[Deck] Building a TPS deck with 4 Gifts Ungiven

[ump]

Introduction
I have been out of the country for five weeks on vacation and just got back last week, so I have been inactive lately.  Obviously, I have the Magic bug, so I could not go that long without thinking about Magic.  I had been trying to improve my version of TPS even before I went on vacation.

The deck that I am presenting is a control/combo deck that plays slower then a TPS deck, but faster and more broken than a control deck.  This deck is meant to abuse Gifts Ungiven.  Why play control/combo rather than pure combo?  Because you don't always get to go first and therefore get pushed to the reactive control role.  For example, a first turn Trinisphere forces you to play control and answer that threat.  Only then can you combo and win.  Also, playing second against another combo deck forces you to survive their threat and then win on your own.  Another point is that the control player tends to draw more cards and takes more advantage of the end-of-turn step of their opponents which is what this deck tries to do.  The reason for the combo is because this deck wants to gain the advantage as quickly as possible and then win right away.

Credits and Disclaimers
You have to love parallel development.  I have been tweaking TPS to suit my playstyle for months now.  One thing that I found out really quickly was that all my victories were coming from Yawgmoth's Will.  I tried to take out some draw sevens (I especially hated Windfall) because I wanted to be more in control of my destiny rather than rely on the luck of the draw sevens.  I've tried Meditates and so forth to be centered more on card advantage.  I've tried the green splash and abondoned that fairly quickly.  I've tested Gifts Ungiven briefly and liked it.  However, when I saw the tutor-based TPS list that the Italians made, it saved me a lot of work.  It was the direction that I was heading towards and now I had a tested deck in front of me.  It never really occurred to me to try more than one Gifts Ungiven.  I was last testing Intuition in that slot which I quickly abandoned.  There were a few other minor difference because I still had more sorcery-speed bombs instead of instant bombs.

That is when I came to an important realization.  If the game plan is to play an instant-speed card advantage followed by a sorcery-speed bomb, then, I felt that Mana Drain would be so much better than Duresses because of the game swinging effect that it created.  In effect, I could change my game plan to play the card advantage game early followed by a bomb.  However, a few things bothered me about the Italian list.  First, there were not enough instant speed card advantage spells.  Second, there didn't seem to be enough bombs (Cunning Wish, Deep Analysis, and Skeletal Scrying didn't seem strong enough).

The next big breakthrough came when I saw the Team CAB Gifted decklist.  A few things stuck out about their decklist.  First, they were using the Mana Drains that I was then testing for nearly three or four weeks.  I also liked how they could support Force of Will, Mana Drain, and Duress.  (I decided to leave out the Duresses from my decklist though in favor of more bombs).  Next, they went all the way up to four Gifts Ungiven.  This was a great substitution for the 2 Skeletal Scryings maindeck that I was testing (and was very disappointed with).

Decklist
Anyways, that brings us to this deck list.  I guess it can be called Gifts TPS, but I don't care what it is called.

Lands - 14
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Library of Alexandria

Mana - 13
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual

Protection - 8
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will

Bounce - 2
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rebuild

Search - 3
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

Card Advantage/Card Quality - 13
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gush
1 Memory Jar

Bombs - 6
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister
1 Mind's Desire

Win - 1
1 Tendrils of Agony

Strategy
Play the control game early gaining card advantage.  You know the style.  Turn 0 - Force of Will, Turn 1 - Brainstorm, Turn 2 - Mana Drain, Turn 3 - Bomb into victory.  If you have a chance to go broken, don't hesitate.  If you can resolve a Gifts early, you are well on your way to victory.  Here's why.  Set up the Yawgmoth's Will mana with your first Gifts.  Search for a combination of Lotus, Ritual, Petal, Academy, or Crypt.  The key is that each one should gain you at least two mana, so avoid the moxes unless you really need the black mana to get the ritual working.  They will likely give you the Ritual and the Petal (or Crypt) as the others should net more than two mana.  After playing the Will, you will have used four mana (preferrably end-of-turn) to gain at least nine mana.  If you need to get the Will, search for a combination of Mystical, Vampiric, Demonic, Ritual/Lotus.  I've even had success in testing with a land + lotus into gifts for mana and next turn use a demonic in hand to get the will for the win.  The morale is that a resolved Gifts plus any decent bomb or search (even a second Gifts) should net a quick victory.

Why play this deck instead of the other possible choices?
The Team CAB deck uses the Colossus victory.  Is it better than the Tendrils finish?  There is nothing wrong with that victory condition if you have already "won" after you have the advatage.  However, this deck has has more bombs offering more chances to get the advantage while that deck plays more control.  A Necro or a Drain into Bargain, for instance, offers a quicker, more guaranteed victory that might be set up earlier.

Is this better than the current versions of TPS?  This deck is much less reliant on luck than the draw seven versions.  How many times have you fizzled out of victory with that version of the deck or filled their hands with a counter to the only bomb that you drew?  This deck has both better instant-speed one-sided bombs and more sorcery-speed bombs than the Italian version.  Plus, Mana Drain into Gifts is very good.

Why play this slower control/combo deck instead of a fast combo deck?  Because you can guarantee your victory better with this deck.  All decks now are fast.  The ones that are more resilient will tend to win more often.

Questionable Card Choices
4 Gifts Ungiven - See it early, see it often.  A resolved one will usually ensure your victory.  This is even good in multiples as the first one can get mana while the second one can get will.

1 Tendrils of Agony - There is only one win condition.  Why would you want to fill you maindeck with dead cards?  Use the sideboard if you fear Cranial Extraction or Jester's Cap.  With the Mana Drains, hopefully you can drain into victory quicker anyways.  Don't get too careless with Necropotence along with Memory Jar as you don't want to lose your win condition.  

0 Duress - I would like the luxury to run Duress, Drains, and FOW, but this is more combo than the Team CAB deck and the Drains are more swingy than the Duresses.  Another thing that I learned is that it you don't necessarily like to fetch a Sea as your first mana for Duress only to have it wasted and ruin your chances for Mana Drain the next turn.  Also, card advantage should be played at instant-speed end-of-turn anyways, so it doesn't need to be protected as much because it should be backed up by another threat on your main phase.

Library of Alexandria - This is another broken card early in the game.  With a slower control/combo deck, you can afford to run this card.

1 Tinker, 1 Memory - You want to have enough real bombs that you can run instant-speed card advantage that it can be followed up with sorcery-speed bombs if the instant-speed is countered.

1 Gush, 1 Fact or Fiction - What would you rather run, Deep Analysis?  Instant-speed is again better than sorcery-speed in this case.  On the other hand, in my limited testing, these card have not helped me win any of those games.  So at this time, I can say that it is expendable, but I don't see a better choice at this time.

1 Rebuild - With so many Trinispheres, you need at least one maindeck answer.  This is probably the best answer.  However, in an ideal situation against Trinisphere decks, you will be able to counter threat with Force if necessary, drain their second threat, and go broken the next turn with all the extra mana.

1 Echoing Truth - I personally prefer Chain of Vapor, but Echoing Truth is used for mainly one reason - Chalice of the Void (for 1).

[Whatever Works]

Do you believe that having 4 Gift's Ungiven is possibly a bit over the top??? Wouldnt it be just awful to have 2 in your opening hand??? I always ran 2, and even then I found that # to be heavy at times in my testing. The deck has a hard enough time combo'ing out, and loves to crap out on people during game 3's or any game for that fact (but mainly game 3's for me)... It does make the deck win the next turn, but so do alot of cards, and timetwistering into 2 lands... 1 mox... 2 gifts... FoW... Gush... that would make me just want to shake my head and cry.

[Cross]

If you have made the space for 4 gifts, then why run draw seven’s at all? It seems like you would be able to gifts up everything you need, rather than hoping for seven useable cards. Cutting tinker, jar, and twister would give you space for duress. Plus you can sideboard tinker + angel or colossus. And if you really need a play set of duress you could drop time walk too.

I like what you’re trying to do, and I was thinking very much along the same lines. It really sucks to have to waste vault mana or dark rituals to play gifts, and mana drain is a very good answer to the problem.

Other small things: I have actually had good success with gush. Another nice little “free” card is frantic search, which can pull cool tricks with library and academy.

Have you tested this at all and if so what have your results been?

[bebe]

http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=237

This is the Gifts deck that took first in Italy. Indeed it does use just two Gifts as they cramp your hand in multiples. Gifts seems to work best in combo/control builds better than in a stright combo builds. You need to establish some mana before taking advantage of the Gifts. It could be said that TPS as opposed to Meandeck is more controllish but I'm not convinced that Gifts is best suited to this arch type. You are using eleven blue sources and running Drains, BTW. It was pointed out to me by Mon that this is great if you Mize like a Canadian but rather iffy otherwise. I understand you want to power up your Gifts and that is why the card is hard to use in a TPS build. If it resolves it is great but that does not always happen. Also, I do question Gush. It has no good reason to be included in the deck. I would sooner use Frantic Search or DA.
One thing I will say ... judging by the decks that did well at Waterbury and SCG, a good TPS build would be a very good meta call in the States. I think that is why we saw both Dragon and TPS make it to the top eight.

[Diakonov]

Gifts can be a great card at certain points in the game, but I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable revolving around it.  It would seem that you need to resolve two Gifts in order to go off in the way you planned, which is asking for a lot.  If you're going to spend four mana, it should be a "probably win now" card.  Using one Gifts to set up for another just seems over-complicated.

Also, here is the downside of Mana Drain: Duress will normally happen on the first turn, which means you can start trying to win on the second.  Since Drain comes online a turn later, it gives your opponent that extra first turn to screw around and cast things like Trinisphere.

Great idea, though.  I'd like to hear how your testing results go.

[Negator13]

Mana Drain just doesn't have any synergy with Dark Ritual, or the storm mechanic in general. The idea is interesting, but TPS really isn't the deck to run Drain, IMO.

As for the supplemental draw spells in your build, I recommend 1-2 Skeletal Scrying, which is so good every time I cast it in TPS.

[ump]

Do you believe that having 4 Gift's Ungiven is possibly a bit over the top??? Wouldnt it be just awful to have 2 in your opening hand.

There are 4 Gift's Ungiven in the deck, because you want it early and as soon as possible.  If there were only 2 in the deck, you would see it a lot later.  A proper gifts will give you enough of an advantage to win.  Seeing 2 gifts in the opening hand is not necessarily a bad thing.  You can use one to get mana and the second to get the will.  What would be a bad thing is seeing 2 gifts as your only threats in your opening hand.  That is why some of the other bombs such as Necro and Bargain are still in the deck.

This is the Gifts deck that took first in Italy. Indeed it does use just two Gifts as they cramp your hand in multiples.

Let's take a closer look at the difference between these two maindecks.

-1 Mana Vault
-4 Duress
-1 Tendrils
-2 Cunning Wish
-1 Deep Analysis
-1 Swamp
-1 Underground Sea
+1 Gush
+4 Mana Drain
+2 Gifts Ungiven
+1 Tinker
+1 Memory Jar
+1 Library of Alexandria
+1 Island

Let's look at the easiest differences - the mana.  It was stated in another thread and I'll restate it here.  There is no reason to play the second Swamp.  The only thing that needs the second black mana it is the Necropotence and the Yawgmoth's Bargain.  In that case, a ritual or a Sea (because it's worth letting it be wasted to resolve these spells).  Honestly, I would get rid of the other Swamp given the chance.  With that in mind, a Library early is strong in a control deck to replace the Swamp.  A Sea becomes an Island for more protection from Wastelands.  Without the Duresses, it's perfectly acceptable to fetch the Sea only ready to go off without worrying about fetching a Sea and risk getting it wasted.

What does Cunning Wish get?  A counterspell or a draw spell (or maybe removal).  It's flexible, but slow.  Gifts Ungiven is probably just as slow, but the results are game-breaking.  I believe gifts replacing the wishes is acceptable.  More about the value of gifts are given later.

I already talked about Mana Drains over Duresses.  I'll also explain this a bit more later.

I run Gush and Tinker instead of a Mana Vault and Deep Analysis.  Deep Analysis is a 4cc sorcery.  There is no way that it is being played early.  Second, there are better things to get if you are getting Deep Analysis with the Gifts Ungiven, such as gifting to win.

The last difference is between a second Tendrils and Memory Jar.  You do not need a second win condition.  Memory Jar is another threat.  If there is a better choice that Memory Jar, then I am listening.  Basically, I am looking for something to play after I try a Gifts Ungiven end of turn that gets countered.  Don't say Deep Analysis though because drawing two cards is not as good as drawing seven cards.

If you have made the space for 4 gifts, then why run draw seven’s at all? It seems like you would be able to gifts up everything you need, rather than hoping for seven useable cards. Cutting tinker, jar, and twister would give you space for duress.

Hypothetically, let's say I cut Tinker, Jar, Gush, and Twister for 4 Duress.  How would I play the game?  Turn 1, I would be fetching for either a Swamp or an Underground Sea to play the Duress.  The Swamp is bad because it delays my Mana Drain by a turn.  An Underground Sea is bad because it can be Wasted again delaying my Mana Drain and setting me back by two lands (of which I don't run that many of).  Also, I disabled my Brainstorm if I need mana fixing.  How about playing Duress turn 2.  If I do that, then I am probably using one of my lands disabling my Mana Drain.  So again, that is a bad idea.  How about turn 3.  I play my Duress turn 3, but now I need 4 other mana to play the Gifts also that turn.  If I used my one-shot mana (rituals, etc.) to get will then I probably don't have the gas needed to fuel my will next turn.  If I use the Gifts to get more mana, then I still need to already have a threat in hand, in which case I probably would have played that instead of the Gifts.  If I play only Duress and not back it up with anything, it is kind of a waste as the opponent can topdeck an answer or a threat.  I can't exactly wait to play both Duress and Gifts on turn 4 or 5 without doing anything else.

Now let's take the situation with Mana Drain instead.  Turn 1, you will probably play an Island and Brainstorm to optimize mana and threats.  Turn 2, you will have a Mana Drain online.  If they play into your Mana Drain, you can use the drain mana to play either a card advantage or bomb for a reduced cost (thereby playing it sooner).  If they don't play into your drain, then play draw-go using the end-of-turn to cast Mystical, Ancestral, or Brainstorm until you get to the point to cast an end-of-turn Gifts.  If the Gifts is countered, have another threat ready during your main phase.  If it's not, look at what you have in your hand.  If you need mana, get mana.  If you need will, get will.  If you have nothing, consider playing safe and getting card advantage bombs such as Ancestral, Necro, Tinker (for Jar), or even Library.

It would seem that you need to resolve two Gifts in order to go off in the way you planned, which is asking for a lot.

You do not need to cast Gifts two times, once for mana and once for will.  This was only an example.  The situation varies based on what is in your graveyard (whether you have enough to go off with Yawgmoth's Will), what you have in your hand (whether you are able to force a bomb and therefore get bombs or whether you have the bombs but need to force it through - you probably want instant bombs to play multiple bombs in this case), and what you have in play (whether you have the mana to play the bombs you could search for).  These are just the most common gifts scenarios that I consider when deciding what to get.

Mana Drain just doesn't have any synergy with Dark Ritual, or the storm mechanic in general.

Mana Drain has synergy with Gifts Ungiven and playing a control style early.  The storm mechanism is the kill only.  You can think of this to be similar as the Keeper-Combo decks of old.  That deck had instant-speed card advantage and sorcery speed bombs.  This is the same.  The difference is that sorcery-speed bombs are of Balance, Mind Twist, etc. are replace with cards like Necro, Bargain, Tinker.  The card advantage of Skeletal Scrying and such are replaced with the card quality of Gifts Ungiven.  The combo kill is the Yawgmoth's Will, Tendril of Agony instead of Grim Monolith/Power Artifact.  I use fast mana instead because of the quality of the bombs.

[yodoblec]

I think 3 would be the best number of Gifts to run. If you run 4 you have a much greater chance at drawing a 2nd which is pretty crappy & mostly a wasted card. I think it would be best to take it out for a Rebuild or a Mind Twist for synergy with Mana Drain, maybe.

[jpmeyer]

I would think that Cabal Ritual would be strong here, seeing how Gifts Ungiven puts you halfway to threshold just by itself.

[CMass]

I recently won a small local tournament with a TPS build using three Gifts Ungiven.  I started out with two, and quckly decided I wanted more of them since resolving one generally just wins.  I eventually tried going up to four of them, but having played with three for a while in between I found that the deck just seems to flow more smoothly without the fourth one.  With three, I tend to have one in my hand when I want it.  The fourth Gifts has become a second Cunning Wish, and I find the added flexibility to be well worth the slot.  I never have it in hand with no use for it.

That being said, I'm completely with you concerning the power of Gifts Ungiven in a storm combo deck.  It might as well have "win target game" in the text box.  I prefer playing without the fourth copy, but that's likely just play style.  I can easily see why you would want it as a four-of.  Nice job on the deck.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

The idea for this is something I've been playing with in my mind lately, too, I just didn't find a decklist that worked to my liking yet. So if this works well in your testing, congrats for a job well done .

The things I really don't like about it are not running red for Recoup and the manabase.
Recoup alone just makes Gifts just soooo sick. CAB has played more regular TPS with 1-2 Gifts ( see here for decklist, 2nd place, Gifts 2 should replace Windfall) in 3 tourneys so far (afaik, one 1st, two 2nd places) including red and those of us using the deck actually liked Recoup a lot even when not drawing Gifts. Shades (Kim Kluck, btw) might be able to say something more about it, as he was the one winning with it, while I don't think Peter has a tmd account. But back from the parallel to the 4 Gifts TPS at hand...

Red also allows for the Burning Wish, which is just great, especially because it can act as your second Tendrils if Necro/Bargain happens to not produce the real one, a problem I actually encountered during goldfishing regular TPS. Gush and FoF should be fine places to put these two red cards in.

And you should definitly cut LoA for a U-source - either Island or Volcanic - (13 U-sources inkl Sapphire for Drains is VERY low, I usually won't go below 15, maybe, just maybe 14 here) and the 5th Fetch/3rd Island for a City if you want to add red. Seriously, how often will you be able to really abuse LoA in a deck like this? I guess less often than Recoup (if you count the opponent scooping as abusing ) and turn 2 active Mana Drains.

I run Gush and Tinker instead of a Mana Vault and Deep Analysis. Deep Analysis is a 4cc sorcery. There is no way that it is being played early. Second, there are better things to get if you are getting Deep Analysis with the Gifts Ungiven, such as gifting to win.

So true, even though Gush sucks here, imo. Heck, DA is even to slow for Gifted, why should it be in a Ritual-Deck ? Gifts should be errataed to "Search your library for four absolutely sick cards. Your opponent is now allowed to choose which two cards of those he does want to loose to. Have a nice day".

I would think that Cabal Ritual would be strong here, seeing how Gifts Ungiven puts you halfway to threshold just by itself.

Totally agreed. Especially because with it you can Gifts for Will-Storm-friendly speed-mana even better.

I think 3 would be the best number of Gifts to run. If you run 4 you have a much greater chance at drawing a 2nd which is pretty crappy & mostly a wasted card. I think it would be best to take it out for a Rebuild or a Mind Twist for synergy with Mana Drain, maybe.

If this deck works out getting Drain online early and still comboing, 4 Gifts should be correct. If it doesn't, TPS with 1-2 Gifts is probably better than something like this with 3.

[ump]

I would think that Cabal Ritual would be strong here, seeing how Gifts Ungiven puts you halfway to threshold just by itself.

Totally agreed. Especially because with it you can Gifts for Will-Storm-friendly speed-mana even better.

I have been thinking last night about what role Cabal Ritual could play in this deck.  The only reasoning why Cabal Ritual should even be included in the deck is because it speeds up the deck.  A Cabal Ritual could help play the Gifts Ungiven a turn faster and power up a Yawgmoth's Will.  Cabal Ritual is not better than any existing mana with the possible exception of lands.  However, Cabal Ritual conflicts with the role of Mana Drain in this deck.  They both provide mana acceleration, but Mana Drains also provide protection and without them, you need Duress again.  I ran a scenario which I could describe if needed and the Cabal Ritual does still help get the win, but you need Duress to ensure you will win.  However, between the first turn when you use Duress and the second turn when you use Cabal Ritual to cast Gifts Ungiven a turn sooner (with a mox, two lands, and Cabal Ritual), your opponent could draw an answer or a bomb.  Also, this is now a two card combo: Duress for protection and Cabal Ritual for acceleration.  Mana Drain is that card in one.  It provides the protection and the acceleration.  The only downside is that it forces you to play slower, especially if your opponent plays around the Mana Drain.  Another upside, is that you get to see more cards in your hand (compared to Cabal Ritual and Duress) especially if you can now Brainstorm first turn instead of Duress.  Also, you get to run more bombs as you have the extra slots in the deck.  In order to run 4 Duress and 3 Cabal Riutal, I had to take out 4 Mana Drain, 1 Tinker, 1 Memory Jar, and 1 Gush.

"You need to run more lands to ensure Mana Drain" - I can't find the quote I was looking for so I paraphrased it.

You only really need three lands in your first three turns to make this deck work.  I am not sure how many lands I need to run to make that happen, but it seems to work fine right now for me.  It's not like Keeper where you don't really want to miss any land drops.  With three lands and all the fast mana, you should be able to play gifts end-of-turn and bomb main-phase.  I'll have to playtest a few games where I intentionally put Library and Mana Drain in my opening hand to see if Library should deserve a slot.

The things I really don't like about it are not running red for Recoup and the manabase.

When I saw Recoup in your decklist, I just thought of it is a way to get Will.  I get the tutors that will also guarantee that I get Will.  I will have to get back on the Recoup/Burning Wish idea because I would need to test it more in this deck to see if it provides a better gameplan.

[Chamelet]

I was just wondering: why is this better than the Will-Recoup-Tinker-Colossus plan?

(it's not an ironic question, I really want to know 'cause I played the CAB version and it's very solid)

I mean, this has lots of trouble with 3sphere and Chalice that CAB doesn't. And CAB's more flexible too, I guess.

[ump]

I was just wondering: why is this better than the Will-Recoup-Tinker-Colossus plan?

(it's not an ironic question, I really want to know 'cause I played the CAB version and it's very solid)

I mean, it has lots of trouble with 3sphere and Chalice that CAB doesn't. And is more flexible too, I guess.

My reasoning is that the CAB version only has one path to victory - Gifts Ungiven.  This deck is more combo-ish and therefore has a lot more paths to victory - such as ritual+necro or acceleration+bargain.  With that decklist, if Gifts gets countered somehow end-of-turn, what are you going to back it up with in your mainphase?

[Bakes]

I dont think gush would be necessary at all in this deck considering it takes two turns to activate plus two islands...ouch!!!

[Chamelet]

"ump: My reasoning is that the CAB version only has one path to victory - Gifts Ungiven.  This deck is more combo-ish and therefore has a lot more paths to victory - such as ritual+necro or acceleration+bargain.  With that decklist, if Gifts gets countered somehow end-of-turn, what are you going to back it up with in your mainphase?"
(question: how do I do this quote thing?)

Well, the path to victory in CAB is actually Tinker or Burning Wish (or a huge Will). You can get those via Gifts (which is better), or via tutors or Card advantage. You have duress so you won't let Gifts get countered that easily. Anyway, you can just play a Gifts to get it coutered, then in your turn duress the guy and play Tinker for the win.
Remembering CAB has a combo-ish structure. I just think it's better against disruption like 3sphere and chalice which are very common nowadays. (you can always play Mind Twist if you're unsafe).

I dunno exactly though, 'cause I haven't tested this TPS build, and I'm kinda lazy for that, so I'm trying to find reasons to open Apprentice and actually build this.
But anyway, Gifts is a broken card and it's nice to see someone trying to develop a new way to break it.

[ump]

Well, the path to victory in CAB is actually Tinker or Burning Wish (or a huge Will). You can get those via Gifts (which is better), or via tutors or Card advantage. You have duress so you won't let Gifts get countered that easily. Anyway, you can just play a Gifts to get it coutered, then in your turn duress the guy and play Tinker for the win.

This is my assessment of the Gifted deck.  Forgive me if I am mistaken.  First of all, it is a control deck.  The victory condition is obtained through Tinker for Colossus or Burning Wish.  However, in most cases, it would be foolish to play it early, even if you had the chance.  This is because it needs to be protected.  The best way to protect it is with card advantage.  Gifts Ungiven is the main card that gives it serious card advantage.  This is because Gifts Ungiven will lead to Yawgmoth's Will and that leads to even more card advantage.  At that point, you should be far enough ahead that any win condition is acceptable.  In this case, they used Tinker for Colossus which is perfectable acceptable for that deck.

With my version of the deck, you have other options also such as a broken hand that leads to a quick victory such as a first-turn necro.  The only difference between this deck and other speed combo decks is that I don't plan on sharing my card drawing by giving them more cards with cards such as Windfall, Wheel of Forture.  Memory Jar is still there because they will only be able to play instants when I use so it is more one-sided.  Timetwister is there because if they duress my will, I need to recycle it to win.  Again, I would have to see if Recoup and Burning Wish can fill that role.

(question: how do I do this quote thing?)

If you want to quote an entire post, use the "quote" button on the right side of the post.  If you want to quote anything else, put the text with a [ quote ] before it an a [ /quote ] after it (removing the space characters that I added).  It can also be done automatically if you use the "Quote" box at the top when posting a reply to start the quote and clicking on the box a second time to end the quote.  Also, by modifying it to be quote="ump", you can specify who made the quote.

The only reasoning why Cabal Ritual should even be included in the deck is because it speeds up the deck.

On a side note, it may be acceptable to add one Cabal Ritual in the deck, not as a way to cast it faster, but to fetch for it.  With threshold, the Ritual should gain 3 mana plus another 3 after the Will.  Along with Black Lotus and Tolarian Academy, you can now have 3 sources to generate at least three mana.  In my opinion, the Cabal Ritual should replace the Mana Vault, but I don't run that, so I'd have to test it replacing Gush.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

On a side note, it may be acceptable to add one Cabal Ritual in the deck, not as a way to cast it faster, but to fetch for it. With threshold, the Ritual should gain 3 mana plus another 3 after the Will.

That's exactly what I meant and I guess jp, also.

As for Gifted, Gifted is like Doomsday.dec that has far better control-elements and is a little bit slower as a trade-of.

[tito del monte]

Hi there,

I've been goldfishing Ump's build for the past couple of days and agree that this is a very interesting idea for TPS and the use of gifts ungiven.

However, i've been playing with a couple of changes suggested earlier mainly by Mon, i.e the red splash, similar to the CAB Gifted deck, and find both recoup and burning wish really useful. I was contemplating though what to put in the sideboard for an upcoming tournement, with a completely unknown meta (type 1 tournements are like gold dust in the uk), and thought about popping mindtwist in as a possible wish target/mana drain sink.

Which got me wondering, does anyone feel it would be possible to play a transfomational sideboard which could bring the deck in games 2/3 closer to CAB's Gifted? possible inclusions could be Chains of Mephistopheles (which i feel is an excellent allround hoser), Duress, Balance (if running a city of brass already to support red), colussus, platz, fact or ficiton, and then say a REB and BEB?

please correct me if this insane

[ump]

I have been trying a lot of stuff recently, but haven't really come to a consensus on any results yet.  I tried Burning Wish and Recoup.  I like Burning Wish, but I don't really like the Recoup.  I even considered a version similar to Long with only Black and Blue (with 2 Cabal Ritual, more accelerators, and 4 Death Wish).  I also like that version (using Duress and 2 Gifts) and I considered trying that version and then transforming to TPS when playing Trinisphere decks.  Signs are positive, but too early to give a final conclusion.  I also tried Wishing for bombs such as Damping Matrix, Energy Flux, Cranial Extraction, etc., but it was usually better just trying to win rather than not lose (by putting Will in the sideboard).

I was contemplating though what to put in the sideboard for an upcoming tournement, with a completely unknown meta.

As far as the sideboarding goes, I do have a Tinker-friendly sideboard with stuff like Platinum Angel, Darksteel Colossus, Damping Matrix to swap for Memory Jar when the situations are correct.  I also have a Wish-friendly sideboard with stuff like Tendrils, Cranial Extraction, Duress, and Balance.  Speaking of Mana Drain sinks, Cranial Extraction is probably the card you would rather have than Mind Twist because if it resolves, it will just make winning easier.  Just think if you could take out your opponent's Trinispheres, Oath of Druids, or Tendrils.  Some things you may want for the sideboard may the following.

// Have to hate those Trinisphere decks
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Rebuild
// Tinker friendly
1 Platinum Angel and/or Darksteel Colossus
2 Damping Matrix (just a thought, haven't proven if it's worth it)
//Wish friendly
1 Tendrils of Agony (for the win)
1 Balance (creatures)
1-2 Cranial Extraction (sometimes it just wins)
1 Chainer's Edict (for a single hard to target creature)

Which got me wondering, does anyone feel it would be possible to play a transfomational sideboard which could bring the deck in games 2/3 closer to CAB's Gifted?

I explained in an earlier post why I don't think Duress and Mana Drain work well together.  It is fine to replace Memory Jar with better Tinker targets for an alternate win.  Trading a bomb for another bomb like Chains may be acceptable, but I wouldn't remove Necro, Bargain, or Will as they all spell "I win".  I am curious to know exactly what you would side out and what you would side in.

[tito del monte]

Ok well here is a very rough idea for a possible sideboard, bearing in mind the build with the red splash as mentioned above:

Possible "gifted" transformation elements:

1 x Tendrils (wish target game 1)
3 x Chains
3 x Duress
1 x DSC
1 x Platinum angel
1 x balance
1 x mind twist (or probably cranial extraction)
1 x REB/Fire-ice/engineered explosives or damping matrix
and possibly 3 x sleight of hand


one could then in theory (i have yet to test this i'm afraid), completely eschew combo post board in favour of the control style of Gifted:

For example:

- Bargain
- Mind's desire
- Jar
-4 Brainstorm
- Twister
- Tendrils
- Rebuild

for:

+ 3 chains
+ 3 Duress
+ mind twist
+ Balance
+ DSC
+ Another tinker target or utility: platinum angel, damping matrix or engineered explosives

This leaves Will intact in the main board, which i see as the path to victory both pre and post board, as well as card quality/advantage from the 4 gifts and Necro (which "puts cards into hand" under Chains).

My quandry is whether to remove rituals, in favour of a cantrip such as sleight of hand (again still works under chains and helps replace brainstorm). Obviously if one is trying to play a control role post board, their acceleration seems a little out of place, but conversely i feel that a 1st turn Ritual/Duress/Chains will stop many a deck in its tracks. Also leaving them in does still leave a slim chance of a combo finsh with a tendrils fetched from the board with burning wish.

Again, i have yet to try this so apologies if this is way off track. I just wondered if it was an avenue worth exploring as Gifts has proven so strong in both decks.

On a side note, i'd be keen to try all this out online sometime

[ump]

@tito
One other thing I forgot to ask is against which decks would you rather "combo" and against which decks would you rather "control".  The reason I ask is because it is more likely that you would find one of these strategies always fulfilling your needs, so why would you want to change strategies between combo and control rather than using the sideboard to strengthen your strategy with better options?