The Cartouches and Trials in general are pretty cool and seem like they could be surprisingly good with the right support to recur certain effects (not game-breaking or anything, but passable choices, especially if you're on a budget), but I wish all the Cartouches were 1-drops. Then again, some of them would be pretty busted if that were the case... or at least give maybe too much value for 1 mana.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Well, at least we all know what the most expensive card at pre-order / release looks like now. He's definitely not as good as Ally of Zendikar, but Gideon of the Trials is still a 3 mana walker that can lock down a creature and potentially act as a bullet sponge late game.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Essence Scatter and Kefnet prove that blue control is going to continue to suck. They're giving us O-ring with a nerf and a cycling cantrip... bad.
Cantrips are spells with minor effects that also replace themselves by drawing a card. They're named after D&D cantrips which are minor spells that don't use up a spell slot. That cantrips in MTG don't "cost" you a card is analogous to D&D cantrips not using a spell slot. Cycling isn't a cantrip.
And this Gideon is good, but I think people are overestimating how good he is. He's pretty solid in a control deck but I'm not excited otherwise.
/Clap, clap
You get the award for being a nitpicky **** for no reason at all. Used for MTG cantrip is SLANG and it was so neat of you to look up the wiki definition too. My reference to drawing a card tacked onto the spell you're getting already at it's original cost of 3, plus one more for the flash, plus the ability to cycle and get a card as an option. It's not wrong for me to reference the effect that way nor is it helpful to the discussion to try sounding smart.
Of note here, starting loyalty at 3virtually 4 and Lightning Bolt is widely played.
Fixed that for you. Gids eats a bolt, blanks an attacker, pulls another attacker (or multiple if blockers), all for three mana, and this is if the opponent has bolt, and multiple attackers, by turn 3/4. Otherwise, feel free to blank an attacker each turn until you can afford to emblem, or even emblem before cashing in for (better) Ally of Zendikar. Heck, in a UW control deck, OG Gideon Jura is sometimes played, which is a beast at staying alive given some walls.
I'd love for this (and As Foretold) to push UW control to being playable in Modern, but there's still probably too much aggro in Modern for that.
What's egregious is that the Platinum Angel emblem isn't even a minus ability!
Lets also not forget there are literally three versions of Gideon standard legal right now due to them originally planning Gideon, ally of zendikar to rotate. With the amount of card draw they got in standard someone could easily make an 8 gideon control deck or 10 gideon control deck and do some seriously crazy stuff.
Basically, Gideon of the Trials is either the savior of the format from Mardu vehicles or the bane of our existence. It has the ability to forcibly stall an aggro deck for a turn or more and there aren't a lot of super good answers for him right now outside of Grasp of Darkness and maybe Ruinous Path.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
What's egregious is that the Platinum Angel emblem isn't even a minus ability!
Lets also not forget there are literally three versions of Gideon standard legal right now due to them originally planning Gideon, ally of zendikar to rotate. With the amount of card draw they got in standard someone could easily make an 8 gideon control deck or 10 gideon control deck and do some seriously crazy stuff.
Basically, Gideon of the Trials is either the savior of the format from Mardu vehicles or the bane of our existence. It has the ability to forcibly stall an aggro deck for a turn or more and there aren't a lot of super good answers for him right now outside of Grasp of Darkness and maybe Ruinous Path.
Another thing that bothers me is, from a flavor standpoint, why has Wizards been pushing planeswalkers like Gideon and the rest of the Gatewatch so much? Yes I know they're the centerpiece of the MTG storyline, but their story versions certainly do not have the same power level as their cards, especially when compared to planeswalkers who [in the story] are supposed to be more powerful yet got terrible cards.
Look at the most played planeswalkers in Standard in the last few blocks. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is the best planeswalker in Standard right now and probably maintained that reputation for quite some time. Some other notable ones are Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. Even the most expensive planeswalker card printed in the last couple years is a Gatewatch one, [card]Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]/card], which had an absurd price of almost $100.
Now compare those planeswalker cards to those of planeswalkers who are supposed to be more powerful in the story:
Sorin Markov - This guy is older than the entire Gatewatach combined. He created Avacyn, who maintained balance between races on an entire plane and is worshipped by humans as a powerful religious figure; yet she is only a creation of Sorin, so if Avacyn is a god, then Sorin is a god of a god. But look at his planeswalker cards: Sorin, Solemn Visitor saw only light play before he rotated and Sorin, Grim Nemesis is terrible right now; even many control decks would rather play Gideon than 6-mana Sorin.
Nahiri - Not as old as Sorin but still ancient compared to the Gatewatch members. She was able to warp the entire mana of a plane to summon Emrakul, established a cult following while summoning said Emrakul, and bested Sorin in combat. She is a little pricy now, but her price is sustained more so in Modern than Standard; in Standard, she is only in the sideboard if even played.
Ob Nixilis - He was able to defeat and capture three members of the Gatewatch and was [somehow] able to control the Eldrazi, which were creatures ravaging throughout an entire plane. But his planeswalker card: Ob Nixilis Reignited is practically a bulk mythic right now.
So what gives, Wizards? Not only can you not make more balanced planeswalkers, you also can't get their cards to properly reflect their characters in the storyline. At this rate, the new Nicol Bolas planeswalker in the next set is going to be some jank mythic that's never going to see play. What's going to happen in the story? Is Gideon supposed to single-handedly take out Bolas? Oooooooohhhhhhh
What's egregious is that the Platinum Angel emblem isn't even a minus ability!
Lets also not forget there are literally three versions of Gideon standard legal right now due to them originally planning Gideon, ally of zendikar to rotate. With the amount of card draw they got in standard someone could easily make an 8 gideon control deck or 10 gideon control deck and do some seriously crazy stuff.
Basically, Gideon of the Trials is either the savior of the format from Mardu vehicles or the bane of our existence. It has the ability to forcibly stall an aggro deck for a turn or more and there aren't a lot of super good answers for him right now outside of Grasp of Darkness and maybe Ruinous Path.
There are only 2 Gideons in standard.
Gideon, ally of zendikar, Gideon of the trials, Gideon Martial Paragon. The last one is from the planeswalker deck, so you have three standard legal gideons thus allowing up to 12 gideon PWs in a single deck. I don't think anyone is honestly going to play a full 12 gideons, but there they are.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Removal does nothing to this Gideon. They still get the emblem if you respond to his +0 with a Hero's Downfall-like effect. WotC should probably ban Ally of Zendikar if this gets out of control. And it will. What they REALLY need to do is print a colorless "Destroy target emblem" card.
Removal does nothing to this Gideon. They still get the emblem if you respond to his +0 with a Hero's Downfall-like effect. WotC should probably ban Ally of Zendikar if this gets out of control. And it will. What they REALLY need to do is print a colorless "Destroy target emblem" card.
Can you explain to me what you think his emblem does after you remove Gideon? Like, it literally requires you to control a Gideon to do anything at all. So I'd say Removal is pretty significant to this Gideon.
Curious that the Trials follow WUBRG order save for Strength, which is interjected between Knowledge and Ambition. Hazoret is thus the God responsible for executing those who pass the Trials, which is in-keeping with her obvious inspirations of Anubis and Wepwawet.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I would buy now if I were you- I feel like the only thing that could reduce that value
is him getting banned (which is a bigger fear than usual now, I suppose).
He's a WLiliana of the Veil, and he's going to see extensive play in multiple formats.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I would buy now if I were you- I feel like the only thing that could reduce that value
is him getting banned (which is a bigger fear than usual now, I suppose).
He's a WLiliana of the Veil, and he's going to see extensive play in multiple formats.
They have the same CMC, and that's where the similarity ends. You can't honestly compare the ability to bubble permanents and being a 4/4 for 3 to the extreme value engine that Lili provides. The emblem is gravy on top of Gideon's other functions. Outside of Ad Nauseam, all it does is keep your opponent honest because, unlike Platinum Angel, Gideon can be taken out by combat damage. By contrast, Lili's ultimate will almost certainly win the game on the spot if she sticks around long enough (although I did win once after being on the receiving end of it thrice).
Except for decks that use the emblem as a crutch, Amonkhet Gideon is probably going to lose his place to BFZ Gideon more often than not.
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Here's to hoping we get a promo or reprint of him with art where he looks his age? And has shaved a bit.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
The Cartouches and Trials in general are pretty cool and seem like they could be surprisingly good with the right support to recur certain effects (not game-breaking or anything, but passable choices, especially if you're on a budget), but I wish all the Cartouches were 1-drops. Then again, some of them would be pretty busted if that were the case... or at least give maybe too much value for 1 mana.
Wotc: -SHUT UP AND FINISH YOUR CEREAL.
I know, right?
It's better than the similar ability on Kiora, the Crashing Wave,
who is two colors and costs 1 more
That Gideon is so good that he could actually make Modern Control decks more viable.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
/Clap, clap
You get the award for being a nitpicky **** for no reason at all. Used for MTG cantrip is SLANG and it was so neat of you to look up the wiki definition too. My reference to drawing a card tacked onto the spell you're getting already at it's original cost of 3, plus one more for the flash, plus the ability to cycle and get a card as an option. It's not wrong for me to reference the effect that way nor is it helpful to the discussion to try sounding smart.
'Solid in a control deck', deep analysis. Thanks.
Fixed that for you. Gids eats a bolt, blanks an attacker, pulls another attacker (or multiple if blockers), all for three mana, and this is if the opponent has bolt, and multiple attackers, by turn 3/4. Otherwise, feel free to blank an attacker each turn until you can afford to emblem, or even emblem before cashing in for (better) Ally of Zendikar. Heck, in a UW control deck, OG Gideon Jura is sometimes played, which is a beast at staying alive given some walls.
I'd love for this (and As Foretold) to push UW control to being playable in Modern, but there's still probably too much aggro in Modern for that.
Lets also not forget there are literally three versions of Gideon standard legal right now due to them originally planning Gideon, ally of zendikar to rotate. With the amount of card draw they got in standard someone could easily make an 8 gideon control deck or 10 gideon control deck and do some seriously crazy stuff.
Basically, Gideon of the Trials is either the savior of the format from Mardu vehicles or the bane of our existence. It has the ability to forcibly stall an aggro deck for a turn or more and there aren't a lot of super good answers for him right now outside of Grasp of Darkness and maybe Ruinous Path.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
There are only 2 Gideons in standard.
Look at the most played planeswalkers in Standard in the last few blocks. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is the best planeswalker in Standard right now and probably maintained that reputation for quite some time. Some other notable ones are Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. Even the most expensive planeswalker card printed in the last couple years is a Gatewatch one, [card]Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]/card], which had an absurd price of almost $100.
Now compare those planeswalker cards to those of planeswalkers who are supposed to be more powerful in the story:
Sorin Markov - This guy is older than the entire Gatewatach combined. He created Avacyn, who maintained balance between races on an entire plane and is worshipped by humans as a powerful religious figure; yet she is only a creation of Sorin, so if Avacyn is a god, then Sorin is a god of a god. But look at his planeswalker cards: Sorin, Solemn Visitor saw only light play before he rotated and Sorin, Grim Nemesis is terrible right now; even many control decks would rather play Gideon than 6-mana Sorin.
Nahiri - Not as old as Sorin but still ancient compared to the Gatewatch members. She was able to warp the entire mana of a plane to summon Emrakul, established a cult following while summoning said Emrakul, and bested Sorin in combat. She is a little pricy now, but her price is sustained more so in Modern than Standard; in Standard, she is only in the sideboard if even played.
Ob Nixilis - He was able to defeat and capture three members of the Gatewatch and was [somehow] able to control the Eldrazi, which were creatures ravaging throughout an entire plane. But his planeswalker card: Ob Nixilis Reignited is practically a bulk mythic right now.
So what gives, Wizards? Not only can you not make more balanced planeswalkers, you also can't get their cards to properly reflect their characters in the storyline. At this rate, the new Nicol Bolas planeswalker in the next set is going to be some jank mythic that's never going to see play. What's going to happen in the story? Is Gideon supposed to single-handedly take out Bolas? Oooooooohhhhhhh
Gideon, ally of zendikar, Gideon of the trials, Gideon Martial Paragon. The last one is from the planeswalker deck, so you have three standard legal gideons thus allowing up to 12 gideon PWs in a single deck. I don't think anyone is honestly going to play a full 12 gideons, but there they are.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Hearthstone joke aside, Gideon... yeah, I guess that.... works? Interesting how his 1st ability indirectly helps his emblem.
Came here to post it, just to find out you beat me
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Slithering Donkboar 1GG
Creature - Donkey Boar
When Slithering Donkboar comes into play, name an oppressive Mythic Rare. Your opponents can't cast cards or activate abilities of the named card.
If your opponent casts a Gideon, Saheeli Rai, or Heart of Kiran, throw it in the trash.
2/4
- Brian Braun-Duin
Awesome
What is that supposed to be?
Look at his post. The image of all the five cartouches united into one.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
I had just noticed that and was about to post about it. Definitely a neat touch. It also confirms the order of the Trials:
Curious that the Trials follow WUBRG order save for Strength, which is interjected between Knowledge and Ambition. Hazoret is thus the God responsible for executing those who pass the Trials, which is in-keeping with her obvious inspirations of Anubis and Wepwawet.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I would buy now if I were you- I feel like the only thing that could reduce that value
is him getting banned (which is a bigger fear than usual now, I suppose).
He's a W Liliana of the Veil, and he's going to see extensive play in multiple formats.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
They have the same CMC, and that's where the similarity ends. You can't honestly compare the ability to bubble permanents and being a 4/4 for 3 to the extreme value engine that Lili provides. The emblem is gravy on top of Gideon's other functions. Outside of Ad Nauseam, all it does is keep your opponent honest because, unlike Platinum Angel, Gideon can be taken out by combat damage. By contrast, Lili's ultimate will almost certainly win the game on the spot if she sticks around long enough (although I did win once after being on the receiving end of it thrice).
Except for decks that use the emblem as a crutch, Amonkhet Gideon is probably going to lose his place to BFZ Gideon more often than not.