One seeks order and justice, the other seeks freedom to do what one wishes and sows chaos. Their clash seemed inevitable.
And it was.
The plane of Regatha is the adopted home of Chandra Nalaar, where she studied at the Keral Keep monastery to master control of her growing pyromancy. The teachings of fire wielders from the past not only honed Chandra's skills in flamecasting, but also her natural impulsivity and propensity for bucking authority. That put her in conflict with the Order of Heliud, who sought to spread peace and order across Regatha and the multiverse...and reign in the more free-spirited among the populace. Fire magic was specifically banned, punishable by death.
Having an inner sense of holy justice from a young age, Gideon Jura traveled the multiverse after his planeswalker spark was ignited, seeking those who felt as he did. He found Regatha and the Order of Heliud, and while he was wary of the extent of their rule of law, he became a ready follower and was tasked with bringing in a particularly powerful and troublesome pyromancer. Gideon was surprised when his target launched herself to another plane, but pursued her across the multiverse, surprising her in turn. That target, of course, was Chandra Nalaar.
As they spar across several planes, who will come out on top in this conflict between rule enforcer and rule breaker?
*** (The opposing deck is here: http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/duel-decks-gideon-vs-chandra) ***
Just like Wizards' Duel Decks, this is centered around one mythic and features primarily Modern-legal cards with some older ones mixed in (which, if printed, would get the new, current border and in some cases updated art as well). It also sticks to just a handful of rares and tends to go with a lot of one-ofs among other cards, with a small handful of key cards that may get multiple copies (and even then, usually only two). Each deck has the same number of rares and even uncommons in an attempt to keep them balanced. Also, unlike Event Decks and other feature decks from Wizards, Duel Decks lack sideboards. I tried very hard to keep with all those restrictions here... believe me, if this were your more typical constructed deck, it would look a lot different!
The mythic here is Chandra, her third Duel Deck if you count Wizards' (vs. Jace) and my own (ironically teaming up with Jace this time: http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/dd-jace-chandra-vs-sarkhan). Anyway, for this deck, I went with arguably her best version yet, appropriately named just Pyromancer. It fits in terms of flavor and what I wanted to do with the deck perfectly, so my inner Johnny AND Vorthos are both quite satisfied. Both are also happy about the rares I settled on: Pyromancer's Gauntlet, Chandra's Phoenix, Torchling, Hateflayer, Hellion Crucible, and Thousand-Year Elixir. They all touch on the different strategies here: burn, untapping (and a bit of haste) to counter Gideon's tap-heavy strategy, and good old-fashioned assaulting in the red zone.
So, let's take those one at a time. First, to counter Gideon, there are a number of creatures, artifacts, and other spells that either untap your own creatures or turn the tables by tapping Gideon's creatures back. (For example, two Cinder Pyromancers to counter Gideon's two Ballynock Trappers... ability-wise, they're virtual clones of each other!) In addition to your artifacts and instant-speed Temporary Insanity (which can also be used to steal an opponent's creature--potentially even Gideon!--in a pinch, a couple of your bigger creatures can even untap themselves: Torchling can shrug it off without breaking a sweat, and if the opponent taps Satyr Nyx-Smith or especially Hateflayer, you can thank them and punish them with those creatures' powerful abilities. And since much of the other deck's tapping comes from Gideon's creatures tapping themselves, you can slap Insolence or Lust for War on those creatures and make them pay for trying to restrict you! Chandra would be pleased.
Another thing that makes Chandra happy? Burn! Not a massive amount of it here (had to keep balance in mind, after all), but certainly enough to keep the opponent on the edge of their seat, especially with those that can hit multiple targets like Chandra's Fury, Flames of the Firebrand, and Ember Gale. Gideon better dig up those toughness boosters or protections spells fast!
And finally, taking the fight to the enemy. There are hasty harassers like Chandra's Phoenix and Heartlash Cinder, anti-white knights Blood Knight and Defender of Chaos, and big beefy beaters like Impelled Giant (though tapping other creatures to beef him up obviously comes with some degree of risk!) and Inferno Elemental. But there's also a couple of creatures--Chandra's Spitfire and Kiln Fiend--that get quite large when you play one (or more!) of your plentiful instants or sorceries on the same turn as their attack. Yes, Gideon and friends will surely tap down or otherwise neutralize a couple of these threats most turns, but eventually you should be able to wear them down and break through, either by sheer numbers or with one big beater that breaks through.
Be it through burning from afar or up close and personal with your fiery creatures, eventually you should be able to shake off Gideon's shackles of control and show them what true freedom of expression is all about!
I appreciate any feedback you can provide here, good or bad. How's the balance between the two decks? Anything I can improve? Any gaping holes that you see? Useful comments will get you +1 rep points and a virtual slap on the back. :-P
If you liked this, check out my other duel decks at "http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/duel-deck". I have many already and they're expanding quickly. If you have any specific requests (planeswalker vs. planeswalker, theme vs. theme, race vs. race, or anything else), let me know and I'll see what I can put together.
Thanks for reading!