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umbowta
10-25-2011, 08:23 AM
...Dominates 86 player South Modern Open. (http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=6924)

The concept of 3c Gifts is familiar to most of us who have seen the power of the Intuition/Loam engine abused in Legacy. In Modern, Gifts Ungiven combined with the recursion of Eternal Witness, Snapcaster Mage, and Academy Ruins powers control to new heights. The conspicuous absence of Life From the Loam in the main is unexplainable to me thus far, but the results the deck produced are...very convincing even without it.

It seems clear to me that Modern 3c Gifts was co-developed by Leblond and Donote, who took 1st and 2nd place respectively in an 86 player field, as their lists vary by a total of two cards between main and side. Leblond elected to go with 2x Celestial Colonnade whereas Donote went with 1x Colonnade alongside a Stirring Wildwood. Donote's list also drops a Kitchen Finks from the board for a Negate. Other than that, the two lists are identical. Here's Donote's list for reference:


Creatures [14]
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Eternal Witness
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Birds of Paradise


Instants [16]
1 Cryptic Command
1 Repeal
3 Mana Leak
3 Spell Snare
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Path to Exile


Sorceries [2]
1 Day of Judgment
1 Wrath of God


Artifacts [2]
2 Engineered Explosives




Lands [26]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Temple Garden
2 Forest
2 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Breeding Pool
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest


Sideboard [15]
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Life from the Loam
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Gideon Jura
1 Worm Harvest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Flashfreeze
1 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Wrath of God
1 Negate

perm
10-25-2011, 09:06 AM
Why BoP over hierarch?

Mr. Safety
10-25-2011, 09:23 AM
Why BoP over hierarch?

I was thinking the same thing...odd.

It's powerful...but I personally like Loam + Raven's Crime.

umbowta
10-25-2011, 09:43 AM
Why BoP over hierarch?

Engineered Explosives? Other than that, good point. Although the deck does seem to be rather more concerned about the long game instead of eeking out exalted damage in the midgame. I could see wanting to ramp a recurring EE up to 4 or 5 at times. I leave this for Leblond and Donote to answer. Very good question.

SpikeyMikey
10-25-2011, 10:30 AM
Engineered Explosives? Other than that, good point. Although the deck does seem to be rather more concerned about the long game instead of eeking out exalted damage in the midgame. I could see wanting to ramp a recurring EE up to 4 or 5 at times. I leave this for Leblond and Donote to answer. Very good question.


My Legacy Bant deck used to run 4 Hierarch and 2 Birds. When GSZ came out, I replaced the Birds with GSZ-->Arbor. While the flexibility of GSZ is wonderful, losing the ability to hit Elspeth/Jace/Humility with EE definitely hurt. I can understand that in a long-game deck, not a midrange aggro control, the desire to EE for larger numbers would override the desire to make Snapcaster or STE into a viable threat.

What I'm wondering is how this deck beats non-Zoo decks. I mean, I can see the deck is built to just wreck the red zone, with STE, Finks, Baloth, Witness, and Snapcaster all providing good blockers and incremental advantage. But 3 Leaks and a Cryptic Command aren't going to cut it against combo; not for a deck that's a long game deck to begin with.

umbowta
10-25-2011, 08:34 PM
What I'm wondering is how this deck beats non-Zoo decks. I mean, I can see the deck is built to just wreck the red zone, with STE, Finks, Baloth, Witness, and Snapcaster all providing good blockers and incremental advantage. But 3 Leaks and a Cryptic Command aren't going to cut it against combo; not for a deck that's a long game deck to begin with. I think you're underestimating the main a little bit. Given the fact that, currently, the only viable combo decks in modern are creature based combos, the deck seems to have waaaaay more than 3 leaks and a Cryptic Command at its' disposal. Storm combo barely works in Modern after the banhammer dropped. If it does maybe Voidslime would bail you out. For the time being:


1 Cryptic Command
1 Repeal
3 Mana Leak
3 Spell Snare
4 Path to Exile
1 Day of Judgment
1 Wrath of God
2 Engineered Explosives

seem to interact favorably with creature based combo. 4 Gifts Ungiven to go get them and 2 Eternal Witness and 3 Snapcaster Mage to reuse them. Seems pretty reasonable when you can go get even more from the board. I dunno. I want to give it a try but MWS and the like piss me off and I only play pauper on MODO. Time to proxy it up and give it a spin. Though, I really wasn't planning on getting Snapcasters anytime soon.

KevinTrudeau
10-25-2011, 08:58 PM
Eh, I'm still not seeing how reactive strategies in general can beat Twin, especially when you consider it gets (the uncounterable) Gigadrowse postboard. One CMC discard spells and Clique might help things a bit, but it's still a pretty unfavorable matchup.