Gideon Spellslingers Strategies and Decklists

I’ve been a longtime fan of Gideon as a spellslinger since season 1 and I must say even today he remains one of the most fun spellslingers to use if you are a fan of high tempo play and synergistic gameplay. Unfortunately, recent nerfs to Gideon along with a hostile meta full of Teferi, one of his toughest matchups, Gideon has fallen off the radar of most high level players. With the promise of a new patch hitting the game in early February, and the possible balance changes that may come with it I wanted to revisit Gideon to see if he could still hang in such a hostile metagame.

Gideon is the quintessential white weenie archetype in Magic Spellslingers. His principal strategy is to quickly assemble a powerful board presence, using stat increasing spells like Oath of the Paladin to carry forward the momentum generated in early turns to overpower the opponent into the mid-game. Gideon has the ability to splash 6 cards of a second color, giving him some flexibility in builds.

Flavors of Gideon

Playing with Gideon is a balancing act between attacking into your opponents blockers, and leaving behind enough of a board presence to continue to activate Gideon’s bonus attack. Because of this, Gideon enjoys creatures that are resilient and sticky as well as creatures that generate extra cards as they are played. I believe the best way to construct Gideon with the current card pool is through prioritizing these aspects.

Blue Gideon

Gideon1

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This is a traditional UW Paragon build of Gideon that I’ve been using for the Blue Takes a Vacation event. Once this deck takes the board, it is difficult for almost any deck to win it back before Gideon takes them out. At the same time, sometimes the deck can feel like it is spinning it’s wheels if you are unable to find an appropriate time to play Paragon of Balance. If you would like to play this build on the normal ladder, I would recommend including Negates to combat Liliana and Lava Wave from Domri.

Black Gideon

Gideon2

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This black Gideon deck utilizes creatures with attack triggers and shielding effects to allow you to get double the value from each attack. Blessed Rebirth can surprise an opponent while allowing you to attack with everything even if there are some unfavorable trades waiting in the red zone. Pair it with Devoted Cathar for an instant neverending army.

Green Gideon

Gideon3

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Lastly, here is an experimental Gideon brew splashing Green. The goal is to utilize Champion’s Grit, Restoration Angel and Moorland Haunt to create large Attack Yaks and Tarmagoyfs to take over the game. The deck is also filled with a lot of debut abilities to take advantage of in order to press your attack well into the late game.

Thanks for reading and keep brewing!