Gifts VS. Uba stax, what is your game plan?

[dicemanx]

However, if I wish it, I will never lose to Uba Stax with any Drain deck.

If I had to trim down Smmenen's long response to one sentence, this would be it. It is a point that I have been essentially making in a few other threads. Gifts can easily reconfigure itself to have an amazing UbaStax match-up at little cost; I elect not to do so with my current build simply because I don't face many UbaStax decks in my local meta. However, if the numbers go up, I'll make the appropriate modifications to maintain my edge.

This is also the reason that I will likely never pilot UbaStax in any major event - I view UbaStax more as an obstacle/speed bump rather than a consistent tourney winner.

[PucktheCat]

I feel less than 100% confident against the following two decks:

Oath (Picture Oath as GAT and Gifts as Tog--  One is an aggro control deck that wins two turns after 1G is available, and the other is a combo-control deck that wins whenever it assembles one enabler piece and a kill condition.  They interact in a very similar way, but Oath clogs up terribly if you answer a threat whereas GAT can replace it.  It's still slightly in Oath's favor in my opinion.)

TT Confidant (Five libraries is scary for any control deck, but five libraries along with Duress/Drain/Force/whatever is even scarier.  I don't like this matchup at all.  I hope Thug or Cross chimes in here to explain it better from the other point of view.)

Darkblast is the essential Confidant answer.  I started playing Darkblast for the Welders.  I kept it for the Confidants.

I would add Fish decks with a clock to the list of unfavorable matchups.  Decks like the Savannah Lion Fish deck and Dawn of the Dead are tough because they play very good disruption and a reasonable clock.

[Kowal]

Rian will be the first to tell you that's not actually the case against a competent Gifts player.  You run basic islands, Tinker, and lots of ways to get Tinker.  The Savannah Lion build has serious issues with these basic facts.  Similarly the deck is super-weak to Pyroclasm which most Gifts players are still running, myself included.

[PucktheCat]

Meh, I haven't tested the matchup that much, so I probably shouldn't have used it as an example.  In around a dozen test games I found it suprisingly hard to beat it, mainly because of the combination of Chalice/Rod and Meddling Mage/Tapper Dude/STP forced you to interact with them to win, which Gifts doesn't want to do.  Pyroclasm is great, but pre-board it is pretty hard to resolve.  If you have tested the matchup more than I have, I will defer to your experience.

I still contend that the combination of a certain amount of efficient disruption and a decent clock is really the toughest thing for Gifts to handle.  I found Oath to be no worse (and no better) than more standard aggro-control.  If they get the nuts it wins fast, but frequently it actually wins slower than, e.g., Dawn of the Dead.  The formula is basically the same though - an armful of cheap disruption and a clock.

On a side-note: I think Mind Twist is a really hot sideboard option for Gifts right now.  A bunch of decks are running some combination of Orim's Chant, Swords to Plowshares, and 8x REB.  I saw a ton and a half of these cards today.  The easiest way to put a stop to that nonsense is Mind Twist.  Mind Twist is also really good against storm combo.  And, of course, having Mind Twist in your board will randomly win you some games just because you draw a stupid amount of mana and Burning Wish.