Unusual Gifts Ungiven Control Deck Dominates Major Modern Event!

MH3 has given rise to a multitude of unique archetypes in Modern. While Nadu, Winged Wisdom Nadu, Winged Wisdom Flying
Creatures you control have "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn." combo and Ruby Medallion Ruby Medallion Red spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. Storm have cemented themselves as elite frontrunners in the format, there are a lot of other interesting strategies that players are exploring.

Izzet control abusing the power of Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student Flying
Whenever Tamiyo attacks, investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
When you draw your third card in a turn, exile Tamiyo, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control. made top eight of a couple Magic Online Modern Challenges. Different builds of Tron have emerged thanks to Ugin’s Labyrinth Ugin’s Labyrinth Imprint — When this land enters, you may exile a colorless card with mana value 7 or greater from your hand.
{T}: Add {C}. If a card is exiled with this land, add {C}{C} instead.
{T}: Return the exiled card to its owner's hand. and company. There’s plenty of room for innovation right now in Modern, and today, we’re going to highlight a very strange deck that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

This deck utilizing a full playset of Gifts Ungiven Gifts Ungiven Search your library for up to four cards with different names and reveal them. Target opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the chosen cards into your graveyard and the rest into your hand. Then shuffle. made it all the way to the finals of a recent Modern Challenge. This is no Storm variant. In fact, there isn’t even a major combo present. Gifts Ungiven is being used completely fairly, which is rather unusual.

The Role of Gifts Ungiven

Gifts Ungiven is a very interesting tutor variant that isn’t necessarily the easiest to maximize. This is because your opponent gets to pick two of the four cards you search for and put them into your graveyard. As a result, Gifts Ungiven is not a reliable search effect if you’re looking to get a specific card into your hand. Gifts Ungiven made a name for itself in Izzet Storm in Modern for years alongside Past in Flames Past in Flames Each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Flashback {4}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) . Because Past in Flames has Flashback, getting a bunch of Rituals and Past in Flames off Gifts Ungiven often made it trivial to win regardless of the opponent’s choices.

This Jeskai control shell, on the other hand, is actually using Gifts Ungiven as intended for the most part. The deck plays a bunch of one-ofs, many of which fill similar roles. This allows you to use Gifts Ungiven as a value engine that provides some flexibility depending on the matchup.

For example, if you’re playing against an aggressive deck like Temur Prowess, searching up a pile of Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target. , Lightning Helix Lightning Helix Lightning Helix deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life. , Get Lost Get Lost Destroy target creature, enchantment, or planeswalker. Its controller creates two Map tokens. (They're artifacts with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.") , and Galvanic Discharge Galvanic Discharge Choose target creature or planeswalker. You get {E}{E}{E} (three energy counters), then you may pay any amount of {E}. Galvanic Discharge deals that much damage to that permanent. is perfectly reasonable. Now, you have some helpful interaction at the ready no matter which cards your opponent sends to the graveyard.

This deck ultimately plays a good mix of removal, counter magic, and grindy win conditions, ensuring that Gifts Ungiven can be helpful in a variety of situations. In a pinch, you can even grab a hate piece like High Noon High Noon Each player can't cast more than one spell each turn.
{4}{R}, Sacrifice this enchantment: It deals 5 damage to any target. or Damping Matrix Damping Matrix Activated abilities of artifacts and creatures can't be activated unless they're mana abilities. alongside Sevinne’s Reclamation Sevinne’s Reclamation Return target permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If this spell was cast from a graveyard, you may copy this spell and may choose a new target for the copy.
Flashback {4}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) to have guaranteed access to it. Considering how strong High Noon and Damping Matrix are against Storm and Golgari Yawgmoth combo, respectively, this is a nice option to have.

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Closing the Game

Despite the high density of cards in low quantities for Gifts Ungiven, this Jeskai deck functions closely to a typical control deck. The goal is still to prolong the game with disruption and eventually close the game with a handful of potent win conditions.

This deck plays full playsets of Galvanic Discharge as well as Tune the Narrative Tune the Narrative Draw a card. You get {E}{E} (two energy counters). . Tune the Narrative is a low-cost cantrip that makes Galvanic Discharge and Wrath of the Skies Wrath of the Skies You get X {E} (energy counters), then you may pay any amount of {E}. Destroy each artifact, creature, and enchantment with mana value less than or equal to the amount of {E} paid this way. more impactful.

The archetype doesn’t feature too many ways to help close the game, but that usually isn’t too big of a problem. It’s possible to win via The Wandering Emperor The Wandering Emperor Flash
As long as The Wandering Emperor entered this turn, you may activate her loyalty abilities any time you could cast an instant.
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature. It gains first strike until end of turn.
−1: Create a 2/2 white Samurai creature token with vigilance.
−2: Exile target tapped creature. You gain 2 life. and Snapcaster Mage Snapcaster Mage Flash
When this creature enters, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) beats. However, the strongest threat available is certainly Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury When Phlage enters, sacrifice it unless it escaped.
Whenever Phlage enters or attacks, it deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life.
Escape—{R}{R}{W}{W}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.) .

Phlage is huge and has an excellent enters-the-battlefield effect. Between Fetchlands, cheap removal spells, and Gifts Ungiven fueling your graveyard, Escaping Phlage multiple times over the course of a game is trivial. Because Phlage can be cast from your graveyard, you can always tutor for it in your Gifts Ungiven piles when necessary.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Overall, this deck has a lot going for it. The combination of efficient interaction, an elite value engine in Gifts Ungiven, and a solid closer in Phlage gives you a good shot against almost any creature deck. The presence of Gifts Ungiven and Sevinne’s Reclamation allows you to run singleton copies of situational cards, but reliably have access to them when necessary. High Noon, Damping Matrix, Ashiok, Dream Render Ashiok, Dream Render Spells and abilities your opponents control can't cause their controller to search their library.
−1: Target player mills four cards. Then exile each opponent's graveyard. , and Disruptor Flute Disruptor Flute Flash
As this artifact enters, choose a card name.
Spells with the chosen name cost {3} more to cast.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can't be activated unless they're mana abilities. all have the potential to be devastating.

Of course, enabling Gifts Ungiven does have its tradeoffs. First of all, the fact that Gifts Ungiven costs four mana and doesn’t impact the board means that in games where you fall behind, you just won’t have the luxury of casting it when you want. This is part of what makes The One Ring The One Ring Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. such a powerful card, which this deck eschews in favor of Gifts Ungiven.

You also run the risk of drawing one-ofs at inopportune times. Keeping your deck much more streamlined definitely has its benefits in terms of consistency. Ultimately, there’s a good chance this new unique technology doesn’t catch on as a result. The deck’s incredible performance is undeniable, nonetheless, so it’ll be cool to see if the deck does pick up steam in the coming weeks.

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