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-chandra-vs-gideon) ***
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 Gideon Jura, and after much deliberation between my inner Johnny and Vorthos, I went with the original version instead of the perhaps more flavorful Champion of Justice. You'll see why I made that choice as soon as you see some of the rares. First up, we've got Gideon's Avenger, Imposing Sovereign, and Righteous Fury (get the theme yet? ;-) ), as well as Boros Reckoner (a nod to Gideon's time with the Boros, but also a great counter to the opposing deck), good old Honor of the Pure, and Cathedral of War to appease Vorthos for losing out on the choice of Gideon. There are some decent chase cards in there, but they're mainly all here to fit the theme: tapping the enemy down and then smashing the remainder... for great justice!
Lots of these creatures and other spells tap opposing creatures; 18 cards in total (nearly a third of the deck!) deal with tapping, untapping, or punishing tapped creatures (destroying or outright exiling). And considering Chandra's opposing deck has several creatures with haste and/or big-time strength bonuses on the attack, putting the clamps on them by way of tapping--frequently--is a great idea.
A good chunk of the rest of the deck is devoted to surviving Chandra's assault in other ways. Several cards boost and protect your own creatures, from the aforementioned Honor of the Pure to the toughness-boosting (and burn stifling) Castle and Oathsworn Giant (who also conveniently keeps your creatures untapped when they attack) to more direct protection with spells like Brave the Elements. Unusual for white, but very representative of Gideon's direct approach to implementing justice, this deck can dish out some "burn" of its own, either direct (Sunlance) or by reflecting and redirecting incoming damage with Refraction Trap and the aptly-named Justice.
When you have your chances, counterattack to victory. Your Boros creatures (unsurprisingly) are especially good at it, and the two Knights here have protection from red, enabling them to attack at will. Or just send in Gideon as a big indestructible beater, boosted by Cathedral of War and Daru Encampment. Now THAT'S how you implement law and order!
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!