[Free Article] So Many Insane Plays - Meandeck Gifts 2015

[Smmenen]

Gifts is one of my favorite cards of all time, and, as a card, I think Gifts is better than ever. The changed card pool presents many opportunities and challenges for Gifts, and it is an exciting time to be a Vintage Gifts player.

Over the last few weeks I've enjoyed seeing the myriad takes on Gifts decks in Vintage surface as folks try a variety of approaches with Gifts.  I hope you enjoy my take:

http://www.eternalcentral.com/giftsweek-so-many-insane-plays-meandeck-gifts-2015/

Also, so folks can see the deck in action, and in honor of #GiftsWeek at Eternal Central, I streamed three matches against Workshops, Delver, and Combo last night:

http://www.twitch.tv/smmenen/b/620249884

[Space_Stormy]

Have you tested running Tezzeret, the Seeker in the flex spot you mentioned? It seems really good since you're running Noxious Revival since you can go Key/Revival/Tezz/Tinker and leave the Vault in your deck for yet another auto win.  Also, do you miss Drains? That is the biggest change I see from other people's lists along with the 4x Snapcasters.

[H]

I'll probably throw this together and see how it goes, however, only 3 Dredge hate in the board?  That is dicey.

[Hrishi]

I will admit I am fairly confused by this list. In your article you talk about how Null Rod and Cage are some of the bigger foils to Gifts. How exactly are you answering them in your list? Am I missing something? Just having 2 Hurkyl's Recall in the main does not seem to be sufficient to answer those cards. You have artifact hate out of the board, of course, but you would have them for shops anyway. I agree that these cards are the most problematic ones to solve when running a Gifts-based strategy.

I do disagree with your assessment of Recoup. You can create some unbeatable piles with this card. This card exceeded any expectations I had for it.

[Space_Stormy]

The deck really only needs 1 turn to win.  EOT Hurkyl's Recall turning on the mana to Gifts and then untap and win.

[diopter]

Nice to see Noxious Revival, I'd thought of that exact same thing as a Key Vault enabler with my 4-Snapcaster prototype but discarded it as too cute. I'll have to retest it.

I'm assuming that 4 Missteps come it v Shops, but also some number of Snapcasters? I always regret that card in the Shop matchup in almost any context. It's part of the reason my aforementioned prototype hasn't really gotten off the ground.

EDIT: RTFA - you list your shops SB plan. I'm still nervous about the awkwardness of 4 Gifts 4 Snaps with only a play set of Chewers and dual Hurks backup. Given any thought to more SB Hurks? That way you increase the efficacy of the "mana into Hurks into Gifts into win on the spot" plan since you likely natural draw into all the components of said plan.

[WhiteLotus]

how does your list gifts for value or win when gifts is not an option? you don't have singletons like jace or dig through time you can gifts for to break parity in control mirror. 4 gifts is a lot if you consider the number of times you absolutely dont want to draw more than one, I think 3 is he right number, which lets you run a jace and/or Tezzeret that give you more lines with gifts and can lead to natural wins without gifts.  not playing mana drain or any form of creature hate (aside from the singleton wish into pyroclasm) md seems like bad design. I don't understand why you'd only want one wish?
2 hurkyls md? what meta is that for?
 10 counters is far from enough if you want to win vs other blue decks and combo imo snapcaster is cool but he does not replace counter slots. I'd think you want to play at least 12 and up to 14/15

all in all your list is far from being a revolution to gifts builds people have been brewing recently like you claimed it would be on the other thread.

[PeAcH]

Deck seems nice but in order to open some slots for Dredge hate (deck is not so fast as to be able to race it if you don´t draw moxen) I would:

-1 Burning
+1 Tendrils

Side:

-1 Shattering Spree
-1 Tendrils
+2 Dredge hate

Moving Tendrils to main can allow to easy kills (specially with double Hurkyl´s).

I would also:

-1 Pyroclasm
+1 Deluge

Because sometimes Goyf/Merfolk happenz.

I feel I miss Thirst (Jace seems out of question living in an hyperaggresive meta) to get rid of Colossus. Or at least a Thoughtseize to do the trick if needed.

Regarding Drain, I would try to fit 1 in to tutor for as a hard counter. I have lowered Drains down to 2 and I have always said it´s the most chunky card in the deck.

Anyway, thanks for the article, it´s a very nice read!

[Samoht]

I feel as if this list falls prey to the same issues that Burning Oath faced without having Oath cover it's flaws. I'm not seeing any plan here for the 3 major shop archetypes nor for the tempo blue decks you've been championing for the last year or so.

[Twaun007]

I played a Scalding Tarn and passed the turn. My opponent played a Mishra’s Workshop, Mox Ruby, and Sphere of Resistance. On my second turn, I played the Misty Rainforest and passed. He then played a Lodestone Golem, and I fetched an Island and a Mountain, and cast Brainstorm in response, seeing Mana Crypt and Mana Vault. On my third turn, I tapped the Mountain to cast Mana Crypt, then tapped Mana Crypt to cast Mana Vault, then played the Tolarian Academy. I easily cast Tinker. On his turn, he played Kuldotha Forgemaster, and I cast both Time Walk and Hurkyl’s Recall on him, to easily win the game from this point.

Workshops are also at a gigantic disadvantage on the draw. In one game I played on Magic Online, my first turn was Mana Crypt, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Gifts Ungiven (with multiple lands and a Snapcaster Mage in hand) for: Ancestral Recall, Tinker, Black Lotus and Yawgmoth’s Will. He gave me Lotus and Tinker, which I think was defensible.

I played Lotus, and cast Snapcaster, Ancestral, drawing: Lotus Petal, Ponder, and Sea. I then played Ponder off a basic Island, and saw Hurkyl’s Recall and Thoughtseize, which I popped into my hand, and cast it off the Petal, seeing both a Tangle Wire and a Metamorph, taking the former. I went on to play Tinker and then Hurkyl’s Recall his Phyrexian Metaphorph for the win.

May I put a vintage article request in on what it's like to draw god?  

Good article though. It's interesting to see the different evolutionary paths gifts decks have taken.

[ApolloGod]

I've been testing a similar list online (with green splash) and it's consistent, fun, resilient, and reliable. A large percentage of my Gifts piles contain one (or both) of Snapcaster and Noxious Revival. Both cards offer tremendous resiliency in any situation.

Finally, Ancient Grudge is great main deck (I run 1x Tropical main.) Grudge in a Gifts Pile is amazing. Sometimes it's a single spot removal; other times it's a double-dip (cast from hand, then from GY.)

[vaughnbros]

So what's the plan against dredge?  Just scoop up your cards?  The 1 burning wish doesn't make a whole lot of sense and just seems to be clogging up the sideboard.

Otherwise the deck seems ok.  All the good singletons + 4 snapcaster + 4 gifts.

[Smmenen]

Alot of good/interesting points, many of which are addressed in the article, but a few of which aren't.

how does your list gifts for value or win when gifts is not an option?

The first part of this question is perhaps the most important thing I didn't address in the article.  Whereas in the past Gifting for value meant getting mostly non-restricted cards, Gifts is now a much more aggressive play because of Snapcaster Mage.  The framing of the question reflects an antiquated way of thinking about Gifts, imo.  You create value by getting great cards, and having reliable/consistent Snapcaster as a threat to recur them, generating information asymmetry and playing on it.

As for how this deck wins without Gifts, it's basically a Grixis deck otherwise.  So, you know, Tinker, Yawg Will, etc.

I've been testing a similar list online (with green splash) and it's consistent, fun, resilient, and reliable. A large percentage of my Gifts piles contain one (or both) of Snapcaster and Noxious Revival. Both cards offer tremendous resiliency in any situation.

Finally, Ancient Grudge is great main deck (I run 1x Tropical main.) Grudge in a Gifts Pile is amazing. Sometimes it's a single spot removal; other times it's a double-dip (cast from hand, then from GY.)

This is one of the many points that is discussed in the article.  I talked about this at several points.

what meta is that for?

The Hurkyl's are for generating storm, mana and an anti-Workshop, Cage/Rod tactic.  

This deck is designed primarily for a metagame of Workshops, Delver/Mentor decks, and Blue decks.  

I'm not seeing any plan here for the 3 major shop archetypes nor for the tempo blue decks you've been championing for the last year or so.

The plan for the Shop archetypes is discussed in detail in its own section in the article, especially for such a short article.  Or, you can watch the Shop matchup in the stream where it is discussed.  Shops is probably this decks #1 or #2 target.  I have played a ton of Shop games that I could stream if people want to see more of that.  But this deck is really strong against Shop right now.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Interesting take on gifts. I will say I'm a little concerned with several matchups when looking at your list. You say the shops match up is good. But I'm not really convinced. if you play vs a shops deck with access to null rod, you'll likely be heavily in the disadvantage and have a hard time winning (see Tera Nova and stacks variants). You play 15 lands which is pretty bad going against shops (granted you have 16th sb). A good hand that goes for tinker or vault key could just steal a game vs shops, but overall I'm not convinced your configuration would beat shops as much as you think...oh and the burning with shattering spree plan has to be pretty bad when your volcanic islands won't stay around vs shops. Wish into spree is better in a 5c mana base in say a burning tendrils type of deck...

Next is dredge. You're not going to beat dredge with this. I mean sure if your opponent is a weak dredge player or you get a hand with a lot of fast mana and gifts...then yeah. But overall I think you want at least 4 slots sb for dredge.

Lastly, I whole heartedly disagree about recoup not being playable or however you said it. Recoup is great in a gifts deck and almost unbeatable. BUT (big time but) I do think recoup is better in a deck like ritual gifts (storm based gifts deck). I didn't have much luck with recoup in drain shells. But in a storm shell it's absolutely insane. Without recoup I'd have to run a mix or revival/regrowth/snapcaster. Where as recoup is 1 slot. But again like I said I probably would only run recoup in a true storm shell

Thanks for the write up and good luck playing the deck!!!

[Smmenen]

if you play vs a shops deck with access to null rod,

For sure.  But it's my assessment that Null Rod Shop decks aren't seeing as much play as the other variants right now if you look at recent tournament results.  That could change of course, but I'm only targeting what's being played at this moment,  not every possible Shop variant.  The Shop variants that are popular right now are soft to this.

My plan for Shops is very strong with 4 Ingot Chewer and 2 Hurkyls as well as another basic. 

For shoring up Dredge, it's not that difficult to squeeze in a few more anti-Dredge sb slots. 

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Fair enough! Our North Eastern meta seems to be having an up tick in the null rods...

Thanks again for writing and sharing

[Smmenen]

A card I didn't test, but would recommend in the 60th slot I talked about in the article, but didn't add to that list is a Repeal.  This deck could have lots of synergies with Repeal. Hurkyl's is better at a 2 Cage board, and against Workshops, but that's a totally defensible choice as well.

[Samoht]

I should have wrote a strong plan. This deck folds to Null Rod heavy so is a huge dog to Terra Nova and modern Smokestack. This deck has issue with Revoker. This deck, as all blue decks, has issues with Thorn and Sphere. Your plan is to play a 4 cmc spell after a 2 cmc spell and you expect all of this to happen on your terms. Any game that they Chalice and Resistor you will lose if they have anything behind it. That's a 4 of and  7 of. Your Snapcaster count is high. I agree its best power is in hand while casting gifts. We only need three then. Against shops adding at least 2 to the cmc of our spells of our own accord is terrible. You take absurdly strong draws in the article and act as if it is a plan."nutdraw my opponent in the match up" isn't a reliable plan. Akin to Burning, the list goldfishes well and is consistent in that but you have to make a lot more concessions to bring this to a big event.

[Smmenen]

I should have wrote a strong plan. This deck folds to Null Rod heavy so is a huge dog to Terra Nova and modern Smokestack.

sure, but as I said to Josh:

But it's my assessment that Null Rod Shop decks aren't seeing as much play as the other variants right now if you look at recent tournament results.  That could change of course, but I'm only targeting what's being played at this moment,  not every possible Shop variant.  The Shop variants that are popular right now are soft to this.

My plan for Shops is very strong with 4 Ingot Chewer and 2 Hurkyls as well as another basic. 

Null rods are at a 5 month low because of Delver. Don't expect that to change soon.

As for Smokestack, seems terrible in era of Mentor/Pyro.

Shop decks are surprisingly vulnerable to big mana right now after focusing their fire on Delver of late.  Mana Vault and Academy are incredible. 

[gkraigher]

As for Smokestack, seems terrible in era of Mentor/Pyro.

Agreed, I think MUD needs to start playing more man lands (4 factories and 2-4 mutavault) to deal with dack fayden as well as play hate cards like tabernacle and grafdigger's cage main deck.  

[Samoht]

I should have wrote a strong plan. This deck folds to Null Rod heavy so is a huge dog to Terra Nova and modern Smokestack.

sure, but as I said to Josh:

But it's my assessment that Null Rod Shop decks aren't seeing as much play as the other variants right now if you look at recent tournament results.  That could change of course, but I'm only targeting what's being played at this moment,  not every possible Shop variant.  The Shop variants that are popular right now are soft to this.

My plan for Shops is very strong with 4 Ingot Chewer and 2 Hurkyls as well as another basic. 

Null rods are at a 5 month low because of Delver. Don't expect that to change soon.

As for Smokestack, seems terrible in era of Mentor/Pyro.

Shop decks are surprisingly vulnerable to big mana right now after focusing their fire on Delver of late.  Mana Vault and Academy are incredible. 

The list I played last weekend crushes Mentor/Pyromancer and features Smokestack and Null Rod. I think your lack of adaptation to the restriction of Cruise and the unrestriction of Gifts in your meta prediction is severely flawed.

[Smmenen]

I should have wrote a strong plan. This deck folds to Null Rod heavy so is a huge dog to Terra Nova and modern Smokestack.

sure, but as I said to Josh:

But it's my assessment that Null Rod Shop decks aren't seeing as much play as the other variants right now if you look at recent tournament results.  That could change of course, but I'm only targeting what's being played at this moment,  not every possible Shop variant.  The Shop variants that are popular right now are soft to this.

My plan for Shops is very strong with 4 Ingot Chewer and 2 Hurkyls as well as another basic.  

Null rods are at a 5 month low because of Delver. Don't expect that to change soon.

As for Smokestack, seems terrible in era of Mentor/Pyro.

Shop decks are surprisingly vulnerable to big mana right now after focusing their fire on Delver of late.  Mana Vault and Academy are incredible.  

The list I played last weekend crushes Mentor/Pyromancer and features Smokestack and Null Rod. I think your lack of adaptation to the restriction of Cruise and the unrestriction of Gifts in your meta prediction is severely flawed.

And in my matches this weekend I was roughing up all kinds if Workshop variants and pretty much everything else.  This deck is actually aimed at Mentor/Pyro and Workshop decks.  

And just because you played Null Rod in shops doesn't make a trend.
 
You don't think this deck has a strong plan for Shops. I do. That's ok. You said the same thing about UR Delver. I don't expect you to be convinced (e. g. http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=46320.msg643200#msg643200).

Herbig Top 4ed the Top Deck games with this approach at top deck games as well.  

Any game that they Chalice and Resistor you will lose if they have anything behind it.

Besides being hyperbolic, it's obviously untrue.  Watch the video linked in the OP for a simple counterfactual.  I have alot more I could stream if you need more evidence.

Your Snapcaster count is high. I agree its best power is in hand while casting gifts. We only need three then.

This deck is loaded with Haymakers.  Half the time I use Snapcaster is either before Gifts or in games I don't even cast Gifts.

The only reason I would cut a Snapcaster is if I added green and played a Regrowth in that slot, which I've contemplated.

Fair enough! Our North Eastern meta seems to be having an up tick in the null rods...

I haven't seen any published results that demonstrate this as of yet, or at least, not a trend.  

Thanks again for writing and sharing

You're welcome!  Hope folks enjoyed it.

[desolutionist]

I like the deck because it has 4x Snapcaster Mages rather than some of the more boring combinations people have been posting. But I wouldn't play this deck because Snapcaster Mage is too limited of a card for my style of play.

[Smmenen]

I like the deck because it has 4x Snapcaster Mages rather than some of the more boring combinations people have been posting. But I wouldn't play this deck because Snapcaster Mage is too limited of a card for my style of play.

I dunno Shawn, I think this deck would be pretty fierce in your hands.  It's aggressive, and you used to play East Coast wins that way.  Just as importantly, although it's aggressive, it gives the pilot lots of timing options because Snapcaster Mage and Gifts are instants.  I think it's nicely suited to your style of play.  Snapcaster Mage here is merely an instant speed blue regrowth on your best spell, and a blocker to buy a turn more to combo out.

Part of the confusion that people are having is that some of the angles of attack that are prominent in this deck haven't really been salient in the Vintage format is some time.  Vintage players, and probably especially those who are newer (that is, last 2-4 years), are used to seeing decks with plenty of removal, etc in blue decks.  This deck is a Combo-Control deck. All you need to do here is resolve Gifts against alot of what the format offers, and you win the game.  It assembles the Time Vault Combo, executes the Tinker plan (often with Time Walk), or wins via Yawg Will into the aforementioned plays or a Tendrils.  It doesn't need to remove a Pyromancer or a Mentor.  It combos through them.

This deck's game plan is beyond solid: it's ludicrous.  Gifts Ungiven allows us to emphasize, with laser precision, the best cards in the format.  The format over the last few years has gravitated away from haymakers.  The reasons for that are many, but the unrestriction of Gifts Ungiven gives that style of deck a gigantic boost, and this deck is designed to maximize it.  The Misstep/Snapcaster package also allows this deck to survive the early game against the more consistent Gush and Mentor decks.  That's why 4 Misstep is mandatory here.

For folks who don't get it, give it a whirl.  I normally wouldn't recommend that, because a closed mind is probably going to produce bad results (and, almost certainly, bad Gifts piles), but in this case, I think the power of Gifts is quickly evident.  This deck does some of the most broken things you can do in the format (if not the three most broken things), and it has the resilience, consistency and power boost with Gifts to compete in the modern Vintage environment.  And because there is no real ceiling to how good you can get with Gifts, there is tremendous upside in picking up a deck like this.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Is it just me or does it seem like the deck is super super reliant on the grave and something like a Grafdiggers cage or RIP can give this deck a tough time?

Especially cage...it turns off 4 snapcsster, tinker bot, and yawg will. I'm actually surprised you didn't go with a bug she'll for abrupt decay potentially?

[youhavenogame]

While the article didn't fully convince me (your section about Shops seemed a bit made up), the replays did. The deck was working surprisingly well, and I was especially impressed about how strong Snapcaster was in every situation. I love Snapcaster a lot, but in the latest decks I tried him in, he often felt clunky and didn't have the targets I wanted for him. This is very different in your deck.

In the videos you made a lot of misplays and had a lot of options for Gifts piles. I like how you pointed them out and often considered new or different lines. I'd like to see more of these replays as I think we can learn a lot from them. Also, 3 matches are just too few to provide a reliable sample size. Your match against Shops was quite lucky for you, as he made a couple of weird plays and in g3 you couldn't have had a better opening hand given that you were losing to your clock without Tinker. The match against Belcher was just crazy. In g1 you kinda gave him the out, even though you argue with math. I didn't do the math myself, but which kind of sequence would allow him to win the game in this spot, even with another mana available? He was already worn down on Belchers, Tinker probably would have been an out for him, and Tezz seems too expensive in that situation. G2 you just didn't want to win it seems, but what can I say but that these screwups happen to the best. Maybe you were distracted

[Hrishi]

Is it just me or does it seem like the deck is super super reliant on the grave and something like a Grafdiggers cage or RIP can give this deck a tough time?

Especially cage...it turns off 4 snapcsster, tinker bot, and yawg will. I'm actually surprised you didn't go with a bug she'll for abrupt decay potentially?

This was my question as well.

[Samoht]

I think my assessment of UR Delver is accurate. You must have too because you added Green to shore up that match up, at my behest in the same thread you linked.

I wasn't the only one playing Null Rod. All Terra Nova decks do and they made up a sizeable portion of the meta. Other players have finished well with Stax and Rod aside from me in the past 6 months. Just because you ignore a trend that doesn't fit your narrative doesn't make it go away.

[Zharradan]

Thanks for writing the article, Steve.

Minor typo in the "Matchups vs. Workshops" section, just before the sideboard plan:

An Ancient Grudge would be a wonderful card to put into a Gifts pile, but it’s would require a Tropical Island in the maindeck.

[ApolloGod]

Is it just me or does it seem like the deck is super super reliant on the grave and something like a Grafdiggers cage or RIP can give this deck a tough time?

Especially cage...it turns off 4 snapcsster, tinker bot, and yawg will. I'm actually surprised you didn't go with a bug she'll for abrupt decay potentially?

This was my question as well.

In Game 1, against an unknown opponent, I would anticipate that most of my Gifts piles would be heavily reliant on the graveyard. Isn't that the point of Gifts piles? Select 4 cards with the intention of being able to play/cast/recur all of them.

Main deck Ancient Grudge (or nature's claim, or whatever,) is a very easy and fluid adjustment to make.

Grave hate is a problem in every meta (Cage, et. al.). I don't see why that should dissuade us from going for graveyard-intense Gifts piles game 1.

If all of my opponents in my meta were maindecking 3-5 pieces of gravehate (going whole-hog hate for game 1,) then I might adjust the deck list. As it stand, people aren't packing that much graveyard hate game 1 in my experience. Furthermore, the sideboard exists for a reason. You know, game 2 and 3.

I'm perplexed by the knee-jerk reaction that this list folds to X, Y, Z. Please build the deck and try it, in various iterations, with varying splashes to suit your liking. I promise you the deck is highly resilient and utterly consistent.