GlistenerAgent: Hey man, I know it's been awhile, but I've just been gathering all the cards I need. The good news is that I only have a small amount of cards left! .

I'd like your thoughts on my rationale for the mainboard changes.

In playtesting, I actually found it really handy to have a set of Wraths aboard. I threw 2 in, my reasoning being that Engineered Explosives functions as it's own mini-wrath. This has been proven in testing, although with various degrees of effectiveness versus certain decks, obviously.

I don't think playing Day of Judgment in the sideboard is worth it if you already mainboard wraths. That frees up a slot.

If at all possible, try finding room for a third Snapcaster Mage . Cutting a Path to Exile sounds fine.

GlistenerAgent: An easy slot for a 3rd Snapcaster Mage could be freed up by kicking Maelstrom Pulse . An issue I'm having is that I'm not really sure what to fill my sideboard with now.

Nah. Maelstrom Pulse is so much gas. It's your only answer to a lot of things. Path to Exile is cuttable.

For the sideboard: Negate is played a lot, and is surprisingly good against blue decks. Consider Batterskull , possibly even in the maindeck.

GlistenerAgent On the subject of Maelstrom Pulse, I found myself agreeing. I don't really know how I'd feel completely cutting Path, to be honest. I like the idea of having a few 1 mana answers to powerful creatures. Good call on Negate, I may just throw a playset in the sideboard.

I thought a lot about Batterskull ... and I found myself comparing it to Wurmcoil Engine . I'd obviously need to test them, but I find myself leaning towards the idea that Wurmcoil is better. Is there enough room for them both, you think?

Oh sorry, I meant to cut one Path to Exile to fit the third Snapcaster Mage , not all of them.

I think you want to pick one of Wurmcoil and Batterskull . I'd rather be playing Wurmcoil Engine alongside Academy Ruins , but the decision should be based on which performs better in control/midrange matchups.

GlistenerAgent Ah, I didn't even notice I still had 3 Path. I thought it was down to 2...

I'm going to think heavily on this. I personally like the Snapcasters as just more Gift Package value, but a 3rd one certainly wouldn't hurt (anything but my wallet, that is. Ha! I kill me.)

looks like an excellent deck but id drop a few of the 1 ofs for 2 and 3 of others

@shadow63 What one-ofs? He's playing at least five of every card except Gifts Ungiven .

ok?

shadow63: What GlistenerAgent means is that Gifts Ungiven can fetch any card, and can therefore be counted toward an amount of, well, any card in the game. I often only need the 1-ofs for a single use, and cutting things like Slaughter Pact and Dismember in favor of just a set of Go for the Throat or filling out my sets of Path to Exile or Abrupt Decay would actually harm me, as I would not be able to search for them. (remember, Gifts Ungiven requires that you search for cards with different names. Since your opponent can dump 2, you really need at least 3 in order to consistently have an answer to what your opponent is doing.

Other single cards, such as Life from the Loam work well when fetched with other cards, such as (in the case of Life from the Loam utility lands.

i forgot about that part just thought it was 4 cards and have you considered Gaze of Granite

shadow63: That's a pretty awesome card, but I think that slot is currently taken up by Engineered Explosives . While it is a bit more limited, (capping out at CMC 4) it can get progressively nastier with Academy Ruins in play.

side bord action?

shadow63: I'll def. consider that =)

GlistenerAgent: I chatted up a couple of guys who were big into Gifts, and they really stressed the importance of having a 3rd Wrath. I may -1 Path to Exile for 1 Day of Judgment. I really hope that Wiz reprints Damnation in the rumored upcoming MM2 set.

its alota mana but with the way this deck is i think Merciless Eviction could do work

shadow63: That's a great card, although the mana cost is a little high for my liking. I'm beginning to realize that it's pretty crucial in this deck to be able to get a boardwipe out on T4; which is why I'm going to probably make a tweak towards that potential.

i see i but id deff put a 3rd board wipe in here

shadow63: Oh I totally agree with you. The deck really needs to have Damnation , but that's such an expensive card... sigh.

yeah thatd fit right in here you could try Cyclonic Rift or Whelming Wave

Looks pretty cool =) I like Elesh Norn as the primary reanimation target. What was your thought process behind Grave Titan as opposed to some other powerful creatures like Iona? Is it just the hard-cast-ability?

corythackston: Pretty much. Iona is great, but not as reliable as a creature with 6CMC. I usually sideboard her in against mono-colored decks (burn; rdw) and sideboard Wurmcoil Engine , among other things, against heavy aggro decks.

That being said, it all depends on your local meta. If there are a lot of rdw/burn decks out there, I would suggest mainboarding Iona. I wind up facing more control/midrange decks though, where she is less useful.

One popular creature which I have chosen not to mainboard nor sideboard is Griselbrand . Wurmcoil Engine has taken his place in the deck, backed by Academy Ruins .

He has problems similar to Iona, and although I love him, I tend to try to stick with creatures that are at least moderately hard castable.

Deck looks great, but why Damnation and Wrath of God ? Mana flexibility? Other than that, I'd maybe try to make space for at least one counter spell (although you already have Negate in the side). Something like Remand could work well since you get the draw and can always reuse it.

bigguy99: Hey man, thanks for stopping by =)

The reason I run Damnation , Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict instead of 3x Damnation is due to the interactivity with Gifts Ungiven . The wording of Gifts Ungiven explicitly states that the cards you search for must have different names. My goal in including 3 boardwipes is to ensure that even when my opponent chooses to dump 2 of my cards in the graveyard, I will always have a functional boardwipe, since I can choose something like Damnation , Wrath of God , Supreme Verdict and Snapcaster Mage (or other value card) as a "Gifts package."

A large portion of the deck is built around different-named cards due to this interactivity. For example, if I want an opponent's creature dead, I could search for Path to Exile , Slaughter Pact and Dismember and Maelstrom Pulse . If I didn't have the interactivity with Gifts Ungiven , I would have just put in 4 Path to Exile , as it is objectively the most efficient of the removal spells.

beyond that, though, there exists multiple "Gifts Packages" within the deck, including "Life from the Loam + Ghost Quarter + other utility land of choice + Value card (Snapcaster Mage or Eternal Witness are usually good extra value, and are non-threatening enough for your opponent to let you have them.)

It looks like you have a good mainboard, but I am in no way a Gifts/Modern adept... Noxious Revival could be good for another recursor. Some people run Baneslayer Angel as a reanimation target, but Sphinx of the Steel Wind looks pretty fun to me.

Spellskite is a classic sideboard card, and for good reason- it hurts Twin and burn. Tormod's Crypt or other graveyard hate can hurt Living End/Dredge/other reanimator decks. There are also options like Rule of Law or Torpor Orb , but those would probably hurt you just as much.

I was going to say something about 25 lands and 3 Sylvan Caryatid , but I noticed that seven of the lands were fetches and you had Life from the Loam + Raven's Crime .