The Oaths are an interesting balance of an
immediate bonus and a long-term bonus, and I
continue to be impressed how well each one fits
with planeswalker-heavy decks. Gideon's, for
example, gives you even more creatures with
which to defend your planeswalkers, and having
them start closer to their ultimate is very
disheartening for damage-based decks. You don't
even have to use it just for that, either;
imagine the game-changing threat of, for
example, Ajani Vengeant entering the field able
to cast two Lightning Helixes without having to
use his +1 first. Planeswalker effects are card
advantage, and getting more of them per casting
is advantage on top of advantage.
Today's card of the day is Oath of Gideon which
is a three mana White enchantment Legendary that
puts two 1/1 White Kor ally tokens into play and
your planeswalkers enter play with an extra
loyalty counter. This is a fantastic card
when used in token or ally builds that have even
one planeswalker in the design. For costs
that equal the starting loyalty or when building
up to an ultimate this is effectively a free
turn and two defenders for your next play.
The small risk of getting the planeswalker out
before this is mitigated by the potential for a
later play, bounce, and at least the creatures
in the worst case scenario.
Two tokens and the loyalty counter is a bargain
for the mana and the enchantment can potentially
support other effects by staying in play.
This will very likely become a staple of
multiple designs in Standard, Modern, Commander,
and Multiplayer and should be kept in mind
whenever White mana and planeswalkers are in
your deck.
For Limited this is at worst three mana for two
tokens which is an easy inclusion for any Sealed
build with White mana. For Booster this is
a bit less of an automatic pick as a
planeswalker isn't guaranteed and the tokens
might not equal a particularly strong uncommon.
Barring that it can still be worth the first
pick as tokens still make for a card advantage
and it may have some small psychological benefit
of the opponent thinking you drafted a
planeswalker.
Ugh, Superfriends. it's technically value on a
stick, but yeah. the 2 1/1's are okay, I guess
you could splash this in allies to make tappable
tokens for various effects. The extra loyalty's
why you'd play this thing at all. with this, you
could potentially make ally Gideon more than
just a one-off. Eh. but it really just feels
mediocre.
