"Turning Kytheon/Gideon"

"Turning Kytheon/Gideon"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

Aside from being the only planeswalker(with a condition) that costs a mere 1 mana to cast Kytheon/Gideon also has the distinction of being the first Flip Planeswalker for White.Many question why Ajani was not chosen for this honor being one of the originals that came out from the Lorwyn Block. And I think that the answer lies in the number of versions that Ajani already has floating around. Plus Gideon is a character that will figure heavily in the next block which is Battle for Zendikar.

So what do we need to know to flip this guy over into his planeswalker form? Battle Tactics and Creatures of course. Kytheon needs to attack with 2 other creatures(Reminiscent of the Boros Legions Battalion mechanic) and He gets to change into his Gideon mode. Sounds easy right? 

I mean turn 1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros , Raise the alarm on turn 2 or cast 2 creatures of one mana cost each and attack on turn 3 to flip.(Turn 3 seems to be the earliest time to Flip with most planeswalker in Magic Origins). Nothing to it right? Given the speed of the deck with great one drops you could have Gideon on your side and you could even do it in standard you just have to worry about the 1 to cast removal spells as well like Fiery Impulse. 

To speed things up a bit you could add Zero to cast Artifact creatures in your deck like my favorites Memnite and Ornithopter. On turn one you could cast Kytheon and 2 of these creatures and then flip as early as turn two!

So what is so special with Gideon? Gideon , Battle forged brings a somewhat weaker version of Gideon Jura but hey he is no pushover either.Starting with 3 loyalty counters you can choose future battle plans with his first 2 abilities.

Looking at his first ability which is a +2 , Up to One target creature an opponent controls attacks Gideon during its controllers next turn if able.

Notice the beginning of that sentence that states Up to One creature. It simply means that you could choose to have no creatures forced to attack Gideon next turn. A good plan if you want to keep him around for awhile. You just made his 3 loyalty counters to 5. Out of critical damage range from things like Lightning Strike.

The second ability is a +1 that makes a creature you control indestructible until your next turn. So what if the only creature your control attacked this turn? No worries since this second ability also untaps it. Ready and willing to defend you or Gideon from Attack.

For Gideons last ability which is a free activation he becomes a 4/4 Indestructible Human Soldier Creature that is still a planeswalker and you prevent all the damage that would be dealt to him this turn.

I mean the guy could cross paths with Sarkhan and the Dragons of Tarkir and Survive! Maybe killing most of them in the process as well but the Indestructibility and Prevention of damage is a bit redundant.

Then again Gideon might bump into something nasty from Lorwyn. Something like a creature with the Wither mechanic. A mechanic that puts -1/-1 counters on creatures that are hard to take off for normal creatures.Gideon in his creature form would just brush off the -1/-1 counters during battle! He also has the distinction of surviving a block from Skithiryx! No damage , No -1/-1 counters! Talk about Tough!

Well that is all for today. Keep on Brewing.