Hello everyone, I’m back with a brand new invention and this time I decided to investigate one of the most overlooked cards of Amonkhet: Gideon. No no no, not Gideon of the Trials. People are already all over that card. I’m talking about Gideon, Martial Paragon. You know, the one from the planeswalker starter deck. I figured with Amonkhet Gameday testing us this weekend and plenty of Standard FNMs coming along with it, I should take a look at a card that anyone can get their hands on.

While Gideon, Martial Paragon might not have the wow factor of Gideon of the Trials or the proven track record of Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, he does have some very nice things going for him. He starts with a respectable 5 loyalty for 5 mana. However, he has a +2 ability that untaps all of your creatures and gives them all +1/+1, which means he’ll likely have a herculean 7 loyalty the turn he hits the battlefield. That is no joke and it means he’s likely to stick around for a while, pumping your team up the whole time. He has the standard Gideon 0 ability to become a creature and as a 5/5 indestructible burly-man he’s always a threat when he’s in play. His ultimate is a -10 that gives all of your creatures +2/+2 and taps down your opponent’s creatures, perfect for a game-winning, all-in attack. Gideon is clearly meant for a swarming creature strategy with his +2 ability and that’s exactly where I want him

I’m envisioning a deck that can take advantage of both parts of Gideon’s +2 ability, the creature boost and the untapping. While he’s clearly intended to be used with exert, one of the flagship mechanics from Amonkhet, I’m more interested in his interaction with a powerful card that’s fallen out of favor: Cyptolith Rite. Cryptolith Rite allows you to tap your creatures for any color of mana. When combined with a bunch of weenies and Gideon, you can easily flood the board with creatures while still peppering your opponent with attacks. But what to do with all of that mana? If only there was a card that rewarded you for just playing creatures and also reduced the cost of your creatures so you don’t stall without Cryptolith Rite. After a quick search on Gatherer I’ve found out that there is such a card: Oketra’s Monument. The monument reduces the cost of your white creatures by one generic mana and creates a 1/1 warrior with vigilance every time you cast a creature. That includes non-white creatures by the way.

These three cards are the three non-creatures I want to play and in a perfect world they would be the only non-creature spells in the deck. But alas, the world is not perfect so there is another non-creature spell I must play. Thanks to the looming threat of Aetherworks Marvel I feel I need to include a full 4 copies of Cast Out in the main deck. Without some way to interact with the marvel and the monsters it brings, I’m afraid my Gideon dreams would be spoiled by one of the most powerful and popular decks in the format. With that unpleasant concession out of the way, let’s get to the creatures!

I want a full 4 copies of Thraben Inspector and Hanweir Militia Captain. Inspector Clue-so is still just about the best thing you can do for one white mana and he helps ameliorate the deck’s lack of card draw. Hanweir Militia Captain comes down early and pays you off big time for going wide. She even contributes some Gideon worshipers to the cause when she flips into Westvale Cult Leader. She does everything we want to do. After our all-stars I took a bit of a Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute approach to spicing up the rest of the deck.

3x Oketra’s Monument

3 x Angel of Invention

3 x Duskwatch Recruiter

3 x Glint-Sleeve Artisan

4 Hanweir Militia Captain

2 x Manglehorn

2 x Regal Caracal

1 x Samut, Voice of Dissent

4 x Thraben Inspector

3 x Vizier of Deferment

4 x Cast Out

3 x Cryptolith Rite

2 x Gideon, Martial Paragon

4 x Canopy Vista

2 x Evolving Wilds

4 x Forest

4 x Fortified Village

2 x Inspiring Vantage

1 x Mountain

6 x Plains

Angel of Invention pumps up your team and brings two little buddies with it to help flood the board. Duskwatch Recruiter gives you something great to do with all of your mana and his flip-side furthers the cost reduction goal of the deck. Glint-Sleeve Artisan is not an amazing card on its own, but it does the necessary job of putting two bodies into play for the cost of one. Manglehorn helps add some additional resilience to Aetherworks Marvel by both killing the marvel if it’s in play and forcing it to come into play tapped if it isn’t. It helps that most decks in the format play some kind of artifact; so even in less advantageous matchups, he’s likely to find a trinket to smash. Regal Caracal is another card that brings friends and it also helps stabilize if an agro deck has pressured you. Do not underestimate the strength of dropping 7 power worth of lifelinking cats on turn 4 thanks to Oketra’s Monument. Samut might be a bit too spicy, but she can make for completely busted turns when combined with any of the three major engines in the deck. It turns out giving all of your creatures haste is pretty messed up. Last, but not least, Vizier of Deferment synergizes with all of the enters the battlefield abilities spread throughout the squad. It also has a neat synergy with Oketra’s Monument since it’s a white creature with flash. Giving you two surprise blockers and potentially blinking an attacker or blocker can make for some tricky combat phases.

I’m happy to report that this deck has some legs. Despite my initial reservations about the power level of some of the individual cards in this collage, the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts. This deck can flood the board in a similar manner to other Green/White token strategies and, while it doesn’t sport cards that are as individually powerful as Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, it does pack a punch. I found that this deck has a great matchup against Mardu Vehicles since it attacks so well. Mardu is terrible at blocking and waves of 1/1s with vigilance from Oketra’s Monument are able to effectively block most of the creature in a Vehicles deck. To top it off Mardu’s spot removal isn’t great at dealing with the multiple threats this deck presents.

I also found that the addition of Manglehorn and Cast Out to the main board gives this deck some game against Aetherworks Marvel. GW Gideon Rites is able to pressure Marvel early and often with multiple threats. This taxes Marvel’s limited removal and precious energy reserves. To make matters worse for them, Ulamog’s double exile is slightly dulled by the number of bodies that this deck pumps out. Even after some ceaseless hungering, GW can recover if the eldrazi menace is Cast Out in time. Fortunately, if Marvel doesn’t come down early, GW Gideo Rites often goes so wide that a single Ulamog is not enough to turn the tide. There will still be games where Marvel kills you on turn 4, but that’s life in Standard right now, you just gotta live with it.

If you’re going to a gameday this weekend and you’re interested in playing a deck that’s slightly off the beaten path, give this one a try. It’s been a blast to pilot in testing and it finally gives that Gideon guy a chance to shine.