Consistently, Resiliantly, Gift out free 4/4 threats!
Compared to other builds, we self-mill harder, get Gift more consistently, and have a bit more removal.
Game plan: Mill yourself until God-Pharaoh's Gift is in the grave, then Refurbish it, OR mill yourself until 6 creatures are in the grave, and then activate Gate to the Afterlife (or two of them) to get Gift. Then with your grave full of creatures, every turn you get an additional free 4/4 that does something great and then attacks with haste until the opponent concedes.
In this deck, the great stuff includes Noxious Gearhulk to kill something while gaining life, Champion of Wits draw 4 discard 2, and Angel of Invention, a 6/6 flying lifelinker, Selfless Spirit to protect your board (and 4/4 flying).
P.S. Noxious Gearhulk? Yes! It can't be cast, but it can be found with Glint-Nest Crane, milled, discarded, Refurbished, Gifted, and it kills the most problematic creature on the battlefield while gaining you life.
Alternate scheme: artifacts Show
Walking Ballista is nice, it can Gift as a 4/4 but grow itself. And it's also removal, especially against red decks and a certain 1-drop zombie.
Glint-Nest Crane. 10 artifacts for the Gift plan, plus and Gearhulks and ballista would give this bird good odds of drawing something useful.
Alternate scheme: removal creatures Show
Fairgrounds Warden and
Angel of Sanctions. Opponent will be hard-pressed to mount a defense when you get to cast creatures, play free creatures and remove their creatures for free.
Other card ideas Show
Sunscourge Champion gain 4 life, get a 4/4 on turn 4 is real good against aggro.
Dusk / Dawn. Dusk is great against zombies, GB decks. Everything but Gearhulks would live. And they can be refurbished. Dawn is nice that it can get in your graveyard from mill, but you'd only want to cast it if your Gift plan was nuked.
Farm / Market. Not a bad idea. Removal if it's in your hand, looting if in the graveyard.
Restoration Specialist. Get a 2/1 blocker, who can retrieve a Gate to get you another Gift is not a bad idea. Similar to Trophy Mage. If additionally you run Stasis Snare or Cast Out, you also get removal back for no extra charge.
Sideboard Strategy
The key cards in the deck, which you never cut are: - artifacts: Gift, Gate, Timepiece, Refurbish (~12 cards)- blue creatures: Minister, Champion, Trophy Mage- top end: Angel of Invention, Noxious Gearhulk.
That's 28 cards, and leaves 8 optional cards: In the current build, this leaves Selfless Spirit, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Strategic Planning as optional cards. In addition, you can trim the gift plan slightly by removing one copy of this card or that card. But never gut the Gift plan, and never go below 2 Gifts because it's by far your best way to win.
Matchups
G/B counters - largely favorable as you can block early game, and late game the number of creatures you generate overwhelms them.
Disposess
is the one problem card, and stuff like Fumigate hopes to restore the balance. Ceremonious Rejection can also minimize the risk of Dispossession.
Ramunap Red - a difficult match. If you land an Angel of Invention via Gift, you probably win, but until then you struggle to stay alive. Tools to help include cheap blockers, Refurbish Noxious Gearhulk, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, casting Angel (make servos, you can't count on it not being killed before lifelink happens). Sideboard, Authority of the Consuls is brutal, and Fumigate is great if you can survive until then. Sunscourge Champion is good, if you run it.
Approach of the Second Sun - Game 1, you have to go fast. Once they reach 7 mana they will cast 2 Approach and win. You do have a slight window to trick them by milling the second cast of Approach if they don't have an additional copy in hand already. Count the cards, and Use Minister or Ipnu Rivulet to mill them exactly before they draw the Approach. Side in Negate and Ceremonious Rejection and you should be good. Drop the Cataclysmic Gearhulk, but find room for a bit of removal to answer their sided creatures.
Temur Energy - A good deck, but Gift will overwhelm them. If they Abrade your Gift, just keep in mind you have 10 ways to get a GPG in play, including from the graveyard, so your game is resilient. Watch for Confiscation Coup.
Zombies - Get that gift online and all should be well, provided that can't menance through and kill you. Gearhulks should buy you the time required. Side in Ceremonious Rejection, Fumigate, Authority.
Mirror - It's 90% about getting the most gifts active. We have a more powerful mill plan than most versions, so Crook of Condemnation can be effective. Spot-clear stuff to keep Gate from flipping, but then empty the grave if they threaten action. UR versions may have Abrade. Side in Angel of Sanctions to kill their artifacts, or their eternal tokens.
Mardu - They are fast and you need to slow them. Stasis Snare is great. Negate is great. Cataclysmic Gearhulk is often not great. Authority of the Consuls isn't reliably useful, but lifegain is valuable, and limiting their instant-crew ability is important. Angel of Sanctions might not live, but it can come back and remove one of their problem cards.
