In a previous life, I might not have played anything except decks like this. Most of the games play out differently, so you’ll rarely get bored playing the same deck over and over again. You can play options to fight any threat in the format, and if you guess the metagame correctly, you’ll be highly rewarded. There are seemingly unlimited options for deckbuilding, especially when you take into consideration the deck’s namesake card–Gifts Ungiven.
Gifts decks are nothing new to Modern, but the banning of Deathrite Shaman both helped and hurt it. Essentially, the deck needed to be retooled and reconfigured. Thankfully, some of the fine folks on Magic Online, such as Section_8, have been doing just that.
Without Deathrite Shaman, the green splash is no longer a necessity. Then again, you don’t really have the luxury of playing four colors with a straight face due to Deathrite Shaman’s absence. On top of it all, the removal of Deathrite Shaman means that your Gifts Ungiven into Unburial Rites plus fatty (if you search for two cards, they both go to the graveyard) gets much better when your opponents don’t have maindeck hate.
Decks with Gifts Ungiven are frequently among the most skill-testing decks to build, pilot, and play against, so if you’ve got time to put in the effort, you will be rewarded. If you have a problem, Gifts Ungiven can probably solve it.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (25)
