First let me apologize if I pull off a minor threadjack here and secondly please forgive me for being a complete n00b, but I haven't played magic since like 2002 so I am a little rusty. What 4 cards is a player suppose to pull put of his deck with Gifts? Does it depend on the situation or is there a standard 'set' of 4 cards that you usually pull? I noticed someone said earlier that they would Gifts for a Colossus but how does that work? I mean don't you usually want to Tinker for the Colossus and take and then take 2 turns to win? Again sorry if this is a stupid question but I can't seem to get my head around what you would be picking with Gifts.

All very good points and various items that I had never thought of. I guess the clamp is not a good match for the sui deck. Thanks for the input.

Well I think they are better then scrying because they do not require a lot of mana as well as cards in the graveyard to use. The clamps are also reusable. Of course I would not hesitate to run 4 necros if they were not restricted, but one is just not consistent enough.

As for the mishra's you could be right, but they are a creature and therefore do have synergy with the clamp, though they probably just give wastelands a big target.

Just thinking about adding skullclamp to a sui deck and wondering if it is worth it. First off, with the reduction of the number of misdirections going around sinkhole and hymn are now better cards than a year ago, so while sui might not be a tier 1 deck, it can be competitive. The question is whether the addition of skullclamp helps or hinders it.

The Pros
* Skullclamp give one of your creatures +1/-1 and in an aggro deck that is a good thing.
* Skullclamp costs 1 to cast, evening out the casting cost distribution (making CotV less effective)
* Threat removal now comes at a cost to your opponent

The Cons
* Nantuko Shade is not a great card with skullclamp
* Null Rods also do not have great synergy with skullclamp

The Questions
* Is card drawing something that a sui deck really needs/wants?
* Does the addition of skullclamp make up for the loss of disruption (null rod) and a great creature like the Shade (which gives sui a late game)

I am looking at the following decklist, although I have a few other cards that I am considering (like unearth):

Spells(18)
4 Duress      
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Skullclamp
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Creatures (16)
4 Skittering Skirge
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Phyrexian War Beast

Mana Sources (26)
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
11 Swamps

Yes, its true that normal counterspells can't counter the vmp ability, but (as you alluded to) you can stifle the activated ability and due to the fact that stifle is making an appearance in a variety of decks this bonus is not as big as it once may have been. I use to play monu-U fish alot, but this UR version looks very strong and I think I will do some testing with the vmp inclusion and discover for myself its power (I use to run the rootwater).