Gideon, the Champion of Justice
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 3, 2013, 11:54 a.m. by The_Darkhorse
New Gideon is/has been out.
+1: Put a loyalty counter on Gideon, Champion of Justice for each creature target opponent controls.
0: Until end of turn, Gideon becomes an indestructible Human Soldier creature with power and toughness each equal to the number of loyalty counters on him. He's still a planeswalker. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to him this turn.
-15: Exile all other permanents.
Jus wondering what people think of him and how/if he'll see play
Yeah, you'd have to combo him into a creature heavy deck of your own in able to keep him from getting killed.
January 3, 2013 12:25 p.m.
I don't like him, I feel like it was a bad design flaw for a standard deck but is great for fun casual games that can last a while
January 3, 2013 12:28 p.m.
Very torn about what he offers in competitive play. It could work out in a control deck, but it seems like you'd need to much protection to make it work. But things like Blustersquall or Divine Deflection or Fog would allow him to get scary really quickly. Maybe that was there thought, he can go into inst-Fog decks and be the final blow after stalling for 3 turns.
January 3, 2013 12:45 p.m.
I had a very negative view of him at first... then I thought about it for a while, and thought, "Yup.. not great.".... then I thought about it a bit longer, and thought, "Not as bad as I first thought."... now I'm at a "hmmmm... could be viable if done right."
Reasoning for this:
Negative issues: 1) When cast, he has no way of having an immediate effect on the board. I mean, even the worst Planeswalkers (I'm looking at you Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded ), have a chance of doing SOMETHING the turn they hit.
2) His level of power when he does something is based on the opponents board state, thus limiting usefulness in terms of meta that he is good against as well as deck types he can go in. He would be horrible in a traditional 'board-wiping' control style deck, as you want your opponent to have creatures in play when he hits the board.
3) His ultimate severely limits his usefulness as it will only go off when playing against real creature-heavy decks... and those deck types will cut through him before it can go off.
Redeeming Qualities that may make him viable: 1) White has access lot of removal (Terminus , and Supreme Verdict ...). With this, you only need to keep him in play for 1 turn to use him powerfully. Cast, +1, Next turn either +1 then mass wipe or mass wipe and attack.
2) Although no immediate board effect, he can be powerful quickly, thus he has to be taken care of right away. This will often mean an all out attack against him when the opponent may not want to.
3) His ultimate may not commonly be used, but when it does even if he's a 3/3 or 4/4, it will often be game ending as it will be a few turns before most opponents have enough land and the right cards to have an appropriate answer.... this is especially true as he is indestructible and prevents all (not just combat) damage to him while a creature.
January 3, 2013 12:58 p.m.
hollandboys says... #7
He isn't GREAT. But he is usable. He is definitely better than Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded , but he needs a deck built around him and you can't be relying on him. His ultimate is TERRIBLE. One of the worst I've seen. But there is no reason to ever use it when you have his 0 effect. As long as you can protect him you +1 until he is so big they have to block and you give him trample with Selesnya Charm . Game over. I made a deck using him and other walkers, deck:this-aint-junk-gatecrash, that I think will run pretty smoothly. I'm going to start testing it tonight with my buddy.
January 3, 2013 1:05 p.m.
I'm going to opt for 'extremely disappointed' when it comes to this Gideon. He has uses and could be a force in the right situation but I feel like that situation is extremely narrow and is more or less at a point where you are dominating the game anyway.
January 3, 2013 2:29 p.m.
hollandboys says... #10
He's decent for turbofog, but better in superfriends in my opinion. A lot of other walkers, such as Ajani, Caller of the Pride , Garruk, Primal Hunter , Sorin, Lord of Innistrad , Jace, Architect of Thought , and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage synchronize very well with Gideon 2.0
January 3, 2013 3:11 p.m.
How does he synchronize with tamiyo or ajani, especially tamiyo.
January 3, 2013 3:15 p.m.
How does he synchronize with tamiyo or ajani, especially tamiyo.
January 3, 2013 3:15 p.m.
How does he synchronize with tamiyo or ajani, especially tamiyo?
January 3, 2013 3:15 p.m.
How does he synchronize with tamiyo or ajani, especially tamiyo?
January 3, 2013 3:16 p.m.
Sorry that was me, Ornithopters screwed me up and logged me out.
January 3, 2013 3:17 p.m.
He would work well with Ajani, Caller of the Pride by Ajani giving him Flying and Doublestrike... even if he's only 5/5 because the opponent had no creatures durring the +1, it's 10 damage. (I can just imaging Ajani picking up Gideon and hurling him at another Planeswalker.)
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage taps the biggest creature that gave him a bonus counter when he +1'd.... essentially guarding him until he can swing, just as Jace would do. As well, if he attacks all-out on Gideon, that could mean a lot of cards to draw on your turn.
Epochalyptik says... #2
The creature- and token-heavy decks he'd be good against will kill him almost instantly. His ultimate also makes his 0 pretty weak as a finisher unless you luck out on his +1.
January 3, 2013 12:03 p.m.