MTG Salvation

Very interesting mechanic. I especially like the black spell that turns into a creature.

I guess if Power 9 means the nine most powerful cards that are legal, the list would look something like:

Lightning Bolt
Liliana of the Veil
Tarmogoyf
Cryptic Command
Snapcaster Mage
Primeval Titan
Karn Liberated
Path to Exile
Arcbound Ravager

I wouldn't say Serum Visions is P9 potential at all. It just happens be the best available to filter.

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I wanted to come up with a cycle of wedge themed Warchief cards or bannerets to fit into the khans block. Abzan Warchief needs work. Thoughts?

Jeskai Warchief WUR
Creature - Bird Monk
Noncreature spells you control cost 1 less to cast.
2/2

Sultai Warchief UBG
Creature - Snake Shaman
Whenever you delve, each card exiled from your graveyard reduces the spells cost by 2 instead of 1.
3/3

Abzan Warchief WBG
Creature - Human Warrior
Abilities of creatures you control cost 1 less to activate.
3/4

Temur Warchief URG
Creature - Human Shaman
Creatures spells you cast with power 4 or greater cost 1 less to cast.
Creatures spells you cast with power 8 or greater cost 1 less to cast.
3/2

Mardu Warchief WBR
Creature - Human Soldier
Spells cast from your graveyard cost 1 less to cast.
Abilities of cards in your hand or graveyard cost 1 less to activate.
3/3

There is a thread I created for the discussion of 4C Gifts midrange/control decks in modern.

Here is my current interpretation of Gifts in modern.

You have here the most recent placings of Gifts Ungiven, since the sad sad banning of Deathrite Shaman. As mentioned above, the decks needs to be heavily tailored to your metagame. And you will fold to blood moon unless you can float the mana to cast Abrupt Decay or Sultai charm.

Best of luck. Stop by our thread

Quote from Magix

Hey guys! As a Birthday present I have received a nice Gifts Package and want to play it a bit. I remembered Butakovs Gifts Rock from
Worlds and really liked it. Well being a BGx fan its hard not to like it. How convinient that there is a real primer for this deck now, thanks God

Most people just call me Funeral, but I could certainly get used to this

Also, big thanks to izzetmage. Much of this work is his. I only had the job of editor, and also added the section about Butakov's Junk Gifts.

Quote from Magix

1) In my testings so far I use Gifts to fetch out Rites and Elesh in nearly all of my games first. I rarely find a deck that gets shut out by
Iona directly. So I am not sure wether to run Iona or not. While I was able to hardcast Elesh once I dont think that his is an option with Iona.

The general consensus is that Iona is no longer maindeck material. I would say that Linvala, Baneslayer, or Sun Titan are all better maindeck options. Definitely keep Iona in the board though. She is better than Norn against Storm, Burn, Merfolk, etc.

Quote from Magix

2) I know Loam+Crime+Urborg+x(TecEdge/LS) is great against UWr. But as 1) holds true right now, do we really need it mainboard against the rest? I yet have to test Tron so locking em out of a land with Loam+GhostQuarter/Tecedge seems better than Elesh here.

You want Loam/Crime in your main because it is exactly what you want to Gifts for in the matches where you don't want Norn. Namely; UWR, Tron, Scapeshift, Twin (Norn can potentially lock out twin, they can still Echoing Truth her. I would opt for hand control rather than a soft lock). Tron specifically is a very difficult match-up for me which is why I moved Loam/Crime back to the main. It's only 2 slots in your deck and even if you rarely Gifts for it, just side it out in the matches you don't need it.

Quote from Magix

3) Sometimes I dont even need Gifts to win a game. Some Goyfs and KotR can be really pressuring.

This is my favorite fact about playing the Rock version. Gifts Ungiven is like our Dark Confidant; provides the card advantage to go over the top, but our lists are packed full of such value plays that you don't necessarily need it to win (though casting Gifts usually seals the deal).

Quote from Magix

4) Sun Titan is Lilianas best friend and sometimes greater than Elesh. I like him in this list.

This interaction is very powerful, and gets even better with Eternal Witness. So many tricks to pull off with these three cards. See: my sig

Quote from Magix

5) Are 11-12 Manadorks really necessary? I mean we need 2 Black, 2 White, 1 Green and 1 Blue to cast everything we have. You can do
that with 3 Shockduals. I rarely have a problem with the mana thanks to DRS and KotR so I have cutted the birds in my list to add
more stuff.

You can have access to BB, WW, U, and G individually with three shocks but this deck needs 5 mana to function. Ideally you want that 5 mana by turn 4, and the Birds help you get there. Birds isn't here for color fixing as much as its here just for the straight ramp. Also, Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter and common plays that opponents can use to screw you out of a color. Birds helps mitigate this problem. (GW Hatebears is another difficult match-up btw)

Don't think of KOTR as a mana dork. She can ramp, yes..but that's not her main function here. She is generally a giant blocker, and a tutor of utility lands. Also she has been my win condition in 90% of games. Sure reanimating Norn can force a scoop, but KOTR is a mighty quick clock with our without Gifts.

Quote from Magix

6) I found the Jund Matchup really hard. Their discard strips my Gifts away and even if I get Elesh she may get Pulsed
or Terminated (or pathed against Junk). I dont want to path their Turn 1 DRS so if the Jund player starts it gets even harder.

You want Linvala in your main deck if you're worried about Jund. She shuts out DRS and Scooze nicely. Sure they can Pulse/Term her but those are their only outs. And depending on the game-state, I might actually Gifts for Loam/Crime first against Jund just to make sure you strip their hand of any catch-all removal spell. Once you've got them in topdeck mode you should have the inevitability.

I would also keep Iona in the sideboard. Again Jund, Iona is usually a better fatty than Elesh Norn. Flipping Iona of black should force a scoop, unless you're already significantly behind in board state.

Quote from Magix

7) I like Creeping Tar Pit a bit more than Treetop in this list. It helps fixing Mana more and it is unblockable which is even better than Trample.

So all in all, I changed Butakovs like this:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands 24: 4 Verdant Catacombs 4 Marsh Flats 2 Godless Shrine 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Temple Garden 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Breeding Pool 1 Watery Grave 1 Gavony Township 2 Creeping Tar Pit 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Forest 1 Swamp 1 Plains	Creatures 14: 4 Deathrite Shaman 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Knight of the Reliquary 1 Sun Titan 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite other Spells 22: 4 Gifts Ungiven 4 Liliana of the Veil 3 Lingering Souls 3 Path to Exile 2 Abrupt Decay 1 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Unburial Rites 1 Life from the Loam 1 Raven's Crime 2 Thoughtseize	Sideboard 15: 2 Creeping Corrosion 2 Stony Silence 2 Negate 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Tectonic Edge 1 Academy Ruins 1 Engineered Explosives 2 Obstinate Baloth 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Thoughtseize 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

- Tar Pit instead of Treetop
- GhostQuarter is still there due to Tron but I may switch this one with TecEdge
- kicked the Birds out, added an other DRS, Lili, 2 Thoughtseize

I even consider to cut something else for more discard as it helps to disrupt my opponent, getting his hate out of his hand, but no
space right now. Maybe in the sideboard which still needs more tinkering depending on my testings.

Birds of Paradise is not something to scoff at. I would try running at least 1-2 in your list.

For reference, here is my current build:



As I'm writing this, I realize that I should probably include more detailed sideboarding plans in the primer. I can use only my personal experience to write such guidelines, however. As an example, here is my sideboarding plan for Tron and Affinity (what I consider my two most difficult match-ups, thus each utilizes a good portion of my board)

Vs. Tron (RG)
There is no way to out-muscle Tron's speed, so I must transform into a more effective control deck than they are. This is how I do it:
-3 Abrupt Decay (virtually no targets)
-3 Lingering Souls (no damage to be mitigated)
-1 Path to Exile (can't PTE Emrakul, only used for Wurmcoils)
+3 Negate (counters virtually the whole deck)
+3 Inquisition of Kozilek (hits O-Stone, Relic of Prog, expo map effects)
+1 Tectonic Edge (obvious)

Vs. Affinity
Most of my sideboard is tailored specifically for this match. I HATE losing to Affinity...
-1 Eternal Witness (slow)
-1 Sun Titan (slow)
-1 Raven's Crime (they will have no hand by turn 3 anyway)
-3 Liliana of the Veil (hard to get any real value out of her)
+1 Baneslayer Angel (boss against Affinity)
+1 Darkblast (recurring pee-shooter)
+1 Academy Ruins (needed for EE)
+1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence (shuts out Rav and Overseer)
+2 Engineered Explosives (creates big blow-outs)

You'll notice that in both plans, I go up to 25 land. It's because I'm switching my gameplan from midrange to control. I want to establish a solid grip on the game, rather than with via 1:1 card trumps.

*EDIT*

Dark Knight Cavalier has blessed us with an awesome new banner for the primer. Thanks DNC!

Mutilate alongside several copies of Urborg might be sufficient. If your build has white you could run Elspeth, Sun's Champion.

But I would definitely make Damnation a long term goal. Two in the board is definitely necessary

A replay video here showing the explosiveness of Monastery Mentor in Esper Delve:
Video: Esper Delve (with Mentor) VS Merfolk
My decklist is posted above.

I am thinking about splicing up this Esper Delve deck with the Esper Mentor deck that runs 4 Monastery Mentor and some Tasigurs. Mishra's Bauble and Gitaxian Probe together looks like an awesome package to abuse both Monastery Mentor and the delve creatures! And if they empty your graveyard, you have a very real alternative gameplan. Must try something like this:

[/quote]

Quote from bloodbrother

So, is Chandra Pyromaster actually better than Garruk Relentless? Or are they even in terms of power level in this deck?

Context is everything here, so I think it really depends on the build you are playing. In my opinion, after watching Reid's performance on his MODO videos and at the GP, I would prefer Chandra in 3-color Jund. Garruk is really just another removal spell, combined with the ability to spam some dudes into play, which is fine but I think it's something that Huntmaster does just fine. Ajani was seeing play because he is a much better lategame card in a lot of matchups, specifically the mirror and U/W/x. In those situations, Chandra is likely just better.

Keep in mind that the "random" 0 ability is nearly exactly the same as Dark Confidant's randomness. Your draw step is random. But the point is, you are incurring such card advantage with them that it doesn't matter. While Garruk is guaranteed to give you tokens, or maybe tutor up something like Ooze or Baloth, there are many problems that aren't solved by him. On the flipside, having access to more cards from your deck will likely be enough to solve nearly any problem your opponent can create for you.

Garruk is probably better at coming from behind, since spamming tokens might just be enough to get you back in the game. But that's assuming they don't have a Bolt effect. Chandra's ability to live through a Bolt, Helix, or Colonnade attack is exactly why Reid chose her. You need to set her up a little bit more carefully, but she is a much better closer in my opinion.

I really like the Rhox personally, but IMO it just doesn't cut it most of the time in this deck if you compare it with Troll Ascetic, which is much much harder to get rid of. I do run auras over swords for speed though, and it's pretty bad to lose a spectral flight if you get the Rhox removed, so it may be different in your deck.

On that note, have you considered the Aura-based version of this deck? It ends up being a lot faster and resilient due to Rancors . Even if you don't want to go full aura, consider getting 2 rancors in there, just because it's so efficient and hard to get rid of.

If you're going to keep the swords in, you might consider a Steelshapers gift or two, and maybe just keep 2 swords. Maybe 1 Gift + 2 swords is a decent enough setup.

Take into account that you're pretty light in evasion, you only have 2 flying creatures plus the BOPs and no trample, so unless you get the sword for the right color combination you're not going to get full benefit from the swords.

I'm also not a fan of Kotr in this particular deck. He's a great dude for mid-late game if you run enough fetchlands, but he's not that awesome early on, and I get the impression that a fast win is what this deck wants more than anything. There are usually a lot of better things than a second/third turn Kotr for example.

I don't know if you meant Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of Elspeth Tirel, but if you didn't, you should consider the switch. I personally prefer sticking to Ajani 3.0, but again, I focus on creatures with hexproof so +1/+1 counters are worth a bit more.

I have literally won games with a first turn Bird, a second turn Ajani, and a few rancors.

I would also include at leat 2 Spell Pierce, since it's only 1cmc and very effective. I wasn't totally sold on it until I started using it.

Here's an idea of a few changes to your list.



Since most of the creatures now are hexproof, I leaved the swords with the most interesting effects, instead of the most useful color protections. Took out a Qasali too, since you REALLY want that second turn Geist, and having a second one on hand means you can sac him to kill a creature of his and most likely deal 4 damage, and just replace him. Needs to be tested a bit though. Thrun is just an awesome creature, he can't even be countered, so once it hits the board it's unlikely he'll leave.

Also replaced Bant Charm with Spell Pierce, you loose some flexibility but it's easier to cast because of the cmc but also the colored mana required.


Again, just my 2 cents.


Edit: Almost forgot, if you run enough hexproof creatures, you can have Worship in the sideboard which comes in handy against most decks.

Quote from flyflyfly0

so here's my edited deck. im gonna post here since the other MBC thread is pretty ruthless. garroth pointed out last time the my deck dies to curse of deaths hold, so i editted it, and looks okay on testing.

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
lands: 20 17 swamps 3 inkmoth nexus creatures: 11 4 ravenous rats 4 phyrexian rager 3 entomber exarch	spells: 29 3 black sun's zenith 3 mutilate 3 duress 3 despise 4 gitaxian probe 4 go for the throat 3 tragic slip 3 consume spirit 3 runechanter's pike

id like some more constructive criticisms. id ask you to keep an open mind and try to see how it works, given that everyone has a set idea of what MBC looks like. thanks!

why dont you run nighthawks or any other creature of relative importance??
it just seems like your trying to run the worst creature base you can.

Remand is always the best choice in Tempo decks. The simple fact that it, as you said, Time Walks in the early turns and replaces itself.

Quote from Hunter Lionheart

Spell Pierce is far better than mana leak for us though. I'd always cut the leaks first.

Agree with this.

List looks pretty good, though. It's remarkably similar to mine, tho I like to run a 9th mana dork and 4 spectral flights, myself. Manabase looks.. identical.

When Rancor/Ajani hit, I am going to test a build which relegates Worship to 3 sideboard slots in favor of a blouses maindeck. Probably going to go as high as 7-9 auras split probably 4/3/1 or 4/4/1 between Spectral Flight, Rancor, Spirit Mantle.

EDIT: On a side note, I wanted to talk about Infect. Right now the deck is fringe, at best, so we haven't had to worry about a sideboard for it. There is no question that the deck invalidates our strategy, and it's a really difficult match up. With the Rancor reprint, I think we can expect (at least initially) a major spike in the popularity of this deck. So.. sideboard options? Is Mirran Crusader + Melira enough to wreck Infect? Does the existence of Pod in the meta kind already make Infect too hit or miss to be a concern?

Her board impact is negligible, at best. She's rarely going to do more than give your geist an additional +2/+2 or so the turn she enters the battlefield. When we arleady run 6-8 creatures with Exalted, it makes little sense. If she had Hexproof, we'd be having a different conversation.