[Premium Article] Tweaking (and further exploring) Meandeck Gifts

[dicemanx]

EDIT: A bit off topic, but if GiftsX were rebuilt to include Tendrils of Agony this might be the best hybrid (or maybe I'm just behind the curve and this has already replaced Flame Vault)

I'm not sure any win conditions beyond Burning Wish and Tinker/DSC would be necessary, even if Wipe Away is in the environment. I don't think that GiftsX/BMG is too bothered by cards attacking its win conditions - so long as it has ways to build card advantage and strip resources away from its opponents (via Duress, Needles/Crypts, or via the stopping power of the counter suite), hate cards that attack its win routes will not be very successful. Furthermore, since Welders are not very prevalent in the environment, the 2-3 Pithing Needles willl likely get converted to 2-3 Tormods Crypts (or maybe a return to Phyrexian Furnaces?) to continue with the TfK synergy and attack both Long and MDG while also bothering both WGD and CS enough. TfK was never that amazing as a draw spell, but there are few good options as far as draw spells are concerned, and TfK is up there as one of the best.

One of the major challenges for Gifts will come not from cards like Wipe Away and Trickbind, but the attack on its mana base and resources by Null Rod Fish decks. Even then Gifts is not without resource out of the SB - the Oath route with 2-3 SSS is always an option, as are various ways of attacking Fish's creature base and utilizing R or R/G for artifact destruction. None of the strategies are overwhelming, but they don't need to be - Gifts simply allows you to fight any archetype and outplay opponents even though you won't overwhelm any of those archetypes. I always thought MDG is too aggressive and not as flexible by comparison.

[MaxxMatt]

We have to wait the SplitSecond's impact on the metagame.
Maybe those cards would be played too little to change MDG maindeck configuration for them.


A single Duress can be fetched/tutored when going off, both with DSC or ToA.
Additionally, you can Burning Wish for it or find the needed maindecked one with Gifts Ungiven itself.
Even Mindtwist ( in a Mis-D light enviroment ) can be a nice replacement for them that can get rid of those few new problems.

I remember the same - "OMG!OMG!OMG! How can we do now?!?!" - behaviour when they printed Stifle or CotVs.
With the right tools, even MDG can play around them without too many problems.


Duresses maindeck are a good tool to add to any control-maindeck only if you are playing in the right metagame. Play with them maindecked if you have to face Combo and Control all day long.
I play 3 Duress in my side and I think that they are enough for me, even now, that trickbind or WipreAway could curse our victories

Maxx

[pyr0ma5ta]

My point was exactly that.  MDG, as currently envisioned, with 30+ blue cards and splashing for 4 restricted cards and Recoup, cannot work in an environment featuring such efficient hosers.  Duress most definitely solves the problem, but black mana is required.

[Dakkon]

Anybody think Oath will hit any top 8's in the future fish environment?

Because Oath seems to be an effective answer to the fish problem.

I thought about making an Oath sb for my MDG list in case split second got out of hand

The sb configuration would be:

4 forgotten orchard
1 tropical Island
4 Oath
2 SSS
2 pyroblast
2 REB

Something along those lines would hose fish presumebly and would also have to tools for the control match. And the Combo match-up is already in favor of MDG so I dont see that being a problem.

That side-board is assuming theres a MD tendrils replacing burning wish.

And if more sb space is absolutly necessary, I could see putting forgotten orchard (either 2 or 4) main deck or taking them out altogether since Fish needs creatures out to win anyway.

What are peoples thoughts of an Oath transitional sideboard?

[nataz]

15 cards to beat fish seems way overboard. For starters, if the oath SB is just to beat fish I don't think you need the FOs because like you said, fish needs creatures to win.

If you are planing on bringing in the Oath SB against decks other then fish, by all means keep the FO; only problem is when will the Oath SB give you an advantage outside of the fish match? Especially so with your choice of creatures.

Another problem with a 15 card SB is what do you take out, and is the sideboard you are putting in make up for a less powerful deck? Is the surprise/mis-SB by the fish player even worth playing an oath deck that won't be very good?

Personally I'd rather have something like a swamp + duress in my sb to provide a stronger black manabase in addition to some of the more classic fish hate, then the oath SB.

[dicemanx]

Oath conversions can be effecive against any mana denial/prison strategy which includes both Fish and Workshop decks. Sometimes instead of fighting against strong Stax SB lock/hate cards or graveyard hate its better to have a radical change in strategy to circumvent all of that. Oath conversions can also be useful against opposing Oath decks (by bringing in the Forbidden Orchards to buy time and make it risky for the opposing Oath deck to drop a quick Oath into play). Finally, they can be useful against Drain decks from time to time if they bring in an overwhelming amount of REB/Pyro/Crypts game 2.

[Dakkon]

15 cards to beat fish seems way overboard. For starters, if the oath SB is just to beat fish I don't think you need the FOs because like you said, fish needs creatures to win.

If you are planing on bringing in the Oath SB against decks other then fish, by all means keep the FO; only problem is when will the Oath SB give you an advantage outside of the fish match? Especially so with your choice of creatures.

Another problem with a 15 card SB is what do you take out, and is the sideboard you are putting in make up for a less powerful deck? Is the surprise/mis-SB by the fish player even worth playing an oath deck that won't be very good?

Personally I'd rather have something like a swamp + duress in my sb to provide a stronger black manabase in addition to some of the more classic fish hate, then the oath SB.

Its not really a 15 card sb dedicated to fish. its an 11 card sb dedicated to fish. The 4 REB's are geared torward both fish and other control decks. I could see taking out 2 reb's and adding 2 tormod's crypt though.

Siding out cards is really easy. all you really have to do is take out the volcs, 2 islands, and maybe a fetch to fit the lands in. and then take out something like 2 merchant scroll or misdirection, 2 gifts, 1 recoup, and 1 tendrils or something to fit in the rest of the cards.

With that configuration you still have a really decent Oath deck.

And since Oath is good against both stax and fish, you have 11 cards dedicated to those match-ups, with the rest dedicated to combo/control with the crypts/REB's.

Is this sideboard effective in taking down a fishy meta? and letting MDG dodge the hate?

[desolutionist]

If 11 cards of your sideboard are dedicated to Fish, I'd consider not playing Gifts at all in your metagame.  Or at least change the maindeck drastically.

Personally I'd rather have something like a swamp + duress in my sb to provide a stronger black manabase in addition to some of the more classic fish hate, then the oath SB.

Swamp also gives you access to Massacre without having to worry about Wastelands.

[Dakkon]

If 11 cards of your sideboard are dedicated to Fish, I'd consider not playing Gifts at all in your metagame.  Or at least change the maindeck drastically.

Personally I'd rather have something like a swamp + duress in my sb to provide a stronger black manabase in addition to some of the more classic fish hate, then the oath SB.

Swamp also gives you access to Massacre without having to worry about Wastelands.

You must not understand. The creatures arent really the problem in the fish match-up. The problem is Wipe-Away and the new stifle (sorta, not really). MDG already had a not-so-good match-up vs fish. Having an Oath board makes it so if their playing fish or stax, you win games 2 and 3.

The transitional sb also makes it so your opponent is playing against a completly different deck which can throw them off.

MDG already has a decent game vs combo and the REB's would be the only card in the sb you would bring in vs control anyways. I dont see this deck losing anyhting to having a transitional sb.

Lets look at the gencon winners sb:
3 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chain Of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroclasm
1 Tendrils Of Agony

now, the 4 REB stay in.

Pithing needle- is for...welders? And welders are really useful with a SSS staring at you right?
2 tormods crypt?- Combo is one of MDG's best match-ups. If their graveyard is a problem just take out 2 reb's or 2 forbidden orchard,
hurkyl's and CoV- The Oath board is also an effective sb for stax, so the extra recall isnt needed. You have a CoV MD already with 2-4 merchant scrolls (depending on how you sb)
And this sb would be if you MD tendirls of agony. so pyroclasm and tendrils are already freed.

I believe those 11 spots would be perfectly covered by an Oath board. And the Oath board also seems more effective at dealing with MDG's worst match-up.

Though duress would still work if your against an incompetant player that doesnt know how to use brainstorm or counters, and massacre doesnt solve the whole juntun grunt thing from making your graveyard cry.

[Gekoratel]

If your looking for a build of Gifts that has a solid Fish matchup I would consider Mike Hetherington's deck from the T8 of Boston.  I realize that this thread is mainly geared towards Meandeck Gifts but I thought this list would be worth mentioning.

Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

Artifact Creatures
1 Darksteel Colossus

Instants
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Dark Ritual
1 Fact Or Fiction
4 Force Of Will
3 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Repeal
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sorceries
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Merchant Scroll
1 Recoup
1 Tendrils Of Agony
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Basic Lands
2 Island

Basic Snow Lands
2 Snow-covered Island

Lands
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island

Legendary Lands
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
4 Chalice Of The Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sundering Titan
1 Darkblast
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pyroblast
1 Rack And Ruin
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroclasm

The main differences in the maindeck are the 3x Repeals and Dark Ritual to speed up the deck.  Repeal is savage against Fish because it is an efficient answer to Chalice and also deals with every other problem card.  When a deck like Gifts can use all of its mana then it is completly broken and repeal helps a lot to ensuring this in the fish matcup.  I realize that this doesn't address Wipe Away or Trickbind but I don't think Gifts will need to shift that dramatically.

Though duress would still work if your against an incompetant player that doesnt know how to use brainstorm or counters, and massacre doesnt solve the whole juntun grunt thing from making your graveyard cry.

I believe that if the Gifts player has enough time to setup it is not very unrealisitc that they could cast a duress with enough counter backup to get it through.  Even if the fish player has double trick bind all the Gifts player needs in Duress + Yawgmoth's Will.  If the fish player tries to BS it on top the turn the Gift's player is winning big deal.

[desolutionist]

You must not understand. The creatures arent really the problem in the fish match-up. The problem is Wipe-Away and the new stifle (sorta, not really). MDG already had a not-so-good match-up vs fish. Having an Oath board makes it so if their playing fish or stax, you win games 2 and 3.

I understand perfectly, and the creatures are the problem in the Fish match-up just as much as Wipe-Away, Trickbind, or Extract.  If your opponent isn't using Meddling Mage and/or True Believer, then he isn't play Fish.

Though duress would still work if your against an incompetant player that doesnt know how to use brainstorm or counters, and massacre doesnt solve the whole juntun grunt thing from making your graveyard cry.

First of all, you play Duress as you're going off.  (When your GY = your hand)  If Yawgmoth's Will resolved, then Duress is going to resolve. 

Second of all, I never claimed that Massacre answers Jotun Grunt.  I merely supported the use of a basic swamp because it allows you to cast Massacre without having to worry about Wastelands.  Fish runs 16-18 creatures.  I'd say if a single card answers 14-16 of them, it's worth using.

Third of all, Jotun Grunt isn't a threat because of its cumulative upkeep; It's threatening because its a 4/4 for 2.  I think that's why the more intelligent half of us choose to sideboard 2-3 Threads in addition to 1-2 Massacres/Pyroclasms.   

[BreathWeapon]

Anybody think Oath will hit any top 8's in the future fish environment?

Because Oath seems to be an effective answer to the fish problem.

I thought about making an Oath sb for my MDG list in case split second got out of hand

The sb configuration would be:

4 forgotten orchard
1 tropical Island
4 Oath
2 SSS
2 pyroblast
2 REB

Something along those lines would hose fish presumebly and would also have to tools for the control match. And the Combo match-up is already in favor of MDG so I dont see that being a problem.

That side-board is assuming theres a MD tendrils replacing burning wish.

And if more sb space is absolutly necessary, I could see putting forgotten orchard (either 2 or 4) main deck or taking them out altogether since Fish needs creatures out to win anyway.

What are peoples thoughts of an Oath transitional sideboard?

I was considering if Oath would be better in the MD than in the SB since Red for Recoup, Red Elemental Blast and Rack and Ruin doesn't make a great deal of sense when Green gives Regrowth and Krosan Reclamation, Black gives Duress, Blue gives Energy Flux and Oath improves the Fish and Stax match ups. Oath, Orchard go! gives the deck more broken plays, more mulligan strategies, more Gifts piles, and it circumvents Meddling Mage and True Beleiver. MD Duress are better than Misdirection, and Oath vs Scroll is a subject for debate. You lose 2 Fetch Lands, 2 Islands, 4 Merchant Scrolls, Recoup, 3 Misdirection and a bounce spell for 4 Forbidden Orchard, 4 Oath of Druids, Krosan Reclamation,  4 Duress and you can cut Fact or Fiction for Vampiric Tutor (which I highly recommend)

[cssamerican]

I haven't played very many games lately and none with the cards from Time Spiral. So, everything I am saying is based in theory and not playtesting; therefore, if you feel playtesting disproves my points feel free to bring that up. I doubt Wipe Away becomes that popular because its cost is high enough that it in many cases it is just as easy to cast plows through protection, but if I am wrong about this it will just strengthen my point so its kind of mute for this argument anyway. It seems to me that if Trickbind (possibly a format warping solution card) becomes heavily played, Tendrils of Agony will require some type of proactive protection to be effective. Having one of your only two ways to win completely nullified by one card is unacceptable. If the deck now has to play Duress immediately before storming for the kill, I have to ask myself why play this over GrimLong or Dragon? GrimLong is faster and Dragon has been developed over a long period of time to fight hate and is quite proficient at it in the hands of good players. What is the benefit of playing MDGifts if Trickbind becomes extremely popular?

[God_Campbell]

Well I can see MDG switching to duress, just up the sea count to 3, and throw in a few duress and it will help solve the new split second cards.

[desolutionist]

I haven't played very many games lately and none with the cards from Time Spiral. So, everything I am saying is based in theory and not playtesting; therefore, if you feel playtesting disproves my points feel free to bring that up. I doubt Wipe Away becomes that popular because its cost is high enough that it in many cases it is just as easy to cast plows through protection, but if I am wrong about this it will just strengthen my point so its kind of mute for this argument anyway.

Plow through protection is three cards and is still not even guaranteed to resolve.  What is more efficient?  1 card @ 3 mana or 3-5 cards @ 1 mana?  

However, despite the obvious disadvantages I will agree that Wipe Away won't be played because it isn't significant enough to eliminate available sideboard slots.  Because of the inherent nature of the matchup, Fish tends to be able to resolve a Plow without much difficulty -- The Gifts player is already devoting a large portion of his counterspells to protecting the other win condition from Meddling Mages, Null Rods, Extracts, and opposing Force of Wills.  Wipe-Away is a overkill;  Fish handles Colossus well enough.

It seems to me that if Trickbind (possibly a format warping solution card) becomes heavily played, Tendrils of Agony will require some type of proactive protection to be effective. Having one of your only two ways to win completely nullified by one card is unacceptable. If the deck now has to play Duress immediately before storming for the kill, I have to ask myself why play this over GrimLong or Dragon? GrimLong is faster and Dragon has been developed over a long period of time to fight hate and is quite proficient at it in the hands of good players. What is the benefit of playing MDGifts if Trickbind becomes extremely popular?

Questioning the effectiveness of Grim Long over Gifts is trivial because they are two completely different decks with different capabilities.  Both use Duress without inconvenience and the usage of one over the other only depends on your personal preference and the given metagame.

[AJFirst]

Quite frankly, there are two reasons to play Duress in Gifts.

1. You're desperately afraid of split second spells in your meta
2. You're not confidant in your ability go play the most powerful version of the deck.

By dilluting the core of the deck with more black cards than needed you hurt your mana base as well as the density of control elements that work in conjunction with eachother. You can't Merchant Scroll for Duress. Being able to build your hand to the point where Yawgmoth's Will will resolve is what Gifts does best. Duress is an unecesary safety net for control mirrors. You 'ensure' that will resolves by playing a stronger early game and developing a hand that puts you in a position to win the game.

Just my opinion. I beleive the most condensced version of the deck is the best because it's consistant.
-AJ

[Metman]

Quite frankly, there are two reasons to play Duress in Gifts.

1. You're desperately afraid of split second spells in your meta
2. You're not confidant in your ability go play the most powerful version of the deck.

By dilluting the core of the deck with more black cards than needed you hurt your mana base as well as the density of control elements that work in conjunction with eachother. You can't Merchant Scroll for Duress. Being able to build your hand to the point where Yawgmoth's Will will resolve is what Gifts does best. Duress is an unecesary safety net for control mirrors. You 'ensure' that will resolves by playing a stronger early game and developing a hand that puts you in a position to win the game.

Just my opinion. I beleive the most condensced version of the deck is the best because it's consistant.
-AJ

I'm not going to argue what the best build, what cards are best, etc in Gifts but how is adding Duress in place of Misdirection not "condensced"?  I think that this kind of mentality makes decks and formats stagnant.  This is especially bad in a time when a new set is just released that will shake some things up in the format, and most notably in storm combo decks. 

In my experience of playing with and against Gifts I have only seen the deck Merchant Scroll for Misdirection once and that was once in a post sideboard game after he duressed me and saw that I had Ancestral in my hand.  I see FoW, MD, Gifts, Ancestral, and bounce as the most common targets.  So the argument that Duress can't be scrolled up seems bad.  There are far better targets than Misdirection. 

The only problem I see with adding Duress is the Sea count going up and the island count going down.  The deck can still get away with running four basics though.

Point number two seems like an ignorant comment to make.  Duress has always been a great control card the only difference is that it's proactive as disruption and protection as opposed to reactive. 

[dicemanx]

Duress has been good to me in my Gifts builds, but I know that I was one of the few that ran it regardless of whether the Gifts builds in question were MDG or BMG. I don't consider them some sort of compromise or inferior to alternatives like Misd - they are just different, and potent under different sets of circumstances compared to Misdirection. Playing with Duress is a skill in itself as well, much like knowing how to time your Brainstorms effectively, so I wouldn't be surprised if the strength Duress is misevaluated (if I might be so bold) or that the fragility of the mana base is overestimated if the deck went up to 3 Underground Seas.

Just my opinion. I beleive the most condensced version of the deck is the best because it's consistant.

BMG vs MDG isn't a matter of consistency - its more a case of aggro vs control. BMG is in my experience more flexible, not too bothered by hate cards, and with a better capability of generating card advantage and overwhelming other Drain decks. MDG is more aggressive, able to combo off faster (hence your "more consistent" assessment), but its more vulnerable to hate and particularly mana denial strategies and tends to be weaker vs other Drain decks that actually run Duresses and real draw engines. The differences are subtle and sometimes not even noticeable, but there are there. Neither approach is particularly superior, but I've always felt like BMG offered better chances at outplaying stronger Drain or combo playing opponents along with waker players that might favor the mana denial strategies.

[desolutionist]

2. You're not confidant in your ability go play the most powerful version of the deck.

I fail to see a correlation between playing Duress over Misdirection and my ability to pilot Meandeck Gifts.

By dilluting the core of the deck with more black cards than needed you hurt your mana base as well as the density of control elements that work in conjunction with eachother.

That's assuming that Meandeck Gifts is the optimal list and that every card shares equal value within the strategy.  There isn't much proof to backup that claim;  Gifts Control consistently places better than Meandeck.  The only decent finish that can be recalled within the last few months is 1st at Worlds.

Obviously Gifts as an archetype is capable of functioning just as efficiently with nominal changes to the accepted list.  

You can't Merchant Scroll for Duress.

That isn't a very solid justification for your argument.  If, to remain competitive in an environment, the Merchant Scroll count needs to be lowered then it needs to be lowered.  Merchant Scroll is a good card, but it shouldn't prevent the deck from winning.

[EotGiftsGG?]

BMG vs MDG isn't a matter of consistency - its more a case of aggro vs control. BMG is in my experience more flexible, not too bothered by hate cards, and with a better capability of generating card advantage and overwhelming other Drain decks. MDG is more aggressive, able to combo off faster (hence your "more consistent" assessment), but its more vulnerable to hate and particularly mana denial strategies and tends to be weaker vs other Drain decks that actually run Duresses and real draw engines. The differences are subtle and sometimes not even noticeable, but there are there. Neither approach is particularly superior, but I've always felt like BMG offered better chances at outplaying stronger Drain or combo playing opponents along with waker players that might favor the mana denial strategies.

You're right. If anything, I think You might have the roles reversed a little bit.. Our Version of Gifts is "the combo" deck compared to MeanDeckGifts. in Every scenario, even back in the belcher and flame vault days, GGifts was faster than MDG, and wins every control match. It doesnt lose to a duress, and has the best draw engine that can be acheived. Tweaking MDG for timespiral? was it viable before timespiral? i dont remember seeing it have the same results lately as other versions of gifts.

[cssamerican]

It seems to me that if Trickbind (possibly a format warping solution card) becomes heavily played, Tendrils of Agony will require some type of proactive protection to be effective. Having one of your only two ways to win completely nullified by one card is unacceptable. If the deck now has to play Duress immediately before storming for the kill, I have to ask myself why play this over GrimLong or Dragon? GrimLong is faster and Dragon has been developed over a long period of time to fight hate and is quite proficient at it in the hands of good players. What is the benefit of playing MDGifts if Trickbind becomes extremely popular?

Questioning the effectiveness of Grim Long over Gifts is trivial because they are two completely different decks with different capabilities.  Both use Duress without inconvenience and the usage of one over the other only depends on your personal preference and the given metagame.

MDGifts or any Gifts deck that I have ever played wasn't dependent on casting Duress in the same turn it played ToA. Grimlong is more suited to this type of play due to running 4 Dark Rituals, Dragon is suited to it because it only cost two mana to win. My point is I have always felt Gifts deck were strong because they were almost as fast as other decks and your counters (Mana Drain, Force of Will, and to some degree Misdirection) could play double duty by slowing your opponent down while at the same time protecting your win condition when cast. All of the blue disruption is useless versus Trickbind and you don't have as much free mana to play with as other combo deck when going for the win; therefore, in many cases it will be harder to Duress the turn you combo out. In other words, if you have to fight against Trickbind frequently it seems like other decks are better suited to do so, am I wrong in this line of thought?

[Implacable]

You're right. If anything, I think You might have the roles reversed a little bit.. Our Version of Gifts is "the combo" deck compared to MeanDeckGifts. in Every scenario, even back in the belcher and flame vault days, GGifts was faster than MDG, and wins every control match. It doesnt lose to a duress, and has the best draw engine that can be acheived. Tweaking MDG for timespiral? was it viable before timespiral? i dont remember seeing it have the same results lately as other versions of gifts.

Ego-trip much?  Can you spell W-O-R-L-D C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N?

I'm sorry to respond negatively, but it seems like you are just ignoring the inconvenient facts.  Meandeck Gifts has consistently posted excellent results, and I honestly doubt that the Split Second spells will impact it much.  If they become too prevalent, Duress can be added to the sideboard, but because they're unlikely to be maindeck, they should not be a problem at all.

[Eddie]

Quite frankly, there are two reasons to play Duress in Gifts.

1. You're desperately afraid of split second spells in your meta
2. You're not confidant in your ability go play the most powerful version of the deck.

I've always thought that duress is better than misdirection. I've been playing 2 duress main and one in the side for more than a year now.  But hey, I only made T8 in every tournament (minus one) I played with this deck.

I have tested both misdirection en duress extensivly. We had some heated arguments on the team boards, and my conclusion was "misdirection is crap compared to duress". So maybe I exaggerated during the discussions, but there is some truth in it. It's easy to duress before going off. And it is much stronger in the early game (turn 1). I've playing against storm combo multiple times, with misdirection sitting in my hand after passing the turn, looking how I'm being torn apart. What are you going to misdirect against storm combo? First turn duress (only if you know against which deck you play of course) will get mana drain online, which buys 2 turns (duress and drain). Misdirection is brilliant in a meta where people cast unprotected recalls, or you are only going to play against control, but this just doesn't happen.

Yes, you have to change the manabase somewhat (-1 island, +1 underground sea), but you can play with only 4 basics without too much problems. Duress is also a sorcery, which means it can be burning wished (if you play it), or recouped.

[desolutionist]

My point is I have always felt Gifts deck were strong because they were almost as fast as other decks and your counters (Mana Drain, Force of Will, and to some degree Misdirection) could play double duty by slowing your opponent down while at the same time protecting your win condition when cast.

Assuming that your definition of Gifts is correct, your logic makes perfect sense.  However, I'm not convinced your definition is correct.  I've always felt that Gifts was potent acting as the epitome of control decks.  It establishes card advantage and then wins on the spot;  It's more than capable of winning a long battle of card advantage and it has the finesse to immediately win during the first and possibly only opportunity.

All of the blue disruption is useless versus Trickbind and you don't have as much free mana to play with as other combo deck when going for the win; therefore, in many cases it will be harder to Duress the turn you combo out.

A lot of times this isn't true.  Especially when you're able to CoV or Rebuild your moxen to double your mana.  Just in my last match against Stax, I had 4 Black, 6 Blue, 3 colorless, and 1 Green mana floating before casting a lethal ToA.  It might even be necessary to resolve a 2nd Gifts before going off to have access to Duress, consequently filling your graveyard with more mana sources and/or Rebuild/CoV.

[hitman]

I think I agree with Eddie about Duress over Misdirection.  My build has a more forgiving mana base for black to begin with since i mainboard Tendrils and Dark Ritual.  I only side 3 Duress but if i see a lot of Trickbind, I may mainboard them.  Gifts clicked for me when I playtested Pitch Long and noticed that if you often go for the Tendrils kill with Gifts, the two decks play out very similarily.  I mainboarded 1 Swamp, 1Tendrils, and 1 Dark Ritual.  I might switch the Swamp to an Underground Sea.  My reasoning for swamp over U. Sea was the Stax matchup is a hard one and I don't want them to Wasteland me. My list is as follows:

4 Brainstorm
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
5 Moxes
1 Tolarian Academy

1 Tinker
1 DSC
1 Dark Ritual
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Fact or Fiction
1 A. Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Recoup
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 M.Tutor
1 D.Tutor
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild (I tried Hurkyl's and hated it)

4 Island
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Polluted Delta (3)
1 Flooded Strand (2)

Sideboard:

1 Massacre
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Fire/Ice
3 Duress
1 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crpyt
2 Pithing Needle
2 Changed On a Week to Week Basis

There aren't really major tweaks but any thoughts on the build would be helpful.  Thanks.

[Vale_psionic]

Swamp?!? OMFG....will you ever cast mana drain after a 1st turn swamp?
Swamp simply doesn't belong to gifts.

[hitman]

Swamp?!? OMFG....will you ever cast mana drain after a 1st turn swamp?
Swamp simply doesn't belong to gifts.

Yeah, you're right.  I put it in 'cause my friend plays stax and I didn't want to be vulnerable to him but thinking about it has made me realize i don't pop the fetchland 'til I'm going off anyway.  Thanks for the tip.  Really the only addition besides Swamp is Dark Ritual and the addition of Dark Ritual makes my Gifts piles easier i think.

I use to play V.Tutor but to play it early i had to fetch U. Sea.  That made me weak to Wasteland so I put in the Swamp.  Then i cut V.Tutor cause the weaknesses outweighed the strengths to me.  If I mainboard it then I'll run into it in my opening hand sometimes against Stax.  I didn't want it weighing my hand down early since i can't safely cast it without walking into Wasteland.  I know it's good against Duress but I personally run into more Wastelands on the board than opponents playing with Duress.  I felt the Stax matchup was hard enough and I didn't want to be tempted to mistakenly cast V.Tutor and walk myself into a Wasteland.  With the addition of Dark Ritual, all that is inconsequential, though, so I can just put in the U.Sea.

Double Posts Merged.
-- TAL

[desolutionist]

the addition of Dark Ritual makes my Gifts piles easier i think.

How so?  You already have Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Black Lotus, Rebuild, and Chain of Vapor.  Another accelerant isn't necessary.

You'll just have more dead weight.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

the addition of Dark Ritual makes my Gifts piles easier i think.

How so?  You already have Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Black Lotus, Rebuild, and Chain of Vapor.  Another accelerant isn't necessary.

You'll just have more dead weight.

Dark Ritual makes it possible to go off with much less mana with a pile of say, Recoup, Yawgmoth's Will, Dark Ritual, Black Lotus, because it can be played before Will and then replayed afterward (if they put in in your hand).  I'm not saying that it's necessarily worth the space, but it can speed the deck up and make it easier to win, because you can get BB for Tendrils using Ritual even with Null Rod or something in play.

Edit:  The fact that it provides black mana as opposed to colourless like mana crypt can be quite important.  I'm undecided on the inclusion of ritual or not as of yet (it's probably a tweak that can vary according to the meta), but the fact is that playing without it I can remember at least one game recently where I would have won if I had been running Dark Ritual (I needed black mana out of Gifts to Demonic Tutor, Will, and win, but couldn't get 3 non-land black sources because I had already burned petal).  I couldn't go off and my Grim Long opponent ended up resolving a draw 7 on his turn and eventually going on to win the game.

When I tested with it there were games I won with it that I wouldn't have won otherwise (against Ichorid, for example, Mystical Tutoring for Dark Ritual at his end of turn and then going off with Will on my turn, the turn before he would have killed me, I had exactly enough mana and storm to win.

So it can be an asset to have in the deck, because it really speeds up your goldfish and can help you to race people.  When I tested with it I cut a Misdirection for it.  Misdirection is a great card, but it can be dead weight against a lot of decks.  Stealing Ancestral Recall is nice, but aside from that Misdirection is only good against certain decks (mostly control, but I guess it can be useful against Fish and Pitch Long to an extent, too.  It's often dead weight against Stax and Ichorid.

[desolutionist]

Dark Ritual makes it possible to go off with much less mana with a pile of say, Recoup, Yawgmoth's Will, Dark Ritual, Black Lotus, because it can be played before Will and then replayed afterward (if they put in in your hand).  I'm not saying that it's necessarily worth the space, but it can speed the deck up and make it easier to win, because you can get BB for Tendrils using Ritual even with Null Rod or something in play.

If your opponent separates the cards correctly, Mana Crypt and Dark Ritual have the same outcome.

Dark Ritual and Recoup (5 Storm, 7 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Recoup (3 Storm, 5 Mana)
Black Lotus and Recoup (5 Storm, 8 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Dark Ritual (4 Storm, 7 mana)
Black Lotus and Dark Ritual (6 Storm, 10 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Black Lotus (4 Storm, 8 mana)

or

Mana Crypt and Recoup (4 Storm, 5 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Recoup (3 Storm, 5 Mana)
Black Lotus and Recoup (5 Storm, 8 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Mana Crypt (3 Storm, 5 mana)
Black Lotus and Mana Crypt (5 Storm, 8 mana)
Yawgmoth's Will and Black Lotus (4 Storm, 8 mana)