm trying out...
The Wanderer
- One of my favorite new walkers in terms of lore, (alongside
Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
) The Wanderer is important because she can shut down burn-style removal, and can shut some opponents out the game, while also using her downtick to get rid of anything big enough to contest a Gideon. She was seen fighting alongside Gideon once or twice, too, so she flows with the flavor for me.
Support Cards
Heart of Kiran
- Flying beater crewed by loyalty? Yes, please. Comes down turn two to swing as early as turn three to start the clock. Also can beat up a Looter Scooter, (
Smuggler's Copter
) so there's that.
Ixalan's Binding
- There are a million O-ring's in the format, but this one can stop people from casting their win cons until it's dealt with. Can also hit stax pieces, troublesome artifacts, enchants, and anything else that would stop a strike force of large man's from kicking down the gates of our opponents will to play magic.
Path to Exile
- One of the best removal spells in the format showing our man at work. God Bless, WOTC. In all honesty, great catch all for creatures, but can be easily boarded out if an opponent is a plan that wins outside of creatures.
Wrath of God
- Casting a board wipe on enemy aggro players? Satisfying. Casting a board wipe on combo players? Entertaining. Casting board wipes while losing nothing to them? Priceless. Hotel? Trivago.
Fine I got it out of my system, whoo, seriusly though, format staple for a reason, and having The Indestructibles to live through it means it's all upside for us. Only two of main deck, one in the board, just not sure how much they're needed in the main.
Gideon's Triumph
- A new card that I'm testing that's a great way to protect our walkers outside of tokens. Making an opponent sac hits any power/toughness, gets through protection and/or hexproof, and catches flyers where we normally couldn't. Liking this card a lot, just don't know if it's powerful enough to be a four-of yet. Testing, testing, testing...
Deploy the Gatewatch
- For me, running sixish walkers (at ~14ish copies depending on build) means that this card can hit its value for us. It's not as consistent as I would like considering how many walkers we run, and going straight to the battlefield is great, but the heavy cost makes it counter fodder, or just hard to cast in the early game. Overall, not as reliable as I would like, but can get us back in the game or close one out, so only two copies at the moment.
Lands
Ghost Quarter
- A Solid catch-all, hits stuff like tron, man lands, and field of the dead to break up other high-value lands.
Windbrisk Heights
- Solid utility land for the mid-game, but I rarely get the casting off when it matters. Take it or leave it, potentially for utility like
Castle Ardenvale
or even
Legion's Landing
for more token producers.
Sideboard: Lastly in the board we have;
Disenchant
- Two of for a solid catch all. There are many different versions of this effect, but any form needs to be an instant for maximum disruption. That's the important part.
Gideon's Intervention
- Here as a mix of flavor, and a way to shut out a win con early on in the game. Similar to
Ixalan's Binding
so it's a one-of.
Gideon, Champion of Justice
- explained in the gideon section, but meant to be a second health pool, essentially. can also clean things up as a pseudo wrath in the long run of a board-stall.
Kataki, War's Wage
- I found out about this card for hosing people in commander, and boy can this guy put in work for us. Bit of a non-bo with
Heart of Kiran
, so you might want to swap them. Destroys mass artifact strategies for us, and starts the clock early.
Leyline of Sanctity
- Formerly one of the most expensive pieces of tech we had, the recent reprints mean you can shut off burn and discard to protect us while Gideon gets the game under control.
Rest in Peace
- Oh hey, more Gideon love on one of our most important pieces of tech. Hosing any and every graveyard strat, this card will stop dredge, reanimator, and the like while our deck doesn't use the graveyard, and is unaffected.
Stony Silence
- More artifact hate, but in a different way. This turns all of our enemies artifacts into just rocks. Not even mana rocks, just rocks. But just like someone once said to me, 'never trust quiet rocks.' Alright, no one ever said, that, but you get the gist. bring it in to stop them artifact strats.
Wrath of God
- The third copy is in our sideboard while I try out
The Wanderer
and
Gideon's Triumph
. Mass removal alternatives that I also considered includes:
Settle the Wreckage
,
Declaration in Stone
and
Winds of Abandon
Hope you guys enjoy the decklist, and please, leave some feedback on what you think!
P.S. Some of you guys may notice, an earlier version of the deck included
Leonin Arbiter
&
Aven Mindcensor
. This is from when the deck had less Gideon's and more of a plan to hose fetches and tutors to slow down multicolored and/or combo opponents. It's certainly a viable way to play to play the deck, but is a more hate-oriented decklist, that can really mess up certain decks while not affecting others. They are potential sideboard cards though, as the effects are quite powerful.
