Glad to see others have been mulling over the new card. It definitely opens up a new way to ramp for a control shell but it strains our mana if we want to cast inquisition, thoughtseize, and liliana. What I have been thinking of was to go more blue heavy, cutting discard for counters. We will have the option to either ramp or counter a spell on turn 2 and relieve the tension of color requirements. A neat thing about growth spiral is that it gives us one more mana to use the same turn. Push and path are obvious options but past turn 2, it gives us a lot more flexibility with our mana. Liliana is such an integral part of the deck but i may fiddle around with different cards. I want to find another sticky or impactful threat but i dont know if goyfs and grim flayers would be good in a controlling shell (I have been playing abzan gifts for the longest time).
Looking forward to what the new cards and meta will bring for gifts!
I want to ask a serious question, especially in gifts lists that play 2-3 Liliana of the veil in the main
Has anyone tested 2 spirit guides in the board for the non- interactive matchups I.e KcI, storm, burn, titanshift etc.
SSG is a card that shines in unfair decks and help cast a game winning spell. They are all about explosive hands and often mull heavily to find the perfect them, hence either 4x SSG or none at all. Gifts, on the other hand, is a fair and grindy deck that relies on having better topdeck than the opponent much like Abzan or Jund. SSG is a terrible topdeck and also a color that we do not run to take advantage of.
If a turn 2 liliana and turn 3 gifts is the appeal, how about try birds or sylvan caryatids?
0-2 LOSS Grixis Death Shadow
Our deck is built to beat these kind of decks so it should have been a free win. Game 1 went as expected, removing all his threats one by one but his chain of snapcaster kolaghan's command outvalued us and eventually got us with temur battle rage through lingering soul tokens. Game 2, I mull then kept a hand with one land with double push, path, and two lilianas with another land on top. Unfortunately, I never draw into my third land and I lose to a gurmag after I remove all other threats.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's
0-2 LOSS Jund
Jund doing Jund things. Creatures dying left and right, hand size both quickly going to 0 with all the hand disruption fired left and right. However, he drew Bloodbraid Elf 3 times both games, burying me in card advantage. I tried to remove every threat he threw at me but the 2-for-1 was too much.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's, Celestial Purge
Starting the GP with 2 losses already, I feel pretty terrible, especially against the GDS that was so favorable towards us. With the wall against my back, I continue on fulling knowing that one more loss meant I cannot make Day 2.
2-0 WIN Infect
Hand disruption, cheap removal spells, and a clock consisting of goyf or flayer gets there both games. Always use removal on their infect creatures during your turn or after they cast a pump spell, never anytime else. Also, kill nobles on sight. They provide ramp and a free point of infect damage which is HUGE.
SB- Tendrils, 2x Collective Brutality
2-0 WIN JUND
I groan at being matched up with Jund again but I do a lot better. Game 1, I keep the board clear with removal spells until I end of turn gifts for Iona on black on an empty board. He cannot remove it and I swing 3 times to win. Game 2, he overboards graveyard hate and while he durdles with nihil spellbombs and surgical extraction, I beat him down with goyf and flayers. They are eventually removed but I resolve a liliana that controls the board and hand which wins me the game.
After the match, he told me that he thought I was on a 4 color gifts control deck because he didn't see anything except discard and kill spells game 1. People tend to overboard graveyard hate against gifts which gives us an edge to win a fair fight with goyfs, flayers, and liliana.
SB- same as previous Jund
2-1 WIN Boggles
Our worst matchup but somehow I sneak in a win with the help of a bit of luck. Game 1, they do not have a turn 1 leyline and I fire off discard to take his extra bogglse and land a liliana to remove his resolved boggle. Game 2, he again fails to find a turn 1 leyline and I remove most of his threats. We are on topdeck mode, and he resorts to suiting up his dryad arbor with rancor and I do not find my last removal spell to kill it. Game 3, I start with a solid hand of discard, liliana, and flaying tendrils but he finally begins with a turn 1 leyline. I think to myself I am doomed. He starts suiting up his guy but when turn 3 comes around, the boggles has a rancor and a totem armor on it. I cast flaying tendrils to kill the boggles forever and get there with goyf swinging 4 times. Definitely got lucky that he didn't have another totem armor or another aura that increased its toughness by 1.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's, 2x collective brutality
2-0 WIN Burn
Game 1, I stabilize with 1 life with gifts into Iona. I do not swing on an empty board due to a single swiftspear on the field and I eventually draw into a removal spell to get it off the table before swinging with my lovely angel. Game 2, I am happy as I had 4x collective brutality in the MB+SB. I play collective brutality back to back and it gains me so much value that it is hard to come back from.
SB- 2x collective brutality, celestial purge
4-2 after starting the day 0-2! Hope returns to my heart and I cross my fingers that I win my next game to proceed to Day 2. However, my soul was crushed by my worst enemy... BLOOD MOON
2-0 LOSS UR Breach
Game 1, turn 3, blood moon appears on the field. All my lands turn to mountains and I cry. I get beat to death by a lonely snapcaster mage. With my discard spells, I saw that he was on UR Breach so I board accordingly. However, what I did not account for was him boarding out the combo to become a UR control deck. We trade discard spells for counterspells until he starts looting with desolate lighthouse and lands a Jace, the Mindscupltor. He buries me in card advantage and infinite cryptic commands and kills me with snapcaster and clique.
4-3 and I miss out on the chance to make it to Day 2. What a roller coaster ride of a day! I wish good luck to my opponent and wait for the last round to start since I was there to play magic.
2-0 WIN Abzan
Budget abzan brew of lingering souls, siege rhino, and thragtusk but no goyf or lilianas. A grindy deck? Perfect for gifts. One game, I win with both Iona and Elesh Norn on board. Another game, I win with goyf beatdown with liliana clearing the path for them. He comments on how good liliana is. I give him some pointers about how to make his deck better (albeit with money), explain to my opponent how my gift deck works (he never saw the card before), and have a good talk overall.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's
OVERVIEW
I think the deck performed as expected, an Abzan deck with a combo finish. However, I could not stop wondering if I would have made it to Day 2 if I had drawn a single land against GDS... So close yet so far! One day, my dream will come true... I accepted the loss to blood moon as part of playing a 4 color deck in modern - I ran 1 plains, 1 forest, and 2 swamps as a hedge against blood moon and field of ruin fully expecting I will not be casting gifts in those situations with basics.
I never felt heavily unfavorable in any certain matchups throughout the GP. Surprisingly did not run into humans or affinity as I had feared but my SB was properly attuned to face those decks. However, I did make top 8 of monthly modern tournament with gifts a couple weeks back as well with the same decklist, in which I played against 2 humans and 1 affinity.
I was very happy with the 4x Collective Brutality because it is one of the best sideboard cards ever printed. Removal, discard, and lifegain all packed into one neat little card. No wonder the price jumped! Bontu's was another card I was happy to have in the deck, offering the possibility of gifting for 3 sweepers or a turn 3 boardwipe against heavy aggro like humans.
I definitely know it's not the best deck but it's the deck I want to play at the GP , hence the decision. Aren't we all here because of the love for the deck and not its tier 1 competitiveness? haha
@Xour
No maindeck sweepers the same reason Abzan and Jund don't - I try to play the midrange game with goyfs, flayers, and tasigur. We pack enough removal. I do want to run Liliana, the Last Hope but can't find space for it. Recently switched back to the 4 Veil from 3 Veil/1 Last Hope split since Veil is so good in so many matchups.
MB change has been eternal witness -> snapcaster and 2x scavenging oozes -> 4th Liliana of the Veil + Tasigur. I have been happy about the change, reducing the green requirements. It loses a little game on random graveyard hate mainboard and the giant life-gaining lategame machine but as a 4c deck, we don't utilize ooze to its maximum potential anyways. Tasigur has been phenomenal with all the pushes running around, staying on board way longer than it should and recurring cards.
Been very happy with 4 Collective Brutality in the 75 as it is such an amazing card in the right matchups. I was toying with the idea of running 3 counterspells in the sideboard (negate, countersqual, disdainful stroke) would be worth it but not sure if it warrants testing. CB already hits control and combo decks and most of the relevant cards in Valakut save for their titans and topdecks. GR Tron has largely been replaced by EldraziTron where kill spells are superior.
As naked as it makes me feel, I took out raven's crime/life from the loam combo since CB does heavy lifting in control matchups to begin with. If a Jace lands, however, it makes things very difficult for us.
I'm not sure how much graveyard hate I should pack than the usual surgical/extirpate and hence added a nihil spellbomb for a 3rd piece of hate. I'm not sure how prevalent RB Hollow One or Dredge would be but I think we have a decent matchup against fair decks so more of our sideboard space can be used against unfair ones.
2 vs 3 stony silence is something I've been going back and forth about. I really hate losing to affinity and lantern but at the same time, I pack a lot of removal in the 75 and it could open up an extra slot for the SB. Any suggestions are welcome.
Currently testing the 3 semi-wrath package of Bontu's, Tendrils, and Damnation for the humans/general aggro matchup. Will let you guys know how Bontu's holds up!
With the rise of BBE Jund and Jace Control decks, what are everyone's thoughts on how to combat the new meta?
I've been playing my other pet deck Death and Taxes these days after getting destroyed by blood moons and field of ruins but I'm thinking of picking up gifts again.
Thanks for the advice !
However using the search function it appears tek_03's last post was in December 2016, I was hoping for some more recent opinions ^^
As FoodChainGoblins stated, non-gifts version running strategic planning, pieces to the puzzle, and more collective brutalities seems to be better in the esper goryo's shell since it operates with ~3 lands.
Any good rites target (sideboard?) to deal with GW Hexproof?
Decent rites target would be Elesh Norn if the boggles didn't get too big yet but there isn't a great answer unless you go something narrow like Blazing Archon. Best card against them would be Liliana of the Veil as it cleanly removes the boggle and all enchantments on it.
I played one in the sideboard but I can see how it may even be good as a one-of in the MB alongside Liliana of the Veil (perhaps as a 4-1 or 3-1 split).
Grim flayer has been great, especially when there was a RIP or other graveyard hate on the board that made goyfs 0/1s. It still hits for 2 and allows for card selection.
Went to a 58 man PPTQ this last weekend and made top 8 after 6 rounds! Ran the same list except 3/3 split of path and fatal push and replaced Terastodon with Liliana, the Last Hope because the disappearance of RG Tron in the meta.
2-1 Counters Company
Even with all of 1-for-1 removal, an uphill battle fighting all the value in the forms of kitchen finks, eternal witness, and collected company. Lost game 1 to company into finks vizier combo. Game 2, he chords for a magus of the moon which surprised me and would have locked me out of the game except I had a basic swamp i fetched for earlier. I kill it with a brutality. I land Liliana of the Last Hope that clears the board of small creatures and I continue spot removal on druid after devoted druid until gifts for Elesh Norn to lock the opponent out. Game 3 was a grindfest after ripping chord and company from his hand with discard. He put on pressure with eternal witness and seer until flaying tendrils. After scrying 2, he played witness getting back witness getting back seer. One damnation later, we went to topdeck mode where eventually I landed a flayer which dug me into enough removal to close the game.
In- Flaying tendrils, damnation, liliana of the last hope, 2x collective brutality
Out- 2x Liliana of the Veil, Iona, 2x lingering souls
2-1 Counters Company
What luck! Braving into another tough match, I manage to catch him off guard with gifts into Elesh Norn. Game 2, I land a Liliana of the Last Hope that pinged small creatures each turn but he catches me off guard when he chords for spell queller to exile gifts. I swiftly lose to beats in the air. Counters company seems to be getting crafty with all the toolbox creatures. Game 3, we grind each other out with value and I manage to win the board with goyf and flayer which dug deep into the deck for all the removal spell I needed.
Same SB as previous. Very impressed with Liliana of the Last Hope in the last two matches and happy about the change.
1-1-1 UW Control
Game 1 I lose to the grind game when he removes and counters all my relevant threats and beats me down with celestial. He was running the wall of omens, finks, spell quellers, and restoration angels which meant I could not take out all my spot removals for Game 2. Game 2, I strip his hand of cards with raven's crime life from the loam combo that I got from gifts and land a liliana that kept ticking up. Game 3, he lands rest in peace and we go to time and draw. Nothing special report other than it was the longest games.
In- Life from the loam, raven's crime, 2x collective brutality, fulminator mages, kitchen finks
Out- 2x abrupt decay, 2x path to exile, Elesh Norn, goyf
Not sure if I should keep in abrupt decays for spell quellers and possible cages/RIP. removed one goyf for fulminator because even if it eats a removal, it can remove a land and I expected grave hate which makes goyf a 0/1.
1-2 Slivers
First time facing slivers. Game 1, I am confident I can win because I gifts for Elesh Norn to wipe his board but it is met with double dismember which is probably the only removal they run. Very frustrating. I then lose to more slivers flooding the board that I cannot remove because of regen and +2 mana to cast cards that targets slivers clause. Game 2, I remove every sliver I see until I gifts for Elesh Norn again. He does not have double dismember again and loses to Elesh Norn and souls beat. Game 3, I trade removal spells for slivers and I stabilize with damnation and collective brutality in hand. However, he lands two mutavaults that I cannot find instant speed kill spells to remove. I take 12+ damage to them and I die.
In- 2x collective brutality, damnation, flaying tendrils, liliana of the last hope
Out- Iona, 2x lingering souls, eternal witness, liliana of the veil
2-1 UW Control
Another UW control. Back and forth trading resources while I try to strip counters so I can resolve gifts into Iona. He plays 4 spreading seas which locks me out of my colors and neuters manlands. I never get to resolve gifts but lingering souls eventually seals the deal. Game 2, we have a planeswalker war with him with 3-mana gideon that made my kitchen finks obsolete, 4-mana jace that made my lingering souls obsolete, and 6 mana elspeth that poops out tokens while I land both lilianas to deal with the soldier tokens. 3 turns later, we both realize that the planeswalker rule change is not in effect until ixalan commes out. Judge comes over and gives me a warning and I sac my liliana of the veil. He kills my lili LH and supreme verdicts the board. I find gifts and gift for eternal witness, maelstrom pulse, abrupt decay, and gifts. Gifts and pulse go to graveyard. I eternal witness into pulse elspeth and abrupt decay the gideon. He kills my witness, I push and ghost quarter his last two celestial collonades. Eventually, I end up with 9 lands (3 of them are spreading sea-ed at this point) and I hardcast iona and call white. I play lingering souls and have him on a clock when he topdecks a snapcaster and snap-cryptic EoT to swing in with the last 2 dmg with snapcaster. We end game 2 with 5 minutes remaining on the clock. He is 2-2 and I am 2-1-1 so he concedes.
Same SB as above except sided out 2 IoK instead of Abrupts in anticipation for grave hate and 3-mana Gideon Game 3.
2-0 Esper Goryo Vengence
Esper deck running jace, vryn's prodigy, goryo vengence, and obzedat that also runs sword of the meek thopter foundry combo. Game 1, he goryo jace and activates him to flip in order to flashback goryo to bring back obzedat. In response to jace activation, I push him. We trade more resources until I safely land a lili which ticks up and ults. I split his 6 lands into 2 piles and he dies soon thereafter. Game 2, we grind each other out with kill spells and nothing survives on the board. He has a shambling vent that begins chipping at my life. I find a gifts but hold onto it until I draw a collective brutality. I cast brutality for discard mode and strips him of dispel and mainphase cast gifts for iona unburial. He draws, plays a land, and attacks me to 2 life. I unburial rites Iona and call white. However, I cannot attack with iona because of shambling vents. We draw go for the next couple of turns. He cannot cast lingering souls or obzedat but he can goryo obzedat in the grave or draw a collective brutality to drain me. I sit on a hand of extirpate and abrupt decay until I draw into a brutality. I drain him for 2 and swing for game.
Top 8
1-2 Abzan
This is supposed to be a good matchup for gifts but luck unfortunately is a part of magic. Game 1, I kill 3 dark confidants in a row but he lands a ooze afterwards which I could not find an answer. He eats 20 cards from all graveyards and becomes a 10/10 and it keeps swinging at me. I throw goyfs, oozes, flayers, and souls in front of it and eventually die to a single creature without seeing gifts or removal. Game 2, I play gifts into iona, call white, and swing twice to end the game while playing souls to avoid liliana edict. Game 3, he opens up with turn 1 cage, turn 2 nihil spellbomb and another cage. Ooze lands soon thereafter along with three manlands. I try to remove his threats but like game 1, I could not find gifts nor removal. My goyfs are 0/1s and lingering souls become half of a card.
In- Damnation, Kitchen Finks, 2x fulminator mages, celestial purge, liliana of the last hope
Out- 3x Inquisition, 2x Thoughtseize, collective brutality
It was strange that the good matchups went badly and bad matchups went well but overall, very happy with the performance and I think I fine tuned the deck well to the expected meta. 3/3 split of path and push was better for this meta with smaller critters than 4/2 that I was running previously to combat eldrazi trons. I wish graveyard hate was less ubiquitous because it does hurt our strongest strategies but gifts still acts as "put two cards with different names into our hand" and doesn't cripple it completely.
The new cards you will be getting will definitely help improve your deck and I hope that you can get them soon!
Manabase-wise, 8-9 fetches are ideal with a heavy emphasis on fetching black sources because of our lilianas. I would highly advise you running a plains as well to have the full set of basics to search for if needed (life total is precious and you gotta cast your white spells!). Looking at your spells, you are focused more heavily on the sultai colors early game so I would recommend an emphasis on verdants and deltas. Concealed Courtyard can become another Blooming Marsh or a Darkslick Shores. Urborg is a necessity if you are running the ravaen's crime life from the loam combo. Check out the last few pages on my reasoning behind what manlands should be run. I also like seeing one ghost quarter in order to snipe out any pesky tronland, inkmoth nexus, and other utility lands, especially when you can ghost quarter lock them after boarding in life from the loam. I would shave shocks to one copies each to make room for other lands because you will never fetch for two at a time.
I am not a big fan of him in the mainboard in a faster meta where it fails to stabilize the board. Other possible value creature options include Siege Rhino and Thragtusk. However, in a control-heavy or grindy Abzan/Jund heavy meta, Sun Titan is amazing (it has been a pet card of mine since it came out) and I fully support the inclusion.
The sideboard is an important part of magic where 2/3 of the games played will include cards from it. It must be tailored to the meta you are playing as well as decks you think you have a bad matchups against. As a gifts deck, we excel at grinding opponents down and we need no help against control matches other than raven's crime and life from the loam combo. Hence, Narset Transcendent and Elspeth, Sun's Champion seem extraneous and replaced with cards that will help us out against fast decks. Damnation and Flaying Tendrils are a good inclusion and easy to cast because we want double black anyways for Lilianas. It can replace supreme verdicts unless you are expecting tons of grixis death shadow with stubborn denials. Scavening Ooze is an excellent MB card because it is very well rounded but very mediocre in the sideboard because doesn't hose any particular matchup like spellbombs surgicals. Move ooze to MB or replace the slot with another card. Collective brutality deserves at least 1 more spot in the SB because it is an amazing card. For the sake of gifts, it may be worth looking into the Negate/Countersquall split (also lessens burden on colors) and Nihil Spellbomb/Surgical/Extirpate split for graveyard combo hate.
Affinity is a matchup where the starting hand determines your fate. Mulligan all hands without interaction or you will lose. Even with all your removal, you may end up dead before you can gifts and unburial elesh norn. Sweepers such as Damnation and Flaying Tendrils (turn 3 vs turn 4 can mean difference between win and a loss) are excellent as well as spot removal like collective brutality. Stony Silence can also run away with games. Rule of thumb is kill everything that hits the field and focus fire all their 2 drops (plating, overseer, ravager). Your current MB and SB looks solid and probably it is simply variance that cost you the game.
UR Storm should be a fairly simple matchup that is heavily favored towards us on the other hand. We have all the tools that make their life miserable. Kill their electromancer and baral on site, disrupt them with discard, gifts for iona on red or beat them down to 0 life with creatures while they try to piece their combo together. SB in grave hate and counters to cripple them, remove spells from MB that are non-interactive.
I would recommend sideboard GY hate because you cannot stop graveyard based decks with oozes alone and it will be a quick loss, especially against Dredge. I don't see much dredge in my meta so I run surgical + extirpate to also help otu against combo decks where I can discard into extraction.
Grim flayer sometimes struggles to connect and that is why Abzan decks run nobles with him. Try running loam+crime combo in the sideboard and run 3-4 nobles in the mainboard to help flayer connect and accelerate gifts. Another non-budget option is to run goyfs if you want to commit heavily into midrange style.
This primer is for ever variant of Gifts! People switch between the esper and 4c and I would love to hear input on both. Esper is better against creature decks and 4C better against combo/control due to early pressure and loam.
I haven't thought of Champion of Wits as an addition but they seem very solid in an esper build! The body plus filtering effect is very nice and would be worth looking into.
I can't see Sunscourge Champion being that good when it has to compete with Kitchen Finks as 3 drop that comes back on its own when removed. If you are gifting for the champion to gain life against burn, it would be better to gifts for Iona to shut down red or value gifts for Collective Brutality, Kitchen Finks, Blessed Alliance, etc.
I know I have moved away the midrange threats such as thragtusk, siege rhino, and grave titan because the meta has sped up and I would never gifts for any other unburial combo other than Elesh or Iona. Lots of decks kill by turn 4-5 and cheating out a 4-5 mana threat from the deck isn't enough to stabilize. I replaced the creature suite to those I can cast turn 1-3 that has utility into the lategame hence goyf, flayer, and ooze. If the meta becomes slower again, I would see us going back to the bigger threats.
I have not tried out Bontu's myself and I can see how the tempo loss can be very crippling. On the other hand, against blistering fast starts against affinity and go wide decks, I could see its merit. If you do end up trying it, I would love to hear your feedback on the card.
What is your meta like at the store you play? Without such information, I will try to give a generalized answer below for sideboard advice:
Darkblast -> Liliana of the Last Hope for similar utility but broader application
Timely Reinforcement -> Collective Brutality. There is a reason all Jund/Abzan/any deck that runs black have multiples in their sideboard
Damnation/Wrath of God/Day of Judgement -> I would consider switching Day of Judgement to Flaying Tendrils to shore up Dredge, Affinity, Company decks with one mana less and exiling creatures. If big creatures are your problem, keep all three for utility.
Batterskull-> If you want life gaining beater, Kitchen Finks is your best bet. Blocks twice, gains 4 life. Useful in grindy matchups, control, and burn.
Negate-> I personally don't feel the need for negate in the sideboard in any matchup other than Tron to counter Karn or Ugin. Discard is far greater than counter especially in proactive decks like ours. However, if combo and tron are running rampant, it is a valid sideboard choice and you will have to fetch accordingly when you side it in (additional lifeloss to get blue mana sooner)
Terastodon is your only out to resolved Karn, Ugin, and active Urzalands and I would consider him in the SB if Tron is present. I have a permanent spot for the big green elephant and I carry along 3 elephant tokens just for those Tron players.
Land destruction may be a necessary evil in your meta and fulminator mages may be necessary. In the same boat, 1-2 graveyard hate cards are required and would recommend surgical extraction+extirpate (for gift purposes) or nihil spellbomb (doesn't touch your graveyard). Surgical is better against combo decks (and extracting tronlands or valakuts), spellbombs against delve and dredge.
Example: arcbound ravager sacrificed two memnites so it wont die to cry/tendrils. Cry would exile memnites, tendrils would not
Looking forward to what the new cards and meta will bring for gifts!
SSG is a card that shines in unfair decks and help cast a game winning spell. They are all about explosive hands and often mull heavily to find the perfect them, hence either 4x SSG or none at all. Gifts, on the other hand, is a fair and grindy deck that relies on having better topdeck than the opponent much like Abzan or Jund. SSG is a terrible topdeck and also a color that we do not run to take advantage of.
If a turn 2 liliana and turn 3 gifts is the appeal, how about try birds or sylvan caryatids?
I went 5-3 at the GP. losing to Grixis Death Shadow, Jund, UR Breach.
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Marsh Flats
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Breeding Pool
1x Godless Shrine
1x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Shambling Vents
2x Blooming Marsh
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Grim Flayer
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Unburial Rites
1x Collective Brutality
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Fatal Push
1x Dismember
4x Liliana of the Veil
3x Collective Brutality
3x Stony Silence
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Extirpate
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Damnation
1x Flaying Tendrils
1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Celestial Purge
0-2 LOSS Grixis Death Shadow
Our deck is built to beat these kind of decks so it should have been a free win. Game 1 went as expected, removing all his threats one by one but his chain of snapcaster kolaghan's command outvalued us and eventually got us with temur battle rage through lingering soul tokens. Game 2, I mull then kept a hand with one land with double push, path, and two lilianas with another land on top. Unfortunately, I never draw into my third land and I lose to a gurmag after I remove all other threats.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's
0-2 LOSS Jund
Jund doing Jund things. Creatures dying left and right, hand size both quickly going to 0 with all the hand disruption fired left and right. However, he drew Bloodbraid Elf 3 times both games, burying me in card advantage. I tried to remove every threat he threw at me but the 2-for-1 was too much.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's, Celestial Purge
Starting the GP with 2 losses already, I feel pretty terrible, especially against the GDS that was so favorable towards us. With the wall against my back, I continue on fulling knowing that one more loss meant I cannot make Day 2.
2-0 WIN Infect
Hand disruption, cheap removal spells, and a clock consisting of goyf or flayer gets there both games. Always use removal on their infect creatures during your turn or after they cast a pump spell, never anytime else. Also, kill nobles on sight. They provide ramp and a free point of infect damage which is HUGE.
SB- Tendrils, 2x Collective Brutality
2-0 WIN JUND
I groan at being matched up with Jund again but I do a lot better. Game 1, I keep the board clear with removal spells until I end of turn gifts for Iona on black on an empty board. He cannot remove it and I swing 3 times to win. Game 2, he overboards graveyard hate and while he durdles with nihil spellbombs and surgical extraction, I beat him down with goyf and flayers. They are eventually removed but I resolve a liliana that controls the board and hand which wins me the game.
After the match, he told me that he thought I was on a 4 color gifts control deck because he didn't see anything except discard and kill spells game 1. People tend to overboard graveyard hate against gifts which gives us an edge to win a fair fight with goyfs, flayers, and liliana.
SB- same as previous Jund
2-1 WIN Boggles
Our worst matchup but somehow I sneak in a win with the help of a bit of luck. Game 1, they do not have a turn 1 leyline and I fire off discard to take his extra bogglse and land a liliana to remove his resolved boggle. Game 2, he again fails to find a turn 1 leyline and I remove most of his threats. We are on topdeck mode, and he resorts to suiting up his dryad arbor with rancor and I do not find my last removal spell to kill it. Game 3, I start with a solid hand of discard, liliana, and flaying tendrils but he finally begins with a turn 1 leyline. I think to myself I am doomed. He starts suiting up his guy but when turn 3 comes around, the boggles has a rancor and a totem armor on it. I cast flaying tendrils to kill the boggles forever and get there with goyf swinging 4 times. Definitely got lucky that he didn't have another totem armor or another aura that increased its toughness by 1.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's, 2x collective brutality
2-0 WIN Burn
Game 1, I stabilize with 1 life with gifts into Iona. I do not swing on an empty board due to a single swiftspear on the field and I eventually draw into a removal spell to get it off the table before swinging with my lovely angel. Game 2, I am happy as I had 4x collective brutality in the MB+SB. I play collective brutality back to back and it gains me so much value that it is hard to come back from.
SB- 2x collective brutality, celestial purge
4-2 after starting the day 0-2! Hope returns to my heart and I cross my fingers that I win my next game to proceed to Day 2. However, my soul was crushed by my worst enemy... BLOOD MOON
2-0 LOSS UR Breach
Game 1, turn 3, blood moon appears on the field. All my lands turn to mountains and I cry. I get beat to death by a lonely snapcaster mage. With my discard spells, I saw that he was on UR Breach so I board accordingly. However, what I did not account for was him boarding out the combo to become a UR control deck. We trade discard spells for counterspells until he starts looting with desolate lighthouse and lands a Jace, the Mindscupltor. He buries me in card advantage and infinite cryptic commands and kills me with snapcaster and clique.
SB- 2x Collective Brutality, Surgical Extraction, Extirpate
4-3 and I miss out on the chance to make it to Day 2. What a roller coaster ride of a day! I wish good luck to my opponent and wait for the last round to start since I was there to play magic.
2-0 WIN Abzan
Budget abzan brew of lingering souls, siege rhino, and thragtusk but no goyf or lilianas. A grindy deck? Perfect for gifts. One game, I win with both Iona and Elesh Norn on board. Another game, I win with goyf beatdown with liliana clearing the path for them. He comments on how good liliana is. I give him some pointers about how to make his deck better (albeit with money), explain to my opponent how my gift deck works (he never saw the card before), and have a good talk overall.
SB- Damnation, Bontu's
OVERVIEW
I think the deck performed as expected, an Abzan deck with a combo finish. However, I could not stop wondering if I would have made it to Day 2 if I had drawn a single land against GDS... So close yet so far! One day, my dream will come true... I accepted the loss to blood moon as part of playing a 4 color deck in modern - I ran 1 plains, 1 forest, and 2 swamps as a hedge against blood moon and field of ruin fully expecting I will not be casting gifts in those situations with basics.
I never felt heavily unfavorable in any certain matchups throughout the GP. Surprisingly did not run into humans or affinity as I had feared but my SB was properly attuned to face those decks. However, I did make top 8 of monthly modern tournament with gifts a couple weeks back as well with the same decklist, in which I played against 2 humans and 1 affinity.
I was very happy with the 4x Collective Brutality because it is one of the best sideboard cards ever printed. Removal, discard, and lifegain all packed into one neat little card. No wonder the price jumped! Bontu's was another card I was happy to have in the deck, offering the possibility of gifting for 3 sweepers or a turn 3 boardwipe against heavy aggro like humans.
@Xour
No maindeck sweepers the same reason Abzan and Jund don't - I try to play the midrange game with goyfs, flayers, and tasigur. We pack enough removal. I do want to run Liliana, the Last Hope but can't find space for it. Recently switched back to the 4 Veil from 3 Veil/1 Last Hope split since Veil is so good in so many matchups.
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Marsh Flats
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Breeding Pool
1x Godless Shrine
1x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Shambling Vents
2x Blooming Marsh
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Grim Flayer
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Unburial Rites
1x Collective Brutality
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Fatal Push
1x Dismember
4x Liliana of the Veil
3x Collective Brutality
3x Stony Silence
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Extirpate
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Damnation
1x Flaying Tendrils
1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Celestial Purge
MB change has been eternal witness -> snapcaster and 2x scavenging oozes -> 4th Liliana of the Veil + Tasigur. I have been happy about the change, reducing the green requirements. It loses a little game on random graveyard hate mainboard and the giant life-gaining lategame machine but as a 4c deck, we don't utilize ooze to its maximum potential anyways. Tasigur has been phenomenal with all the pushes running around, staying on board way longer than it should and recurring cards.
Been very happy with 4 Collective Brutality in the 75 as it is such an amazing card in the right matchups. I was toying with the idea of running 3 counterspells in the sideboard (negate, countersqual, disdainful stroke) would be worth it but not sure if it warrants testing. CB already hits control and combo decks and most of the relevant cards in Valakut save for their titans and topdecks. GR Tron has largely been replaced by EldraziTron where kill spells are superior.
As naked as it makes me feel, I took out raven's crime/life from the loam combo since CB does heavy lifting in control matchups to begin with. If a Jace lands, however, it makes things very difficult for us.
I'm not sure how much graveyard hate I should pack than the usual surgical/extirpate and hence added a nihil spellbomb for a 3rd piece of hate. I'm not sure how prevalent RB Hollow One or Dredge would be but I think we have a decent matchup against fair decks so more of our sideboard space can be used against unfair ones.
2 vs 3 stony silence is something I've been going back and forth about. I really hate losing to affinity and lantern but at the same time, I pack a lot of removal in the 75 and it could open up an extra slot for the SB. Any suggestions are welcome.
Currently testing the 3 semi-wrath package of Bontu's, Tendrils, and Damnation for the humans/general aggro matchup. Will let you guys know how Bontu's holds up!
I've been playing my other pet deck Death and Taxes these days after getting destroyed by blood moons and field of ruins but I'm thinking of picking up gifts again.
As FoodChainGoblins stated, non-gifts version running strategic planning, pieces to the puzzle, and more collective brutalities seems to be better in the esper goryo's shell since it operates with ~3 lands.
Decent rites target would be Elesh Norn if the boggles didn't get too big yet but there isn't a great answer unless you go something narrow like Blazing Archon. Best card against them would be Liliana of the Veil as it cleanly removes the boggle and all enchantments on it.
Grim flayer has been great, especially when there was a RIP or other graveyard hate on the board that made goyfs 0/1s. It still hits for 2 and allows for card selection.
2-1 Counters Company
Even with all of 1-for-1 removal, an uphill battle fighting all the value in the forms of kitchen finks, eternal witness, and collected company. Lost game 1 to company into finks vizier combo. Game 2, he chords for a magus of the moon which surprised me and would have locked me out of the game except I had a basic swamp i fetched for earlier. I kill it with a brutality. I land Liliana of the Last Hope that clears the board of small creatures and I continue spot removal on druid after devoted druid until gifts for Elesh Norn to lock the opponent out. Game 3 was a grindfest after ripping chord and company from his hand with discard. He put on pressure with eternal witness and seer until flaying tendrils. After scrying 2, he played witness getting back witness getting back seer. One damnation later, we went to topdeck mode where eventually I landed a flayer which dug me into enough removal to close the game.
In- Flaying tendrils, damnation, liliana of the last hope, 2x collective brutality
Out- 2x Liliana of the Veil, Iona, 2x lingering souls
2-1 Counters Company
What luck! Braving into another tough match, I manage to catch him off guard with gifts into Elesh Norn. Game 2, I land a Liliana of the Last Hope that pinged small creatures each turn but he catches me off guard when he chords for spell queller to exile gifts. I swiftly lose to beats in the air. Counters company seems to be getting crafty with all the toolbox creatures. Game 3, we grind each other out with value and I manage to win the board with goyf and flayer which dug deep into the deck for all the removal spell I needed.
Same SB as previous. Very impressed with Liliana of the Last Hope in the last two matches and happy about the change.
1-1-1 UW Control
Game 1 I lose to the grind game when he removes and counters all my relevant threats and beats me down with celestial. He was running the wall of omens, finks, spell quellers, and restoration angels which meant I could not take out all my spot removals for Game 2. Game 2, I strip his hand of cards with raven's crime life from the loam combo that I got from gifts and land a liliana that kept ticking up. Game 3, he lands rest in peace and we go to time and draw. Nothing special report other than it was the longest games.
In- Life from the loam, raven's crime, 2x collective brutality, fulminator mages, kitchen finks
Out- 2x abrupt decay, 2x path to exile, Elesh Norn, goyf
Not sure if I should keep in abrupt decays for spell quellers and possible cages/RIP. removed one goyf for fulminator because even if it eats a removal, it can remove a land and I expected grave hate which makes goyf a 0/1.
1-2 Slivers
First time facing slivers. Game 1, I am confident I can win because I gifts for Elesh Norn to wipe his board but it is met with double dismember which is probably the only removal they run. Very frustrating. I then lose to more slivers flooding the board that I cannot remove because of regen and +2 mana to cast cards that targets slivers clause. Game 2, I remove every sliver I see until I gifts for Elesh Norn again. He does not have double dismember again and loses to Elesh Norn and souls beat. Game 3, I trade removal spells for slivers and I stabilize with damnation and collective brutality in hand. However, he lands two mutavaults that I cannot find instant speed kill spells to remove. I take 12+ damage to them and I die.
In- 2x collective brutality, damnation, flaying tendrils, liliana of the last hope
Out- Iona, 2x lingering souls, eternal witness, liliana of the veil
2-1 UW Control
Another UW control. Back and forth trading resources while I try to strip counters so I can resolve gifts into Iona. He plays 4 spreading seas which locks me out of my colors and neuters manlands. I never get to resolve gifts but lingering souls eventually seals the deal. Game 2, we have a planeswalker war with him with 3-mana gideon that made my kitchen finks obsolete, 4-mana jace that made my lingering souls obsolete, and 6 mana elspeth that poops out tokens while I land both lilianas to deal with the soldier tokens. 3 turns later, we both realize that the planeswalker rule change is not in effect until ixalan commes out. Judge comes over and gives me a warning and I sac my liliana of the veil. He kills my lili LH and supreme verdicts the board. I find gifts and gift for eternal witness, maelstrom pulse, abrupt decay, and gifts. Gifts and pulse go to graveyard. I eternal witness into pulse elspeth and abrupt decay the gideon. He kills my witness, I push and ghost quarter his last two celestial collonades. Eventually, I end up with 9 lands (3 of them are spreading sea-ed at this point) and I hardcast iona and call white. I play lingering souls and have him on a clock when he topdecks a snapcaster and snap-cryptic EoT to swing in with the last 2 dmg with snapcaster. We end game 2 with 5 minutes remaining on the clock. He is 2-2 and I am 2-1-1 so he concedes.
Same SB as above except sided out 2 IoK instead of Abrupts in anticipation for grave hate and 3-mana Gideon Game 3.
2-0 Esper Goryo Vengence
Esper deck running jace, vryn's prodigy, goryo vengence, and obzedat that also runs sword of the meek thopter foundry combo. Game 1, he goryo jace and activates him to flip in order to flashback goryo to bring back obzedat. In response to jace activation, I push him. We trade more resources until I safely land a lili which ticks up and ults. I split his 6 lands into 2 piles and he dies soon thereafter. Game 2, we grind each other out with kill spells and nothing survives on the board. He has a shambling vent that begins chipping at my life. I find a gifts but hold onto it until I draw a collective brutality. I cast brutality for discard mode and strips him of dispel and mainphase cast gifts for iona unburial. He draws, plays a land, and attacks me to 2 life. I unburial rites Iona and call white. However, I cannot attack with iona because of shambling vents. We draw go for the next couple of turns. He cannot cast lingering souls or obzedat but he can goryo obzedat in the grave or draw a collective brutality to drain me. I sit on a hand of extirpate and abrupt decay until I draw into a brutality. I drain him for 2 and swing for game.
In- Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, 2x Collective Brutality, Kitchen Finks
Out- Elesh Norn, 2x Fatal Push, goyf, inquisition
Made top 8 with 4-1-1
Top 8
1-2 Abzan
This is supposed to be a good matchup for gifts but luck unfortunately is a part of magic. Game 1, I kill 3 dark confidants in a row but he lands a ooze afterwards which I could not find an answer. He eats 20 cards from all graveyards and becomes a 10/10 and it keeps swinging at me. I throw goyfs, oozes, flayers, and souls in front of it and eventually die to a single creature without seeing gifts or removal. Game 2, I play gifts into iona, call white, and swing twice to end the game while playing souls to avoid liliana edict. Game 3, he opens up with turn 1 cage, turn 2 nihil spellbomb and another cage. Ooze lands soon thereafter along with three manlands. I try to remove his threats but like game 1, I could not find gifts nor removal. My goyfs are 0/1s and lingering souls become half of a card.
In- Damnation, Kitchen Finks, 2x fulminator mages, celestial purge, liliana of the last hope
Out- 3x Inquisition, 2x Thoughtseize, collective brutality
It was strange that the good matchups went badly and bad matchups went well but overall, very happy with the performance and I think I fine tuned the deck well to the expected meta. 3/3 split of path and push was better for this meta with smaller critters than 4/2 that I was running previously to combat eldrazi trons. I wish graveyard hate was less ubiquitous because it does hurt our strongest strategies but gifts still acts as "put two cards with different names into our hand" and doesn't cripple it completely.
Manabase-wise, 8-9 fetches are ideal with a heavy emphasis on fetching black sources because of our lilianas. I would highly advise you running a plains as well to have the full set of basics to search for if needed (life total is precious and you gotta cast your white spells!). Looking at your spells, you are focused more heavily on the sultai colors early game so I would recommend an emphasis on verdants and deltas. Concealed Courtyard can become another Blooming Marsh or a Darkslick Shores. Urborg is a necessity if you are running the ravaen's crime life from the loam combo. Check out the last few pages on my reasoning behind what manlands should be run. I also like seeing one ghost quarter in order to snipe out any pesky tronland, inkmoth nexus, and other utility lands, especially when you can ghost quarter lock them after boarding in life from the loam. I would shave shocks to one copies each to make room for other lands because you will never fetch for two at a time.
I am not a big fan of him in the mainboard in a faster meta where it fails to stabilize the board. Other possible value creature options include Siege Rhino and Thragtusk. However, in a control-heavy or grindy Abzan/Jund heavy meta, Sun Titan is amazing (it has been a pet card of mine since it came out) and I fully support the inclusion.
The sideboard is an important part of magic where 2/3 of the games played will include cards from it. It must be tailored to the meta you are playing as well as decks you think you have a bad matchups against. As a gifts deck, we excel at grinding opponents down and we need no help against control matches other than raven's crime and life from the loam combo. Hence, Narset Transcendent and Elspeth, Sun's Champion seem extraneous and replaced with cards that will help us out against fast decks. Damnation and Flaying Tendrils are a good inclusion and easy to cast because we want double black anyways for Lilianas. It can replace supreme verdicts unless you are expecting tons of grixis death shadow with stubborn denials. Scavening Ooze is an excellent MB card because it is very well rounded but very mediocre in the sideboard because doesn't hose any particular matchup like spellbombs surgicals. Move ooze to MB or replace the slot with another card. Collective brutality deserves at least 1 more spot in the SB because it is an amazing card. For the sake of gifts, it may be worth looking into the Negate/Countersquall split (also lessens burden on colors) and Nihil Spellbomb/Surgical/Extirpate split for graveyard combo hate.
Affinity is a matchup where the starting hand determines your fate. Mulligan all hands without interaction or you will lose. Even with all your removal, you may end up dead before you can gifts and unburial elesh norn. Sweepers such as Damnation and Flaying Tendrils (turn 3 vs turn 4 can mean difference between win and a loss) are excellent as well as spot removal like collective brutality. Stony Silence can also run away with games. Rule of thumb is kill everything that hits the field and focus fire all their 2 drops (plating, overseer, ravager). Your current MB and SB looks solid and probably it is simply variance that cost you the game.
UR Storm should be a fairly simple matchup that is heavily favored towards us on the other hand. We have all the tools that make their life miserable. Kill their electromancer and baral on site, disrupt them with discard, gifts for iona on red or beat them down to 0 life with creatures while they try to piece their combo together. SB in grave hate and counters to cripple them, remove spells from MB that are non-interactive.
Hope this helps!
I would recommend sideboard GY hate because you cannot stop graveyard based decks with oozes alone and it will be a quick loss, especially against Dredge. I don't see much dredge in my meta so I run surgical + extirpate to also help otu against combo decks where I can discard into extraction.
Grim flayer sometimes struggles to connect and that is why Abzan decks run nobles with him. Try running loam+crime combo in the sideboard and run 3-4 nobles in the mainboard to help flayer connect and accelerate gifts. Another non-budget option is to run goyfs if you want to commit heavily into midrange style.
I haven't thought of Champion of Wits as an addition but they seem very solid in an esper build! The body plus filtering effect is very nice and would be worth looking into.
I can't see Sunscourge Champion being that good when it has to compete with Kitchen Finks as 3 drop that comes back on its own when removed. If you are gifting for the champion to gain life against burn, it would be better to gifts for Iona to shut down red or value gifts for Collective Brutality, Kitchen Finks, Blessed Alliance, etc.
I have not tried out Bontu's myself and I can see how the tempo loss can be very crippling. On the other hand, against blistering fast starts against affinity and go wide decks, I could see its merit. If you do end up trying it, I would love to hear your feedback on the card.
What is your meta like at the store you play? Without such information, I will try to give a generalized answer below for sideboard advice:
Darkblast -> Liliana of the Last Hope for similar utility but broader application
Timely Reinforcement -> Collective Brutality. There is a reason all Jund/Abzan/any deck that runs black have multiples in their sideboard
Damnation/Wrath of God/Day of Judgement -> I would consider switching Day of Judgement to Flaying Tendrils to shore up Dredge, Affinity, Company decks with one mana less and exiling creatures. If big creatures are your problem, keep all three for utility.
Batterskull-> If you want life gaining beater, Kitchen Finks is your best bet. Blocks twice, gains 4 life. Useful in grindy matchups, control, and burn.
Negate-> I personally don't feel the need for negate in the sideboard in any matchup other than Tron to counter Karn or Ugin. Discard is far greater than counter especially in proactive decks like ours. However, if combo and tron are running rampant, it is a valid sideboard choice and you will have to fetch accordingly when you side it in (additional lifeloss to get blue mana sooner)
Terastodon is your only out to resolved Karn, Ugin, and active Urzalands and I would consider him in the SB if Tron is present. I have a permanent spot for the big green elephant and I carry along 3 elephant tokens just for those Tron players.
Land destruction may be a necessary evil in your meta and fulminator mages may be necessary. In the same boat, 1-2 graveyard hate cards are required and would recommend surgical extraction+extirpate (for gift purposes) or nihil spellbomb (doesn't touch your graveyard). Surgical is better against combo decks (and extracting tronlands or valakuts), spellbombs against delve and dredge.