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Dutch253
02-14-2015, 02:21 AM
I'm looking for another Modern deck to build and find Gifts Ungiven very interesting. I've seen 4 color, Junk (Goyf=empty wallet) Esper, etc. might be a matter of preference but what's the best variant in Modern? Thanks!

Valtrix
02-14-2015, 02:32 AM
There's not, that's why everybody is trying so many different configurations. It's unclear which direction needs to be/go at the moment.

Dutch253
02-14-2015, 03:26 AM
There's not, that's why everybody is trying so many different configurations. It's unclear which direction needs to be/go at the moment.

Is it best in a deck built totally around it (a dedicated combo deck) or as a package in a control deck?

Valtrix
02-14-2015, 09:20 AM
As I tried to indicate there isn't a clear "best gifts" variant. It's always a card that has provided a ton of potential but has failed to put up results. It's a very enticing card to play, so people continue to try and figure out the best way to use it. Going more junk or more control or both viable options. Decks build around it to a point, but the core you'll see is:

4 gifts ungiven
1 Unburial rites
1 Elesh Norn
1 Life from the Loam
1 Raven's Crime
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

This is really the minimal implementation to fit in gifts and basically every gifts list has this in the main. Some people run a second reanimation target in the main, and usually definitely in the sideboard (typically Iona, Shield of Emeria). It's hard to say that a deck is "dedicated to it" because most of the time the combo pieces aren't really bad in and of themselves (even Norn can be cast late game!). But, this many slots are generally required to make gifts work. Typically people will further power gifts by diversifying removal a bit (so they can get a removal pile), by playing some utility lands to get with a loam pile, and playing some number of lingering souls to get extra gifts value.

Dutch253
02-14-2015, 09:21 AM
As I tried to indicate there isn't a clear "best gifts" variant. It's always a card that has provided a ton of potential but has failed to put up results. It's a very enticing card to play, so people continue to try and figure out the best way to use it. Going more junk or more control or both viable options. Decks build around it to a point, but the core you'll see is:

4 gifts ungiven
1 Unburial rites
1 Elesh Norn
1 Life from the Loam
1 Raven's Crime
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

This is really the minimal implementation to fit in gifts and basically every gifts list has this in the main. Some people run a second reanimation target in the main, and usually definitely in the sideboard (typically Iona, Shield of Emeria).

Fantastic explanation, thank you! It's a pity it hasn't really found a home. The entire package looks like a blast to play.

Vastros
03-18-2015, 04:54 PM
It is a shame. The format is just too fast for a gifts deck. I personally like UW tron with gifts, but for the "most competitive" deck it would be 4c gifts. It's a decent deck that can be built in a few different ways. Junk gifts seems to be the best placing one if I recall correctly.

Havrekjex
11-30-2015, 11:25 AM
I`ve run the Junk variant, basically a Junk deck with splash blue only for Gifts and sideboard cards, so I can share my experience with that.

LotV is at her very best in that deck, even better in Jund/Junk, since in addition to the usual awesome stuff she does, you have things you need to put in your graveyard. She should always be a 4-of alongside 3-4 Lingering Souls. One of the problems with the usual Elesh+Iona+Rites line is that there are quite a few decks where neither of those two white bombs will win you the game, so you should always have another way of using Gifts Ungiven, such as a value gifts package. Mine was usually something like Rites+Siege Rhino+Tasigur+Thragtusk (all one-ofs), which lets you get all three creatures. The only other creature I ran was a set of Goyfs, which can be used as a substitute for whatever you might have drawn before you play Gifts, alongside Souls.

What made me move away from the deck after a few months was the fact that Gifts->Rites can be incredibly hard to resolve successfully. It failed a lot more often than it succeeded. Some decks beat you to a pulp before you get that far in the game, even with discard/Goyf/Souls as early stall. Your plan also gets stopped by any counterspell (Dispel, Remand, Negate, Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, Condescend...) and any graveyard hate. A countered Rites can puts you not one, but two turns behind. Out of the sideboard Leyline of Sanctity kills your whole deck, since it not only stops Gifts, but you`re also running Thoughtseise/IoK and LotV. The final nail on the coffin for me was the realization that while playing as a regular Junk deck as plan B sounds fine and dandy in theory, having inefficient/situational combo pieces like Elesh/Iona/Crime/Gifts is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing in a rock style deck. The deck might be the most fun modern deck I know, but there are just too many things that don`t work as smoothly as I`d like them to. I found out that the rock part of the deck was what I liked, and moved to Jund instead.

A guy at my store runs 4C without green, and that seems good too, probably better. At least that setup gives you the Snap/Bolt/Kolaghan`s Command package to grind. He runs Souls too, and I think he runs flip Jace instead of LotV, though I really can`t recommend skipping LotV, I find her plus Suols to be core cards of any 4C Gifts deck. In those colors you can also guarantee a Keranos with Snap/Command/Keranos, which is very powerful in the matchups where Keranos shines.

Edit: Oh sht, sorry about the pseudo-necro. The thread was on the front page, I didn`t realize how dead the modern forum is.