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The College Dropout: Giving Gifts

So what are you supposed to do if you want to play Standard, but absolutely abhor the idea of having to play one of the established boring decks? I know casting a Vedalken Shackles and taking control of a dork is not a lot of fun to me, nor is casting a Plow Under, and hoping to draw an Eternal Witness. What else is there? What decks are exciting, and powerful and let you not play with nine-mana sorceries? What decks can you play with that are different – that can take the tournament by surprise and let you have fun while winning matches?

Type Two at this time, may be one of the most boring formats ever forced down the throat of a competitive Magic player. The field, while free from some of the artifact mistakes of sets past is still troubled. Okay, you got me, not so much troubled as it is boring! You can look at the some of the Standard results from the French Regionals, Japanese tournaments, and even events right here in America to figure out why I say the format is one way trip to Yawntown. How different are these decks? Tooth and Nail, Mono-Blue control and sixty-card piles of cards that have Green spells in it are dominating. I’m certain when Affinity was banned, Wizards of the Coast expected the format to open up, and blossom into something better, some more like Extended. While the format has opened up a bit, it certainly has not been as shaken as one would have thought after the bannings.


So what are you supposed to do if you want to play Standard, but absolutely abhor the idea of having to play on of the established boring decks? I know casting a Vedalken Shackles and taking control of a dork is not a lot of fun to me, nor is casting a Plow Under, and hoping to draw an Eternal Witness. What else is there? What decks are exciting, and powerful and let you not play with nine-mana sorceries? What decks can you play with that are different – that can take the tournament by surprise and let you have fun while winning matches?


Enter the French. I’ve been researching the Standard format for some time now, the decklists that began to trickle in after the bannings were slow, but inquisitive players were able to glean a great amount of information and technology. Who knew that Chrome Mox was going to be needed in a Mono-Blue Control deck? Who knew that Zo-Zu, the Punisher was going to be a great tool for Ponza? Who knew that Jitte did not actually belong in White Weenie, but was better suited for the various aggressive Green builds of the field? Who knew that the over hyped Gifts Ungiven would finally have a chance to shine? Frenchie did and when I looked at his decklist for the regional he crushed I knew I found one of the most unique decks of this format!


Mmm, cobbler.

Pinpin.Dec.

7 Forest

4 City of Brass

4 Tendo Ice Bridge

1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

1 Plains

1 Island

1 Swamp

1 Mountain

1 Mirrodin’s Core

21 Lands


1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn

1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror

1 Duplicant

1 Viridian Shaman

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

4 Eternal Witness

3 Etched Oracle

19 Creatures


4 Gifts Ungiven

1 Naturalize

1 Engineered Explosives

1 Terror

1 Persecute

1 Clearwater Goblet

1 Cranial Extraction

1 Wrath of God

1 Sensei’s Divining Top

1 Plow Under

1 Crystal Shard

3 Condescend

3 Kodama’s Reach

20 Spells


Sideboard

1 Quash

1 Sowing Salt

1 Eradicate

1 All Sun’s Dawn

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Circle of Protection: White

1 Naturalize

1 Pyroclasm

1 Karma

1 Sacred Ground

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Boil

1 Flashfires

1 Dosan, the Falling Leaf

1 Defense Grid


Okay, I know that I’m gonna get blasted, I know there are some interesting aspects of this control deck. Why does it run twenty one lands? Why does it run so many different one-ofs? Why is Clearwater Goblet in a deck that won a large tournament? I’ve got the answers for all those questions and more! Just keep reading, and I promise to give as much insight to one of the most exciting decks to hit the scene.


After testing the deck for a few weeks, I reached a couple of conclusions. With four Birds, four Elders, and three Reaches in the deck, you can afford to run a paltry twenty one lands in this deck. You’re almost guaranteed to work out any land screw in with these eleven sources of acceleration in the main. While testing I found some pretty interesting facts as well. You have pretty much a forty to fifty percent matchup with any deck in the format game one. You’re only truly awful matches in the first game are Tooth and Nail (Sundering Titan is a nightmare for this deck) and Mono-Blue Control (only if the opponent knows the matchup well enough, they will take your Birds of Paradise with Shackles, which makes casting your double color spells a little more difficult to cast.) Believe it or not, even the match up with Ponza can be favorable depending on opening draws of both players. I really feel that while this deck does have a little of everything to deal with all the decks in the field, it takes a large amount of play skill to fully master!


I have a feeling that I am starting to get off track, so let me see if I can salvage this article some how. Oh yeah, I’ll go ahead and give you my build of the same deck that I took to a recent one thousand dollar tournament in Kentucky. I’ll explain my choices, give out some sample hands, some match up analysis, and maybe, just maybe I’ll give you a recipe for a delightful apple cobbler when all is said and done!


Hanging with Scottie Pinpin

7 Forest

4 City of Brass

4 Tendo Ice Bridge

1 Mountain

1 Island

1 Swamp

1 Plains

1 Mirrodin’s Core

1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

21 Lands


4 Birds of Paradise

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

4 Eternal Witness

3 Etched Oracle

1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn

1 Duplicant

1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror

18 Creatures


4 Gifts Ungiven

3 Kodama’s Reach

2 Condescend

1 Wrath of God

1 Engineered Explosives

1 Naturalize

1 Persecute

1 Echoing Truth

1 Clearwater Goblet

1 Terror

1 Rude Awakening

1 Cranial Extraction

1 Sensei’s Divining Top

1 Splinter

1 Plow Under

1 Crystal Shard

22 Spells


Sideboard

1 Dosan the Falling Leaf

1 All Suns’ Dawn

1 Naturalize

1 Pyroclasm

1 Flashfires

1 Boil

1 Defense Grid

1 Sowing Salt

1 Karma

1 Circle of Protection: White

1 Eradicate

1 Quash

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Sacred Ground

1 Circle of Protection: Red


Can you spot the minor changes that I made between the two decks? I added a Rude Awakening to the main deck, mainly because I wanted to add one more win condition against the control decks of the field. Also, it is great sometimes to look at the card you draw, and cast it and be like, “Oops, I just won a game that I had no right winning.” Echoing Truth also got the invite to hang out, and I feel that having an extra creature control spell is advantageous in this format, besides, the card is still golden against Sword of Fire and Ice, and Beacon of Creation tokens. The most major change that I made in the deck though is cutting the Viridian Shaman for the hugely better Splinter. This deck does have a hard time dealing with some of the artifacts in the field, and main decking this spell makes sure you do not have to deal with Jitte, Sword and Titan more then once a match! I have a feeling that because of the opening ended style of this deck, there are many better builds available to be played, and there are some cards in my version of the deck that some people are not playing, and the same is for me.


I refuse to play with Bringer of the Black Dawn, which is something that many people have asked about when I play the deck in the tournaments in Kentucky. Really, this guy is fantastic, I think, but it is better to not lose the life every turn because of the White Weenie and Ponza matchups. All Suns’ Dawn is also not in the main because of this reason, it only really shines in the control matchups, when you have the time to recur the used spells again. One would think that Forbidden Orchard would be better in the one of the non-basic land spots, but really the damage you take from the spirit tokens will hurt you more in the long run than the City of Brass will. Sadly, the only card that I want in here that I can not put in here is Mindslaver, not only does it suffer the same problem as All Suns’ Dawn, it’s just much too slow to effectively use in this format. Running Grab the Reins may also be a strong possibility.


Okay, now it is time for some sample hands. You should know the deal by now, I’m going to show five and they were generated using Magic Workstation.


Hand one:

2 Birds of Paradise

1 Forest

1 City of Brass

1 Plow Under

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Condescend


This hand is ideal, it has three peices of mana acceleration, a great spell against Tooth and Nail in Plow Under, and the mana to play them all. I would keep this hand against just about every matchup, but would have a hard time keeping it against White Weenie. This is one of the hands you can only really dream against Ponza.


Hand Two:

2 Birds of Paradise

1 Eternal Witness

1 Plow Under

1 Etched Oracle

1 Eternal Witness

1 Gifts Ungiven


This hands looks great because of the simple fact there are no lands in it – no problem tossing this one back!


Hand Two Mulligan:

1 Forest

1 City of Brass

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Crystal Shard

1 Kodama’s Reach

1 Etched Oracle


This hand is remarkably better than the previous one. You will get a quick Etched Oracle in play, you will be able to refill your hand, and you actually have some nice defense with Crystal Shard in the opening grip. This is really a fine hand against Mono Blue Control, as a quick four-power beater will put a lot of pressure on that particular deck.


Hand Three:

1 Forest

1 Birds of Paradise

2 Kodama’s Reach

1 Eternal Witness

1 Echoing Truth

1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror


This is a real questionable hand to keep. If you draw the land, you look like a genius and get to play the reach and power out a quick Meloku, if you do not, you look like a goober. Against the slower control decks, it is okay to look like a goober for a few turns, but against White Weenie, there is a strong possibility that looking like a goober makes you get an loss. Keep this hand against the slow decks, and toss this hand back against the faster aggressive decks of the format.


Hand Four:

3 Birds of Paradise

1 Naturalize

1 Kodama’s Reach

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Rude Awakening


Sigh, take another trip to mulliganville.


Hand Four Mulligan:

1 Forest

1 Plains

1 City of Brass

1 Kodama’s Reach

1 Gifts Ungiven

1 Etched Oracle


This is a better hand, but not much better. Of course, your first real play is turn three with the reach, and you should be able to solidfy the mana base with those extra lands. You can refill the hand with Oracle, and hope for the best with Gifts Ungiven, I smile a bit when I see hands like these with this deck, they are very good, and very skill intensive.


Hand Five:

3 Gifts Ungiven

2 Eternal Witness

1 Kodama’s Reach

1 Forest


Okay, so this is the deal, you mulligan this hand, and you do it without thinking twice. Maybe I need to get a new program or something, I do not remember taking this many mulligans this past week in tournament play!


Hand Five Mulligan:

2 Forest

1 Kodama’s Reach

1 Wrath of God

1 Mountain

1 Cranial Extraction


Okay, another one of those deceptively good hands. You do have some great tools against Tooth and Nail, and Mono Blue Control. Again, keep this hand against the control decks, and go to five against the quick ones.


To be completely honest, the hands I have shown you have been really subpar. An ideal hand against the aggressive decks of the format include a mana accelerant of some sort, a removal spell and a card draw spell. Against the control decks, you want the same mana accelerants, a card draw spell, and a disruption spell of some sort. Saying that seemed pretty pointless, but I really thought it just needed to be said. At this point, I’m rambling, so it is time for me to start the matchup analysis and sideboard strategy.


Tooth and Nail:

30 Percent Preboard

50 Percent Postboard


Okay, this deck is the most powerful deck in the format, it allows you to do fairly unfair things quickly, with the namesake sorcery, and if the player you are playing knows to go ahead and get Sundering Titan and Kiki-Jiki, you might as well pack the first game up. If you are fortunate game one to cast Cranial Extraction against them, it is almost always correct to name Tooth and Nail, and just make them hardcast everything that can kill you. After that, winning the game is going to be based largely on maintaining control of the board, and trying to keep Titan off of it. Persecute is great against them game one, and Plow Under is also super just because of the disruption it brings to the game. You want this game to go a long time, because you will just out card advantage them between the Bringer, the Oracles and your own Top. Game one however, rarly goes this way, and within minutes you will find yourself shuffling up for the second game.


Sideboarding

Put in: Sacred Ground, Quash, Eradicate, Sowing Salt, All Suns’ Dawn

Take out: Wrath of God, Terror, Naturalize, Engineered Explosives, Clearwater Goblet


After the board you get to do dumb stuff, like make your opponent split a Gifts Ungiven that looks like this


Sowing Salt

Cranial Extraction

All Suns’ Dawn

Persecute


They will sit there for a while, and chances are you’re going to get a Persecute and All Suns’ Dawn for your troubles. Sowing Salt makes sure that they play at your speed now, and the Cranial Extraction will now become backing breaking for the Tooth player. The matchup improves a lot after sideboarding, but sometimes they just get to cast Tooth and Nail, and get the artifact creature from Darksteel that just wrecks you. This is your true nightmare matchup.


Mono Blue Control:

40 Percent Preboard

40 Percent Postboard


All of your great spells can only be played during your turn with the lone exception of the Gifts Ungiven. You have to force through the first Gifts, getting Gifts Ungiven, Eternal Witness, Persecute, and a card drawing spell. In testing, I have found that Sensei’s Divining Top is the best option unless the board position dictates that you get something else. If the opposition is a very good player, expect them to take your Birds of Paradise with their Shackles (I mentioned this a bit earlier). If they can keep you off of your mana, you will find it a bit harder to cast your spells. This matchup is a bit like the Tooth and Nail matchup – if the game goes long enough your superior spells will pull it out for you!


Sideboarding

Put in: Boil, Defense Grid, All Suns’ Dawn, Dosan the Falling Leaf.

Take out: Wrath of God, Clearwater Goblet, 2 Condescend


The post board matchup is a little better because of the great hosers like Dosan, Boil and Defense Grid. The best part of playing Boil in this deck is the fact that Spectral Shift really does not hurt you as much as the other Red decks in the field that run it. However, you do want this spell to resolve against them, because it is often times game winning! The matchup plays just the same after board as it does preboard. This is the most skill intensive matchup that you can play against and more often then not the better player will win. I did experiment with a singular copy of Boseiju, Who Shelters All in the main in place of the Okina, but it is really only good against this matchup. If you expect a lot of this in your field, by all means, make a legendary land swap.


White Weenie:

Preboard 50 Percent

Postboard 55 Percent


This match depends on answering this question. If you can stop the beatdown they bring how will you survive? Engineered Explosives is crucial in this matchup as having a pinpoint Wrath of God that deals with Jitte is very important. If you are able to abuse this artifact (or the original Wrath of God) then you should be able to stabilize and pull out the win. Clearwater Goblet will allow you to fight back against the quick onslaught, but the entire game hinges on how you deal with their quick start. When you cast Gifts Ungiven go get three removal spells and an Eternal Witness, as this will guarantee two dead critters.


Put in: Circle of Protection: White, Pyroclasm, Flashfires

Take out: Persecute, Cranial Extraction, Rude Awakening


You get to take out at least one very expensive spell in Rude Awakening, and bring in another cheap and effective removal spell in Pyroclasm. This matchup improves, but sadly, if they come out quick, you are going to be short of outs. Casting Circle of Protection: White is a great play turn two if you get it. I sure am talking about a lot of obvious stuff here.


Land Destruction (Mono-Red and Green/Red)

Mono Red: Preboard 50 percent, postboard 50 percent.

Green Red: Same as Mono Red


I’ve lumped these two matchups together because they both present the same problem. They both have quality early game beatdown. They both look to disrupt your color intensive mana base with midgame disruption, and they both have undercosted monsters to wipe the floor with you in the late game. Your opening hands need to heavy on the Tribe Elders and Reaches if you want to stand a chance to get to the late game, and allow your spells to win the game for you. Clearwater Goblet can come in the clutch in these two matchups, and if you have to cast it for less then sunburst five, that is is just fine, the life gaint that comes out of this remarkably crappy rare will be very helpful.


Against Mono-Red land destruction

Put in: Sacred Ground, Crucible of Worlds, Quash, Circle of Protection: Red

Take out: Rude Awakening, Plow Under, Crystal Shard, Naturalize


Against Green/Red Land Destruction

Put in: Sacred Ground, Crucible of Worlds, Eradicate

Take out: Rude Awakening, Crystal Shard, Splinter


Sacred Ground is really great against these two decks, and Crucible just acts as a second copy of the enchantment for Gifts Ungiven purposes. When you cast a Gifts post board, you want to get Circle, Ground, Crucible and Witness against Mono Red, and Ground, Witness, Crucible, and Etched Oracle against Green Red. I only say that because the huge blocker is wonderful in this matchup. The most important thing to remember against these matchups is that sometimes your opponent will play poorly. He will cast a turn one land destruction spell against you, and it will have the potential to wreck you. Sometimes they will draw three or four land removal spells, and you will be forced to sit back and look at your very pretty hand.


Green/Blue

Preboard 60 percent

Postboard 60 percent


This is one of your easier matchups. The only spell that they have to cast that hurts you is going to be Plow Under, and is not that big of a deal. If they are playing with Troll Ascetic, that could also problematic, but Wrath of God fixes that pretty easy. Watch out for the late game Rude Awakening, and be sure to hold one of the Condescends back for that spell alone.


Put in: Boil, All Suns’s Dawn


Take out: Splinter, Naturalize


Only take out the artifact removal if you are certain they are not playing one of the hybrid blue green beat down decks, if they are running Jitte and Sword, you need to keep those two spells in the main, and take out Crystal Shard and something like Terror (if heavy on Trolls and Kodama of the North Side.) This match up is pretty much yours to lose though, as it is really favorable, they do not beat down quickly, and do not run Sundering Titan.


Well, that was a pretty quick overview of what I think is one of the most overlooked decks in the current format. It’s a challenge to play, and really is one of the few decks that rewards high play skill. I will recommend that you get a lot of practice in before you go take this awesome deck into tournament play!


Blah, stuff.

Gifts Ungiven, while overhyped with the release of Champions of Kamigawa, was overlooked unfairly in the faster Standard environment of just two months ago. With Arcbound Ravager gone and slower more lumbering decks taking its place in the tournament field, I believe now is the most correct time for the new Intuition to break out and shine! Play this deck, test it, be surprised by how well it plays. I think you’ll be really excited about how great this deck can be.


As always, I appreciate you reading my article, and a special thanks goes out to My Chemical Romance for giving me something awesome to listen to for the week.


Joshua Claytor