What's The Play Vs. Gifts Storm?
Modern forum
Posted on April 10, 2017, 10:52 a.m. by DarksteelBadger
Opponent goes Baral, Chief of Compliance on turn 2 into a Gifts Ungiven on turn 3. They fetch the standard Past in Flames, Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, and Manamorphose. What do you bin and what do you give them?
GlistenerAgent says... #3
Regardless of what you do with the other cards, you should put the Past in Flames in their graveyard. Not only does it cost more to cast, but they only have one go at it in the face of your removal or other interaction. If the game goes long, your opponent can use the first copy to draw a few cards and perhaps Empty the Warrens for a small amount, then flash it back when they've strung together a few cards to win the game.
The other card you give them is dependent on what interaction you have and what you know about their hand. If you know that your opponent is mana-light, Manamorphose is fine to give them. If lacking in business, put that one in the graveyard. If you can kill Baral, giving your opponent both Rituals to limit their draws to another creature can be good for you.
tl;dr: Past in Flames and Manamorphose go to the graveyard most of the time, but this changes depending on what you know about their hand.
April 10, 2017 1:41 p.m.
As a storm player myself, this is a tough question to answer. Basically everything in the deck is really good for storm, that's why it works so well. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter what you pick because either way there will be answers that will make you end up dead, but here are a couple scenarios I've put myself in before using gifts.
Scenario 1: If your opponent goes two rituals, past in flames, and grapeshot, always give them the Past in Flames and Grapeshot. My reason being is that they may not have mana ramp in their hand, and really might need it. If you tank Past in Flames and give them one ritual and a grapeshot, that really might be all they need to go off and you can end up dead because you gave them mana ramp. Second part being, if your opponent goes straight for a grape shot in that list, firstly, they know they might not have enough blue mana for enough card draw and they're looking to combo off with as little as possible - generally cast 9 spells, grapesheshot, past in flames, grapeshot - if you give them mana ramp in their hand, it just makes everything so much easier to hit that threshold, and if you stop them from ramping, then it might save you a game by getting rid of a couple rituals and give them the Past in Flames and Grapeshot. Again, this is one of those situations where either way, you'll likely end up dead, but in general, it's too dangerous to give a storm player mana ramp when they go for a grapeshot. You're better off trying to starve them of mana and seeing if they can go off with what they've got than giving them mana ramp, inevitably killing you.
Interestingly enough with this, when I've played storm and I've grabbed Past in Flames, two rituals, and a Grapeshot, people always give me a ritual and a Grapeshot because they think if the Past in Flames costs one more from Graveyard, that might starve me of mana somehow, however the correct assumption always is if you give the storm player mana ramp, along with the kill spell, you're dead. So again, always try and make it harder for them to cast their spells - if they grab those four, assume they don't have any rituals or manamorphose in hand, that's your best bet.
Scenario 2: If your opponent goes for a Manamorphose, two rituals, and Past in Flames, then I say that really depends on the board state.
If you can exile your opponents graveyard, always give them the Past in Flames. If you can't exile they're graveyard, but have a way to counter Past in Flames, put it in their graveyard and give them the two rituals. Reasoning for this is if you counter Past in Flames from graveyard, it's exiled, they spent one more mana on it, Manamorphose is also in there and they can't recast it for mana and draw, and then, they're stuck with 6 mana for 2. Whatever else they have in their hand doesn't help because rituals don't give you blue mana, so they likely aren't going to have very many blue sources to cantrip a whole lot to possibly get a Grapeshot. And if they do have a grapeshot in hand, they're going to cast a whole lot of 19 spells with no Past in Flames. And if they have a second Past in Flames in hand, then you're still probably screwed.
rothgar13 says... #2
Depends on what situation is. If you can wipe the graveyard, you gave them Past in Flames and a ritual, since that hand effectively does nothing. If you can kill the Baral, you give them Manamorphose and Past in Flames, since they would have to find another land and probably another Baral/Electromancer to do anything of note. If you have a "hard" counterspell like Unified Will or Negate, you give them two rituals and save your counterspell for the flashbacked Past in Flames. If they don't have a follow-up, their turn probably ends there. If you have a "soft" counterspell like Spell Pierce, give them Manamorphose and Past in Flames. It generate the least amount of mana, which in turn has the best chance of keeping your countermagic live.
If your hope is to sit there and hope they won't combo, you will more than likely just die, regardless of what pile you give them. You need to interact with them.
April 10, 2017 11:42 a.m.