This is the decklist I've been running thus far. It's shown to be pretty strong, often killing with an X spell in combination with a Grapeshot. It allows me to expend the obscene amounts of mana I often generate using Past in Flames.
Let me go through each card as this deck uses it and why I run as many as I do.
Lands:
I run one card mainboard that uses white, however there is a large quantity of white generators in the manabase. There are two reasons for this. One is because I often need the white to end the game (Aurelia's Fury is the chosen card at the moment) and two is because I have sideboard cards that need to be played (most notably Unburial Rites).
Creature:
Goblin Electromancer. is at a two of because I never need more than one, and is not essential to the combo. He also makes fantastic fodder for people to force to the grave as a gifts target, because they never want to put the Electromancer into my hand. So if I need to force a card that they might not know I need into my hand, Electromancer is a fantastic target.
Merchant Scroll. I run this as a two of because I run a full playset of Peer Through Depths and so I have effectively 8 gifts, seeing as statistically one out of every two peers will hit either a scroll or gifts.
Instant:
Aurelia's Fury. I like an X spell in the deck, and this was the best I saw thus far. I would like to play Debt to the Deathless but I think that unless I switch to a version of the deck with Channel the Suns it would be too hard to splash.
Resolves: 12 red mana. Cast Past in Flames. 8 red mana. Cast Desperate Ritual from grave, splice it again, then triple it with Increasing Vengeance. 26 mana. Who cares about storm count at this point. Just shoot a Fireball of your choice at their face.
Spell Pierce and Spell Snare. Just counterspells. I am completely unfamiliar with modern control, so I just threw two different counterspells into the deck for the sheer lolz. I don't know what would be better to run, but it's just a test.
Sideboard:
Literally random garbage I threw together. I'm toying with the concept of Unburial Rites into a Griselbrand to generate card draw and storm count and then using a lifegain spell or something, who knows to just keep the train going into a nuts combo or something. Just an idea I had.
Notes:
This is version 1.2. It's been modified from the original, but not a lot. It's still based in it's original principles before I even knew Channel the Suns was a thing.
I really like your version of ritual gifts and I never thought about the splice Vengence thing. But I think, that you have the wrong finisher, since Aurelia's Fury is garbage. It is only reasonable if cast it for X=1 pre combo to have a silence but most of the times you won't have the spare mana for it. So instead of Aurelia's Fury I would play Banefire since it plays around Counters.
The 2/2 split from snare/pierce is in my opinion the correct way.
Furthermore I wouldn't play the Rites combo in the SB. Since the opponent will bring in Graveyardhate it will occur, that you can't flash back the rites. I suggest, that you play a non graveyard hate win con in the SB (Martial Coup, since it is a 2 turn clock (10 tokens is most of the times enough)) so that you can combo of without the graveyard.
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Debt to the Deathless is the primary win-con, as I can fetch each combo piece with a single Gifts Ungiven. Depending on what they put into the graveyard and into my hand, I may need to increase the amount of mana I need, which is where all the rituals and singular Mana Seism come into play. Allowing for a flashbacked Past in Flames in order to cast Channel the Suns back from the grave, then Increasing Vengeance targeting it, then shooting for lethal. The total mana needed in this version of the scenario is 11. 3 red, 1 green, 7 colorless.
Now a spliced Desperate Ritual targeted by an Increasing Vengeance followed by a Manamorphose is an easy way to get the mana needed for that version of the combo. The spliced ritual only needs 6 mana, which is relatively easy to get. 6 lands can even be used to generate that.
As you can see, the deck is very explosive and can EOT gifts for the win if played correctly. While it absolutely tramples over decks in damage races (burn) and can beat most combo decks (twin, pod) in a combo race. It has no problem with affinity or R/G tron. The greatest weakness are control decks. Baiting counters, trying to clear the field for the combo finish is very difficult. Especially if they've set up a damage clock. Chipping away at my life. In my playtests online, the hardest matchups were W/U midrange, America control, and basically any deck with blue with the exception of a rival storm deck. This leads me to believe I should try to either fight through their counters, or play a more reactive version of the deck.
That's where the sideboard comes in, and I need the most help. I need to decide on the best counterspells to try to play. Pact of Negation is one I often consider, because once I go off, the game will end. Unlike most storm decks, it's a surefire win without disruptions. No cantrips are required once I decide to go off. So a free counterspell might be what I need. But should I maindeck it? SB? How many? That's the kind of advice I'm looking for.
Edit: it should be noted these are all without Goblin Electromancer in play. With him in play it's much easier to do any of these combos.
Your version is very intriguing. It's pretty much the complete opposite of the list i am currently running. It's interesting because your coming at it with a much more all-in strategy than what i'm doing. And your match-ups reflect that. While you say you have trouble with control, and midrange blue decks, my list handles those pretty fairly.
Most of what has been brewed on in this thread is a more control centric list that's trying to use Gifts to up set the win, but with more ability to interact with your opponent. I'm not sure your approach is correct, but at the same time, i'm not positive my approach is the only way either.
While i do think splicing Rituals can sometimes work, it forces you to sculpt an even more specific hand. All of your combos require fairly specific sets of cards, in specific places, and this isone of the ways i think your list falters slightly. With the right pieces in your deck, all you need is the right amount of mana, and any 1 or 2 combo pieces to go off.
Also worth talking about is the fact that Gifts lets you get away with not playing so many Rituals. Which gives you much more room for control magic. The thing is, while some Rituals are obviously needed for the combo, they are actually just a dead card most of the time. And can clog up your hand. As apposed to say Scapeshift, who's ramp is actually proactive. In my testing i found by running more Rituals, i actually just found myself with blanks in my hand, or drawing bricks too often. You can set up the combo to only need just a few Rituals and Combo pieces, so i just don't see the point in running anymore dead cards than you need to.
For reference, here is my most recent list i have been playing.
Now right off the bat you can see some huge differences between our lists. While your going all out with Rituals and combo pieces i'm running the bare minimum to make the combo work, and have filled the rest with control magic. I also recently started running mana ramp akin to what Scapeshift is doing. The biggest problem people have been running into with this type of list, is consistently having enough mana to combo off. We tried a few things like running more cantrips, but so far in testing the mana ramp has been amazing. They make Mana Seism extremely good, makes a t4 win possible, and most importantly helps us reach that critical 5-6 mana for the combo. After playing with them, i can't imagine going back.
I think the all-in idea your running is pretty cool, but i'm not sure it's the most efficient way to make use of Gifts. Not only does Gifts let you get away with running less combo pieces(because it tutors up almost the entire combo on it's own), by adding more control magic you can also use Gifts just for value, and to help control a game, or find an answers to a situation. Running the control magic gives you more game against more decks, while keeping the ability to combo off t4+
If you decide to stick with the all-in strategy i do think Pact of Negation could be a decent card to play, but i would keep it in the side to bring in against blue decks. Also Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is worth considering, as he is beast against control. Speaking of which your sideboard looks a bit off. Whats with the Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival, and Reclaim in the board? 3 Trickbind also makes no sense. If that's something you want to play that's ok, but you play Merchant Scroll, you definitely don't need 3. With Echoing Truth, it's better to play different bounce spells in case you ever need to make a pile with Gifts to grab them. It doesn't really look like you have a gameplan against any of the top decks. What do you bring in for Pod? What do you bring in for Twin? For BGx?
Yeah, it's a mess. I've sculpted my favorite version of the deck thus far and then I took the liberty to invest into a copy of the cards IRL. Here's the list I'm actually running in real life:
So after far too many playtests, I've come to the conclusion that I either need to try to focus a heavy control build to out-control control decks (similar to yours), or find a card like Silence or Autumn's Veil to allow me to freely combo out when I need to as soon as possible, I.E. going for the all out, balls to the wall race into the combo. I'm trying to decide which build I want to try to construct, or if my current version of the build will handle my meta. I've literally never taken this deck to a tournament, something I plan to change next week. Once I do get a glimpse of how competitive my meta is, and how control oriented it is, I'll probably make the decision on how to modify my deck in the future. What are your thoughts on the two ideas? Obviously you've played one version. What about a Pyromancer Ascension in my kind of deck? Especially since Gifts sends half the cards to the grave? Thoughts? Opinions?
First run of the balls to the wall rushing into a combo. It's actually surprisingly effective, netting me a T3 win on my first game against an 8rack deck. It went something like this, T1 steam vents, T2 sulfur falls goblin electromancer, T3 island, ritual ritual manamorphose gifts increasing vengeance a ritual, ritual, manamorphose, past in flames, repeat, flashback gifts, find grapeshot, win. Something like that. So it's actually pretty nuts if it can stick an electromancer/ascention. It takes a bit of counting, to make sure you can go off, but it ramps, then uses gifts to keep the rituals coming. I once cast past in flames 3 times in a combo with this deck. First set of cards, then ramping with them, into double gifts, then into another past in flames to use those, then a third time after grabbing grapeshot for the win.
With this version, don't underestimate the power of increasing vengeance on a ritual (4 for 6 mana) or flashbacked (4 for 9 mana). It often generated enough to go off without an electromancer or ascention. 9 mana is a LOT of mana...
Hey Joking101, sorry it's been forever since i replied on here. I've been a bit distracted lately.. Have you still been playing the deck at all? How's your progress coming, and did you end up bringing your deck to any local events?
your list certainly is interesting. I am curious to know how it's been working out for you. I have been running a similar list for a while with Electromancer, and Ascension, but i have been calling it RGS(Ritual Gifts Storm) because it's more of a combination of Ritual Gifts and UR Storm.
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When these hands come up it is a guaranteed win thanks to the loop Gifts gives you. Now these are assuming you cast Goblin Electromancer on turn 3, and combo off in the same turn.
On field > In hand
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3 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Ritual, Morphose, Gifts
3 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Revival, Morphose, Gifts
Now all of these are guaranteed wins with no chance of fizzling, and all of these are very easy to set up.
Also on the topic of fizzling with Gifts. With an Electromancer out if you resolve a Gifts with 3 mana left in your pool the pile (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Past in Flames) is a guaranteed win. And with an Active Pyromancer Ascension you only need 2 mana left over after a resolved Gifts, and again you have a guaranteed win, with no chance of fizzling. You get to make 2 piles, so you can make the first pile (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Past in Flames), and with the second grab (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Peer Through Depths). As long as you have 2 mana open you win.
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Here's what i have been running for Ritual Gifts. It's pretty similar to the last list a posted but with a few minor changes.
It's really tough deciding on the right control package. I can't decide whether running Lightning Bolts, or a Gifts sweeperpackage maindeck is better. I'm running the sweepers now, but i still have Izzet Charm, Electrolyze, and Vapor Snag for targeted removal.
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Not just the Tendo King, the power of the Galactic Leyline surpasses that of the Tempa Emperor, No!, It's magnificent power is even greater than that!
would something like 4x wooded foothills 4x polluted delta be okay for the manabase? I'm thinking about building this deck, and I have most parts except for the fetches. How necessary are they?
would something like 4x wooded foothills 4x polluted delta be okay for the manabase? I'm thinking about building this deck, and I have most parts except for the fetches. How necessary are they?
I've played it without fetches and substituted more basics. Luckily, the deck doesn't have that heavy a dependence on green. Still, the deck is way more consistent when you have tarns and misties.
would something like 4x wooded foothills 4x polluted delta be okay for the manabase? I'm thinking about building this deck, and I have most parts except for the fetches. How necessary are they?
Yeah, it's definitely possible. If you're running Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Search for Tomorrow you are gonna want a few more green sources main, but if you're opting out of those, maybe something like this could work.
Like Kidbails said though, it's not going to be as consistent, but you don't need a lot of green for the combo anyway, and sometimes you can even get away with just Manamorphose and no other green sources.
Speaking of which, have you stil been playing the deck Kidbails? What's your list looking like these days?
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Not just the Tendo King, the power of the Galactic Leyline surpasses that of the Tempa Emperor, No!, It's magnificent power is even greater than that!
The 3x Swan Song and singular Spell Pierce are placeholders for 4 copies of Guttersnipe.
My game plan.
G1, race for the combo. ASAP. If I'm going to die the next turn, force the combo, even if I don't think I can make it. If I haven't given any information up, instead do nothing, give them no information, and try to convince them I'm playing scapeshift so they don't side in graveyard hate.
G2, side in 3x Echoing Truth basically no matter what happens. Unless they think I'm playing scapeshift, they're gonna bring in some form of hate. Echoing Truth is my answer to this. Side in Anger of the Gods if they're playing an aggro variant, virtually no matter which one. All the copies of Autumn's Veil if they're playing control. Bring in the singular Debt to the Deathless if I think they're gonna play Leyline of Sanctity. Guttersnipe is a test, but typically I'd bring it in against decks like G/W Hatebears, because then all I need to do is count. I don't need to get to storm 20, I can just cast 10 spells and they die, or with fetches, shocks, horizon canopies and the occasional swing with a guttersnipe or goblin electromancers, count to 7, or with grapeshot, count to 5. Makes that clock a bit faster and allows me to just force spells and deal them damage. Regardless if I can finish them with a massive grapeshot.
I took it to a tournament a few weeks ago and got creamed, 1-3. Winning against soul sisters 2-1, then losing to affinity, merfolk then null affinity. After the match, the guy playing null affinity told me my deck was genius, but it was so close to being fantastic. It was just slightly off. That I tend to agree with. It needs just a bit more refining to get to a competitive level, but I have no idea what that could be. I'm burned out on it at this point. I've been sick the past week with strep throat, so I haven't really gone anywhere or done anything by the way of magic, but I wasn't even enthusiastic about playing online. Right now the deck just sits collecting dust.
Any ideas on how to spruce up the deck? And hopefully my interest in magic?
Also, the singular fetch is based on my abilities to purchase fetchlands. However on the manabase, I have never been mana screwed, never had any problems with slowlands, and rarely take damage from painlands. At least, never has the deck screwed me. I make mistakes and play checklands before shocklands and stuff like that, but I rarely, if ever, have mana problems.
This is a deck that has been under my radar since LegitKarona made the old primer. (I've lost my ID since Curse acquired MTGSal) Some Thoughts:
Hazanko's List:
1. I really like the green plan with ramp. It adds a crazy amount of options for sideboard - Autumn Veil is one of then.
With that said, I would really like to see at least one copy of Mystical Teachings in your 75, to use it with Teferi. I would also swap the Titan for something that feels more like a finisher or has inevitability for the control matchup (Titan is creature against creatures and Faeries.
Some interesting creatures comes to my mind. Bogardan Hellkite Hornet Queen
2. Which reminds me: Polluted Delta and Wooded Foothills are now on the format. This adds the possibility of playing targeted discard without much concern to our manabase, for those pesky disruption effects. Mystical Teachings' flashback becomes available as well. Not sure about this one, but it has some different angles.
Also on the Delta/Foothills topic: transformational sideboard to Scapeshift viable?
Now on Joking's list:
3. Guttersnipe makes more sense if you drop some rituals and play more controlish, more akin to Hazanko's list - by playing Gifts you can play control, dropping the number of dead ritual draws. It also opens the possibility of playing Lightning Bolts and other burns, which are great with Guttersnipe.
If you are straight combo, tending towards the UR Storm archetype, I would go with Pyromancer's Swath instead.
4. The debt to the deathless is genious on the side. I love it.
General:
I'm a big fan of transformational boards, specially since we play a more controllish archetype that wins with a brutal combo. I've mentioned Bogardan Hellkite.
We don't play Twin because of the number of lands and hate overlapping, but there are other possible boards:
5. The aforementioned Scapeshift - it makes us less vulnerable to GY hate, but that means we must run Valakut, the Molten Pineapple in our 75 and possibly more ramp. The board would look full Valakut, leaving little options for control-esque stuff that we all come to love.
6. Dragonstorm with Teferi plan. This is something that I would like to test it out. Not sure if there are cards to support the style - this would make us a really slow draw-go style that wins big with DStorm. Without Seething Song I don't think its viable - it also dies to GY hate the same way, since we need that 15 mana anyway.
7. I remember a while ago that Epic Experiment was being tested in LegitKarona's thread. Epic Experiment made UR Storm very strong because of Seething Song and they have dropped it since the ban - but we have the very next best thing with Channel the Suns. It could be a great fit in Joking101's list, since it is more UR Stormish.
We could try it as well, but I don't think we would hit many spells with the reduced number of rituals - but post board? Nice graveyard hate you have there, mate.
8. Midrange Beatdown plan. We lose the rituals and some control stuff and just go midrange. RUG deck with lots of value, could even put a Iona/Unburial package. I would go Temur here - Savage Knuckleblade and Tarmogoyf plus Anger of the Gods make a great team.
Lets discuss, gentleman!
EDIT: I just re-read the old thread entirely, as well as LK's old blog posts. Has anyone considered the usage of Plasm Capture? The discussion from usage of the card just died.
Dragonstorm I think is an avenue worth looking into. Especially with my decklist. I can get to that 9 mana relatively easily. It would allow me to cut a lot of the cards that are excess generation for dragons, but still maintain a storm combo capability. A playset of Bogardan Hellkite would be a hilarious finisher. Although there are other dragon combinations that I'm sure could work equally well.
Was thinking about the manabase. With the addition of Wooded Foothills I would change the manabase slightly.
In my opinion, Foothills is the superior fetchland for the ramp archetype. It brings every color we need. (it is also cheaper thanks to Khans!).
The only problem would be the added vulnerability to Blood Moon, but the addition of allied color fetchlands makes the whole format less vulnerable to the problem enchantment, since it allows decks to run more basics.
Adding Snow-Covered Island for some pinch Gifts Piles when you need a land, I would probably go with something like this:
With this change, we have more green mana available as well, so we can make room for Mana Drain. I would go from Lord Hazanko's list, change the manabase and do -1 Gifts -1 Vapor Snag +2 Plasm Capture for the testing part.
I'm a big fan of 3 Gifts, specially since we are running 4 Merchant Scroll. Not too sold on Vapor Snag's utility.
Has this deck won anything after the seething song ban? Even 3-1'd a daily? Why or why not?
It seems like a sweet idea.
I think I may be one of the only people who actually plays this deck on a regular basis, and I don't have MTGO.. No one really wants to pick up a deck that takes so long to learn, and is essentially unproven. The deck is blast to play though, and in my opinion can be competitive. I do fairly well when I play with Ritual Gifts. It has some bad matches, but feels at least 50/50 against almost everything. It's a super fun combo deck to play because you can sneak out of almost any situation, unlike some of Moderns more All-in combo decks. The deck has a ton of play, and is one of the more rewarding decks I've played.
Unlike UR Storm that's playing a ton of cantrips and loading up the grave very quickly, that doesn't really happen here. Unfortunately I can't see either being very useful as you'll rarely be able to cast them for cheap. I've said it before, and i'll say it again.. I seriously wish Impulse was legal in Modern. I feel it's exactly the card I want to be playing, and to me at least, it doesn't seem like it would be too powerful for Modern.. maybe Modern Masters 2..
As far as Plasm Capture goes, I actually haven't tried it, but it seems kinda meh. You're gonna need to counter a 4+ mana spell, so that means our opponent needs to have a 4+ mana spell in his deck, and we need to have Capture and mana to cast it. A lot of things need to go right to get proper use out of Capture. A counter at 4 mana(that's not Cryptic Command) is going to be pretty terrible most of the time.
@necro
Both Hornet Queen and Bogardan Hellkite are significantly worse than Inferno Titan or Wurmcoil Engine, and cost more mana to cast. Titan can end the game in just 2 swings if it wants to, and can control the board if it needs too as well. And Wurmcoil is one of the best creatures to stabilize a game, and outside of Path there's no good way to deal with it.
Unlike UR Storm that's playing a ton of cantrips and loading up the grave very quickly, that doesn't really happen here. Unfortunately I can't see either being very useful as you'll rarely be able to cast them for cheap. I've said it before, and i'll say it again.. I seriously wish Impulse was legal in Modern. I feel it's exactly the card I want to be playing, and to me at least, it doesn't seem like it would be too powerful for Modern.. maybe Modern Masters 2..
I got impatient, updated a Ritual Gifts list that I probably at least mostly ripped from this thread, jammed 3 Dig Through Time in it (it used to be a 2 Dig-1 Treasure Cruise split, but Cruise tended to perform worse than Dig), and gave it a little bit of support with 1 Sleight of Hand:
I tried a few games against Jund, UWR Midrange, and Burn on Cockatrice, and hoo boy, Dig Through Time was great against Jund and UWR. I tended to cast it for 2-5 mana, and it finding Gifts, combo pieces, and answers was swell. I once lured UWR with Gifts at their EOT, then cast Dig for 2 mana on my turn while they were tapped out after countering Gifts, and it found Gifts and Desperate Ritual. Another time, I went 3-mana Dig into Pyretic Ritual (I had 3 untapped lands left pre-Ritual) into Gifts into combo. I also lived the dream and Increasing Vengeanced Dig against Jund. I comboed off that game while Liliana of the Veil had 6 loyalty!
If you can save up the blue mana, Dig is insane mid-combo, especially after you Mana Seism. If you're sitting on a lot of mana, you don't need to search for Manamorphose with the Grapeshot Gifts anymore.
I'm also starting to think that the correct default Merchant Scroll target against grindy decks, especially BGx Midrange, is Dig Through Time, especially since it has a high chance of finding Gifts if you couldn't previously find it, and it also find lands (especially the 5th land), sometimes combo pieces, and sometimes answers.
Especially when I couldn't find Dig, Jund sometimes got me one turn before I could combo off (those games, I often got Scavenging Ooze off the table but not Goyf/Bob, and Bolt ended up closing it out), and I kept losing against Burn pre-board--even though they never cast Eidolon of the Great Revel in testing!
Oh well--maybe it's just me, but it feels like Dig Through Time pushes Ritual Gifts to a whole new level (but then again, Dig and Cruise push a lot of decks to a whole new level). The dig and CA it provides for cheap enough are astonishing.
Has this deck won anything after the seething song ban? Even 3-1'd a daily? Why or why not?
It seems like a sweet idea.
I have been playing this on and off. In the prior page you can see my report where I split for a goyf. That being said I am not playing 13 one of and random control cards. It's more of a combo deck. I am of the idea that if you want to play gifts control you play 4 color gifts with rites and iona. I have been messing around with this again and am going to take it to a gpt soon. My only change will be a dig through time for the Swansong in the board. Treasure cruise and dig through time are really not synergistic with past in flames. As a late responce to the claim my list has no kill, turns 3 ritual gifts for increasing vengeance two rituals and a past in flames with a ritual in hand and a man amorphous somewhere wins. I will leave it to you guys to figure it out as I am typing on a phone. Turn 4 gifts does not need the man amorphous if you hit all you land drops
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legacy: Tes, Affinity, Dredge
modern: 4 color Gifts, ritual gifts, goryo's vengeance, affinity
I'm gonna come right out and say it, all-in gifts storm is inferior to all-in UR storm with cantrips.
I'm also gonna say, all-in gifts storm is inferior to ritual gifts. I've been playing my version of the deck, and right now, having playtested ~65 games on cockatrice against virtually every modern deck there is, my win/loss is about 0.325, or losing 2 out of every 3 games.
If you're looking to get into ritual gifts, the all in approach is not the best. At least, not yet. If I could consistently resolve my gifts on T3, however, I think it could be much stronger.
I believe the 2x valakut and 2x scapeshift in the side to go with snappy and noxious revival to make an EOT gifts into land drop into win. Sample game with this board,
land search for tomorrow suspend
land sakura,
land harrow, EOT gifts for snappy, revival, a counterspell (spell pierce, swan song, etc) and scapeshift,
land resolve scapeshift using counterspell as backup, win game.
I'm actually considering playing 2x valakut 1x Scapeshift maindeck.
The card I'm least impressed by is Merchant Scroll and I'm willing to shave it from the deck and make room for 24lands + scapeshift route.
The countersuite should probably change a bit as well, with Spell Snare being so good right now.
Funny thing: this thread was dead three weeks ago and suddenly it just explodes again haha
That being said I am not playing 13 one of and random control cards. It's more of a combo deck. I am of the idea that if you want to play gifts control you play 4 color gifts with rites and iona.
The thing is, those random control cards are what makes the deck work. If you want to play an all in combo deck, UR Storm, Ascendancy Storm, or Ad Nauseam, would all be better choices. They'll almost always be faster, and more consistent as an all in combo. I agree we're not a control deck in the same manner 4c Gifts is, but we actually finish the game when we combo. Rather than just reanimating a fatty that can be answered. Where Ritual Gifts shines is in its inevitability, and its ability to find its way out of almost any situation. Those random control pieces let us beat disruption, be it counterspells, hatebears, and pressure while we set up. The fact that we need 5-6 lands out to combo, means that we'll never be as fast as other combo decks, but we can get away with 2 less lands than Valakut and still get the combo, so we are somewhere in-between.
As far as Valakut in the board I just don't think there's room. We need a lot of stuff in the board as it is, and I don't see room for a transitional board.
My board is always changing up, but here's what it looks like right now.
Even here there's so many things I want to add but can't find room. How would you play a transitional board and still be able to beat top decks, and hate?
I definitely want to try 1 Dig Through Time in the main now. I don't know how I didn't realize it was an instant. being wishable with Merchant Scroll is a good reason to try it out.
That's why I'm advocating it in the maindeck. 1 Scapeshift and 2 Valakut, running 24 lands. For that matter I would go on a more reddish take on the deck, probably running a couple Lightning Bolts and competlely running away from Merchant Scroll - the card is a tad too slow for my tastes, even if it tutors for Gifts. I want to either be playing proactively towards inevitability (by playing ramp spells, Scapeshifting or playing Gifts EOT) or controlling the opponents clock towards my inevitability (Bolts, Spell Snare, etc). I just can't find room/justification for Merchant Scroll - while it tutors (sorcery speed) for Izzet Charm, Remand and Electrolyze, which assume the very good control part, to be able to do that requires you 4 to 5 mana. With that much in the board, I want to be just draw-go and instant speed.
Scapeshift Maindeck also enables a ton of mindgames in the sideboard (for your opponent). Winning G1 with Scpaeshift may make the opponent think they are playing the wrong deck. The same goes for winning G1 with Gifts. I like the fact that it has the opportunity to make people tilt.
I~m just not impressed by Merchant Scroll. While I believe it does its heavy lifting with the sideboard, I'm pretty sure we can find other sideboarding options not to rely heavily in it. Recognizing if we are beatdown or control and go from there, I think.
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Pros and Cons for Merchant Scroll:
Pros:
1. Tutors for the finishing Gifts
2. Great lategame topdeck
3. Fills your hand with answers you need right now.
Cons:
1. You can't play the answer you need right now if its not turn 4-5.
2. Does not tutor sweepers
3. If you're proactively searching for business cards, you give proactively give information to your opponent which he can play around.
4. If you either tapout or leave 1-2 lands open, you give the opponent some information about what you are holding (Bolt, Spell Snare/Pierce, Remand, Izzet Charm)
When do I want Merchant Scroll?
1. If my opponent is way too commited to the board.
This allows me to search for Hurkyl's Recall vs Robots, Electrolyze vs Elves/Aggro/Bob.
2. If my opponent has no way to interact with my spells.
Just go for the throat here, typical combo vs aggro matchup. Search for Gifts, combo.
3. If my opponent has a way to interact with my spells, but I want him to waste his spells.
VS Control I would use Merchant Scroll as counterbait. If they don't counter, I would go grindy here and get instant speed stuff I can EOT/counter war on their turn.
When I don't want Merchant Scroll?
1. If my opponent has a way to interact with my spells and we are the beatdown.
When you are the beatdown, you want to proactively interact with the board or be inevitable. Against control, you want a hand with inevitability and Merchant Scroll can set you back a few turns.
2. If my opponent is running high thougness critters such as Tarmogoyf and are not dumb aggro.
They are the beatdown, you are the control and you can't search with MS for spells that remove the beatstick out of the way. Going Merchant Scroll is Thoughtseize/Duress bait.
3. If my opponent is running Thoughtseize.
If you cast Merchant Scroll, they take your card. If you don't, they take Merchant Scroll. Either way, you lose the best possible card you would tutor for.
4. If my opponent is running Jeskai Ascendancy.
Merchant Scroll just loses you the game here. You need untapped mana and an instant way of dealing either with Jeskai Ascendancy or his dorks to have a gameplan against JA.
My conclusions
My style of play is Draw-Go inevitability. The popularity of Jeskai Ascendancy shifted the metagame to decks that have a relevant matchup against them, which are Jund (disruption + removal), Twin (disruption + fast combo + Dig Through Time) and UR Delver (Disruption + Tempo). In all those matchups, I don't like Merchant Scroll.
By getting rid of it and taking into consideration this gauntlet I just presented, we can taylor our deck to the meta needs.
I'll be posting my thought process towards making a new list soon.
Ok! I'm sorry for the doublepost but I want to make a tangent here and open the discussion to taylor the deck against our current metagame.
PLEASE TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THAT THESE ARE THEORYTICAL LINES OF THOUGHT BACKED BY NO TESTING AT ALL. IT IS A TOOL USED TO REACH A 75 CARD DECK.
The Gauntlet:
Currently, the deck that runs the pod is Jeskai Ascendancy. It is a combo deck full of mana dorks and cantrips, which, when you resolve a Jeskai Ascendancy, makes each cantrip essencially a Time Walk.
The deck is vulnerable to all sorts of disruption and removal, but it is fast and redundant enough that just having one piece of disruption and/or removal is not enough to win the matchup. it is enough to draw you another turn.
In second place, we have its natural predator, Jund. What is the deck that wins when the deck to beat is vulnerable to disruption and removal? Well, a deck full of disruption and removal. Jund has been a mainstay of the Modern Metagame and with reason - its ability to run 50-50 matchs pre-sideboard and always improve post sb is what makes this deck run since Standard with fun and balanced cards such as Bloodbraid Elf.
The third deck in the list is a deck that has a lot of disruption and a redundant combo. I'm talking about SplinterTwin. With a two card combo and redundancy in the form of Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite, Twin decks run a full counterburn suite and are able to select if they are Control or Beatdown depending on the matchup. They are, I would say, the blue Jund, except its sideboard game is not as good as Jund's.
Last but not least, we have UR Delver. It is a tempo deck that wants to beat your life down by sticking Delver of Secrets or Young Pyromancer and just tempoing you out either controlling the board with Lightning Bolts or just throwing them at your face. It refuels its hand by running four Ancestral Recall and possibly Snapcaster Mage, but the latter is getting out of fashion lately.
Our Plan:
Gifts Ungiven is a card that makes deck dwell in the spectrum between UR Storm and UR Control. We have an incredible versatility to build the deck, and we should always build it to solve the current metagame. That being said, we can't just beat every deck in the meta. We need to estabilish what we want as prey and what do we want as our predators.
As easy as it looks to simply say "I want to prey on Jund and Jeskai Ascendancy", not always will it be the case where your 60 cards has that potential. One tool I was presented to some years ago by reading Patrick Chapin's (or was it GerryT's?) column is that, to discover what your maindeck to a tournament will look like, build the best 60card deck (of a certain archetype) against a given deck of the gauntlet. Repeat the process for the others and find the overlaps. That should be your core.
Some pieces will be missing. That is when you tweak the numbers towards certain matchups (X card is good against Jund AND Jeskai? Then it is in.
Iterations, Iterations:
Ok, this will take a while. I will be constructing several decks against the gauntlet and will be updating this post to reach our final 75.
vs Jeskai Ascendancy
This is the list I want to play against JA, if possible:
This list makes it incredibly difficult for Jeskai Ascendancy to play against you. Forked Bolt punishes non-Caryatid starts and Flashfreeze punishes everything else. If you can delay them enough to play a 2+-for-1 Anger, you have the game.
With this list, you can play draw-go as much as you want.
So now the bad part: You will have to mulligan. You actually dont want to see many combo pieces. What you want here is 2 disruption/bolts and the hand is golden against them. They probably board Swan Song against you, but well, you have way more permission and disruption.
Other possible angles: A win con that takes less slots. Scapeshift is not viable because I would need to up the land count to 24 and add ramp, which is useless in this MU. Maybe bringing back some lessons from the past and just reanimating Iona naming blue against them could make the deck way more consistent against Jeskai Ascendancy, as they can't cantrip to win. This allows the deck to run Forbidden Alchemy and Dig Through Time/Treasure Cruise with the extra slots.
vs Jund:
Jund seems like a though, grindy matchup if you're running the rituals route. They have Scavenging Ooze maindeck and run 7 maindeck discards (not counting Liliana).
The strategy here is play the control route and bury them in card advantage. For that, we need to kill their Bobs and not let Liliana hit the board.
This is my 60 if I were to play against Jund:
Here you use Gifts as a card advantage engine and for Snapcaster/Noxious Revival shenanigans. The real strength of the matchup comes from the stalling you can make with your countersuite and Obstinate Baloths for their Liliana discard engine. You can stall them for enough time to either Scapeshift for the win or Inferno Titan your way to victory. Jund's mana base hurts a lot, and sometimes just Bolting their face and going for Inferno Titan is the right play. Scapeshift just puts the nail in the coffin.
This gives you a lot of angles to attack Jund and some forms of card advantage for the grind matchup. A late game Gifts for Snapcaster + Noxious + Treasure Cruise seals Card Advantage game.
vs UR Delver:
Most of their important cards cost 2 mana or have 1/2 thoughness. Eidolon of the Great Revel, Young Pyromancer, Mana Leak and Delver of Secrets. The most important card to watch here is Treasure Cruise. If they can't land this one, they can't recover from the amount of 2 for 1s you make.
They play a lot of bounce effects and instants, which make me want to go Iona and Teferi plus Forbidden Alchemy.
The (tentative) decklist:
I was jamming so much spells in this list that having a lot of rituals just drove me to go for the Unburial/Iona route. This list uses again Gifts as a Card Advantage Engine along with Treasure Cruise. I really want to bias myself towards the old full ritual list, but there seems to be some trends in my line of thought that likes this reduced number of cards wincon.
vs Twin:
Scapeshift route seems the ideal plan here. Stall and play permission while dropping land after land and just win by scapeshifting with counter backup. Search for Tomorrow plays a big role here on the control mirror, since it allows you to use more resources.
Here's the 60 cards I would sleeve against a Twin deck:
This lists uses 26 lands so it goes more into the draw-go style.
The Process:
Now that we have our four decks, we have to decide what is our maindeck and what is sideboard. This is a rather simple process with the following steps:
1. Separate everything into the categories: 4 lists overlap, 3 lists overlap, 2 lists overlap, no overlap.
2. Everything that is 4 and 3 lists overlap is considered to go to the maindeck.
3. We fill the rest of the maindeck with material from 2 lsits overlap depending on the matchup we wan't to perform better.
4. We then fill the sideboard with cards that were leftout but have more overlap with the matchups we want to be solid.
5. In the end, we hope and pray to have a 75 card list! (haha)
2 List overlap:
2x Anger of the Gods (Jeskai and Delver)
3x Forked Bolt (Jeskai and Delver)
1x Unburial Rites + Iona (Jeskai and Jund)
Scapeshift Package (Tribe-Elder+SfT+Scapeshift) - Jund and Twin
1x Repeal - Jund and Delver. Tempo without CA loss.
Matchup Specific Cards:
3x Flashfreeze - Against Jeskai, this counters everything.
3x Obstinate Baloth - Hate against Liliana of the Veil, from Jund
2x Nature's Claim - Breaks Jeskai Ascendancy, but also Splinter Twin.
2x Engineered Explosives - For 0, This kills Young Pyromancer's tokens and flipped Delver of Secrets.
---------
Then you get a little creative and start giving some preferences to some matchups besides others. I went with Jeskai/Delver for my preferences to tweak the deck and even managed to keep Iona/Rites + Scapeshift plan mainboard. I do have to work a little on the manabase.
My final list is this one:
To have a confortable manabase, I went with 25 lands. Its the midterm between 24 and 26 (duh) and since casting Cryptic Command with triple blue will be kinda hard, I downgraded it to a one-of. its a great card and I love it, but the manabase to play it alongside Unburial Rites would be too much complicated, so I went -1 Command +1 Land. Added a Blood Crypt because sometimes you will want/have Unburial Rites in your hand. It alsos increases the number of mountains in your maindeck, so Scapeshift does not whiff.
The beauty of this deck is that it runs not only one of the most skill intensive cards to play in magic, Gifts Ungiven, it plays a control role vs most of the decks of the field, something which I feel more confortable than racing. It's win conditions are two: Iona to the board and Scapeshift into Valakut. There is no hate that hits both (well, perhaps that pesky Blood Moon, but that is not game-over, as we do run basics, ramp, bounce and red spells). This version of the deck sacrifices part of its win% against Robots, but looks, at least in paper, very robust against the actual Metagame.
Thoughts and comments would be appreciated. Testing of this list would also be appreciated, as I don't have much time to playtest the deck. Thanks!
Without intending to offend, that deck you've put together at the end looks an awful lot like just a sub-par Scapeshift list with gifts? It feels like if you approached it from the Scapeshift side, you wouldn't need gifts, just take a stock Scapeshift list, add some tech for Jeskai Ascendancy (like forked bolt and flashfreeze) and play some Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time (which seems better, and without looking at the scapeshift thread, almost certainly being tested) and boom, solid deck. You can play gifts in Scapeshift (and it's been discussed in their thread), although unburial rits makes the mana base a very awkward 4 colours.
I don't mean to drive you away from Ritual Gifts or dunk on your testing, but the deck you're putting together already exists, and it's just Scapeshift.
That is why I wrote the disclaimer: this is a tool used to reach a 75 card deck. I used the tool and reached a list pretty much close to Scapeshift.
Building decks against the meta including rituals and etc just seemed subpar and the conclusion is simple: it is not worthy to play Ritual Gifts in a metagame consisting of those 4 decks. Scapeshift just looks superior.
Its an exercise in deck building and meta-predicting. I do like the list, however (albeit the manabase looks awkward, I like having more than one angle of attack. Besides, I just love some Gifts Ungiven action).
Looks sub-par? I wouldn't go as far and say that without testing - it does need testing to affirm that, specially to see the pros and cons vs straight Scapeshift. Most scapeshift lists run sub-par cards like Serum Visions (seriously. That card sucks and is just in Modern because there's really no good library manipulation).
I would theoryze that it has some more favourable matchs% against certain decks than Scapeshift and some worse ones. I wouldn't diss the decklist as it is, just because it looks like a frankenstein-iona-scapeshift. I do advocate it needs some serious testing - one would argue that the matchup vs scapeshift is more favourable as well, so... tech!
Hope this clarifies the tangent and big post
PS: Another argument for posting this here is that I reached this decklist purely by doing an exercise promoted by discussion from this thread and with the Ritual Gifts mindset (hence Unburial Rites/Iona, dating from LegitKarona's thread). If you look in the history of this deck you will see several spawns with several win conditions, the only glue between lists being Gifts Ungiven itself.
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Halimar Depths
1x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
1x Mystic Gate
1x Rugged Prairie
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Seachrome Coast
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Goblin Electromancer
Sorcery (6)
2x Grapeshot
2x Merchant Scroll
2x Past in Flames
Instant (30)
1x Aurelia's Fury
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Increasing Vengeance
4x Manamorphose
4x Peer Through Depths
4x Pyretic Ritual
3x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
2x Spell Snare
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Gigadrowse
1x Griselbrand
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Martial Coup
1x Noxious Revival
1x Path to Exile
1x Shattering Spree
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Sowing Salt
1x Trickbind
1x Unburial Rites
Let me go through each card as this deck uses it and why I run as many as I do.
Lands:
I run one card mainboard that uses white, however there is a large quantity of white generators in the manabase. There are two reasons for this. One is because I often need the white to end the game (Aurelia's Fury is the chosen card at the moment) and two is because I have sideboard cards that need to be played (most notably Unburial Rites).
Creature:
Goblin Electromancer. is at a two of because I never need more than one, and is not essential to the combo. He also makes fantastic fodder for people to force to the grave as a gifts target, because they never want to put the Electromancer into my hand. So if I need to force a card that they might not know I need into my hand, Electromancer is a fantastic target.
Sorcery:
Grapeshot. is a clear choice.
Past in Flames. is also a clear choice.
Merchant Scroll. I run this as a two of because I run a full playset of Peer Through Depths and so I have effectively 8 gifts, seeing as statistically one out of every two peers will hit either a scroll or gifts.
Instant:
Aurelia's Fury. I like an X spell in the deck, and this was the best I saw thus far. I would like to play Debt to the Deathless but I think that unless I switch to a version of the deck with Channel the Suns it would be too hard to splash.
Desperate Ritual. The engine of this deck. This is my version of Seething Song/Channel the Suns. I usually can get two in hand by combo time. For example:
6 mana, 4 red from any source.
Cast Desperate Ritual, splice it, then cast Increasing Vengeance targeting it.
Resolves: 12 red mana. Cast Past in Flames. 8 red mana. Cast Desperate Ritual from grave, splice it again, then triple it with Increasing Vengeance. 26 mana. Who cares about storm count at this point. Just shoot a Fireball of your choice at their face.
Gifts Ungiven. The reason this deck is a thing.
Increasing Vengeance. Win con enabler.
Manamorphose. Do I need to explain why I need all 4 of these?
Peer Through Depths. Dig five, fetch something I need, also an arcane spell so I can splice things onto it for extra free mana? Sure. 4x status it is.
Pyretic Ritual. Storm count, and X mana spell ramp. I would run 12 versions of this spell if they printed another one.
Remand. Win con enabler and control.
Spell Pierce and Spell Snare. Just counterspells. I am completely unfamiliar with modern control, so I just threw two different counterspells into the deck for the sheer lolz. I don't know what would be better to run, but it's just a test.
Sideboard:
Literally random garbage I threw together. I'm toying with the concept of Unburial Rites into a Griselbrand to generate card draw and storm count and then using a lifegain spell or something, who knows to just keep the train going into a nuts combo or something. Just an idea I had.
Notes:
This is version 1.2. It's been modified from the original, but not a lot. It's still based in it's original principles before I even knew Channel the Suns was a thing.
I'm contemplating using Exsanguinate or Debt to the Deathless as they both get around Leyline of Sanctity
I really like your version of ritual gifts and I never thought about the splice Vengence thing. But I think, that you have the wrong finisher, since Aurelia's Fury is garbage. It is only reasonable if cast it for X=1 pre combo to have a silence but most of the times you won't have the spare mana for it. So instead of Aurelia's Fury I would play Banefire since it plays around Counters.
The 2/2 split from snare/pierce is in my opinion the correct way.
Furthermore I wouldn't play the Rites combo in the SB. Since the opponent will bring in Graveyardhate it will occur, that you can't flash back the rites. I suggest, that you play a non graveyard hate win con in the SB (Martial Coup, since it is a 2 turn clock (10 tokens is most of the times enough)) so that you can combo of without the graveyard.
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Increasing Vengeance
4x Manamorphose
4x Peer Through Depths
4x Pyretic Ritual
3x Remand
Sorcery (10)
1x Channel the Suns
1x Debt to the Deathless
1x Grapeshot
1x Mana Seism
4x Merchant Scroll
2x Past in Flames
3x Breeding Pool
3x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
Creature (3)
3x Goblin Electromancer
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Banefire
3x Echoing Truth
1x Noxious Revival
1x Reclaim
1x Snapcaster Mage
4x Spell Pierce
3x Trickbind
This version is much more powerful and changed. Let me give some summary about my win cons.
Debt to the Deathless
Requirements:
2 red mana, 1 green mana and 3 colorless mana. (and 4, or 5 mana)
Channel the Suns and Debt to the Deathless in hand.
Past in Flames in hand and 4 mana, or in grave and 5 mana.
Increasing Vengeance in grave.
Cast Past in Flames giving Increasing Vengeance flashback for 2 mana.
Cast Channel the Suns for 3 colorless, 1 green. Cast Increasing Vengeance targeting Suns. Cast Debt to the Deathless. Win.
Grapeshot:
Requirements:
3 red mana, 4 colorless mana. (this mana can be achieved using any method.) (set aside one mana for the remainder of the spell chain)
Pyretic Ritual/Desperate Ritual, Past in Flames, Increasing Vengeance, Grapeshot, Remand, Manamorphose and another random spell (spell X)
Cast Ritual, copy with Increasing Vengeance, 8 red mana. Storm 2.
Cast spell X (really anything as long as it adds a storm count and allows the combo to continue). Storm 3.
Cast Past in Flames, 4 red mana. Storm 4.
Flash back Increasing Vengeance and a Ritual. 9 red mana. Storm 6.
Cast spell X. Storm 7.
Flashback Past in Flames. 5 red mana. Storm 8.
Cast Manamorphose, turning two red into two blue. Storm 9.
Cast Grapeshot , Remand the original Grapeshot spell back to hand. They take 9 damage. Storm 11. 1 red mana.
Remember the mana we set aside? Here we use it to cast Grapeshot again.
Cast grapeshot again for 12 damage.
Debt to the Deathless is the primary win-con, as I can fetch each combo piece with a single Gifts Ungiven. Depending on what they put into the graveyard and into my hand, I may need to increase the amount of mana I need, which is where all the rituals and singular Mana Seism come into play. Allowing for a flashbacked Past in Flames in order to cast Channel the Suns back from the grave, then Increasing Vengeance targeting it, then shooting for lethal. The total mana needed in this version of the scenario is 11. 3 red, 1 green, 7 colorless.
Now a spliced Desperate Ritual targeted by an Increasing Vengeance followed by a Manamorphose is an easy way to get the mana needed for that version of the combo. The spliced ritual only needs 6 mana, which is relatively easy to get. 6 lands can even be used to generate that.
As you can see, the deck is very explosive and can EOT gifts for the win if played correctly. While it absolutely tramples over decks in damage races (burn) and can beat most combo decks (twin, pod) in a combo race. It has no problem with affinity or R/G tron. The greatest weakness are control decks. Baiting counters, trying to clear the field for the combo finish is very difficult. Especially if they've set up a damage clock. Chipping away at my life. In my playtests online, the hardest matchups were W/U midrange, America control, and basically any deck with blue with the exception of a rival storm deck. This leads me to believe I should try to either fight through their counters, or play a more reactive version of the deck.
That's where the sideboard comes in, and I need the most help. I need to decide on the best counterspells to try to play. Pact of Negation is one I often consider, because once I go off, the game will end. Unlike most storm decks, it's a surefire win without disruptions. No cantrips are required once I decide to go off. So a free counterspell might be what I need. But should I maindeck it? SB? How many? That's the kind of advice I'm looking for.
Edit: it should be noted these are all without Goblin Electromancer in play. With him in play it's much easier to do any of these combos.
Most of what has been brewed on in this thread is a more control centric list that's trying to use Gifts to up set the win, but with more ability to interact with your opponent. I'm not sure your approach is correct, but at the same time, i'm not positive my approach is the only way either.
While i do think splicing Rituals can sometimes work, it forces you to sculpt an even more specific hand. All of your combos require fairly specific sets of cards, in specific places, and this isone of the ways i think your list falters slightly. With the right pieces in your deck, all you need is the right amount of mana, and any 1 or 2 combo pieces to go off.
Also worth talking about is the fact that Gifts lets you get away with not playing so many Rituals. Which gives you much more room for control magic. The thing is, while some Rituals are obviously needed for the combo, they are actually just a dead card most of the time. And can clog up your hand. As apposed to say Scapeshift, who's ramp is actually proactive. In my testing i found by running more Rituals, i actually just found myself with blanks in my hand, or drawing bricks too often. You can set up the combo to only need just a few Rituals and Combo pieces, so i just don't see the point in running anymore dead cards than you need to.
For reference, here is my most recent list i have been playing.
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Search for Tomorrow
-Search-
3 Merchant Scroll
4 Gifts Ungiven
-Control-
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Pyroclasm
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Izzet Charm
1 Electrolyze
1 Echoing Truth
1 Snapcaster Mage
-Ritual-
2 Manamorphose
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Mana Seism
1 Channel the Suns
2 Past in Flames
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Noxious Revival
1 Grapeshot
-Land-
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
4 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Dispel
2 Inferno Titan
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Combust
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Into the Roil
1 Hurkyl's Recall
Now right off the bat you can see some huge differences between our lists. While your going all out with Rituals and combo pieces i'm running the bare minimum to make the combo work, and have filled the rest with control magic. I also recently started running mana ramp akin to what Scapeshift is doing. The biggest problem people have been running into with this type of list, is consistently having enough mana to combo off. We tried a few things like running more cantrips, but so far in testing the mana ramp has been amazing. They make Mana Seism extremely good, makes a t4 win possible, and most importantly helps us reach that critical 5-6 mana for the combo. After playing with them, i can't imagine going back.
I think the all-in idea your running is pretty cool, but i'm not sure it's the most efficient way to make use of Gifts. Not only does Gifts let you get away with running less combo pieces(because it tutors up almost the entire combo on it's own), by adding more control magic you can also use Gifts just for value, and to help control a game, or find an answers to a situation. Running the control magic gives you more game against more decks, while keeping the ability to combo off t4+
If you decide to stick with the all-in strategy i do think Pact of Negation could be a decent card to play, but i would keep it in the side to bring in against blue decks. Also Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is worth considering, as he is beast against control. Speaking of which your sideboard looks a bit off. Whats with the Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival, and Reclaim in the board? 3 Trickbind also makes no sense. If that's something you want to play that's ok, but you play Merchant Scroll, you definitely don't need 3. With Echoing Truth, it's better to play different bounce spells in case you ever need to make a pile with Gifts to grab them. It doesn't really look like you have a gameplan against any of the top decks. What do you bring in for Pod? What do you bring in for Twin? For BGx?
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Increasing Vengeance
4x Manamorphose
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Pyretic Ritual
3x Remand
Creature (3)
3x Goblin Electromancer
Land (22)
3x Island
1x Breeding Pool
4x Mountain
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Shivan Reef
3x Steam Vents
2x Stomping Ground
4x Sulfur Falls
1x Grapeshot
4x Merchant Scroll
2x Past in Flames
3x Pact of Negation
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Echoing Truth
1x Channel the Suns
1x Debt to the Deathless
1x Mana Seism
3x Spell Pierce
3x Swan Song
So after far too many playtests, I've come to the conclusion that I either need to try to focus a heavy control build to out-control control decks (similar to yours), or find a card like Silence or Autumn's Veil to allow me to freely combo out when I need to as soon as possible, I.E. going for the all out, balls to the wall race into the combo. I'm trying to decide which build I want to try to construct, or if my current version of the build will handle my meta. I've literally never taken this deck to a tournament, something I plan to change next week. Once I do get a glimpse of how competitive my meta is, and how control oriented it is, I'll probably make the decision on how to modify my deck in the future. What are your thoughts on the two ideas? Obviously you've played one version. What about a Pyromancer Ascension in my kind of deck? Especially since Gifts sends half the cards to the grave? Thoughts? Opinions?
With this version, don't underestimate the power of increasing vengeance on a ritual (4 for 6 mana) or flashbacked (4 for 9 mana). It often generated enough to go off without an electromancer or ascention. 9 mana is a LOT of mana...
4 Goblin Electromancer
Enchantment (4)
4 Pyromancer Ascension
Instant (18)
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Increasing Vengeance
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
Sorcery (12)
1 Mana Seism
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Breeding Pool
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Shivan Reef
3 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
4 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
4 Pact of Negation
4 Autumn's Veil
Sideboard is obviously a WIP.
your list certainly is interesting. I am curious to know how it's been working out for you. I have been running a similar list for a while with Electromancer, and Ascension, but i have been calling it RGS(Ritual Gifts Storm) because it's more of a combination of Ritual Gifts and UR Storm.
4 Goblin Electromancer
3 Pyromancer Ascension
-Search-
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Peer through Depths
3 Gifts Ungiven
-Ritual-
4 Manamorphose
3 Pyretic Ritual
3 Desperate Ritual
-Disruption-
4 Remand
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Past in Flames
1 Noxious Revival
1 Grapeshot
-Land-
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Shivan Reef
3 Steam Vents
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Blood Moon
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Spell Pierce
3 Echoing Truth
2 Empty the Warrens
2 Shatterstorm
----
When these hands come up it is a guaranteed win thanks to the loop Gifts gives you. Now these are assuming you cast Goblin Electromancer on turn 3, and combo off in the same turn.
On field > In hand
-----------------
3 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Ritual, Morphose, Gifts
3 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Revival, Morphose, Gifts
4 lands > Goblin, Ritualx2, Gifts
4 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Morphosex2, Gifts
4 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Revival, Morphose, Gifts
5 lands > Goblin, Ritualx2, Gifts
5 lands > Goblin, Ritual, Morphose, Gifts
5 lands > Goblin, Morphosex2, Revival, Gifts
Now lets look at what the chart looks like when you are able to resolve a 'mancer turn 2, and keep it alive till turn 3.
On field > In hand
-----------------
2 lands, Goblin > Ritual, Ritual, Gifts
2 lands, Goblin > Ritual, Morphose, Morphose, Gifts
2 lands, Goblin > Ritual, Morphose, Revival, Gifts
3 lands, Goblin > Ritual, Ritual, Gifts
3 lands, Goblin > Ritual, Morphose, Gifts
Now all of these are guaranteed wins with no chance of fizzling, and all of these are very easy to set up.
Also on the topic of fizzling with Gifts. With an Electromancer out if you resolve a Gifts with 3 mana left in your pool the pile (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Past in Flames) is a guaranteed win. And with an Active Pyromancer Ascension you only need 2 mana left over after a resolved Gifts, and again you have a guaranteed win, with no chance of fizzling. You get to make 2 piles, so you can make the first pile (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Past in Flames), and with the second grab (Ritual, Ritual, Manamorphose, Peer Through Depths). As long as you have 2 mana open you win.
__________
----------
Here's what i have been running for Ritual Gifts. It's pretty similar to the last list a posted but with a few minor changes.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Search for Tomorrow
-Search-
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Gifts Ungiven
-Control-
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Pyroclasm
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Izzet Charm
1 Electrolyze
1 Vapor Snag
1 Snapcaster Mage
-Ritual-
2 Manamorphose
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Mana Seism
1 Channel the Suns
2 Past in Flames
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Noxious Revival
1 Grapeshot
-Land-
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Grounds
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Swan Song
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Inferno Titan
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Combust
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyll's Recall
It's really tough deciding on the right control package. I can't decide whether running Lightning Bolts, or a Gifts sweeper package maindeck is better. I'm running the sweepers now, but i still have Izzet Charm, Electrolyze, and Vapor Snag for targeted removal.
I've played it without fetches and substituted more basics. Luckily, the deck doesn't have that heavy a dependence on green. Still, the deck is way more consistent when you have tarns and misties.
UGR Ritual Gifts
Legacy Decks
UBRG Storm Decks
---------------------------------------------------
The Storm Boards
Yeah, it's definitely possible. If you're running Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Search for Tomorrow you are gonna want a few more green sources main, but if you're opting out of those, maybe something like this could work.
4 Shivan Reef
3 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
2 Breeding Pool
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Fungal Reaches
1 Temple of Mystery
Like Kidbails said though, it's not going to be as consistent, but you don't need a lot of green for the combo anyway, and sometimes you can even get away with just Manamorphose and no other green sources.
Speaking of which, have you stil been playing the deck Kidbails? What's your list looking like these days?
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Manamorphose
2x Increasing Vengeance
1x Channel the Suns
1x Mana Seism
Engine: (8)
4x Goblin Electromancer
4x Pyromancer Ascension
Gifts: (8)
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Merchant Scroll
Assurances: (3)
2x Remand
1x Muddle the Mixture
2x Past in Flames
1x Grapeshot
Lands: (22)
4x Shivan Reef
4x Sulfur Falls
3x Steam Vents
2x Stomping Ground
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Mountain
2x Island
4x Autumn's Veil
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Echoing Truth
3x Swan Song
1x Spell Pierce
1x Debt to the Deathless
The 3x Swan Song and singular Spell Pierce are placeholders for 4 copies of Guttersnipe.
My game plan.
G1, race for the combo. ASAP. If I'm going to die the next turn, force the combo, even if I don't think I can make it. If I haven't given any information up, instead do nothing, give them no information, and try to convince them I'm playing scapeshift so they don't side in graveyard hate.
G2, side in 3x Echoing Truth basically no matter what happens. Unless they think I'm playing scapeshift, they're gonna bring in some form of hate. Echoing Truth is my answer to this. Side in Anger of the Gods if they're playing an aggro variant, virtually no matter which one. All the copies of Autumn's Veil if they're playing control. Bring in the singular Debt to the Deathless if I think they're gonna play Leyline of Sanctity. Guttersnipe is a test, but typically I'd bring it in against decks like G/W Hatebears, because then all I need to do is count. I don't need to get to storm 20, I can just cast 10 spells and they die, or with fetches, shocks, horizon canopies and the occasional swing with a guttersnipe or goblin electromancers, count to 7, or with grapeshot, count to 5. Makes that clock a bit faster and allows me to just force spells and deal them damage. Regardless if I can finish them with a massive grapeshot.
I took it to a tournament a few weeks ago and got creamed, 1-3. Winning against soul sisters 2-1, then losing to affinity, merfolk then null affinity. After the match, the guy playing null affinity told me my deck was genius, but it was so close to being fantastic. It was just slightly off. That I tend to agree with. It needs just a bit more refining to get to a competitive level, but I have no idea what that could be. I'm burned out on it at this point. I've been sick the past week with strep throat, so I haven't really gone anywhere or done anything by the way of magic, but I wasn't even enthusiastic about playing online. Right now the deck just sits collecting dust.
Any ideas on how to spruce up the deck? And hopefully my interest in magic?
Also, the singular fetch is based on my abilities to purchase fetchlands. However on the manabase, I have never been mana screwed, never had any problems with slowlands, and rarely take damage from painlands. At least, never has the deck screwed me. I make mistakes and play checklands before shocklands and stuff like that, but I rarely, if ever, have mana problems.
Hazanko's List:
1. I really like the green plan with ramp. It adds a crazy amount of options for sideboard - Autumn Veil is one of then.
With that said, I would really like to see at least one copy of Mystical Teachings in your 75, to use it with Teferi. I would also swap the Titan for something that feels more like a finisher or has inevitability for the control matchup (Titan is creature against creatures and Faeries.
Some interesting creatures comes to my mind.
Bogardan Hellkite
Hornet Queen
2. Which reminds me: Polluted Delta and Wooded Foothills are now on the format. This adds the possibility of playing targeted discard without much concern to our manabase, for those pesky disruption effects. Mystical Teachings' flashback becomes available as well. Not sure about this one, but it has some different angles.
Also on the Delta/Foothills topic: transformational sideboard to Scapeshift viable?
Now on Joking's list:
3. Guttersnipe makes more sense if you drop some rituals and play more controlish, more akin to Hazanko's list - by playing Gifts you can play control, dropping the number of dead ritual draws. It also opens the possibility of playing Lightning Bolts and other burns, which are great with Guttersnipe.
If you are straight combo, tending towards the UR Storm archetype, I would go with Pyromancer's Swath instead.
4. The debt to the deathless is genious on the side. I love it.
General:
I'm a big fan of transformational boards, specially since we play a more controllish archetype that wins with a brutal combo. I've mentioned Bogardan Hellkite.
We don't play Twin because of the number of lands and hate overlapping, but there are other possible boards:
5. The aforementioned Scapeshift - it makes us less vulnerable to GY hate, but that means we must run Valakut, the Molten Pineapple in our 75 and possibly more ramp. The board would look full Valakut, leaving little options for control-esque stuff that we all come to love.
6. Dragonstorm with Teferi plan. This is something that I would like to test it out. Not sure if there are cards to support the style - this would make us a really slow draw-go style that wins big with DStorm. Without Seething Song I don't think its viable - it also dies to GY hate the same way, since we need that 15 mana anyway.
7. I remember a while ago that Epic Experiment was being tested in LegitKarona's thread. Epic Experiment made UR Storm very strong because of Seething Song and they have dropped it since the ban - but we have the very next best thing with Channel the Suns. It could be a great fit in Joking101's list, since it is more UR Stormish.
We could try it as well, but I don't think we would hit many spells with the reduced number of rituals - but post board? Nice graveyard hate you have there, mate.
8. Midrange Beatdown plan. We lose the rituals and some control stuff and just go midrange. RUG deck with lots of value, could even put a Iona/Unburial package. I would go Temur here - Savage Knuckleblade and Tarmogoyf plus Anger of the Gods make a great team.
Lets discuss, gentleman!
EDIT: I just re-read the old thread entirely, as well as LK's old blog posts. Has anyone considered the usage of Plasm Capture? The discussion from usage of the card just died.
In my opinion, Foothills is the superior fetchland for the ramp archetype. It brings every color we need. (it is also cheaper thanks to Khans!).
The only problem would be the added vulnerability to Blood Moon, but the addition of allied color fetchlands makes the whole format less vulnerable to the problem enchantment, since it allows decks to run more basics.
Adding Snow-Covered Island for some pinch Gifts Piles when you need a land, I would probably go with something like this:
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
With this change, we have more green mana available as well, so we can make room for Mana Drain. I would go from Lord Hazanko's list, change the manabase and do -1 Gifts -1 Vapor Snag +2 Plasm Capture for the testing part.
I'm a big fan of 3 Gifts, specially since we are running 4 Merchant Scroll. Not too sold on Vapor Snag's utility.
I think I may be one of the only people who actually plays this deck on a regular basis, and I don't have MTGO.. No one really wants to pick up a deck that takes so long to learn, and is essentially unproven. The deck is blast to play though, and in my opinion can be competitive. I do fairly well when I play with Ritual Gifts. It has some bad matches, but feels at least 50/50 against almost everything. It's a super fun combo deck to play because you can sneak out of almost any situation, unlike some of Moderns more All-in combo decks. The deck has a ton of play, and is one of the more rewarding decks I've played.
Unlike UR Storm that's playing a ton of cantrips and loading up the grave very quickly, that doesn't really happen here. Unfortunately I can't see either being very useful as you'll rarely be able to cast them for cheap. I've said it before, and i'll say it again.. I seriously wish Impulse was legal in Modern. I feel it's exactly the card I want to be playing, and to me at least, it doesn't seem like it would be too powerful for Modern.. maybe Modern Masters 2..
As far as Plasm Capture goes, I actually haven't tried it, but it seems kinda meh. You're gonna need to counter a 4+ mana spell, so that means our opponent needs to have a 4+ mana spell in his deck, and we need to have Capture and mana to cast it. A lot of things need to go right to get proper use out of Capture. A counter at 4 mana(that's not Cryptic Command) is going to be pretty terrible most of the time.
@necro
Both Hornet Queen and Bogardan Hellkite are significantly worse than Inferno Titan or Wurmcoil Engine, and cost more mana to cast. Titan can end the game in just 2 swings if it wants to, and can control the board if it needs too as well. And Wurmcoil is one of the best creatures to stabilize a game, and outside of Path there's no good way to deal with it.
I got impatient, updated a Ritual Gifts list that I probably at least mostly ripped from this thread, jammed 3 Dig Through Time in it (it used to be a 2 Dig-1 Treasure Cruise split, but Cruise tended to perform worse than Dig), and gave it a little bit of support with 1 Sleight of Hand:
1 Desolate Lighthouse
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Epiphany
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
4 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures
1 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Mana Seism
1 Channel the Suns
2 Manamorphose
1 Increasing Vengeance
2 Past in Flames
1 Noxious Revival
1 Grapeshot
4 Remand
1 Negate
1 Cryptic Command
2 Izzet Charm
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Into the Roil
1 Flame Slash
4 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Dig Through Time
2 Batterskull
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Firespout
1 Pyroclasm
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Echoing Truth
1 Counterflux
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Damping Matrix
1 Unravel the AEther
1 Torpor Orb
1 Combust
1 Swan Song
I tried a few games against Jund, UWR Midrange, and Burn on Cockatrice, and hoo boy, Dig Through Time was great against Jund and UWR. I tended to cast it for 2-5 mana, and it finding Gifts, combo pieces, and answers was swell. I once lured UWR with Gifts at their EOT, then cast Dig for 2 mana on my turn while they were tapped out after countering Gifts, and it found Gifts and Desperate Ritual. Another time, I went 3-mana Dig into Pyretic Ritual (I had 3 untapped lands left pre-Ritual) into Gifts into combo. I also lived the dream and Increasing Vengeanced Dig against Jund. I comboed off that game while Liliana of the Veil had 6 loyalty!
If you can save up the blue mana, Dig is insane mid-combo, especially after you Mana Seism. If you're sitting on a lot of mana, you don't need to search for Manamorphose with the Grapeshot Gifts anymore.
I'm also starting to think that the correct default Merchant Scroll target against grindy decks, especially BGx Midrange, is Dig Through Time, especially since it has a high chance of finding Gifts if you couldn't previously find it, and it also find lands (especially the 5th land), sometimes combo pieces, and sometimes answers.
Especially when I couldn't find Dig, Jund sometimes got me one turn before I could combo off (those games, I often got Scavenging Ooze off the table but not Goyf/Bob, and Bolt ended up closing it out), and I kept losing against Burn pre-board--even though they never cast Eidolon of the Great Revel in testing!
Oh well--maybe it's just me, but it feels like Dig Through Time pushes Ritual Gifts to a whole new level (but then again, Dig and Cruise push a lot of decks to a whole new level). The dig and CA it provides for cheap enough are astonishing.
I have been playing this on and off. In the prior page you can see my report where I split for a goyf. That being said I am not playing 13 one of and random control cards. It's more of a combo deck. I am of the idea that if you want to play gifts control you play 4 color gifts with rites and iona. I have been messing around with this again and am going to take it to a gpt soon. My only change will be a dig through time for the Swansong in the board. Treasure cruise and dig through time are really not synergistic with past in flames. As a late responce to the claim my list has no kill, turns 3 ritual gifts for increasing vengeance two rituals and a past in flames with a ritual in hand and a man amorphous somewhere wins. I will leave it to you guys to figure it out as I am typing on a phone. Turn 4 gifts does not need the man amorphous if you hit all you land drops
modern: 4 color Gifts, ritual gifts, goryo's vengeance, affinity
vintage: burning oath
my affinity primer
http://legitmtg.com/competitive/metalcrafting-for-the-win-an-affinity-primer/
I'm also gonna say, all-in gifts storm is inferior to ritual gifts. I've been playing my version of the deck, and right now, having playtested ~65 games on cockatrice against virtually every modern deck there is, my win/loss is about 0.325, or losing 2 out of every 3 games.
If you're looking to get into ritual gifts, the all in approach is not the best. At least, not yet. If I could consistently resolve my gifts on T3, however, I think it could be much stronger.
I believe the 2x valakut and 2x scapeshift in the side to go with snappy and noxious revival to make an EOT gifts into land drop into win. Sample game with this board,
land search for tomorrow suspend
land sakura,
land harrow, EOT gifts for snappy, revival, a counterspell (spell pierce, swan song, etc) and scapeshift,
land resolve scapeshift using counterspell as backup, win game.
Kinda an interesting avenue to pursue.
The card I'm least impressed by is Merchant Scroll and I'm willing to shave it from the deck and make room for 24lands + scapeshift route.
The countersuite should probably change a bit as well, with Spell Snare being so good right now.
Funny thing: this thread was dead three weeks ago and suddenly it just explodes again haha
The thing is, those random control cards are what makes the deck work. If you want to play an all in combo deck, UR Storm, Ascendancy Storm, or Ad Nauseam, would all be better choices. They'll almost always be faster, and more consistent as an all in combo. I agree we're not a control deck in the same manner 4c Gifts is, but we actually finish the game when we combo. Rather than just reanimating a fatty that can be answered. Where Ritual Gifts shines is in its inevitability, and its ability to find its way out of almost any situation. Those random control pieces let us beat disruption, be it counterspells, hatebears, and pressure while we set up. The fact that we need 5-6 lands out to combo, means that we'll never be as fast as other combo decks, but we can get away with 2 less lands than Valakut and still get the combo, so we are somewhere in-between.
As far as Valakut in the board I just don't think there's room. We need a lot of stuff in the board as it is, and I don't see room for a transitional board.
My board is always changing up, but here's what it looks like right now.
2 Negate
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Torpor Orb
1 Damping Matrix
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Combust
Even here there's so many things I want to add but can't find room. How would you play a transitional board and still be able to beat top decks, and hate?
I definitely want to try 1 Dig Through Time in the main now. I don't know how I didn't realize it was an instant. being wishable with Merchant Scroll is a good reason to try it out.
Scapeshift Maindeck also enables a ton of mindgames in the sideboard (for your opponent). Winning G1 with Scpaeshift may make the opponent think they are playing the wrong deck. The same goes for winning G1 with Gifts. I like the fact that it has the opportunity to make people tilt.
I~m just not impressed by Merchant Scroll. While I believe it does its heavy lifting with the sideboard, I'm pretty sure we can find other sideboarding options not to rely heavily in it. Recognizing if we are beatdown or control and go from there, I think.
------
Pros and Cons for Merchant Scroll:
Pros:
1. Tutors for the finishing Gifts
2. Great lategame topdeck
3. Fills your hand with answers you need right now.
Cons:
1. You can't play the answer you need right now if its not turn 4-5.
2. Does not tutor sweepers
3. If you're proactively searching for business cards, you give proactively give information to your opponent which he can play around.
4. If you either tapout or leave 1-2 lands open, you give the opponent some information about what you are holding (Bolt, Spell Snare/Pierce, Remand, Izzet Charm)
When do I want Merchant Scroll?
1. If my opponent is way too commited to the board.
This allows me to search for Hurkyl's Recall vs Robots, Electrolyze vs Elves/Aggro/Bob.
2. If my opponent has no way to interact with my spells.
Just go for the throat here, typical combo vs aggro matchup. Search for Gifts, combo.
3. If my opponent has a way to interact with my spells, but I want him to waste his spells.
VS Control I would use Merchant Scroll as counterbait. If they don't counter, I would go grindy here and get instant speed stuff I can EOT/counter war on their turn.
When I don't want Merchant Scroll?
1. If my opponent has a way to interact with my spells and we are the beatdown.
When you are the beatdown, you want to proactively interact with the board or be inevitable. Against control, you want a hand with inevitability and Merchant Scroll can set you back a few turns.
2. If my opponent is running high thougness critters such as Tarmogoyf and are not dumb aggro.
They are the beatdown, you are the control and you can't search with MS for spells that remove the beatstick out of the way. Going Merchant Scroll is Thoughtseize/Duress bait.
3. If my opponent is running Thoughtseize.
If you cast Merchant Scroll, they take your card. If you don't, they take Merchant Scroll. Either way, you lose the best possible card you would tutor for.
4. If my opponent is running Jeskai Ascendancy.
Merchant Scroll just loses you the game here. You need untapped mana and an instant way of dealing either with Jeskai Ascendancy or his dorks to have a gameplan against JA.
My conclusions
My style of play is Draw-Go inevitability. The popularity of Jeskai Ascendancy shifted the metagame to decks that have a relevant matchup against them, which are Jund (disruption + removal), Twin (disruption + fast combo + Dig Through Time) and UR Delver (Disruption + Tempo). In all those matchups, I don't like Merchant Scroll.
By getting rid of it and taking into consideration this gauntlet I just presented, we can taylor our deck to the meta needs.
I'll be posting my thought process towards making a new list soon.
PLEASE TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THAT THESE ARE THEORYTICAL LINES OF THOUGHT BACKED BY NO TESTING AT ALL. IT IS A TOOL USED TO REACH A 75 CARD DECK.
The Gauntlet:
Currently, the deck that runs the pod is Jeskai Ascendancy. It is a combo deck full of mana dorks and cantrips, which, when you resolve a Jeskai Ascendancy, makes each cantrip essencially a Time Walk.
The deck is vulnerable to all sorts of disruption and removal, but it is fast and redundant enough that just having one piece of disruption and/or removal is not enough to win the matchup. it is enough to draw you another turn.
In second place, we have its natural predator, Jund. What is the deck that wins when the deck to beat is vulnerable to disruption and removal? Well, a deck full of disruption and removal. Jund has been a mainstay of the Modern Metagame and with reason - its ability to run 50-50 matchs pre-sideboard and always improve post sb is what makes this deck run since Standard with fun and balanced cards such as Bloodbraid Elf.
The third deck in the list is a deck that has a lot of disruption and a redundant combo. I'm talking about Splinter Twin. With a two card combo and redundancy in the form of Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite, Twin decks run a full counterburn suite and are able to select if they are Control or Beatdown depending on the matchup. They are, I would say, the blue Jund, except its sideboard game is not as good as Jund's.
Last but not least, we have UR Delver. It is a tempo deck that wants to beat your life down by sticking Delver of Secrets or Young Pyromancer and just tempoing you out either controlling the board with Lightning Bolts or just throwing them at your face. It refuels its hand by running four Ancestral Recall and possibly Snapcaster Mage, but the latter is getting out of fashion lately.
Our Plan:
Gifts Ungiven is a card that makes deck dwell in the spectrum between UR Storm and UR Control. We have an incredible versatility to build the deck, and we should always build it to solve the current metagame. That being said, we can't just beat every deck in the meta. We need to estabilish what we want as prey and what do we want as our predators.
As easy as it looks to simply say "I want to prey on Jund and Jeskai Ascendancy", not always will it be the case where your 60 cards has that potential. One tool I was presented to some years ago by reading Patrick Chapin's (or was it GerryT's?) column is that, to discover what your maindeck to a tournament will look like, build the best 60card deck (of a certain archetype) against a given deck of the gauntlet. Repeat the process for the others and find the overlaps. That should be your core.
Some pieces will be missing. That is when you tweak the numbers towards certain matchups (X card is good against Jund AND Jeskai? Then it is in.
Iterations, Iterations:
Ok, this will take a while. I will be constructing several decks against the gauntlet and will be updating this post to reach our final 75.
vs Jeskai Ascendancy
This is the list I want to play against JA, if possible:
3x Gifts Ungiven
1x Channel the Suns
1x Grapeshot
1x Increasing Vengeance
1x Desperate Ritual
2x Past in Flames
1x Pyretic Ritual
1x Mana Seism
2x Manamorphose
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Noxious Revival
3x Flashfreeze
3x Forked Bolt
3x Izzet Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Nature's Claim
3x Remand
3x Spell Snare
With this list, you can play draw-go as much as you want.
So now the bad part: You will have to mulligan. You actually dont want to see many combo pieces. What you want here is 2 disruption/bolts and the hand is golden against them. They probably board Swan Song against you, but well, you have way more permission and disruption.
Other possible angles: A win con that takes less slots. Scapeshift is not viable because I would need to up the land count to 24 and add ramp, which is useless in this MU. Maybe bringing back some lessons from the past and just reanimating Iona naming blue against them could make the deck way more consistent against Jeskai Ascendancy, as they can't cantrip to win. This allows the deck to run Forbidden Alchemy and Dig Through Time/Treasure Cruise with the extra slots.
-12 Combo Pieces, +1 Unburial Rites, +1 Iona, Shield of Emeria, +3 Forbidden Alchemy, +3 Treasure Cruise, +2 Lands, +1 Mystical Teachings/Izzet Charm. Looks solid.
vs Jund:
Jund seems like a though, grindy matchup if you're running the rituals route. They have Scavenging Ooze maindeck and run 7 maindeck discards (not counting Liliana).
The strategy here is play the control route and bury them in card advantage. For that, we need to kill their Bobs and not let Liliana hit the board.
This is my 60 if I were to play against Jund:
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Search for Tomorrow
3x Scapeshift
3x Gifts Ungiven
1x Noxious Revival
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Pierce
1x Repeal
1x Treasure Cruise
2x Izzet Charm
2x Cryptic Command
3x Negate
3x Spell Snare
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Obstinate Baloth
Here you use Gifts as a card advantage engine and for Snapcaster/Noxious Revival shenanigans. The real strength of the matchup comes from the stalling you can make with your countersuite and Obstinate Baloths for their Liliana discard engine. You can stall them for enough time to either Scapeshift for the win or Inferno Titan your way to victory. Jund's mana base hurts a lot, and sometimes just Bolting their face and going for Inferno Titan is the right play. Scapeshift just puts the nail in the coffin.
This gives you a lot of angles to attack Jund and some forms of card advantage for the grind matchup. A late game Gifts for Snapcaster + Noxious + Treasure Cruise seals Card Advantage game.
vs UR Delver:
Most of their important cards cost 2 mana or have 1/2 thoughness. Eidolon of the Great Revel, Young Pyromancer, Mana Leak and Delver of Secrets. The most important card to watch here is Treasure Cruise. If they can't land this one, they can't recover from the amount of 2 for 1s you make.
They play a lot of bounce effects and instants, which make me want to go Iona and Teferi plus Forbidden Alchemy.
The (tentative) decklist:
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Electrolyze
3x Forked Bolt
2x Izzet Charm
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pyroclasm
2x Cryptic Command
2x Dispel
1x Noxious Revival
3x Remand
1x Repeal
2x Snapcaster mage
4x Spell Snare
2x Treasure Cruise
1x Unburial Rites
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
I was jamming so much spells in this list that having a lot of rituals just drove me to go for the Unburial/Iona route. This list uses again Gifts as a Card Advantage Engine along with Treasure Cruise. I really want to bias myself towards the old full ritual list, but there seems to be some trends in my line of thought that likes this reduced number of cards wincon.
vs Twin:
Scapeshift route seems the ideal plan here. Stall and play permission while dropping land after land and just win by scapeshifting with counter backup. Search for Tomorrow plays a big role here on the control mirror, since it allows you to use more resources.
Here's the 60 cards I would sleeve against a Twin deck:
2x Lightning Bolt
3x Gifts Ungiven
1x Echoing Truth
4x Remand
2x Cryptic Command
2x Izzet Charm
2x Dispel
3x Negate
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Treasure Cruise
1x Noxious Revival
3x Scapeshift
4x Search for Tomorrow
The Process:
Now that we have our four decks, we have to decide what is our maindeck and what is sideboard. This is a rather simple process with the following steps:
1. Separate everything into the categories: 4 lists overlap, 3 lists overlap, 2 lists overlap, no overlap.
2. Everything that is 4 and 3 lists overlap is considered to go to the maindeck.
3. We fill the rest of the maindeck with material from 2 lsits overlap depending on the matchup we wan't to perform better.
4. We then fill the sideboard with cards that were leftout but have more overlap with the matchups we want to be solid.
5. In the end, we hope and pray to have a 75 card list! (haha)
So, my process left me with:
4 List Overlap:
3x Gifts Ungiven
1x Treasure Cruise
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Izzet Charm
3 List Overlap:
2x Cryptic Command
3x Remand
3x Spell Snare
3x Lightning Bolt
1x Noxious Revival
1x Snapcaster Mage
2x Treasure Cruise
2 List overlap:
2x Anger of the Gods (Jeskai and Delver)
3x Forked Bolt (Jeskai and Delver)
1x Unburial Rites + Iona (Jeskai and Jund)
Scapeshift Package (Tribe-Elder+SfT+Scapeshift) - Jund and Twin
1x Repeal - Jund and Delver. Tempo without CA loss.
Matchup Specific Cards:
3x Flashfreeze - Against Jeskai, this counters everything.
3x Obstinate Baloth - Hate against Liliana of the Veil, from Jund
2x Nature's Claim - Breaks Jeskai Ascendancy, but also Splinter Twin.
2x Engineered Explosives - For 0, This kills Young Pyromancer's tokens and flipped Delver of Secrets.
Then you get a little creative and start giving some preferences to some matchups besides others. I went with Jeskai/Delver for my preferences to tweak the deck and even managed to keep Iona/Rites + Scapeshift plan mainboard. I do have to work a little on the manabase.
My final list is this one:
3x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Breeding Pool
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Island
1x Mountain
1x Forest
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Plains
1x Blood Crypt
3x Search for Tomorrow
2x Scapeshift
1x Unburial Rites
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Noxious Revival
3x Remand
3x Spell Snare
2x Izzet Charm
2x Spell Pierce
2x Negate
1x Cryptic Command
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Forked Bolt
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Treasure Cruise
3x Sakura-Tribe Elder
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Combust
2x Electrolyze
2x Swan Song
1x Echoing Truth
1x Scapeshift
To have a confortable manabase, I went with 25 lands. Its the midterm between 24 and 26 (duh) and since casting Cryptic Command with triple blue will be kinda hard, I downgraded it to a one-of. its a great card and I love it, but the manabase to play it alongside Unburial Rites would be too much complicated, so I went -1 Command +1 Land. Added a Blood Crypt because sometimes you will want/have Unburial Rites in your hand. It alsos increases the number of mountains in your maindeck, so Scapeshift does not whiff.
The beauty of this deck is that it runs not only one of the most skill intensive cards to play in magic, Gifts Ungiven, it plays a control role vs most of the decks of the field, something which I feel more confortable than racing. It's win conditions are two: Iona to the board and Scapeshift into Valakut. There is no hate that hits both (well, perhaps that pesky Blood Moon, but that is not game-over, as we do run basics, ramp, bounce and red spells). This version of the deck sacrifices part of its win% against Robots, but looks, at least in paper, very robust against the actual Metagame.
Thoughts and comments would be appreciated. Testing of this list would also be appreciated, as I don't have much time to playtest the deck. Thanks!
I don't mean to drive you away from Ritual Gifts or dunk on your testing, but the deck you're putting together already exists, and it's just Scapeshift.
Building decks against the meta including rituals and etc just seemed subpar and the conclusion is simple: it is not worthy to play Ritual Gifts in a metagame consisting of those 4 decks. Scapeshift just looks superior.
Its an exercise in deck building and meta-predicting. I do like the list, however (albeit the manabase looks awkward, I like having more than one angle of attack. Besides, I just love some Gifts Ungiven action).
Looks sub-par? I wouldn't go as far and say that without testing - it does need testing to affirm that, specially to see the pros and cons vs straight Scapeshift. Most scapeshift lists run sub-par cards like Serum Visions (seriously. That card sucks and is just in Modern because there's really no good library manipulation).
I would theoryze that it has some more favourable matchs% against certain decks than Scapeshift and some worse ones. I wouldn't diss the decklist as it is, just because it looks like a frankenstein-iona-scapeshift. I do advocate it needs some serious testing - one would argue that the matchup vs scapeshift is more favourable as well, so... tech!
Hope this clarifies the tangent and big post
PS: Another argument for posting this here is that I reached this decklist purely by doing an exercise promoted by discussion from this thread and with the Ritual Gifts mindset (hence Unburial Rites/Iona, dating from LegitKarona's thread). If you look in the history of this deck you will see several spawns with several win conditions, the only glue between lists being Gifts Ungiven itself.