[Premium Article] Meandeck Gifts

[Smmenen]

Here is the article:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/9963.html

Meandeck Gifts

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

4 Brainstorm
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Misdirection

1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Recoup
1 Burning Wish
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Rebuild
1 Vampiric Tutor/Echoing Truth
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

3 Islands
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal

This gifts list should probably look very, very strange at first glance.  There is a logic to it but it is not immediately apparent.

The basic logic, as I discuss in my article tommorrow, is that once I added Merchant Scrolls, I found that Duress was not able to protect the tutored Ancestral sufficiently.  I would Duress them and pass the turn and then all of a sudden, they would have more countermagic again.  As soon as that occured, I had 2 Misdirections and 2 Duresses and then I started upping the number of Gifts and suddenly I just wanted more Misdirections to protect turn two and three Gifts and Duress was cut entirely.

Suddenly, the deck *clicked.* 

I have tested this extensively:

* Against Control Slaver played by Rich Shay  - we both agreed Gifts has a favorable matchup
* Against Dragon: you would be Shocked at how often I can combo out before they can
* Against Food Chain - I played about a dozen games against a really solid food chain player and this is what happened:
- in two of the games, he only got one turn
- in four of the games, he had turn one lackey - I forced it in two of those and in the other two it didn't matter
- the only close game was the game where I made a gifts play mistake and he had every man in his deck nearly on the board ready to go at me.  I was holding Pyroclasm and I topdecked a Brainstorm which saw me volcanic Island.  I recovered first. 
I won almost every game
*Fish.  This is the reason to play this deck: In testing agianst Chalice/Vial Fish, this deck has a very good matchup.  Why?
Although it appears to be very vulnerable, it is inherently resistent: the four merchant scrolls and double bounce spell (I've been playing Echoing Truth over the Vamp) means that Meddling Mage gets removed by Truth AND Burning Wish and Rebuild and E. Truth remove the Chalices.  With the tutors that's effectively like 8 ways to remove Chalice and Mage, etc.
I did get Rootwater Theifed and he took my Colosus, but I Gifted up the B Wish and put it in my GY so he couldn't get at it. 

I am extremely pleased with this list.  Its taken alot of work, but it is *very* strong. 

How does it play out?  Think of the deck like BBS.   I use Gifts like Fact or Fiction. You'll notice that the deck only has two maindeck Red spells and two maindeck black spells - it is almost mono blue.

The game plan of the deck is this:

Step One: Scroll up Ancestral and Resolve it
Step two: Play Gifts and Resolve it
Step Three: Combo.


I went ahead and bolded the parts that aren't completely standard, for easy reference.
-Matt[/color]

[49 Cents]

Very nice list indeed, I'll test it, but I like it already

I'm looking forward to your article. How was the staxx matchup? I think it's very good with 4 scrolls and the maindeck rebuild, isn't it? Well, I'll read it tomorrow
Edit: what does your SB look like?

Greetz,

Hugo

[alban]

yeah, I must say, It still looks very strange to me 
but I see the logic behind the deck, and I think it works just fine, as you say.
what about the mirror? Your opponent then has duress, but you're a lot more aggressive, how will that work out?

Alban

[JuJu]

Looks alright, the Merchant Scrolls over TFK is definitely debatable, though it makes the mana curve a whole lot nicer. A couple of things do pop out though, is only one Tinker target enough? Or do you run more targets in your board? Or do some of the other popular tinker targets make them win more? Also, why Misdirection? As I can see it more and more people are playing permanents and and non targetted spells. Wouldn't Mana Leak or Shoal or something be more productive?

[Luiggi]

Misdirection is a "free" way of winning counter wars that can also steal a juicy spell like Ancestral Recall if your opponent casts it on himself (and that's a nice bonus, since Steve lists "Scroll up Ancestral and Resolve it" as the first step towards winning, and Misdirection allows us to indirectly do that, as well).

If you're trying to set up a quick win you generally won't have 1U open for a Mana Leak, whereas pitching something like a Brainstorm or Merchant Scroll to the Misdirection is a painless way of stopping your opponent's counter... And Shoal isn't even close to Misdirection in terms of power and general goodness in this deck, I don't think.

Luiggi

[Smmenen]

Exactly, you are trying to win as quickly as possible.  Ideally, turn two or three (i.e. they don't get second, third or fourth turn.

Think BBS with a faster win condition.

[Revvik]

Think BBS with a faster win condition.

Sold!
Also, Merchant Scroll doesn't scream "Drain Me!" against an opponent who is unfamiliar with your game plan.  I like how this is a control deck who's draw engine is "Ancestral Recall."  I oughta enjoy this.

[alban]

I like how this is a control deck who's draw engine is "Ancestral Recall."  I oughta enjoy this.

hadn't looked at it that way, but you're correct. Think we might see a lot of this 
congratz at another MeanDeck !

[Machinus]

Merchant Scroll? You can't fetch anything to draw cards with besides recall and gifts. Misdirection is horrible against workshop decks and many fish variants. What do you do against active welders?

I'm skeptical of the answers you have in your article. Doesn't your skill skew your testing results anyway?

You do realized that the whole point of a team is to test and work on decks, right? Oh, and did you miss the part where he talked about testing against Rich?
-Jacob

[Smmenen]

This deck really tries to abuse Gifts as much as possible.

The real difference between Gifts and Fact in terms of setting up the win is that Fact gives you a nice mix of mana and spells.  True, Gifts can just autowin - but it is hard to lose after resolving Fact. 

To make up for the difference between Gifts and Fact - it is critical that you really abuse Ancestral and Brainstorms.  The only constraint on you comboing out quickly is your mana.  If you see more cards sooner then you can speed up the whole Gifts plan with your accelleration. There is much to discuss....

The deck's midgame isn't *simple* to play - becuase it involves sometimes complicated gifts and mana set ups.  But I suggest you guys test this out becuase (I hope) You'll sense its power.

I have also tested it against Sensei and Stax and they both proved favorable.  One of the the things that makes me feel so strong is the huge amount of pitch magic. 

[Machinus]

You do realized that the whole point of a team is to test and work on decks, right? Oh, and did you miss the part where he talked about testing against Rich?
-Jacob

Actually, I did read that part. After building his own deck and becoming familiar with it, steve could likely get good results out of it in many different environments.

I am familiar with the concept of a "team." Meandeck isn't above criticism, and neither are you or steve. He can speak for himself.

[Whatever Works]

I am pretty skeptical of this deck and agree with machinus on initial impression. Perhaps I am wrong, and I will test the deck tonight and then if my initial distate for the loss as any substence behind it. I like the idea of trying to concentrate the deck etc. but I have this issue:

Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall = 1UU (Three mana), 2 Cards, to draw 3 cards. Oerall +1 Card advantage (1 card sorcery)

Compare this to Thirst for Knowledge = 2U (Three mana), 1 Card, Draw 3 discard 1 (usually discard is wanted). Overall +1 Card advantage (instant)


 I dont see how 3 mana with 1 of the spells being a sorcery for just +1 card advantage in a deck that runs only 1 copy of its only draw spell can be all that affective. In fact I dont see how this is better then thirst at all accept that scroll can get tinker. Then again Tinker is extremely easy to get with the deck, and running extra tutors I guess could speed up the deck, but how important is speed in a control deck that really doesnt need to race???

Gifts deck already beats most control decks because of all the extra availible slots that it can commit to draw/tutorss, because of fewer kill conditions. Again, Rich Shay has admitted that CS has a naturally weak matchup vs. gifts. So speed does not improve that matchup. I guess tutors could theoretically help the fish matchup, but is the gifts matchup that bad??? Toads Results have been posted as something along the lines of over 70% vs. fish because when tinker resolves the game ends, and postboard the deck has Rack and Ruin for Chalice/Vial/Jitte, and 2-3 Pyroclasm. Combo doesnt exist in much capasity in any metagame so increasing the speed isnt a neccessary need there... The workshop matchup is interesting (primarily the aggro workshop matchup) you mentioned that aggro workshop tends to struggle getting the last points of damage, and gifts almost always wins the workshop matchup postboard. I guess speed could improve this matchup a bit, but I am not sure of its need.

Overall,
I like the idea. Its original its unique and its all to uncommon that you find that these days. However, do you feel that this deck is better then any of the gifts/tinker decks out there? Also, do you feel that the changes really improve the older versions poor matchups enough to compensate for what appears to be the complete loss of a draw engine??? I know you mentioned ancestral, but I cant see how 4 tutors and 1 broken draw spell is better then 4 thirsts or (3 thirsts + any # of Scryings) and ancestral.

Kyle L.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Merchant scroll is hot. As stated above, you don't auto scoop to fish and stax now. Having potentially 6 bounce spells is amazing. Also, let me just say, merchant scroll --> Brainstorm is not terrible, especially if you're holding DSC. The deck is focused on winning NOW. Who cares how many cards you draw, as long as you protect tinker-colossus for 2 turns, you win. This is also where MisD shines. Think about how much targeted removal there is.

All in all, I really like what meandeck has done with Gifts, and I'll def. be playtesting this.

[JuJu]

What does your sideboard look like? There must be some juicy wish targets in there.

Also, this looks alot like Old Gat, without the brokeness, but with all the cantrips that wanted to win now.

[Ishi]

Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall = 1UU (Three mana), 2 Cards, to draw 3 cards. Overall +1 Card advantage (1 card sorcery)

This math isn't very solid.  Merchant scroll *tutors* for ancestral recal.  It's either 1 card to draw 3, or 2 cards to draw 4 -- depending on how you want to look at it.  Either way it's +2 CA.

[Necropotenza]

Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall = 1UU (Three mana), 2 Cards, to draw 3 cards. Oerall +1 Card advantage (1 card sorcery)

In fact I dont see how this is better then thirst at all accept that scroll can get tinker.

I just to make clear that Scroll-->Recall-->Draw 3 is +2 Card Advantage and that Scroll can't fetch Sorceries, so no Tinker.
Cheers.

[Revvik]

Merchant Scroll is good because of its versatility - kickstarting the draw "engine" or pulling the winning Gifts.  I have my week at Origins to build this and test it out.  Fuck, I'm leaving now.

[shade88]

Just to chime in on the merchant scroll argument. One of the biggest advantages of mercahnt scroll + ancestral recall is the mana can be split up over 2 turns. Being able to drop a mox land and scroll on the first turn, and have mana drain and ancestral recall on turn 2 is huge advantage over having tfk on turn 2. It's not just that they both get you the same amount of cards, splitting up the mana cost works perfectly into the curve of gifts.

[Webster]

Just to chime in on the merchant scroll argument. One of the biggest advantages of mercahnt scroll + ancestral recall is the mana can be split up over 2 turns. Being able to drop a mox land and scroll on the first turn, and have mana drain and ancestral recall on turn 2 is huge advantage over having tfk on turn 2. It's not just that they both get you the same amount of cards, splitting up the mana cost works perfectly into the curve of gifts.

@Shade88
The bolded text scenerio isn't exactly as easy as made out to be since your definition of "a mox" on turn1 _MUST_ be the sapphire. Sure, if you get turn1: land, sapphire, scroll for recall and follow it up w/ 2nd main phase land, ancestral, drain that's good. However, that play will never occur consistantly.

Thirst EOT on turn 2 requires any mox and frees up your turn1 to brainstorm/duress which will happen a lot more consistantly.


@Smmenen
Having not played with this list yet, I can only make comments based on my instincts.
  -It would appear that this list wants to be very aggresive in its search for recall and gifts, maindecking 4 gifts and 4 scrolls, which means that it will be tapping out mainphase a lot. With that in mind, one could question the effectiveness of the decks ability to abuse mana drain.
  -With only ancestral and fact or fiction as _TRUE_ card advantage cards, how detrimental are the 4 force of will and 3 misdirection to the deck's gameplan keeping in mind its aggresive nature listed in the point above? Sure, resolving ancestral is good, but if you trade your force + mis-d + 2 blue cards for drawing 3 cards + his drain / red blast, how much ahead do you see the deck getting from your opponent?
  -Are you not worried about losing the card advantage war against other gift builds that run duress and more card draw? Your list doesn't run boseiju to invalidate their countermagic. Why did you not include it?

Webster

[NicolaeAlmighty]

Looks very interesting. You've mentioned Vial Fish... I assume the tutoring for bounce will get around Null Rod Aggro as well? With this deck trying to do so much in the early game, doesn't Daze kinda of wreck things a wink? I went to a tournament for a Sapphire over the weekend, and the meta was 1/4 U/W Fish, all packing Null Rods and answers. I think you should take them into account as well when testing.

Besides that, looks unique. Seems like the Iron Giant is making a comeback.

[Smmenen]

I will go back and answer all the questions individually that aren't answered by my article, but let me start off by saying:

The design of this deck was evolutionary.  I don't fully understand it yet.  It is complicated becuase it trades off so many things in counter-intuitive ways and yet it is amazing.  It trades off card advantage for card quality in a way that perhaps is now becoming standard in Vintage - just not with a deck like this.  It also is extremely tempo oriented but has little trouble playing the control role.  

For example, Bob is completely right: Merchant Scroll for Brainstorm is a very solid play simply becuase you want card quality over just pure advantage.  That's what Gifts does.  You can trade those lands for Moxen, right now.  

Webster is thinking alot like a traditional control deck instead of an aggro control deck or a combo-control deck.  Remember BBS?  That deck traded the same cards for the same price.  It is no different.  This IS the new BBS. 

I must URGE the skeptics to go test out this deck.  Please.  

Many of my own teammates expressed the same sentiments until we saw it in action.  You would not beleive the records it was generating in testing.  

I also don't want to say that this deck is devoid of card advantage...

It's not.  One of the Gifts piles I've been doing alot is this:

Merchant Scroll, Brianstorm, Gifts Ungiven and Fact or Fiction. Say I do that on turn two.  Almost ALWAYS they give me Gifts and Fact or Fiction.  I am always shocked when they do becuase those two cards practically guarntee me the win.  But Merchant Scroll would become Ancestral and Branistorm ontop of that is probably too much as well.  

Fish: The Misdirections are much much better than Duress in testing. 

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Steve's right on about the card quality. Think Standard; even though Tooth and Nail has no draw, it still beats MonoU with it's 6+ card drawers because it has card quality in the form of Sensei's Diving Top. The same is true for Gifts, Merchant scroll allows for card quality. Even getting a mystical tutor isn't bad, as it lets you get tinker and gifts. Why bother trying to draw and protect your draw when you can simply protect a gifts and just win? This is unlike ANY control deck out there. Your sole goal is to protect tinker-colossus, and MisD's do this perfectly. Also, with a potential 6 bounce spells and 4 more ways of getting them (Gifts), you simply don't give a crap about cards like Mage and chalice.

Another thing that I LOVE about this deck is that it's totally MonoU. Duress absolutely SUCKS against stax and fish. You do take their biggest threat, but you can't stop their ability to play another bomb. What if you duress and see Shop, mox, crucible, waste, shaman, stax, city? Also, fetching an underground sea is a very risky play, especially because of how mana intensive the deck is.

Other than rootwater thief, this deck solves some of Gifts biggest problems (no reliance on non-blue lands and the ability to DEAL with permanents through bounce). I'm very impressed.

-Bob

[Ultima]

Just to point this out because it was said above, Merchant Scroll DOESN'T fetch tinker, only blue instants.

Thoughts:

- While I can appreciate mis-d, the fact of the matter is that the format couldn't be further from it right now.  Duress at least does something against workshop but drawing 2-3 mis-d against stax and aggro can backbreaking.  Bob says duress sucks against stax and fish but I have to say that mis-d is arguably worse.  There is an argument for Fish but against Stax, mis-d couldn't be more dead.

-I understand the concept but the deck seems like it will get too many stall hands.  Meaning that there will be lots of times when you'll get hands like 1-2 gifts, 1-2 lands, brainstorm, and scrolls or counters.  In other words, if don't draw any acceleration, you'll just keel over to hands that drop chalice for 0 and workshop, lock/creature.

-Is the truth, rebuild, and burning wish enough to stop active welders because it looks like they can only buy you 1-2 turns meaning you need alot of set-up time to get the win in that window.

-I see where the deck is going in terms of combo but it also seems that the deck doesn't have alot in the way of the mid-game. If they hit you with a duress and win the firs4 t counterwar then it looks like you'll lose in the mid-game due to lack of card advantage spells while they're playing things like TFK, scrying, or ak.  There is also where mis-d loses alot of its worth as well.

-Are you certain that there has to be 4 of both scroll and gifts, because like drawing too many multiples of these can be bad since both spells become less good after their predecessors.

-John

[sa-x]

My first post, thanks steve for posting a thread that motivated me to sign up.  I've LOVED merchant scroll since keeper of old.  If nothing else, in control mirrors you can merchant scroll for force/drain/misdirection is you have to.  Scroll is amazing, great ideas here smem.

[Smmenen]

Just to point this out because it was said above, Merchant Scroll DOESN'T fetch tinker, only blue instants.

Thoughts:

- While I can appreciate mis-d, the fact of the matter is that the format couldn't be further from it right now.  Duress at least does something against workshop but drawing 2-3 mis-d against stax and aggro can backbreaking.  Bob says duress sucks against stax and fish but I have to say that mis-d is arguably worse.  There is an argument for Fish but against Stax, mis-d couldn't be more dead.

-I understand the concept but the deck seems like it will get too many stall hands.  Meaning that there will be lots of times when you'll get hands like 1-2 gifts, 1-2 lands, brainstorm, and scrolls or counters.  In other words, if don't draw any acceleration, you'll just keel over to hands that drop chalice for 0 and workshop, lock/creature.

-Is the truth, rebuild, and burning wish enough to stop active welders because it looks like they can only buy you 1-2 turns meaning you need alot of set-up time to get the win in that window.

-I see where the deck is going in terms of combo but it also seems that the deck doesn't have alot in the way of the mid-game. If they hit you with a duress and win the firs4 t counterwar then it looks like you'll lose in the mid-game due to lack of card advantage spells while they're playing things like TFK, scrying, or ak.  There is also where mis-d loses alot of its worth as well.

-Are you certain that there has to be 4 of both scroll and gifts, because like drawing too many multiples of these can be bad since both spells become less good after their predecessors.

-John

Please, please, please just test it without going through the theory.  I have tested every single Gifts variant in great detail (as you will see in my article) and this is, in my view, THE BEST Gifts list of all the configurations.  This deck has a very strong midgame.  I have tested against almost everything and a wide range of players.  I had no weak midgame against Rich Shay, etc. 

[Ultima]

I will test the deck.  These are only my initial thoughts.  Incidentally, why the rebuild over hurkyl's recall.  Is there a tendrils in the board?  Or is the cycling that important?

[Smmenen]

There is a tendrils in the board - and read my article:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/9963.html

It will make alot more sense.

[Hi-Val]

Merchant Scroll obviously DOES fetch Tinker. The deck runs Mystical Tutor and Gifts, doesn't it?

[Dozer]

Please, please, please just test it without going through the theory.  I have tested every single Gifts variant in great detail (as you will see in my article) and this is, in my view, THE BEST Gifts list of all the configurations.  This deck has a very strong midgame.  I have tested against almost everything and a wide range of players.  I had no weak midgame against Rich Shay, etc.

Smmenen, you are my new personal hero. Being part of Team CAB, I've been following our evolution of the Gifts-deck. But in my opinion, nothing we had comes close to the elegance of this build. People, do yourself a favour: just load it up on Apprentice and do five goldfish games. Play it aggressively. Merchant Scroll is strong, Misdirection as well. The deck is a beauty.

One thing that came to my mind, though, was a card I had tested in a very early variant of our deck which could make a comeback here: Disrupting Shoal. With the high number of 5cc and 2cc blue cards, it should work very well in combination with Misdirection as a protective counterspell, and I like to be able to Gifts for four counterspells in case you need to without losing functionality.

The other thing I'd be interested in is the Workshop aggro matchup, specifically the answer to 1st turn Shop -> Juggernaut. I'm pretty sure it will work, but the plan is then to just win, right?

/edit: I just realized that this deck also has a very good game against Uba-Stax, to the point that Chains of Mephistopheles or Uba Mask (although that's too expensive) could even be in the sideboard of this deck. Apart from Ancestral, no card is affected by Chains. That's savage.

Dozer

[Whatever Works]

I said I would test the deck and after about 40ish games (10 vs. CS, Tog, Vial Fish, and TPS). I came up with these match win/loss totals. They might be slightly scewed to lack of play skill from being new to the deck, and the fact that in testing I tend to play about 10 games an hour focusing more on the "feel" of a matchup over long drawn out games with fewer mistakes.
6-4 Vs. CS (4-1 Preboard) Not a real suprise gifts usually has strong matchup vs. CS.
5-5 Vs. Hulk (2-3 Preboard) Better then expected matchup slightly more favorable then anticipated postboard.
8-2 Vs. Vial Fish (3-2 Preboard) Results for this no real suprise other gifts decks give this result too.
3-7 Vs. TPS (1-4 Preboard) Results were a bit dissapointing but with board changes could be better. Duress would help alot! Bright side is combo is underplayed, and not played by T1's best players atm.
2-2 Vs. Workshop Agro (never finished testing) Chalice really hurt this matchup.
2-3 Vs. Oath (Never did postboard testing) This matchup was interesting but games came down to counter wars that Toads version would win more often, but still likely in the favor of Gifts in theory.

Overall, the deck was better then anticipated but I came across these issues that concerned me alot.

1.) Graveyard Hate - This really hurts the deck. Many of the games the deck lost was because of cards like Phyrexian Furnace, and Tormod's Crypt, etc. I have played Gifts enough that I can say with confidence I know how to play around graveyard hate, but it still significantly slowed down the deck, and made gifts turn into an overpriced tutor.

2.) Chalice for 0 - This gave me trouble because it slowed down the deck alot, especially when the deck wasnt on the play. I know you said it wasnt a huge problem in your article (yes I did read it), but it was a problem. I know you can say that chalice for 1 hurts about every deck but this deck seemed to be impacted alot more because of the drawback, and left me constantly in situations where its turn 2 I have 2 lands in play and a hand consisting of a drain, a scroll, 2 moxes, and a tinker. If I scroll I wont have drain mana open, and if scroll gets drained itself I lose the game. If I pass the turn my opponent might waste a land and put me even farther back, and the next turn will leave me nowhere unless my opponent walks directly into drain which a good player at a top table would not do.

3.) Duress - Maybe its just me but duress justs rips this deck apart. The best comparison I have is how Hulk always had a strong matchup against 4cc when 4cc was in its prime. 4cc relied heavily on card quality and duress damaged that enough that it could win games (and the stronger draw engine didnt hurt either). I hated when I was on the play and would go mox/land ---> Scroll (get ancestral), and pass to have it duressed. I could of waited to drop a land the next turn to ensure that i could cast ancestral on the same turn as the scroll but then I risk not having drain mana open and then having essentially my first 2 turns go in the gutter.

4.) Misdirection - This card was either really good or really bad. The card was extremely dead vs. several of the decks I tested vs. and I rarely wanted to see it drawn. I almost think that with the large # of 2 and 4 casting cost spells in the deck that this card could be Disrupting Shoals. I am not a huge fan of Shoals, but I believe it would at least be somewhat usful against workshop aggro etc. because of its ability to consitstently counter juggernaught. So I also agree with Dozer's idea of Shoal.

I have heard alot about how merchant scroll essentially gives the deck 5+ bounce spells as a strong reason to play it. I personally see merchant scroll (though very versatile) to basically be a weaker version of cunning wish that conflicts with the decks ability to run mana drain with any type of regularity.

Overall, the deck surpassed my initial expectations though they were not set particularly high (looking at a list which is very strange you cant really blame me). Merchant scroll being rediscovered in a new copacity is also very nice to see. The deck was fun to play, but I still have some concerns over control matchups (that I didnt have with older lists). Also, I struggle to see this deck being better then tier 1.5, because I noticed that after you play vs. the deck a couple times you start to realize how to play vs. the deck, and can often win games through knowing what to counter etc. and countering the right spell can be devestating with the lack of a draw engine. though the deck is resilant in that it can just randomly topdeck 1 of what would appear to be a billion tutors and just then get gifts and win the game on the same turn which is what i guess could be interpretted as a mid/late game, because thats what it basically came down to every time the game was quote and quote "over" by turn 4-5.

Kyle Leith