That doesn't say nontoken or nonland. Mayhem Devil triggers off any permanent too. A 2 card combo that deals at least 6 damage but usually closer to 10 divided as you choose is a pretty sick addition to an already good aristocrats deck. This is a value engine, a good body, and an instant kill with enough creatures.
I like what you're thinking. I tested something very similar to this as soon as I saw Gruesome Menagerie and Midnight Reaper. The engine of Skirk Prospector, Midnight Reaper, and a bunch of goblins is definitely worth investigating. That being said, I do think this deck is close to unplayable without better mana. I'm putting it on the shelf until the next Ravnica, where I hope to see Goblins, Blood Artist effects, a good sac outlet, or a decent recursive creature.
I played Esper GPG at GP Richmond. I went 6-2 day one and 2-3 on day two for an 8-5 finish. I was happy with the deck and wouldn't change it if I had to go again.
UB midrange: 2-1 win (very close match)
MonoR Flame of Keld: 2-1 win (not close)
BR zombies: 2-1 win (not close, his deck seemed bad)
GU stompy: 2-0 win (not close)
UB midrange: 0-2 loss (not close, this opponent was great)
GU stompy: 2-0 win (not close)
UW control: 2-1 win (close)
RB aggro: 0-2 loss (not close, and I threw the second game)
Day 2
RB aggro: 2-1 win (not too close)
GU stompy: 1-2 loss (close, I think I would have won the third game but I never drew more than 3 lands)
UW control: 1-2 loss (game 2 went well but the decider wasn't close)
UB midrange: 2-0 win (not close)
RB aggro: 1-2 loss (close, but he topdecked an Abrade after I stripped one out of his hand with Freebooter)
Obviously this deck dies with rotation. But experimenting with GPG this season has been a great time and I'll definitely miss it.
I'd like to play a GPG variant at GP Richmond coming up. The problem is I'm not sure what version is best against the field right now. My biggest goals are to beat RB and Turbo-fog.
UW Refurbish is still around, and the UB Gate version has been trending up. I've liked UW against red decks, as the sideboard is good and Angel of Invention gives them fits. However, I'm not confident against Turbo-fog even after testing 4 counterspells and 3 Sorcerous Spyglass in the side. In contrast, the UB version can use Kitesail Freebooter as a powerful tool against Turbo-fog, but I feel that it closes too slowly and without lifelink to be favored against red decks. I could play 3 colors, but the mana is always unpleasant, especially when this deck wants to play Minister of Inquiries so badly on turn 1.
Does anyone have a deck or sideboard plan that they feel is good against both of these decks? I haven't figured out the puzzle yet. Thanks.
This card seems very powerful. It tucks the card you target, meaning it can be used to cast the same card over and over, and it has retrace so it can be recast repeatedly.
It would go infinite if you had only one permanent of a certain nonland type that added 2RR and returned a land from the graveyard, but that's a bit of a stretch.
What's not a stretch is the retrace value. Legacy lands could use this very easily with Khalni Garden or Kher Keep tokens to put Progenitus in play. They already run few to zero creatures, and finding a specific land or paying a retrace cost is trivial for that deck. All the dredging from Life from the Loam even helps put a Reality Scramble in the grave without milling the Progenitus itself.
The truth is that the metagame is pretty hostile towards UR Gift right now. When this deck was first created, no one was ready for the fast combo and the metagame was inundated with UB midrange, which is a great matchup. When Dominaria came out the metagame shifted to MonoRed, Heart of Kiran decks, Monogreen, and UW decks with Teferi, which are all much more prepared for GPG. In essentially every matchup you now have to worry about Abrade, Thrashing Brontodon, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and/or Goblin Chainwhirler. I've been grinding leagues and have a list I like, but I can't really recommend it to anyone who wants primarily to win. I used to go 4-1 regularly and had one 5-0 on MTGO, but no matter what cards I play I can't do better than a 3-2 these days.
I liked Merfolk Trickster some when I played it, it was pretty good at sniping planeswalkers and generating tempo against large creatures. If you do play it, you often do so at the end step so that the effect lasts into your turn. This lets you kill tough threats like Gods or Rekindling Pheonix. It messes with your manabase though.
Against GB I think your best weapon is comboing fast and board wipes. I like Sweltering Suns (although they sometimes they grow out of range of 3 damage) and especially Hour of Devastation. I don't love Warkite Marauders because they play 4 Walking Ballista and because +1/+1 counters stick around even after a Marauder trigger, which means it's harder to shoot their creatures down than most. You still may need 2 or so for difficult threats. If your metagame has a lot of GB, definitely stick some Hour of Devastation in the sideboard. Also make sure to sideboard in things like Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Glorybringer, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Honestly though, if they curve Snake into Rishkar into Gearhulk, you usually can't win outside of comboing. That's why you don't cut the most important combo pieces like Minister of Inquiries, Skirk Prospector, Walking Ballista, and Gate to the Afterlife.
I was referring to the fact that you play Walking Ballista and some number of Fanatical Firebrand. Toolcraft Exemplar isn't a 3/2 all the time, but rather is a 1/1 until its trigger resolves at the start of combat. I'm okay with taking 1 damage a turn, but not 3. I wait until combat, and if the opponent has an artifact I kill the Exemplar before the trigger resolves and it gets 2 toughness.
I thought about Battlefield Scavenger. The reverse looting does seem awesome for the deck, and it has some neat combos with Combat Celebrant. But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to put a 2/2 for 2 in the deck. Maybe it's better than I think. Have you tried it out?
Sorry it took so long to write and post this, but here are my thoughts on the GPG archetype. Most of my notes will focus on the UR Gate to the Afterlife versions, as I have less experience with Refurbish decks.
God-Pharaoh's Gift decks in general are very powerful, especially if you play a version with Combat Celebrant or Angel of Invention. The Gate to the Afterlife variants also run a ton of creatures, which is good to block and buy time against aggressive strategies, or attack and apply pressure to control/slow decks. However, the weakness of GPG is always the post board games, where every opponent will have hate that makes your primary game plan significantly more difficult. To combat this, you either need to win games the fair way without GPG, or fight through a couple pieces of hate to get GPG online. Post board, you pick up close to zero free wins. Trying to grind through games with disparate, somewhat weak combo creatures is not for everyone. But the deck rewards practice and is very fun, so some players may find a long term deck in the archetype.
I have played a deck almost identical to this one to a 5-0 and a couple 4-1's in leagues in the last 2 months. It has incredible consistency at fetching God-Pharaoh's Gift, but a poor alternate game plan, which is why you see the sideboard focused on protecting the combo and not trying to change to a different play style.
This deck is the new hotness, and I have played a few leagues with it. I didn't love it, as I found it to be a less consistent UR list pre-board and a less focused Mono-Red aggro deck post-board. That being said, I respect a lot of the players endorsing it and the results coming out of it. I may need to play it more before dismissing it.
This deck was an attempt to keep the consistency of the UR deck pre-board, and play more powerful red cards post-board so that it is easier to fight hate cards and win with a normal game plan. This plan has helped my Mono-Red aggro matchup considerably and I believe has helped my overall win percentage.
You often get out to an early start, and deploy Minister of Inquiries as early as possible, T1 if possible. It is important to use it as early and often as possible unless you need the energy for Aether Hub color fixing, as you may draw another Minister or Hub and regret not using the mill when you could. You also always save it for the end step, as that way you can block a creature, you don't let them "get you" by surprise playing and activating Scavenger Grounds, and you give them less information. In versions of this deck with Fanatical Firebrand and/or Bomat Courier, you also often drop those early to start applying pressure and getting Bomat triggers.
The other 1 drop, Skirk Prospector, is less obvious as to when you want to play it. When you have two goblins and one is a Prospector, you want to drop both before T3, because it opens the possibility for a T3 Gate activation. The rest of the time, sequencing is very difficult and very dependent on matchup, board state, and hand. For example, you may want to save playing creatures so they don't die to an on-curve Goblin Chainwhirler without a Gate trigger or play them early when you know they can't be Essence Scattered.
In certain matchups, a Warkite Marauder on T2 can do an enormous amount of work. Because you run 4 Walking Ballistas and some number of Fanatical Firebrands, the attack trigger of Warkite is often a terminate. This card does a lot of work against green decks and gods in particular, singlehandedly taking the matchup against The Scarab God from lukewarm to amazing. That being said, it is particularly bad against Goblin Chainwhirlers and other Walking Ballistas.
Gate to the Afterlife takes quite a bit of play to get used to. Because Gate grants death triggers that can loot away more creatures, each creature that dies can put 2 creatures in the graveyard. This means Walking Ballista for zero, sacrificing creatures like Skirk Prospector, or even killing your own creatures with Fanatical Firebrands and Ballistas can be powerful since they rapidly fill the graveyard and help activate Gate. Gate to the Afterlife is almost always a T3 play, because it is usually pretty easy to sacrifice or mill a bunch of creatures to fill the graveyard and activate Gate on T4. The nut draw lets you activate Gate on T3 right after playing it if you have a Skirk Prospector and another goblin already on the field to generate 2 mana.
Sacrificing board presence or card advantage can help activate a Gate quickly, but you need to be careful not to dedicate too many resources and then get blown out by an Abrade, Disallow, Cast Out, or Blink of an Eye. Discarding cards with Champion of Wits, milling with Minister of Inquiries, or blocking are usually much safer ways to accumulate creatures in the graveyard. When you have a Gate on the battlefield, you will have to decide how aggressively you want to try to get 6 creatures in the graveyard and combo. Factors to consider when making this decision include the answers the opponent may be playing, the mana they are representing, the pressure you are under, the match up, and the quality of your hand. Obviously, most of the risk of aggressively trying to combo is alleviated if the opponent is tapped out or you have a second Gate to the Afterlife in hand.
When you do have a God-Pharaoh's Gift on the field, it's important to know how the combo works. Gift generates a trigger that does not target, and if your opponent exiles your graveyard with the trigger on the stack, you can let their effect resolve and then mill yourself or sacrifice a creature with the trigger still on the stack. Your best option to reanimate is usually Combat Celebrant, since you can exert it while attacking to get an additional combat step, which gives the Gift an additional trigger. If you have 2 Celebrants and 1 other creature in the grave, Gift lets you attack for at least 16 over 3 combat steps. Exerting Celebrant untaps every other creature, including exerted Celebrants (2 do not go infinite) and buys you more mills with Minister of Inquiries and more attack triggers with Warkite Marauder. Your second best option to reanimate is usually Champion of Wits, since it draws 4 cards and lets you discard 2 (including things you'd rather were in the grave, like Celebrants and other Champions). Siege-Gang Commander and Warkite Marauder are also good to reanimate. Sometimes, you cannot immediately win with Gift so you should try to set up a second gate for the next turn by reanimating Champion or Trophy Mage.
This deck is mana hungry. To reach the late game with this deck, you need lands. That means that discarding creatures and holding lands with looting is often correct because you both fuel Gate to the Afterlife and will eventually reach 7 mana. At 7 mana, you can hard cast Gate, play and activate Siege-Gang Commander, and eternalize Champion of Wits. At 8 mana, you can double activate Ballista, activate Ipnu Rivulet and then play and crack Gate to the Afterlife, or cast a 3 mana spell and a Siege-Gang Commander. You typically lead with eternalizing Champion of Wits, as it is your best immediate reward and it also baits Disallows which can counter the activation of a Gate to the Afterlife. If the opponent does Disallow your activation of Champion, they have 1 less card that could hold you back from comboing with Gift or Gate. If it resolves, you get to draw more cards and get a 4/4 for your trouble.
In general, things get slower and you face more disruption post-board. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is a critical piece of the puzzle, as she is removal, card advantage, or mana ramp and can take over the game by herself. The only time I don't board her in is when I expect there may be enough pressure on the board to make her only a speed bump. Padeem, Consul of Innovation protects the combo while also potentially drawing cards and blocking considerable pressure. Glorybringer addresses this deck's lack of removal while putting a fast clock on the opponent, which is essential for matchups like Mono-Red. Negate protects the combo and punishes expensive non-creature spells, while Blink of an Eye can answer Lyra Dawnbringer while also bouncing Cast Out and Authority of the Consuls. Sweltering Suns is the best way to punish decks that hope to swarm with small creatures like Mono-Red, and Squee, the Immortal is very difficult to play against for a control opponent.
Other options for the side include Spell Pierce, which helps protect a fast combo, Chandra's Defeat, which almost always removes a powerful creature or planeswalker and trades up on mana, and Hour of Devastation, which will wipe even boards with Steel-Leef Champions, multiple planeswalkers, or Hazoret.
UW Control
Bait out or play around Disallow and Settle the Wreckage. Seize the opportunity when they tap out to resolve another threat. Lean on eternalizing Champion of Wits as a late game only answered by Disallow.
R Aggro
Probably this deck's worst matchup, it combines a fast clock with good hate. Block as much as possible, play for an early combo. Leave some mill unused so you can refill the grave after Scavenger Grounds shows up. Don't let too many X/1s clog your battlefield at once or you will die to Goblin Chainwhirler. Be wary of main deck and sideboarded Abrade.
This has been a brief introduction to the UR GPG archetype. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or discuss the deck further. Thanks for your time.
I know that I said I would post a gameplay/sideboarding guide, and I have been working on it. It turned out to be a lot harder and take more time than I thought to explain, but I'm 90% done. I hope to post it tomorrow, sorry if anyone was waiting. For now, here's my most recent list:
I'll put up a brief list/primer/sideboard guide today or tomorrow. On a side note, I really wish discussion of UR and UW GPG wasn't stuck on this forum, which is pretty dead and more focused on UB cycling anyways.
UR and R variants with Gate to the Afterlife are good right now. Skirk Prospector has really helped the speed of the deck. R has a better alternate game plan of great red threats, UR is more consistent at finding Gate and getting 6 creatures in the yard. They both take a ton of practice to play right. The hardest matchup is Monored, followed by UW control and then Monogreen.
I love the design but not the rate. Deathtouch or 2 power would have been a bare minimum to make her playable in Standard. Right now I think she starts too small.
Journey to Eternity is cool because it enables both ramping to fatties and reanimating them, which are the quintessential green and black ways to get them in play.
T2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into T3 Journey is powerful. It ramps you 3 times at the cost of not using the Elder at the opponent's end step.
If you do still want to play it, Makeshift Munitions, Plaguecrafter, and Legion Warboss seem like slam dunk inclusions.
4 Minister of Inquiries
4 Stitcher's Supplier
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Champion of Wits
2 Trophy Mage
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Hostage Taker
4 Angel of Invention
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
4 Aether Hub
3 Fetid Pools
2 Irrigated Farmland
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Isolated Chapel
6 Swamp
1 Island
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
3 Vraska's Contempt
2 Exclusion Mage
2 Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz
2 Duress
2 Jace's Defeat
My matchups were:
Day 1
UB midrange: 2-1 win (very close match)
MonoR Flame of Keld: 2-1 win (not close)
BR zombies: 2-1 win (not close, his deck seemed bad)
GU stompy: 2-0 win (not close)
UB midrange: 0-2 loss (not close, this opponent was great)
GU stompy: 2-0 win (not close)
UW control: 2-1 win (close)
RB aggro: 0-2 loss (not close, and I threw the second game)
Day 2
RB aggro: 2-1 win (not too close)
GU stompy: 1-2 loss (close, I think I would have won the third game but I never drew more than 3 lands)
UW control: 1-2 loss (game 2 went well but the decider wasn't close)
UB midrange: 2-0 win (not close)
RB aggro: 1-2 loss (close, but he topdecked an Abrade after I stripped one out of his hand with Freebooter)
Obviously this deck dies with rotation. But experimenting with GPG this season has been a great time and I'll definitely miss it.
UW Refurbish is still around, and the UB Gate version has been trending up. I've liked UW against red decks, as the sideboard is good and Angel of Invention gives them fits. However, I'm not confident against Turbo-fog even after testing 4 counterspells and 3 Sorcerous Spyglass in the side. In contrast, the UB version can use Kitesail Freebooter as a powerful tool against Turbo-fog, but I feel that it closes too slowly and without lifelink to be favored against red decks. I could play 3 colors, but the mana is always unpleasant, especially when this deck wants to play Minister of Inquiries so badly on turn 1.
Does anyone have a deck or sideboard plan that they feel is good against both of these decks? I haven't figured out the puzzle yet. Thanks.
It would go infinite if you had only one permanent of a certain nonland type that added 2RR and returned a land from the graveyard, but that's a bit of a stretch.
What's not a stretch is the retrace value. Legacy lands could use this very easily with Khalni Garden or Kher Keep tokens to put Progenitus in play. They already run few to zero creatures, and finding a specific land or paying a retrace cost is trivial for that deck. All the dredging from Life from the Loam even helps put a Reality Scramble in the grave without milling the Progenitus itself.
I liked Merfolk Trickster some when I played it, it was pretty good at sniping planeswalkers and generating tempo against large creatures. If you do play it, you often do so at the end step so that the effect lasts into your turn. This lets you kill tough threats like Gods or Rekindling Pheonix. It messes with your manabase though.
Against GB I think your best weapon is comboing fast and board wipes. I like Sweltering Suns (although they sometimes they grow out of range of 3 damage) and especially Hour of Devastation. I don't love Warkite Marauders because they play 4 Walking Ballista and because +1/+1 counters stick around even after a Marauder trigger, which means it's harder to shoot their creatures down than most. You still may need 2 or so for difficult threats. If your metagame has a lot of GB, definitely stick some Hour of Devastation in the sideboard. Also make sure to sideboard in things like Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Glorybringer, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Honestly though, if they curve Snake into Rishkar into Gearhulk, you usually can't win outside of comboing. That's why you don't cut the most important combo pieces like Minister of Inquiries, Skirk Prospector, Walking Ballista, and Gate to the Afterlife.
Here's my current list:
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Aether Hub
4 Ipnu Rivulet
3 Island
4 Mountain
1 Sequestered Stash
Creatures:
4 Minister of Inquiries
4 Skirk Prospector
2 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Warkite Marauder
1 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Walking Ballista
1 Trophy Mage
4 Champion of Wits
4 Combat Celebrant
2 Glorybringer
4 Gate to the Afterlife
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
2 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Squee, the Immortal
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Release the Gremlins
The cards I consider real draws to other colors are as follows:
Green:
Elvish Mystic
Servant of the Conduit
Jadelight Ranger
Black:
Vicious Offering
Ravenous Chupacabra
I've tried Temur, 4 color, and RB Gift. I didn't see a dramatic improvement over UR with any of them, so I went back to a more stock UR list.
Definitely look to UR Gift if the metagame shifts away from red decks and towards out-grinding each other with The Scarab God.
I thought about Battlefield Scavenger. The reverse looting does seem awesome for the deck, and it has some neat combos with Combat Celebrant. But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to put a 2/2 for 2 in the deck. Maybe it's better than I think. Have you tried it out?
Recent 5-0 UR GPG List online (_Pheonix_)
4 Aether Hub
4 Ipnu Rivulet
3 Island
6 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Minister of Inquiries
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Warkite Marauder
4 Walking Ballista
4 Champion of Wits
4 Combat Celebrant
2 Trophy Mage
1 Vizier of Many Faces
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
2 Abrade
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Glorybringer
2 Negate
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Spell Pierce
2 Squee, the Immortal
2 Sweltering Suns
I have played a deck almost identical to this one to a 5-0 and a couple 4-1's in leagues in the last 2 months. It has incredible consistency at fetching God-Pharaoh's Gift, but a poor alternate game plan, which is why you see the sideboard focused on protecting the combo and not trying to change to a different play style.
Recent 5-0 MonoR GPG List online (EARLDER1)
23 Mountain
4 Skirk Prospector
2 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Bomat Courier
4 Walking Ballista
4 Combat Celebrant
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Rowdy Crew
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
4 Abrade
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Glorybringer
2 Magma Spray
1 Pia Nalaar
2 Scavenger Grounds
This deck is the new hotness, and I have played a few leagues with it. I didn't love it, as I found it to be a less consistent UR list pre-board and a less focused Mono-Red aggro deck post-board. That being said, I respect a lot of the players endorsing it and the results coming out of it. I may need to play it more before dismissing it.
Kmk888 UR GPG
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Aether Hub
4 Ipnu Rivulet
3 Island
6 Mountain
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Minister of Inquiries
2 Fanatical Firebrand
3 Warkite Marauder
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Walking Ballista
4 Champion of Wits
4 Combat Celebrant
2 Rowdy Crew
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
2 Glorybringer
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Squee, the Immortal
3 Negate
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
This deck was an attempt to keep the consistency of the UR deck pre-board, and play more powerful red cards post-board so that it is easier to fight hate cards and win with a normal game plan. This plan has helped my Mono-Red aggro matchup considerably and I believe has helped my overall win percentage.
The other 1 drop, Skirk Prospector, is less obvious as to when you want to play it. When you have two goblins and one is a Prospector, you want to drop both before T3, because it opens the possibility for a T3 Gate activation. The rest of the time, sequencing is very difficult and very dependent on matchup, board state, and hand. For example, you may want to save playing creatures so they don't die to an on-curve Goblin Chainwhirler without a Gate trigger or play them early when you know they can't be Essence Scattered.
In certain matchups, a Warkite Marauder on T2 can do an enormous amount of work. Because you run 4 Walking Ballistas and some number of Fanatical Firebrands, the attack trigger of Warkite is often a terminate. This card does a lot of work against green decks and gods in particular, singlehandedly taking the matchup against The Scarab God from lukewarm to amazing. That being said, it is particularly bad against Goblin Chainwhirlers and other Walking Ballistas.
Gate to the Afterlife takes quite a bit of play to get used to. Because Gate grants death triggers that can loot away more creatures, each creature that dies can put 2 creatures in the graveyard. This means Walking Ballista for zero, sacrificing creatures like Skirk Prospector, or even killing your own creatures with Fanatical Firebrands and Ballistas can be powerful since they rapidly fill the graveyard and help activate Gate. Gate to the Afterlife is almost always a T3 play, because it is usually pretty easy to sacrifice or mill a bunch of creatures to fill the graveyard and activate Gate on T4. The nut draw lets you activate Gate on T3 right after playing it if you have a Skirk Prospector and another goblin already on the field to generate 2 mana.
Sacrificing board presence or card advantage can help activate a Gate quickly, but you need to be careful not to dedicate too many resources and then get blown out by an Abrade, Disallow, Cast Out, or Blink of an Eye. Discarding cards with Champion of Wits, milling with Minister of Inquiries, or blocking are usually much safer ways to accumulate creatures in the graveyard. When you have a Gate on the battlefield, you will have to decide how aggressively you want to try to get 6 creatures in the graveyard and combo. Factors to consider when making this decision include the answers the opponent may be playing, the mana they are representing, the pressure you are under, the match up, and the quality of your hand. Obviously, most of the risk of aggressively trying to combo is alleviated if the opponent is tapped out or you have a second Gate to the Afterlife in hand.
When you do have a God-Pharaoh's Gift on the field, it's important to know how the combo works. Gift generates a trigger that does not target, and if your opponent exiles your graveyard with the trigger on the stack, you can let their effect resolve and then mill yourself or sacrifice a creature with the trigger still on the stack. Your best option to reanimate is usually Combat Celebrant, since you can exert it while attacking to get an additional combat step, which gives the Gift an additional trigger. If you have 2 Celebrants and 1 other creature in the grave, Gift lets you attack for at least 16 over 3 combat steps. Exerting Celebrant untaps every other creature, including exerted Celebrants (2 do not go infinite) and buys you more mills with Minister of Inquiries and more attack triggers with Warkite Marauder. Your second best option to reanimate is usually Champion of Wits, since it draws 4 cards and lets you discard 2 (including things you'd rather were in the grave, like Celebrants and other Champions). Siege-Gang Commander and Warkite Marauder are also good to reanimate. Sometimes, you cannot immediately win with Gift so you should try to set up a second gate for the next turn by reanimating Champion or Trophy Mage.
This deck is mana hungry. To reach the late game with this deck, you need lands. That means that discarding creatures and holding lands with looting is often correct because you both fuel Gate to the Afterlife and will eventually reach 7 mana. At 7 mana, you can hard cast Gate, play and activate Siege-Gang Commander, and eternalize Champion of Wits. At 8 mana, you can double activate Ballista, activate Ipnu Rivulet and then play and crack Gate to the Afterlife, or cast a 3 mana spell and a Siege-Gang Commander. You typically lead with eternalizing Champion of Wits, as it is your best immediate reward and it also baits Disallows which can counter the activation of a Gate to the Afterlife. If the opponent does Disallow your activation of Champion, they have 1 less card that could hold you back from comboing with Gift or Gate. If it resolves, you get to draw more cards and get a 4/4 for your trouble.
Other options for the side include Spell Pierce, which helps protect a fast combo, Chandra's Defeat, which almost always removes a powerful creature or planeswalker and trades up on mana, and Hour of Devastation, which will wipe even boards with Steel-Leef Champions, multiple planeswalkers, or Hazoret.
UW Control
Bait out or play around Disallow and Settle the Wreckage. Seize the opportunity when they tap out to resolve another threat. Lean on eternalizing Champion of Wits as a late game only answered by Disallow.
Play In:
+3 Negate, +2 Squee, the Immortal, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Play Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -1 Walking Ballista, -4 Combat Celebrant
Draw In:
+3 Negate, +2 Blink of an Eye, +2 Squee, the Immortal, +2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Draw Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -1 Warkite Marauder, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, -4 Combat Celebrant, -2 Rowdy Crew
WB Aggro
Block and fuel the grave. Kill Toolcraft Exemplar with the trigger on the stack. When they tap out for something big, combo-kill them.
Play In:
+2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Glorybringer
Play Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Draw In:
+2 Blink of an Eye, +2 Sweltering Suns, +2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
Draw Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, -2 Rowdy Crew
R Aggro
Probably this deck's worst matchup, it combines a fast clock with good hate. Block as much as possible, play for an early combo. Leave some mill unused so you can refill the grave after Scavenger Grounds shows up. Don't let too many X/1s clog your battlefield at once or you will die to Goblin Chainwhirler. Be wary of main deck and sideboarded Abrade.
Play In:
+2 Sweltering Suns, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Glorybringer
Play Out:
-3 Warkite Marauder, -3 Champion of Wits
Draw In:
+2 Sweltering Suns, +2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Glorybringer
Draw Out:
-1 Fanatical Firebrand, -3 Warkite Marauder, -4 Champion of Wits
G Aggro
Try to stay alive as long as possible, try to avoid letting them play Ghalta, Primal Hunger. If they tap out, combo-kill them. Be wary of Naturalize, Thrashing Brontodon, and Deathgorge Scavenger.
Play In:
+2 Blink of an Eye, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Glorybringer
Play Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, -2 Rowdy Crew
Draw In:
+2 Blink of an Eye, +2 Sweltering Suns, +2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation, +2 Glorybringer
Draw Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, -2 Champion of Wits, -2 Rowdy Crew
UB Midrange/Control
Put them under pressure. Wreak havoc with Warkite Marauder.
Draw and Play In:
+3 Negate, +2 Squee, the Immortal
Draw and Play Out:
-2 Fanatical Firebrand, -2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, -1 Rowdy Crew
This has been a brief introduction to the UR GPG archetype. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or discuss the deck further. Thanks for your time.
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Aether Hub
4 Ipnu Rivulet
3 Island
6 Mountain
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Gate to the Afterlife
2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
4 Minister of Inquiries
4 Skirk Prospector
2 Fanatical Firebrand
3 Warkite Marauder
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Walking Ballista
4 Champion of Wits
4 Combat Celebrant
2 Rowdy Crew
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Glorybringer
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Squee, the Immortal
3 Negate
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
I also like the matchup against BW Aggro, so that's an interesting contrast.
I used to play UB GPG with Gifted Aetherborn, Kitesail Freebooter and Ravenous Chupacabra, but found it to be a worse UB midrange deck. I switched to UR because of the higher consistency and power of Gate to the Afterlife in the UR version. I do like the positioning of Ravenous Chupacabra right now, but it would take a lot to get me to stop playing Skirk Prospector and Combat Celebrant. They're just insane in this deck.
UW with Refurbish is also playable. It has a ton of great cards borrowed from UW control, with Lyra Dawnbringer, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and Seal Away.
Gift decks definitely have legs right now and are not a waste of money. There's a ton of hate post-board though, so don't pick the deck up if you don't like playing around counterspells, Abrade, Naturalize, Thrashing Brontodon, Deathgorge Scavenger, Ixalan's Binding, Fragmentize, Authority of the Consuls, Crook of Condemnation, and Silent Gravestone.
T2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into T3 Journey is powerful. It ramps you 3 times at the cost of not using the Elder at the opponent's end step.