As long as it's your turn, Gideon Blackblade is a 4/4 Human Soldier Creature with Indestructible that's still a planeswalker.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to Gideon Blackblade during your turn.
+1: Up to one other target creature of your choice gains Vigilance, Lifelink or Indestructible until end of turn.
-6: Exile target nonland permanent
Starting Loyalty: 4(edited)
I guess 1 really cool thing with this guy is you can cast him +1, and if he sticks around / and does not lose loyalty, turn 4 give a creature you control indestructible and wrath the board keeping your best creature. turn 6 exile whatever they put into play and then win the game. Not sure how often this would happen, but the sequencing is easily doable.
Seems so pushed, but also so interchangeable with the dozen or so other broken 1WW beaters. I do think he looks like the best in his slot, but I wouldn’t blink twice if I had to run Mirran Crusader, Hallowed Spiritkeeper or Brimaz, King of Oreskos instead
Seems so pushed, but also so interchangeable with the dozen or so other broken 1WW beaters. I do think he looks like the best in his slot, but I wouldn’t blink twice if I had to run Mirran Crusader, Hallowed Spiritkeeper or Brimaz, King of Oreskos instead
All of this exactly. This is so boneheadedly good, but also kinda just boring.
I disagree strongly that this card is better than Brimaz. This Gideon does precisely nothing if you're behind on board presence. I'm not sure it should crack cubes of 450 cards or smaller, in fact.
I was originally pretty high on this card, but I've since backed off a little. It's still good, but he's really contingent on having other bodies out or he's pretty fragile. But it's still a good 4/4 beater for 3 mana, and it can still gift good upsides to your other bodies, and it can still build towards exiling stuff. I'll likely try it, but I'm not as excited as I was a first blush.
Good card, but I'm not sure it makes the cut at 450. I will likely test over Mirror Entity, but I don't think I want to cut anything else in my white section for it.
I feel like this is pretty close in power to Gideon, of the Trials and I'm ever so slightly leaning towards Trials Gideon as the superior walker. He's just more flexible. Both can beat for 4 as a 3 drop, but Trials Gideon can save your bacon when you are behind on the board and Blackblade cannot. I do like that Gideon Blackblade can completely shift a board state by buffing one of your other dudes and I feel like he will be absurd in midrange v. midrange or aggro v. aggro games where there are lots of creatures on both sides of the board. I don't think that scenario is common enough to give Blackblade the edge over Trials though and I think I'll go with the more flexible and widely applicable walker.
This card is insane when you have got the things going for you and are on the offense, as he beats hard while making your other important creatures able to swing without dying. He is also crazy in the aggro racing, where he can beat for 4 and give the very important lifelink or vigilance. Being a 4/4 gideon while upticking and boosting one other creature, makes him much much stronger as a beater than Gideon of the Trials, only brings the 4/4 and stays at 3 loyalty, making him boltable. Blackblade lacks the utility and defensive measures of Gideon of the Trials, Bladeblade does nearly nothing on defense. He can't block, all his buffs only last the turn, and giving lifelink costs you a blocker, while Vigilance just lets you hurt your opponent. While he is best with another creature, he is still a 4/4 alone, and most cards in cube have situations where they suck and shine, Gideon is one of the more narrow shiny cards.
This combined with him just being another gideon planeswalker, costing double white that only helps you at what white does best anyway, doesn't really make him a card you desire to have in your cube for anything but sheer power reasons.
I believe he is that storng, and I will be testing him. He threatens a sorcery Utter End at turn 5, so your opponent can't just defend. And I think he can force defensive games into being races, which can be interesting.
Damn, not being able to target himself makes me far less excited. I think I just like gideon of the trials more, and I don't really want 2 3cc gideons that do basically the same thing.
Damn, not being able to target himself makes me far less excited. I think I just like gideon of the trials more, and I don't really want 2 3cc gideons that do basically the same thing.
I have the same struggle right now. I really do like this Gideon, but Gideon of the Trials is slightly more interesting and flexible, even if the raw power on this one's a little higher. White three-drops, especially creatures and pseudo-creatures, are probably the most competitive spot in cube, and is also where I have some of my most beloved personal picks like Stonecloaker. Do I just want to have 10 white 'walkers in my 720? Do I want to powermax? Probably not, so Blackblade might not be able to make it in even though he seems super fun.
Good card, but I'm not sure it makes the cut at 450. I will likely test over Mirror Entity, but I don't think I want to cut anything else in my white section for it.
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This is exactly where I'm at regarding a potential cut. I don't think he edges anything else out, but may be worth the slot over Mirror Entity.
This probably gets there, but as many others have said, it's kind of boring. On it's own, it's better than something like Mirror Entity, but Mirror Entity is just way more interesting of a cube card. I might pass simply because it's just not really that interesting from a cube perspective.
Gideon Blackblade is essentially a 4/4 for 4 that trades away the ability to be killed Terror / sweeper effects for dying to being attacked. The +1 is pretty underwhelming most of the time. It's definitely no Gideon of the Trials, and I don't think he's any better than Brimaz. Strong card, but it's essentially just a stat monster planeswalker that can't protect itself. I like my other 3-cmc white options more unless you really want to push your white section more towards aggro.
I guess I just don’t see why I would want to play this over Gideon of the Trials? This is significantly more vulnerable since it can’t reliably protect itself and you don’t get to control when it becomes a creature. The creature buffs aren’t insignificant, but they don’t add any power to your attacking force. A big part of GotT’s appeal to me was that you could actually play it defensively, which this card is extremely bad at.
In a different thread I thought I might replace Mirror entity, but now I remembered Gideon of the Trials and I like that version better. But for now I am sticking with Mirror Entity because of the token / go wide support.
This is mostly a 3 mana 4/4 that dies to different things. I’d rather play AKH Gid, and there are a lot of 3 cmc creatures that I prefer to AKH Gid anyway. Sometimes your opponent has creatures and you need to catch back up. A 3 mana “creature” that can’t block and gets attacked to death is atrocious is those spots.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I'm unsure about this gideon. It's certainly a good card, but is it good enough?
First off, comparisons to gideon of the trials are natural, but they actually perform different rolls.
This is clearly more effective in an agressive shell and borderline unplayable in the main deck of a control shell.
Whereas Gideon of the trials is great in a control shell and mediocore (but playable) in an agressive shell.
This gideon seems like a nightmare for controlish decks to deal with. Dodges mass removal, and can give a creature vigilance if necessary to protect gideon from chip damage.
If your desire is to get agressive, Gideon Blackblade increases it's loyalty , while Gideon of the Trials stays the same... The -6 is far from flavour text. If the opponent is looking to stabalize with a big threat, having the option to remove it is a valuable option.
In agro mirrors, Blackblade is not great, but going to 5 loyalty and giving another creature lifelink can be pretty big game.
The question I'm trying to ask myself, is if Gideon Blackblade is better in agro, than gideon of the trials is in control.. Gideon of the trials is a more archtype versatile card, so if the answer to my question is unclear after testing, I'll probably stick with gideon of the trials. I predict I will end up sticking with gideon of the trials.
They are too similar in feel for me to want to run both. Functionally similar cards are fine when they both serve a desired roll, of their power level is high enough, but that's not the case with either gideon imo.
First off, comparisons to Gideon of the trials are natural, but they actually perform different rolls.
This is clearly more effective in an aggressive shell and borderline unplayable in the main deck of a control shell.
Whereas Gideon of the trials is great in a control shell and mediocre (but playable) in an aggressive shell.
This gideon seems like a nightmare for controlish decks to deal with. Dodges mass removal, protects another creature from wraths, and can give a creature vigilance if necessary to protect gideon from chip damage.
If your desire is to get agressive, Gideon Blackblade increases it's loyalty , while Gideon of the Trials stays the same... The -6 is far from flavour text. If the opponent is looking to stabalize with a big threat, having the option to remove it is a valuable option.
In agro mirrors, Blackblade is not great, but going to 5 loyalty and giving another creature lifelink can be pretty big game.
The question I'm trying to ask myself, is if Gideon Blackblade is better in agro, than gideon of the trials is in control.. Gideon of the trials is a more archtype versatile card, so if the answer to my question is unclear after testing, I'll probably stick with gideon of the trials.
They are too similar in feel for me to want to run both. Functionally similar cards are fine when they both serve a desired roll, of their power level is high enough, but that's not the case with either gideon imo.
I agree with your main point about both going to different archetypes, but I have a correction: Gideon grants the abilities only until end of turn. It will not protect your other creatures from sorcery speed removals.
I'm going to give this a shot at 720 if I can get my hands on one; I don't think I'd bother at smaller cube numbers. I agree that he's a bit "boringly good", like Gisela, but boringly good is still good. He's really tough to block profitably and can't be ignored for long. He can take any random creature you've got and make a competent blocker out of it, by giving vigilance to a big thing or indestructible to a small thing; he can help another creature swing you back into the game if your life total is low. I don't expect his ultimate to be relevant all that often.
He just strongly fits what aggressive white decks want to do, and forces opponents to conform to your gameplan. Produce planeswalker removal or have a successful creature-based offense. I know most of the time I don't want to see this show up on the opposing battlefield, and that's good enough to get a closer look in my book.
Gideon Blackblade 1WW
As long as it's your turn, Gideon Blackblade is a 4/4 Human Soldier Creature with Indestructible that's still a planeswalker.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to Gideon Blackblade during your turn.
+1: Up to one other target creature of your choice gains Vigilance, Lifelink or Indestructible until end of turn.
-6: Exile target nonland permanent
Starting Loyalty: 4(edited)
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All of this exactly. This is so boneheadedly good, but also kinda just boring.
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This combined with him just being another gideon planeswalker, costing double white that only helps you at what white does best anyway, doesn't really make him a card you desire to have in your cube for anything but sheer power reasons.
I believe he is that storng, and I will be testing him. He threatens a sorcery Utter End at turn 5, so your opponent can't just defend. And I think he can force defensive games into being races, which can be interesting.
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I have the same struggle right now. I really do like this Gideon, but Gideon of the Trials is slightly more interesting and flexible, even if the raw power on this one's a little higher. White three-drops, especially creatures and pseudo-creatures, are probably the most competitive spot in cube, and is also where I have some of my most beloved personal picks like Stonecloaker. Do I just want to have 10 white 'walkers in my 720? Do I want to powermax? Probably not, so Blackblade might not be able to make it in even though he seems super fun.
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That can't block.
But it can also bolster your existing team and build towards an exile effect too.
He's a good card, I just don't think he's a great card.
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Provides CA? No.
This is mostly a 3 mana 4/4 that dies to different things. I’d rather play AKH Gid, and there are a lot of 3 cmc creatures that I prefer to AKH Gid anyway. Sometimes your opponent has creatures and you need to catch back up. A 3 mana “creature” that can’t block and gets attacked to death is atrocious is those spots.
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First off, comparisons to gideon of the trials are natural, but they actually perform different rolls.
This is clearly more effective in an agressive shell and borderline unplayable in the main deck of a control shell.
Whereas Gideon of the trials is great in a control shell and mediocore (but playable) in an agressive shell.
This gideon seems like a nightmare for controlish decks to deal with. Dodges mass removal, and can give a creature vigilance if necessary to protect gideon from chip damage.
If your desire is to get agressive, Gideon Blackblade increases it's loyalty , while Gideon of the Trials stays the same... The -6 is far from flavour text. If the opponent is looking to stabalize with a big threat, having the option to remove it is a valuable option.
In agro mirrors, Blackblade is not great, but going to 5 loyalty and giving another creature lifelink can be pretty big game.
The question I'm trying to ask myself, is if Gideon Blackblade is better in agro, than gideon of the trials is in control.. Gideon of the trials is a more archtype versatile card, so if the answer to my question is unclear after testing, I'll probably stick with gideon of the trials. I predict I will end up sticking with gideon of the trials.
They are too similar in feel for me to want to run both. Functionally similar cards are fine when they both serve a desired roll, of their power level is high enough, but that's not the case with either gideon imo.
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I agree with your main point about both going to different archetypes, but I have a correction: Gideon grants the abilities only until end of turn. It will not protect your other creatures from sorcery speed removals.
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He just strongly fits what aggressive white decks want to do, and forces opponents to conform to your gameplan. Produce planeswalker removal or have a successful creature-based offense. I know most of the time I don't want to see this show up on the opposing battlefield, and that's good enough to get a closer look in my book.