I think Brimaz is good against zoo, but that alone doesn't justify a mainboard spot...
Against most decks, a turn 3 Brimaz and a turn 4 swing will lead to the 1/1 token getting blocked and killed, and Brimaz just got in for 3...whoopee...
The only relatively aggresive decks in the format right now are UR Delver (flies over, but the pyromancer tokens don't chump well, that is for sure), Zoo (great here, I'll admit), and Affinity (flies over for days). I just don't see him shining against Pod, Splinter Twin, and Jund which are the real problem areas for this deck.
I could see him as a side in for remands against those matchups, but even then, once Zoo sees him they will save PtE for Brimaz or just Ghor-Clan him on their next attack. Again, I don't think the card is bad, I just don't think he is worth cutting spells for. I guess you arguing for removing resto angel/V Clique, but I definitely don't think V Clique can be removed. I'll test out some matches where my resto's are Brimaz's and see how that goes.
I posted a list that ran him with GosT in a 3/3 split a few posts up. I think that number is perfect, as they are legendary and are good in different situations.
Unlike Blade Splicer Brimaz cannot be bolted and he gets out of control by himself. He also attacks AND blocks. There's really no comparison with blade splicer.
Really guys, why not just take the deck and try out a few copies of him first? That's what I did, despite being skeptical of his viability at first. If you decide that he doesn't fit your style then don't play him, but he is a very viable creature to play in this deck that serves both the defensive and offensive role excellently.
Comparing him to Geist is odd though. Geist is an irremovable threat essentially. It is not safe to tap out for Brimaz on turn 3. It can be safe to tap out for Geist. Geist is the card that makes this deck viable as he is a hexproof creature that beats for twice his mana cost. Vigilance is good and all, but not hexproof good.
Has anyone considered Gifts Ungiven package in SB now that DRS is gone?
This is a good idea. Back in the day this was done in this deck's predecessor, WUR Delver. I think that it would work better here because this deck actually has enough lands to support it.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
With a little disruption, it is not too slow against Zoo. Also, you can cast it against Faeries when they tap out to cast Mistbind Clique or flash in Vendilion Clique at the end of the turn.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
Comparing him to Geist is odd though. Geist is an irremovable threat essentially. It is not safe to tap out for Brimaz on turn 3. It can be safe to tap out for Geist. Geist is the card that makes this deck viable as he is a hexproof creature that beats for twice his mana cost. Vigilance is good and all, but not hexproof good.
I wasn't advocating replacing geist at all. I was advocating a 3/3 split, as both are really good creatures but bad in different situations.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
I don't think it's great.
-It requires tapping out on your turn and it makes the opponent's Remands into hard counters when they're hitting Unburial Rites. This matters against Twin and Faeries since both run Remands and they have few opportunities to use them against UWR Midrange.
-It still loses to removal spells and things like Cryptic Command bounce. Not only do you have to tap on your own turn, you've got to protect it against cheap removal by holding up mana or else just attempting to run it out naked.
-Zoo can still win with burn to the dome in the face of a turn 5 Elesh Norn. Iona is basically useless against Zoo.
-It takes six slots that, if you wanted a sweeper, could be solved with uncounterable Supreme Verdicts or even convoluted Engineered Explosives/Academy Ruins packs.
-Drawing Unburial Rites is atrocious and happens to me 100% of the time. On a more serious note, drawing Rites or Norn means that any Gifts you draw are pretty awful. Awful in that if you just wanted a 3U value spell for more cards, you're effectively running Inspiration in Modern.
I would love love love to be proven wrong by your testing results, though. I happen to like Gifts a lot.
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I posted a list that ran him with GosT in a 3/3 split a few posts up. I think that number is perfect, as they are legendary and are good in different situations.
Unlike Blade Splicer Brimaz cannot be bolted and he gets out of control by himself. He also attacks AND blocks. There's really no comparison with blade splicer.
Really guys, why not just take the deck and try out a few copies of him first? That's what I did, despite being skeptical of his viability at first. If you decide that he doesn't fit your style then don't play him, but he is a very viable creature to play in this deck that serves both the defensive and offensive role excellently.
What would be the best number of Brimaz. I am currently playing:
I don't play Cryptics, as I like to be more aggressive. For your list maybe cut one geist, the hellkite, and one cryptic? One electrolyze can go as well if you like any of those other cards (though I would recommend cutting that one geist strongly if you want to run brimaz).
I think three is the right number for Brimaz.
And yeah, he is really expensive. Which makes me wonder if that's the main reason no one here seems to be trying him out. He does everything we want a creature to do and complements geist nicely.
Does anyone else think it is time for us to consider boros charm, at least in the side? I think this card lets us swing with our geist quite well, especially against faeries, and an extra 4 damage to the face could also win quite a few races. I'm not talking about boarding out burn for it, but as a great board in for remands in matchups where they are sour. May seem over the top, but just wanted to see what people thought.
Geist becomes pretty useless in the face of nacatls, apes, goyfs, restoration angels, kitchen finks, voice of resurgence etc.
Geist dies to lingering souls chump block.
Geist attacks and doesn't stick around to block.
Brimaz also doesn't die to bolt and helix unless the opponent has two. I don't know why you included those in your example.
And I'm not even telling people to take out Geist completely. Geist is still good, so I'm not sure why you are defending it so vehemently. Brimaz just makes the deck better by giving you another angle of attack against decks that geist is bad against. Sure he makes the opponent's removal better, but it makes sideboarding for your opponent tougher as he now has to decide how much removal to keep or board in. One removal on Brimaz is also one less removal for your angels or hellkites.
Have you even tried the card? Against a variety of decks?
Contrary to popular belief, Geist is not useless against Zoo. Don't forget, there strategy isn't exactly to hang back, and they are fetch/shocking quite a bit. A lot of zoo players will still swing into Geist if they have a creature to drop afterwards to block, but if you can remove that creature, then you are getting in for 6 next turn. My Geists in games where I mulligan properly have actually done quite well...
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
I don't think it's great.
-It requires tapping out on your turn and it makes the opponent's Remands into hard counters when they're hitting Unburial Rites. This matters against Twin and Faeries since both run Remands and they have few opportunities to use them against UWR Midrange.
-It still loses to removal spells and things like Cryptic Command bounce. Not only do you have to tap on your own turn, you've got to protect it against cheap removal by holding up mana or else just attempting to run it out naked.
-Zoo can still win with burn to the dome in the face of a turn 5 Elesh Norn. Iona is basically useless against Zoo.
-It takes six slots that, if you wanted a sweeper, could be solved with uncounterable Supreme Verdicts or even convoluted Engineered Explosives/Academy Ruins packs.
-Drawing Unburial Rites is atrocious and happens to me 100% of the time. On a more serious note, drawing Rites or Norn means that any Gifts you draw are pretty awful. Awful in that if you just wanted a 3U value spell for more cards, you're effectively running Inspiration in Modern.
I would love love love to be proven wrong by your testing results, though. I happen to like Gifts a lot.
Well, to be honest, im not running the unburial pack, i know how it works since i played 4C gifts before, and i can testify to its strength.
From the weaknesses you mark, the only relevant one is the 6 slots in the sideboard. I couldnt care less about remand, if you are afraid of it, wait a turn and try to snare their counter, a card you should run anyways.
Zoo does care about getting their table wiped, i can assure you that, iona is a pain too, since naming red completely cuts off their reach. Its not so easy to have double bolts either, and if you are at 5, im suspecting they already spent one or two of those.
Plus, you run helix too, its not like killing you with burn is so easy.
The unburial target CAN be removed with cryptic, but thats really not very efficient either. Maybe you should try dispels in the side to protect your big guys, or something along those lines.
Granted, having iona or elesh stuck in your hand is bad,but it doesnt happen all that often, so its a concession i can make. Also, if you plan on running this in the SB, you should play at least one blood crypt/godless shrine/watery grave to be able to hardcast unburial, should it happen to be stuck in your op hand.
The main point of the pack is that it will give you games out of nowhere, specially if your opponent doesnt expect it. But for that, you need to rework your main and side to let the fatties do their thing.
Actually, as crazy as I first thought it was to include that as a sideboard package, I'm not so sure now...If you have geist turn 3, gifts turn 4, elesh norn turn 5 you are swinging for 10 from Geist alone...
Good matchups:
Pod: WRECKS them, just WRECKS them...there is practically nothing they can do since, to the best of my knowledge, they run what, one Shriekmaw? And they can only pod it out as a sorcery, and you just wiped their board, so they better hope to have it in hand.
UWR midrange mirror: If you have this on board, they are required to have PtE to win. May seem hard to cast, but worth it to try just to wipe out their geists and make your unstoppable.
Splinter Twin: May seem like a bad matchup for this card, but on turn 4 you are keeping mana up to either counter their twin/remove their creature they are casting it on or you can drop this. It kills everything in their deck besides exarch, but you can swing with a bajillion exarchs when none of them deal any damage...
Affinity: While they do have some graveyard hate in their side, I don't think they will see this coming game 2 (And if you won game 1, that is all it takes). Also, while it may seem slow against affinity, you should be removing their creatures early anyways.
Living End: You won't use it here in the traditional ways, but holy cow does it hose them. Instead of Unburial Rites, just go grab Iona and Elesh Norn and toss them in. Let's see if they want to living end now...
Faeries: I think it would be hard to pull off, but if you pull it off its GG without a doubt.
Bad Matchups:
GR Tron: Doesn't really do anything here, but you can't have everything. By the time you get it on board, you should have been using your mana for other things.
Jund: They have too many ways to answer this, I wouldn't think it would be worth it. They will either thoughtseize gifts, liliana norn, maelstrom norn, or scooze away your graveyard.
UR Delver: I just don't see this resolving here. They aren't using their mana by turn 4/5, so they will be able to counter either unburial rites or gifts ungiven. I think it is a pipe dream that this will resolve against a good delver player.
Zoo: They will probably kill you too fast, and they actually can PtE her since they aren't using that on Geist/Snapcaster.
At first, I sorta laughed at this idea, but now that I look at it it may be perfect. Sure, it takes up 6 sideboard slots, but at the same time, it hoses so many decks that you can use this as your main strategy against quite a few. Also, it isn't like you aren't going to ever play a game where you can actually CAST Elesh Norn. I've hit 7 mana in plenty of modern games with this deck that stall out because I remove all their threats, but can't land one of my own that easily. Also, if you are terrified of having unburial rites in your hand, just play one Blood Crypt. Does that open you up to tec edges? Sure...but you shouldn't be fetching for that land until you are ready to cast rites in the first place.
Not to mention, can anyone think of a more FUN sideboard than this card? I've decided, I'm running me some Gifts. So with that in mind, should I be running:
Actually, as crazy as I first thought it was to include that as a sideboard package, I'm not so sure now...If you have geist turn 3, gifts turn 4, elesh norn turn 5 you are swinging for 10 from Geist alone...
Good matchups:
Pod: WRECKS them, just WRECKS them...there is practically nothing they can do since, to the best of my knowledge, they run what, one Shriekmaw? And they can only pod it out as a sorcery, and you just wiped their board, so they better hope to have it in hand.
UWR midrange mirror: If you have this on board, they are required to have PtE to win. May seem hard to cast, but worth it to try just to wipe out their geists and make your unstoppable.
Splinter Twin: May seem like a bad matchup for this card, but on turn 4 you are keeping mana up to either counter their twin/remove their creature they are casting it on or you can drop this. It kills everything in their deck besides exarch, but you can swing with a bajillion exarchs when none of them deal any damage...
Affinity: While they do have some graveyard hate in their side, I don't think they will see this coming game 2 (And if you won game 1, that is all it takes). Also, while it may seem slow against affinity, you should be removing their creatures early anyways.
Living End: You won't use it here in the traditional ways, but holy cow does it hose them. Instead of Unburial Rites, just go grab Iona and Elesh Norn and toss them in. Let's see if they want to living end now...
Faeries: I think it would be hard to pull off, but if you pull it off its GG without a doubt.
Bad Matchups:
GR Tron: Doesn't really do anything here, but you can't have everything. By the time you get it on board, you should have been using your mana for other things.
Jund: They have too many ways to answer this, I wouldn't think it would be worth it. They will either thoughtseize gifts, liliana norn, maelstrom norn, or scooze away your graveyard.
UR Delver: I just don't see this resolving here. They aren't using their mana by turn 4/5, so they will be able to counter either unburial rites or gifts ungiven. I think it is a pipe dream that this will resolve against a good delver player.
Zoo: They will probably kill you too fast, and they actually can PtE her since they aren't using that on Geist/Snapcaster.
At first, I sorta laughed at this idea, but now that I look at it it may be perfect. Sure, it takes up 6 sideboard slots, but at the same time, it hoses so many decks that you can use this as your main strategy against quite a few. Also, it isn't like you aren't going to ever play a game where you can actually CAST Elesh Norn. I've hit 7 mana in plenty of modern games with this deck that stall out because I remove all their threats, but can't land one of my own that easily. Also, if you are terrified of having unburial rites in your hand, just play one Blood Crypt. Does that open you up to tec edges? Sure...but you shouldn't be fetching for that land until you are ready to cast rites in the first place.
Not to mention, can anyone think of a more FUN sideboard than this card? I've decided, I'm running me some Gifts. So with that in mind, should I be running:
I've been testing it in the side of Faeries, and with some disruption, it is fast enough to stop Zoo. They usually don't have Path anyways. Also, for the package, I'd run
3-4 Gifts
1 Unburial Rites
1 Elesh Norn and 1 Iona or just 1 Norn.
I'd probably also add 1 mainboard Watery Grave so that you can cast Unburial Rites if it gets stuck in your hand. Or possibly adding another Vendilion Clique to get it out of your hand.
Against most decks, a turn 3 Brimaz and a turn 4 swing will lead to the 1/1 token getting blocked and killed, and Brimaz just got in for 3...whoopee...
The only relatively aggresive decks in the format right now are UR Delver (flies over, but the pyromancer tokens don't chump well, that is for sure), Zoo (great here, I'll admit), and Affinity (flies over for days). I just don't see him shining against Pod, Splinter Twin, and Jund which are the real problem areas for this deck.
I could see him as a side in for remands against those matchups, but even then, once Zoo sees him they will save PtE for Brimaz or just Ghor-Clan him on their next attack. Again, I don't think the card is bad, I just don't think he is worth cutting spells for. I guess you arguing for removing resto angel/V Clique, but I definitely don't think V Clique can be removed. I'll test out some matches where my resto's are Brimaz's and see how that goes.
Unlike Blade Splicer Brimaz cannot be bolted and he gets out of control by himself. He also attacks AND blocks. There's really no comparison with blade splicer.
Really guys, why not just take the deck and try out a few copies of him first? That's what I did, despite being skeptical of his viability at first. If you decide that he doesn't fit your style then don't play him, but he is a very viable creature to play in this deck that serves both the defensive and offensive role excellently.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
This is a good idea. Back in the day this was done in this deck's predecessor, WUR Delver. I think that it would work better here because this deck actually has enough lands to support it.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
With a little disruption, it is not too slow against Zoo. Also, you can cast it against Faeries when they tap out to cast Mistbind Clique or flash in Vendilion Clique at the end of the turn.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
Why not? It worked in WUR Delver, which had a lower land count than this deck.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I wasn't advocating replacing geist at all. I was advocating a 3/3 split, as both are really good creatures but bad in different situations.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
I don't think it's great.
-It requires tapping out on your turn and it makes the opponent's Remands into hard counters when they're hitting Unburial Rites. This matters against Twin and Faeries since both run Remands and they have few opportunities to use them against UWR Midrange.
-It still loses to removal spells and things like Cryptic Command bounce. Not only do you have to tap on your own turn, you've got to protect it against cheap removal by holding up mana or else just attempting to run it out naked.
-Zoo can still win with burn to the dome in the face of a turn 5 Elesh Norn. Iona is basically useless against Zoo.
-It takes six slots that, if you wanted a sweeper, could be solved with uncounterable Supreme Verdicts or even convoluted Engineered Explosives/Academy Ruins packs.
-Drawing Unburial Rites is atrocious and happens to me 100% of the time. On a more serious note, drawing Rites or Norn means that any Gifts you draw are pretty awful. Awful in that if you just wanted a 3U value spell for more cards, you're effectively running Inspiration in Modern.
I would love love love to be proven wrong by your testing results, though. I happen to like Gifts a lot.
What would be the best number of Brimaz. I am currently playing:
2 vendilion clique
2 restoration angel
2 snapcaster mage
1 thundermaw hellkite
4 lightning bolt
2 lightning helix
2 spell snare
2 mana leak
3 remand
3 electrolyze
3 cryptic command
25 lands.
what would you reccomend to remove. Only reason i wouldnt play atm is his ridiculous price tag.
Modern:
RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs
RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy:
UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander:
UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
I think three is the right number for Brimaz.
And yeah, he is really expensive. Which makes me wonder if that's the main reason no one here seems to be trying him out. He does everything we want a creature to do and complements geist nicely.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Geist becomes pretty useless in the face of nacatls, apes, goyfs, restoration angels, kitchen finks, voice of resurgence etc.
Geist dies to lingering souls chump block.
Geist attacks and doesn't stick around to block.
Brimaz also doesn't die to bolt and helix unless the opponent has two. I don't know why you included those in your example.
And I'm not even telling people to take out Geist completely. Geist is still good, so I'm not sure why you are defending it so vehemently. Brimaz just makes the deck better by giving you another angle of attack against decks that geist is bad against. Sure he makes the opponent's removal better, but it makes sideboarding for your opponent tougher as he now has to decide how much removal to keep or board in. One removal on Brimaz is also one less removal for your angels or hellkites.
Have you even tried the card? Against a variety of decks?
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Well, to be honest, im not running the unburial pack, i know how it works since i played 4C gifts before, and i can testify to its strength.
From the weaknesses you mark, the only relevant one is the 6 slots in the sideboard. I couldnt care less about remand, if you are afraid of it, wait a turn and try to snare their counter, a card you should run anyways.
Zoo does care about getting their table wiped, i can assure you that, iona is a pain too, since naming red completely cuts off their reach. Its not so easy to have double bolts either, and if you are at 5, im suspecting they already spent one or two of those.
Plus, you run helix too, its not like killing you with burn is so easy.
The unburial target CAN be removed with cryptic, but thats really not very efficient either. Maybe you should try dispels in the side to protect your big guys, or something along those lines.
Granted, having iona or elesh stuck in your hand is bad,but it doesnt happen all that often, so its a concession i can make. Also, if you plan on running this in the SB, you should play at least one blood crypt/godless shrine/watery grave to be able to hardcast unburial, should it happen to be stuck in your op hand.
The main point of the pack is that it will give you games out of nowhere, specially if your opponent doesnt expect it. But for that, you need to rework your main and side to let the fatties do their thing.
Good matchups:
Pod: WRECKS them, just WRECKS them...there is practically nothing they can do since, to the best of my knowledge, they run what, one Shriekmaw? And they can only pod it out as a sorcery, and you just wiped their board, so they better hope to have it in hand.
UWR midrange mirror: If you have this on board, they are required to have PtE to win. May seem hard to cast, but worth it to try just to wipe out their geists and make your unstoppable.
Splinter Twin: May seem like a bad matchup for this card, but on turn 4 you are keeping mana up to either counter their twin/remove their creature they are casting it on or you can drop this. It kills everything in their deck besides exarch, but you can swing with a bajillion exarchs when none of them deal any damage...
Affinity: While they do have some graveyard hate in their side, I don't think they will see this coming game 2 (And if you won game 1, that is all it takes). Also, while it may seem slow against affinity, you should be removing their creatures early anyways.
Living End: You won't use it here in the traditional ways, but holy cow does it hose them. Instead of Unburial Rites, just go grab Iona and Elesh Norn and toss them in. Let's see if they want to living end now...
Faeries: I think it would be hard to pull off, but if you pull it off its GG without a doubt.
Bad Matchups:
GR Tron: Doesn't really do anything here, but you can't have everything. By the time you get it on board, you should have been using your mana for other things.
Merfolk: Vapor Snag and too many lord effects here. Plus they have Cursecatcher...
Jund: They have too many ways to answer this, I wouldn't think it would be worth it. They will either thoughtseize gifts, liliana norn, maelstrom norn, or scooze away your graveyard.
UR Delver: I just don't see this resolving here. They aren't using their mana by turn 4/5, so they will be able to counter either unburial rites or gifts ungiven. I think it is a pipe dream that this will resolve against a good delver player.
Zoo: They will probably kill you too fast, and they actually can PtE her since they aren't using that on Geist/Snapcaster.
At first, I sorta laughed at this idea, but now that I look at it it may be perfect. Sure, it takes up 6 sideboard slots, but at the same time, it hoses so many decks that you can use this as your main strategy against quite a few. Also, it isn't like you aren't going to ever play a game where you can actually CAST Elesh Norn. I've hit 7 mana in plenty of modern games with this deck that stall out because I remove all their threats, but can't land one of my own that easily. Also, if you are terrified of having unburial rites in your hand, just play one Blood Crypt. Does that open you up to tec edges? Sure...but you shouldn't be fetching for that land until you are ready to cast rites in the first place.
Not to mention, can anyone think of a more FUN sideboard than this card? I've decided, I'm running me some Gifts. So with that in mind, should I be running:
2 Gifts Ungiven or 3?
2 Unburial Rites or 1?
2 Norn, 1 Norn and 1 Other (Maybe Iona), or just 1 Norn?
I've been testing it in the side of Faeries, and with some disruption, it is fast enough to stop Zoo. They usually don't have Path anyways. Also, for the package, I'd run
3-4 Gifts
1 Unburial Rites
1 Elesh Norn and 1 Iona or just 1 Norn.
I'd probably also add 1 mainboard Watery Grave so that you can cast Unburial Rites if it gets stuck in your hand. Or possibly adding another Vendilion Clique to get it out of your hand.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.