Why I hate Gideon

Gideon Jura is arguably the 3rd best Planeswalker ever printed (behind JTMS and Elspeth, Knight Errant), in spite of the hurdle it must cross. That hurdle? It's CMC of five.
It is, after all, an unwritten law that PWs with CMC of 5 or more are worse than PWs with CMCs of 4 or less. Many a dream has been crushed, including those of Elspeth Tirel, Karn Liberated, Venser, The Sojourner, and Chandra Ablaze. Even the original Tezzeret, The Seeker would have been better for a 4 cmc!

So, with Gideon flying in the face of all the rules, why should I hate it? The very nature of the card feels...wrong.
Just look at it! The thing is a veritable meat shield. It has the 2nd highest starting loyalty of any PW (Sarkhan the Mad, and is tied with Karn Liberated). The difference? Where Karn comes down late (making him vulnerable to poor board position) and Sarkhan kills himself, Gideon comes down hard and fast, dominating the board. It requires SUBSTANTIAL board presence to plow through Gideon's +2!

And the +2 is another issue. Forcing enemy creatures to attack is a historically Red ability. Forcing enemy creatures into a "Lightning Rod" style effect shows up in Green and Blue (Redirect/Spellskite, Lure). So why should a White walker have it? I get that they're chivalrous and all, but how does Selflessness justify colorshifting that ability into white?

The -2 doesn't help much. Look at Royal Assassin and Assassinate, and TELL ME that it's a traditionally white ability. They colorshifted Royal Assassin- AND put it on a planeswalker?

0. Just...0. He becomes a 6/6. This can be taken to reflect his nature as a soldier, sure. And pretty much every white PW has SOMETHING to do with creatures as the Ultimate. Ajani summons an avatar. Elspeth makes emblems. But Gideon punches the enemy in the face, then runs away. To me, that would be like having a player "fight," a creature. The PWers are supposed to be similar to other mages, yes? So why does this one have such a tendency for just smashing face? Garruk and Koth both have violent tendencies, and neither do anything of the sort. Elspeth is a soldier too, but she commands her troops. Hell, Nicol Bolas is a dragon, and he doesn't just Fireball the enemy.

My thoughts on the card:
#1 Too efficient. Seriously, it's a control player's wet dream.

#2 Too much colorshifting.

#3 Not flavorful in the slightest. Sarkhan The Mad kills himself, but also lashes out at the enemy in a Blood mage style, using an Iconic Black ability as his 0, fusing Red Dragons and Black destruction with his -2, and his ultimate represents some sort of final revenge. I love Sarkhan 2.0 for a lot of those reasons. Karn Liberated shows off his godlike status. He can pick at the thoughts of enemies, he can unmake things, and for his ultimate? He reminds us that he is the Legacy Weapon, but also the Creator of Mirrodin. It shows him simply undoing all that which he dislikes, and remaking the world to his pleasure. Planeswalkers usually REWARD a Vorthos, by being richly flavorful without needing to use a Type or Flavor Text to do it. Gideon? The whole card deals with fighting. Just fighting. His +2 is him holding a line, his -2 is retaliation, and his 0 is him wading into the thick of it. There's not an ounce of personality to the card!

Even the highly robotic Elspeth has cards which reflect her personality, with EKE showing us her fear of loss, and Elspeth Tirel showing us that there are few lines she's not willing to cross in order to get revenge (it's Planar Cleansing more or less. This is a sight that unnerves Sorin.

And that, my friends, is why Gideon Jura is my 2nd most hated Planeswalker. Jace the Mindsculptor is in first, for obvious reasons.
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Zelderex

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