GGifffs..

[AJFirst]

Sorry about that Rich.

As for Repeal, it's not very good as a one-of, even with Scrolls. The classic Rebuild+Chain of Vapor/Echoing Truth is still probably the best. Repeal in multiples, though, changes the deck completely, which isn't necesarily a bad thing.
-AJ

[Outlaw]

It seems that people underestimate the utility usefulness of Skeletal Scrying... How many times have people been in a predicament where they could get the big guy out but there was a welder stifling his swinging?  Scrying fixes that and draws cards at the same time.... GGs has been working on a Repeal Gifts list for awhile but we havent really put it out yet to play, many of us have been quite busy with things and havent been able to work on it religiously.  I personally would run this deck with 3 thirsts, 1 scrying and drop the gifts count but thats my play style.  Grats to Nate for the Win for GGs!

[Smmenen]

I don't underestimate the utility of Scrying.

I have run dozens of permutations of Gifts lists.

Remember, the original meandeck Gifts article discussed all of the major draw components.

The first one I tried on my own was Intution AK.  My teammate, Matthieu's list, ran Scrying and Thirst.

I felt that Scrying was weak.   I think Fact and Gifts are both strong draw engines.  But people still don't understand how truly busted Gifts is.  It is a broken draw spells as well as a monster tutor.  I think Scrying is actually an objectively fine card.  I have no quarrel with the card itself.  My problem is that the space limitations are such that running it is highly questionable.  How can you justify the card over Fact? 

I completely empathize with the sentiment being expressed: the fear of T. Crypt, the fear of Duress, the fear of a late game against control.   But these fears are misplaced.  Meandeck Gifts has a fantastic late game.  I'm sure that one scrying did not change the fact that the overall design was so powerful in the control mirrors that it was able to combat control decks just fine. 

@ Diceman: I think it may be that I try to play the deck faster, I dunno.  I think that Scrying stinks of a late game bomb but early game black junk. Once you go down this road, it's dangerous.  I'll want LoA, I'll want Mind Twist, and I cannot undersatnd the lack of Fact or Fiction.  Fact or Fiction is stiill restricted for a reason.  And not restricted like Gush was restricted - because of a particular abuse, but because of a generalized abuse.  There are so many other cards I'd put into the deck before Scrying: beginning with Vampiric Tutor.

[zeus-online]

I'd definetly agree that FoF is far better then scrying...but scrying can still swing a game more then just about any card i've played (Except for balance/Will).

Removing cards can be annoying, but more often then not there's a couple of useless fetch's, counters etc. that can easily be removed. Othertimes its a bonus! (DSC vs. Welder)

/Zeus

[assassin]

I think this deck is extremely close to meandeck gifts.  I've been playing the deck heavily since last gencon and it is overall underestimated. 

Scrying brings up issues like giving fish a quicker clock, as well as removing bussiness spells from your GY.  I think it is weak in gifts, and i think having a fourth scroll is more important for fetching FoW, MisD, or AR.  Scrying=overvalued, merchant scroll=undervalued. 

Congrats however in winning with one of the best decks in the format.

[Whatever Works]

Running Scrying gets around one of hte fundamental problems that MDGifts had -- if your ancestral gets countered/duressed you pretty much lose.

What version of meandeck gifts are you talking about? Sure, it hurts to have FoW countered, but by no means does it mean the game is over.

[Gaagooch]

I have been playing Gifts in one form or the other pretty much since i decided TPS was a pile and could no longer win.  Ive run Scrying, ive tried Scrolls, ive pretty much tested everything in Gifts.  And i completely agree that Skeletal Scrying is not that great of a card in the deck, yes Outlaw and Nate pointed out that you can remove artifacts from your graveyard so the Welder can't weld out the big guy, but you could also run Pithing Needle so the Welder can't weld in their stuff.  Plus that is only one situation where Skeletal Scrying is truly at its best, all the other times it's remove some cards,  pay four or five life, hope to draw amazing cards, understandably so its the same thing with FoF, but i dont have to remove cards from my graveyard or lose any life.  Sure my opponent splits up my piles, and i get three cards at best, but with the idea that this deck has imo i dont care if cards go into my graveyard.  That is also why i run TfK.

I've read in other posts people saying how they don't like Thirst because they have to discard moxen or other artifact accelerants, but when you are playing a deck that wins pretty easily off Yawg's it really doesn't matter.  I've been playing 61 cards and a maindeck Tendrils and B. Wish since i can remember.  This may perhaps be because of my overwhelming love for Tendrils, but i think it deserves a spot in the maindeck.  Because then when i use burning wish so i can Will again, i dont have to rely soley on Tinker->Collosus.  I played a match about a week ago in testing where i had to cast Will, Time Walk, and Wish for Will all in the same turn to have any chance of winning.  I am much more comfortable having Tendrils in the maindeck so that way should i need to use Wish as the utility card i intend it to be (massacre, pyroclasm, deep analysis) i still have a mainedeck win condition that isn't Tinker->Collosus.

As for what the name of the deck is or who respects it in what part of the country it doesn't really matter.  I call my Gifts deck TPSgifts and it pretty much is a combination of MDgifts and GGgifts, but it is suited to my play style and has personal card choices.  I did not origionate the idea for a Gifts deck, and i cannot take 100% credit saying so, but i made my Gifts deck which also gets no respect, but i also don't care who respects the decks i play, or me as a person.  I also added Infernal Tutor to Long, and nobody seems to like that idea, but it has worked for me, and i like it, so thats all that really matters. 

[Mantis]

Casting two Wills per game has never been really that good for me, since I hardly ever cast Will without having Lotus or Recall in the yard this means your second Will will contain much weaker cards. But there are certain scenarios where it's very good, such as the one Smmenen presented to us at his Origins game.
But then again, that's why you run 2 win conditions. Running an extra Tendrills in the deck as 61th card is not nessecary and just increases the chances of drawing crap in your opening fan. I would never like to see the following cards in my opening hand: B. Wish, Recoup and DSC. You just add a Tendrills so that means 33% more bad cards for your opening hand. Not to mention this change also decreases the chances of drawing your broken cards (lotus, Recall, FoW's etc.).

[without]

Quote from Smmenen:
Turn One:
Land, Ancestral.

Turn two:

Lotus, Yawg Will.  Ancestral.

Several turns later I B Wished for Yawg Will and time walked twice after tinkering.

I might sound like an idiot, but how did u Burning Wish for Yawgmoth's Will when the card is already in your maindeck? Yawgmoth's Will is restricted and if u had a second one in your sideboard then that is ILLEGAL.  Same note on time walk, u can't burning wish for time walk if your running one in your deck.

Also, I read the primers on those two links and there was nothing mentioned on the sideboard of Meandeck Gifts.

[diopter]

Yawgmoth's Will removes cards put into your graveyard that turn from the game. The resolution of Yawgmoth's will happens before it is put into your graveyard, hence YawgWill resolves, the effect comes online, and then it is put into the graveyard, but instead is removed from the game.

Also, he Time Walked twice by playing Walk from his hand normally, then Wishing for Will, then playing Will and playing Walk from his graveyard.

[without]

Everything that you just said to my reply did not answer or pretain to anything I said or was asking.

Yes, it did. Yawgmoth's Will removes itself from the game. That lets you use Burning Wish to get that very same Yawgmoth's Will and put it in your hand. I'm giving you a full Warning for not only wasting everyone's time, but also not paying attention to the correct answer when someone carefully explained it to you.
-Jacob

[tehmajickguy]

Quote from Smmenen:
Turn One:
Land, Ancestral.

Turn two:

Lotus, Yawg Will.  Ancestral.

Several turns later I B Wished for Yawg Will and time walked twice after tinkering.

I might sound like an idiot, but how did u Burning Wish for Yawgmoth's Will when the card is already in your maindeck? Yawgmoth's Will is restricted and if u had a second one in your sideboard then that is ILLEGAL.  Same note on time walk, u can't burning wish for time walk if your running one in your deck.

Also, I read the primers on those two links and there was nothing mentioned on the sideboard of Meandeck Gifts.

Hes saying that he cast Will, then a few turns later, cast Burning Wish to get Will again and go off. Yawg Will removes itself from the game. Burning Wish allows you to grab any sorcery in your sideboard or that is in your removed from game pile. Hence he grabbed his Will that he'd already used and played it again. As far as time walk goes, he probably cast time walk, then played it again once he cast Will for the second time.

[Gaagooch]

Yes but what im trying to get at is that I can use Will the first time to get a tremendous advantage on my opponent, or i can use it to get me back into the game, then later on use Wish to get it back and win the game.  I have also never had a problem with drawing cards in my opening hand that i do not want to see.  The percentage differance between running 60 and 61 cards is so tiny, that i will never play a deck without a 61st card now.  Some people say that the 61st card will lose me the game more times than it wins, but i have never lost a game due to drawing, Recoup, Collosus, or Tendrils.  At worst they are great cards to discard to Thirst, since my deck also utilizes this to increase its drawing power. 

[EotGiftsGG?]

well, i think wish is just TOO slow right now, hence the cut.

Sure it was AWESOME in SSB and the older lists, but i think its way too slow in the current environment full of Grim long and Storm combos. Im sure anyone who has EVER played the deck knows there have been times where if the b.wish was a maindeck Tendrils they would have won a turn or two earlier.

[Implacable]

Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't you be less likely to even try to use Tendrils against a combo deck?  Because Darksteel Colossus is a faster clock, you can just push it through and kill them rather than going for the longer game plan that would let you build up to 2BB;S9 with Tendrils.

[Whatever Works]

Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't you be less likely to even try to use Tendrils against a combo deck?  Because Darksteel Colossus is a faster clock, you can just push it through and kill them rather than going for the longer game plan that would let you build up to 2BB;S9 with Tendrils.

Collossus is often not a faster clock. Also, vs. a tendrils deck if you can cast your own tendrils in the neighborhood of 12-16 damage it makes the opponents life much harder for them to be able to hit the 15+ spells then needed to kill you. Obviously, its possible vs. a competent player that this wont work, but its an effective stall tactic, and generally you dont come up short with tendrils unless you make a mistake. However, to say tendrils vs. tendrils isnt as good as collosus would be wrong, especially because of the large # of artifact bounce decks like grimlong have (hurkyls, chains, rebuild, etc.)

Kyle L.

[Implacable]

I guess that it is a good stall tactic.  The only thing that I see is that you can quite possibly just force through a turn 1-3 Colossus and ride it out.  I don't personally play Gifts, though, so I could quite possibly be wrong.  As a Grimlong player, it is very difficult to go off with <5 life.