Gideon Pact (Control)

Modern Control Jank Midrange RBW (Mardu) Superfriends Tribal

Camrakul

Land (22)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 4x Concealed Courtyard
• 2x Godless Shrine
• 4x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Plains
• 2x Shambling Vent
• 4x Swamp

Creature (4)

• 4x Dark Confidant

Instant (12)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 4x Glorious End
• 4x Pact of Negation
• 3x Spoils of the Vault

Planeswalker (7)

• 1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 2x Gideon Jura
• 4x Gideon of the Trials

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Harmless Offering
• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 2x Wrath of God

Enchantment (5)

• 3x Demonic Pact
• 2x Leyline of Sanctity

Artifact (3)

• 3x Heart of Kiran

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Sideboard

Instant (5)

• 2x Anguished Unmaking
• 2x Path to Exile
• 1x Surgical Extraction

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Gideon Jura

Enchantment (6)

• 2x Blood Moon
• 2x Rest in Peace
• 2x Stony Silence

Sorcery (3)

• 2x Crumble to Dust
• 1x Wrath of God

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I am currently trying out two versions of decks that take advantage of the upcoming rules change that allows multiple Gideons of different names on the battlefield at the same time. This one is more Control. Click here to check out the Tokens version

Overview

The main gameplan is to get Gideon of Trials and his emblem out as quickly as possible. From there we lock the opponent out of playing anything while we beatdown with Gideons and Heart of Kiran. We use card-draw to find the Gideon of the Trials ASAP and also to replenish our hand with counters.

Here's what we're dealing with:

Gideons

He is the focal point of the deck and we want him out turn 3-5. Typically you'll emblem right away and then attack with him as a creature on subsequent turns, but he can fog out a problem until a wrath comes down. Until another Gideon is in play, it is often best to hold off attacking into open mana or risk having him removed. The second best Gideon is Jura. By such a margin that he is worth playing 2-3 copies. He is our highest CMC and therefore hurts a bit more when flipped by Dark Confidant, but multiple copies also makes him easier to find - and feasible to name with Spoils of the Vault. He will usually kill a creature when cast and then +2 on the second turn to force an attack by the opponent. PRO TIP: When your opponent is forced to attack with everything, cast a Glorious End before damage and then counter-attack to an open board, usually for 14 damage(Gideon of the Trials, Gideon Jura, Heart of Kiran).Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Gideon, Champion of Justice are pretty equal in this deck in my opinion, and it can be useful to have one of them out as another removal requirement for the opponent. I ultimately chose a single of Ally because turning him into a creature is a +1 (which is typically what you always want to use) which makes it easier to crew Heart of Kiran continually.

Counters

Once Gideon of the Trials' emblem is in play, both our counters can be cast without having to worry about the severe penalties. Pact of Negation is the quick counter with no restrictions, and is convenient to play when needed during the opponent's turn right after you've cast a Gideon. It also keeps the opponent on edge because it is playable even when completely tapped out. It will often win the game against a combo decks that are going off while thinking they're safe because you have no available mana Glorious End is the harder counter that works against everything. It can stop any spell, even with cast triggers. It can stop a full attack. It can even stop Planeswalker activations. Partnering it with Gideon Jura's +2 ability will usually win the game.

Gas

This is our early game card draw to find GoT as quickly as possible. We don't have any high casting-cost cards to worry about, and life total becomes less of a concern once the GoT emblem is out. We also don't mind if he dies later to our Wraths as he has hopefully done his job by then, and maybe even got some attack damage. He is usually worth a chump block to save a Gideon once it's out. Demonic Pact is the midgame gas that provides so much value for just 4 mana. It replenishes our counters, kills off problems, replenishes life that we've been squandering (if that becomes relevant), and can even be a win condition with our silver-bullet Harmless Offering. If you're worried about Gideons being removed, you can choose "Lose the Game" first when you still have the cheat-death protection. This is our spell that tries to make sure everything runs as we want it to. All of our card-advantage involves increasing the chance of dying, which normally isn't a concern with the Gideon emblem in play. However, Spoils of the Vault is often used before that in order to find the first Gideon of the Trials quicker. Most often it has the potential to cause 3-8 damage, but that is at the beginning of the game. Since it is just one black mana cost and instant speed, you can usually search up a Pact of Negation when absolutely needed. Wrath of God is a good target when the opponent's board goes wide quickly. The last spell to often target is Harmless Offering when Demonic Pact is about to expire on "Lose the Game" - especially good against decks that are hard to kill conventionally, like Soul Sisters. In a pinch, I've even used it to hit a land drop.

Support

Heart of Kiran comes down early and can block or beatdown in the air. It is almost exclusively crewed by removing counters from Gideons. It is surprising how often the opponent forgets you can crew it and attacks in with a smaller creature.

Then we have a few support cards that can just win the game against the right opponent. These are all ideal targets for Spoils of the Vault when the opportunity arises:

Leyline of Sanctity is in the mainboard to protect against discard. Obviously, it is pretty crucial that we do not get Gideon of the Trials extracted before dropping the emblem. Against decks like Storm, Leyline is gameover.

Blood Moon is another card that can just win when cast. It's in the sideboard, but just having the deck built around playing with it means it is less of a threat when opponent's play it.

Rest in Peace is gameover against graveyard decks and Stony Silence the same against artifact-dependent ones. Harmless Offering with Demonic Pact can finish most decks, but is especially good against prison decks.

Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think - much appreciated.

Top Ranked	Achieved #64 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 5 Mythic Rares 25 - 8 Rares 4 - 2 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.45
Tokens	Emblem Gideon of the Trials, Emblem Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Knight Ally 2/2 W
Folders	fun combo
Based on	Bob and Gid's Excellent Adventure Camrakul MDN