Magic the Gathering!

[Psychobuddy]

Would you mind enlightening me as to what Gideon could be used for, I see potential, but then again I see potential in most cards. Whatever it is, most likely doesn ‘t justify paying $45 for him, at lest that is the going rate at my card shop.

 

[Slayer89]

Gideon is very good, but not in just any deck that can run white. He essentially Fogs, Assassinates, and can beat hard.

If your shop is charging $45 for him, though, you need to find a new place to shop. His going rate is just below $30 tops nowadays. I lucked out and traded mine in to Channel Fireball for a bit over $50 credit back when he was hot.


And yeah, SoM will feature a new Elspeth and a new Planeswalker named Koth has also been confirmed.

About picking up Elspeths with the other cards, I'd definitely try and find another option. With the new Duel decks coming out and Standard rotating in just over a month, her value will definitely drop a bit. She'll still be worth something, but not what she's worth now. I mean, even right now a Jace and Primeval is just a few bucks short of being even for 2 Elspeth and 2 Gideon, and that will shift a good bit in just a few weeks. I mean, I guess there's a possibility that Gideon will go back up again, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

 

[Xaios]

Gideon is very good, but not in just any deck that can run white. He essentially Fogs, Assassinates, and can beat hard.

If your shop is charging $45 for him, though, you need to find a new place to shop. His going rate is just below $30 tops nowadays. I lucked out and traded mine in to Channel Fireball for a bit over $50 credit back when he was hot.

Agreed with this post $45.00 is too much for a Gideon. It WAS up to $60.00 at one point, but not for a while now. I suppose it's possible that your store has simply been sitting on it since it was worth $45.00 and just hasn't updated the price. At my local store, for high priced rares, they usually go with what Starcitygames.com says the price is, as they're the pre-emminent single card shop for MTG. Granted, in the case of the Jaces, the owner just wanted them to sell fast, so he discounted them MASSIVELY and I got lucky. Lower cost rares that are in moderate demand, like say a $1.00 rare that happens to be seeing a lot of play, our store will usually charge $2.00 for them, but only when they're very cheap rares.

And Slayer89 hit the nail on the head as to what Gideon can do. In Super Friends, he can be used in conjunction with Ajani Vengeant to destroy an imposing threat. Say your opponent drops a titan, you can go "nuh-uh" on your turn, tap it with Ajani Vengeant and kill it with Gideon. It's a combo similar to the Blinding Mage/Royal Assissin combo you'll see in M11 draft. And if you're playing an aggro deck with lots of creatures who are ready to beat your ass in, you can force another turn by getting all your opponents creatures to attack him. Lastly, you can use him in conjuction with Elspeth to bring out a nice 9/9 flyer to lay the smack down. Sure, it dies to removal, but what the heck doesn't these days?

In short, Gideon has no SUPERWTFOMFGBBQ combo, but he has an amazing amount of utility for a single card.

Just... don't Clone him or Rite of Replication him when you make him a creature, as he's still technically a planeswalker, he WILL die, and so will your copy.

Actually, that's an interesting tactic for the mirror. If you're playing a U/W control deck with Leyline of Anticipation and your opponent sends a Gideon at you as a creature, you could technically in response drop a Renegade Doppelganger and nuke both.

Oh, the plays, the plays...

 

[Guamskyy]

I wish I had the ability to make my own deck :l Are you guys just making your decks by land or what? I just buy the deck and then add some good cards I have lying around.

 

[Psychobuddy]

Yeah I do need to find a new store, the one I go to is just the most convenient. There are a couple other stores I should check out around here.

Thanks for the info on Gideon guys. Still he doesn't seem worth it but it's nice having some combo ideas on the off chance that I get one.

Also Xaios thank you for pointing out the Blinding Mage/Royal Assassin combo, I have both of them and never realized the potential...

EDIT: Guambomb, if I understood your question correctly, what I do when I make a deck is look for a combo in my cards...for instance Avenger of Zendikar and Splinter Twin...which essentially gives you unlimited creature tokens, once I have my combo worked out I build a deck that compliments it, makes it easier to pull of, or makes it stronger. Granted that's just a quick overview of deck building and there are other ways but that has been the most effective way for me to build decks.

 

[Slayer89]

I wish I had the ability to make my own deck :l Are you guys just making your decks by land or what? I just buy the deck and then add some good cards I have lying around.

A lot of the time I get inspired by popular decks, I won't lie. Then sometimes it's inspired by synergy between certain cards or maybe my own take on an old deck. The pre-constructed decks are usually pretty bad. My advice for learning more on deck building is to look at popular decks and read up on how they function and win, and just try to learn from that. Eventually you'll get down the feel of deck building. I've been trying for a while my skills are pretty average. Also, don't get discouraged if you build a deck and it doesn't work out. To quote Patrick "The Innovator" Chapin, "9/10 decks I make are terrible; and I make A LOT of decks!" and he is one of the top pro level players out there.

 

[Slayer89]

In Super Friends, he can be used in conjunction with Ajani Vengeant to destroy an imposing threat. Say your opponent drops a titan, you can go "nuh-uh" on your turn, tap it with Ajani Vengeant and kill it with Gideon.

Also, just to clarify, this combo wouldn't actually work. Ajani V can't tap a permanent on his own, but instead just keep a permanent that is already tapped tapped for another turn. So I guess you could use him to lock down a tapped creature for an extra turn while buying time to play your Gideon during your next turn, but that's about the extent of it.

 

[Psychobuddy]

You could use Blinding Mage in place of Aiani Vengeant and make Gideon into a more versatile Royal Assassin. Basically just supercharging the Blinding Mage/Royal Assassin Combo that Xaios pointed out earlier.

 

[Xaios]

Also, just to clarify, this combo wouldn't actually work. Ajani V can't tap a permanent on his own, but instead just keep a permanent that is already tapped tapped for another turn. So I guess you could use him to lock down a tapped creature for an extra turn while buying time to play your Gideon during your next turn, but that's about the extent of it.

Ah yes, you are correct.

Regarding the Blinding Mage/Royal Assassin combo, W/B doesn't work so great in standard at the moment, but U/B would prove more useful. You could run Royal Assassin with either Alluring Siren or Tideforce Elemental. I'd go for the latter, as Alluring Siren can only be used on their attack phase, while Tideforce Elemental, while it costs a mana to use its ability (so does Blinding Mage), can be used anytime. It also untaps on landfall.

 

[Daemoniac]

Fuck my lack of job. I have nothing new whatsoever to post in here, really Beyond my ire at not being able to get anything new in... well... like 6 months

 

[Psychobuddy]

Tideforce Elemental with Royal Assassin does seem to work better.

Demoniac, please post away regarding older cards and things that don't work in standard. Even if it's not tournament legal or an old strategy, it spawns new ideas with current cards.

 

[Slayer89]

Here's my little story of the day. Yesterday I was bored and got to work early, so I went into Borders next door. I saw they had a pack of Worldwake left and thought, "Hey, I need a couple of cards from Worldwake (both being mythic rares, haha)." So for laughs I grabbed it, and lo and behold it held an Avenger of Zendikar, one of the two cards I need, haha. Funny thing is I never buy packs anymore because the odds of pulling what you actually need are so shitty. I probably still won't buy packs regularly, but it definitely was nice.

 

[Psychobuddy]

Back when I was into buying packs, I did almost the exact same thing...except I got a foil Avenger of Zendikar.

I was considering selling it, but eventually I pt it to use and couldn't be happier.

I'm so glad I kept it.

 

[Xaios]

One of the current archetypes is Turboland, which makes excellent use of Avenger of Zendikar. I almost have the cards to run it, except I only have 2 Oracle of Mul Dayas and no Time Warps. It's quite neat.

 

[Slayer89]

Yeah, I'm building TurboLand and currently running a "budget" version. Lot of fun.

 

[Andromalia]

why do you newschool MTG players have to be so lame. I can't afford to have another hobby, or take up old ones.

My black/blue necropotence deck will have to suffice for...ever? wanna buy my cards?

Just to be curious, what's the point of blue in a necropotence deck ?
I was a decent tournament player back then (was ranked 1800ish DCI) and if there's one deck where there is no point in playing other colors, it's this one. Playing a deck requiring a fast play of a BBB card isn't really a good idea if you have even 4 cards of another color and the lands to play it. Unless you play double lands and in this kind of format I wouldn't play necro anyway but dig out the good ol' moxes and lotuses etc. (Long ago sold, only cards I kept from my magic days are the aformentioned then-Type-2 necro deck and a 1.5 sliver deck, the one I play when dual lands are allowed ^^. I do have a stack of fake cards for friendly magic evenings though, but end up doing one or two per year, no more nowadays)

 

[chucknorrishred]

magics cool, the art works amazing

i played that shit when i was younger but the art work........

 

[Psychobuddy]

Hey can you guys run through some archetypes popular in standard right now?

 

[Slayer89]

Valakut Ramp (Amongst a couple other ramp decks [titan and eldrazi])
Jund (for a BIT longer anywho)
Turboland
Mythic
RDW (Red Deck Wins)
Boss Naya
Naya Fauna Shaman decks
NLB (Next Level Bant)
UW Control

Those are some of the main ones. Plenty of other smaller decks running around as well.

 

[Xaios]

Just to add to the above:
- Mythic Conscription (slightly different than regular Mythic, but very relevant at the moment)
- Fauna Conscription
- Pyromancer's Ascension
- Destructive Force
- Soul Sisters (fairly new, won't be around for long as one of the necessary cards rotates soon)

Also, mono-black control is fairly strong right now, but it's still flying under the radar. This is really strange, as it's very strong against pretty much every current archetype except Turboland and Valakut Ramp.