[SCD] Gifts Ungiven

[Qweerios]

Now that DRS is banned, all fetches are available, and Sultai Charm has been spoiled, does anybody else feel like 4c Gifts is a contender?

[nodahero]

I think with DRS gone Gifts is a viable spell however, I question the value of playing it over a Tron list with Gifts. Particularly if you are esquing the Life from the Loam Raven's Crime engine. Personally I have been playing Gifts in Scapeshift for a while and I am in love with it. It allows me to drastically cut back on the dead card (scapeshift) and provide access to numerous bullets with Snapcaster and Noxious Revival. I have been thinking of trying to fit in the Loam/Crime package there as well with Urborg as the obvious black source.

[Phoenix Ignition]

I feel like this discussion could be held in the 4c gifts control thread. I've been posting updates in there and I see that Qweerios has picked up the deck as well. I'm not a huge fan of Sultai Charm as normally you don't need to cantrip with your removal and the extra cost for that makes it much more difficult. It's kind of weird how that deck is a WBgu deck that really mostly focuses on the WB aspect (though qweerios list uses BoPs so is a bit more 3-color heavy).

Gifts is incredible right now. 1/2 of the time I go for a reanimated fatty and win instantly, 1/2 of the time I go for value and usually end up winning from that.

And as for 4c vs. tron I don't think tron is better. You don't need 7+ mana to reanimate a fatty, and as a control deck you don't need to be dropping stuff like Wurmcoil Engines if your gameplan is already working (keep the board clear, win later). I do think 4c control is very underplayed right now, but at the same time the manabase makes decisions very difficult (do I fetch a shockland turn 1 when I don't need that color for any cards in my hand?), and control decks always need to be reactive to the local metagame to be able to control properly, so it's more difficult to build a good list.

[YamiJoey]

The Tron version's nut draw outraces Storm on the play. T2 Signet, T3 put a fatty directly onto the battlefield. The Tron version also does generally more powerful stuff. I would be playing Sylvan Caryatid in regular Gifts at this point. An unboltable Bird is very powerful.

[nodahero]

Don't you mean turn 4 fatty? Turn 2 signet into turn 3 Gifts followed by turn 4 reanimate?

Additonally 4C while better at grindy games isn't the best at winning a game quickly with any consistency---- the threat density of 4C is significantly lower then the Tron variant with Karn.Wurmcoil et al.

[YamiJoey]

T2 Signet, T3 Tap for 7 mana, then Signet. 6UW.

Ux Tron decks generally only play 5(ish) threats. 1 Wurmcoil, 1 Emrakul, 2 Reanimator targets, 1 Flex thing, such as Mindslaver. There's the the 4 Gifts which you could count to edge us up to 9, but you're playing that anyway. The reason the two Reanimator targets count more in UW Tron is because we can actively cast an Elesh Norn on T4/5 quite consistently.

[TheyCallMeTim]

I'm curious about Gifts Ungiven specifically as a sideboard strategy, or "Gifts Board", similar to familiar "Wish Boards". Granted, such a board would have less slots to use having 3-4 devoted to the namesake card, but as readers of this thread know, the card is very powerful. The following is a sideboard I am testing for my Instant Reanimator deck:

1 Echoing Truth
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Godless Shrine
1 Into the Roil
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Noxious Revival
1 Raven's Crime
1 Silence
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Unburial Rites
1 Void Snare

I know this isn't a unique idea, yet I found very little to nothing about it. Let me know what you guys think.

[TheyCallMeTim]

Take this one, for example, in a Jeskai Ascendancy deck that went 3-1 at Worlds:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=8670&d=249534&f=MO

[zachinflames]

Gifts Ungiven should be in everyone's hearts and minds. What a card, what a card! 2 Gifts Ungiven per deck per format for forever.

I want to talk about 2 things Gifts Ungiven has taught me.

1.) Gifts Ungiven presupposes certain deckbuilding constraints, and even rewards them.
2.) There are exactly 2 things that can happen when Gifts Ungiven resolves in Modern.

Gifts Ungiven presupposes certain deckbuilding constraints, and even rewards them.

Fun-ofs have become the norm in competitive Magic theory and deck building. Gifts Ungiven revs up the presence of the Fun-of because of how the card reads. For instance, you might suppose that the stock 1 of Spellsnare & 2 of Spell Pierce might be a package you wish to include in your deck. Gifts Ungiven presupposes that a mixture of 3 cards with different names is even better. Therefore, your deck might benefit from a package of the following : 1 Spell Pierce 2 Spellsnare 1 Dispel 1 Swan Song. This is a sort of imposition on deck building that if we spend the time reckoning, might allow us to optimize our deck. Now it is a given that we are leaning on Gifts Ungiven resolving to gain access to the awesome tutoring power of this card. A very basic Gifts Ungiven pile could be: Gifts Ungiven #2 Snapcaster Mage X & Y. Card X & Y are up to you and I. Furthermore these values depend entirely on timing, and the situation, content of our hand, contour of the game, etc.

These next few thoughts are specifically related to Mono U Tron with Gifts Ungiven.
What keeps me up sometimes is the quandary about whether Pongify + Rapid Hybridization is better than Vapor Snag + Dismember (along with Gifts and Snapcaster). I then start to wonder if the perfect pile is really Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Dismember and Vapor Snag. The perfect Gifts pile indeed! Sadly U Tron is hard-pressed for a decent suite of removal not named Oblivion Stone or Repeal. I've been playing Gifts Ungiven (A lot!) in U Tron and yet, I cannot overpower the Modern Poison Deck. I lost in the Top 8 of an IQ, in which I was undefeated in Swiss Rounds, to a fairly good draw, and even better pilot of that Infect deck. I stole away a game on the play with Gifts Ungiven for Treasure Mage, Exp. Map, Academy Ruins, Mindslaver; he gives me the Mage and the Map which facilitate a Platinum Angel on Turn 5. If he gives me Mindlsaver I lose. If he give me Ruins, I lose. But yet, putting these really powerful cards in a pile together was enough to make him choose the less threatening option and he lost because of that.
Here's that list : http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/228929
Note the 1 of Spell Pierce 1 of Dispel and 2 Spellsnare.

So if you're building a deck with Gifts Ungiven, start by building your deck with some of this theory behind it. You'll be rewarded greatly and possibly have nightmares about 3/3 apes.

There are exactly 2 things that can happen when Gifts Ungiven resolves in Modern.

Of course the first of these 2 things has been mentioned above. It's the value Gifts. You can Gifts your way into up to 4 of the same thing, get 2 of it and then be up by a card, or more. Let me explain. I think the clearest example is UWx Tron's ability to Gifts for about 4 Wraths to stabilize. This is an incredible amount of value, because Gifts just netted a card, that in turn has the potential to net an even greater number of cards in your favor. The same can be done with counter-magic, removal, creatures and just about anything you want. U Tron has a simple Gifts Pile of 4 really, really big, expensive, fat, hard-to-deal-with threats. Wurmcoil Engine, Sundering Titan, Ugin the Spirit Dragon and Batterskul. Please pick 2.

So what's the other thing that can happen? Potentially more valuable than the Value Gifts is the I Win gifts. I'm talking about Unburial Rites + Creature that makes Baneslayer Angel look bad. And let me be clear, Baneslayer Angel is a hell of a Magic card. There's not much to say that hasn't been said. Between Elesh Norn and Iona, most linears can be gobbled up by these completely reasonable 4 mana creatures. I think if you go back to Mystical Tutor-legal, Legacy Reanimator decks, you can get a really good idea of what a tool-box looks like. Modern-legal cards like Sphinx of the Steel Wind or Tidespout Tyrant have the capability to cold a great number of decks in the format today. This is my least favorite Gifts Ungiven, but building your deck around this bustedly powerful package is up to you and I. I don't care how you Gifts, just as long as you are also Ungivening.

In conclusion, it is probably because Delve has been the flavor of the month for almost a year now, that Gifts Ungiven decks are not finding a place in the metagame right now. The uptick of GY hate might make the environment more hostile still for Gifts Ungiven strategies in Modern. But, with all that, it is virtually inarguable that Gifts Ungiven is one of the more powerful things to be doing on a number of levels and for those of you that share my love of resolving Gifts Ungiven, I welcome a greater discussion of how we can be using this extremely under-appreciated card. Ty for reading.

[for reference, here's a GP winning Reanimator deck like that mentioned above: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=461&f=LE ]