Sunbird’s Combo Corner: UR Gifts Storm
Hello Everyone!
My name is Lydia, but I go by Sunbird or Sunbird17 on the internet! I’m super excited to be writing articles here on MTG Oracle, and I hope you guys all enjoy my articles!
Before we get into the deck, I’ll say a few things about myself. I’m a competitive MTG grinder who loves all combo decks. I play in many competitive REL tournaments and I recently made day two of the Star City Games Invitational, including a win against Gerry Thompson. With that out of the way, let’s get into the primary purpose of this article as we talk about my favorite deck of all time, Modern Gifts Storm!
The Gift That Keeps Ungiving
Before we get to the list I’m playing today, let’s talk a bit about the history of Gifts Storm! Gifts Storm is the most unique build of Storm I’ve seen, as it’s lost a lot is its power going from Legacy to Modern.
Gifts Storm is built around the card Gifts Ungiven, a rare from Champions of Kamigawa that lets you tutor for any four cards in your deck with different names. The downside? Your opponent chooses two of them and puts them in the graveyard, and you only get to keep two of them. So, how does this let you win the game on its own? Let’s get into the deck!
UR Gifts Storm
| Creatures (8) 4 Goblin Electromancer 4 Baral, Chief of Compliance Spells (35) 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Opt 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Desperate Ritual 4 Gifts Ungiven 2 Past in Flames 4 Manamorphose 2 Remand 1 Grapeshot 1 Empty the Warrens 1 Repeal | Lands (17) 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Polluted Delta 4 Spirebluff Canal 2 Steam Vents 1 Breeding Pool 2 Snow-Covered Island 1 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 4 Aria of Flame 2 Veil of Summer 3 Lightning Bolt 1 Abrade 1 Shenanigans 1 Spell Pierce 2 Fact or Fiction 1 Dismember |
Credit for this list goes to Caleb Scherer, the master of Storm! The green splash is fairly new in this list, but Veil of Summer is an incredible Magic card. So, how exactly do you win with this pile of cards?
It all begins with what we Storm players call “Bears”. Usually, in magic, the term Bear refers to two mana 2/2s with no abilities, but in Storm, the term Bear refers to both Baral, Chief of Compliance and Goblin Electromancer. We use this term because it’s easy to remember and they’re close to the regular “Bears”, even though they have abilities. Both of them are very helpful when it comes to going off.
So, all of our spells cost one less. How does this help us? Well, it makes Pyretic Ritual and Desperate Ritual each one red mana, and Manamorphose one red-green hybrid. Now, instead of netting us one additional mana, the rituals net us two, and instead of being mana neutral Manamorphose nets us one mana. So, lets say on turn three we play Baral, Chief of Compliance into two Pyretic Rituals into a Manamorphose making two blue. This will give us four red mana and two blue. How do we win?
The answer to that question is our namesake card Gifts Ungiven. Now only being three mana, Gift Ungiven can get us four cards to win us the game. What are those cards?
Those cards are Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, Manamorphose, and Past in Flames. Thanks to Past in Flames no matter what they give us lets us win the game. So, we’re essentially able to cast anything from our deck as long as it’s not super expensive mana wise. How do we win with this?
For the answer to this we have to back to our name, and play a Storm card in the form of Grapeshot. We can easily cast over twenty spells in one turn, and thanks to Remand we can easily just Remand the original copy of Grapeshot and the copies of Grapeshot will still resolve because they’re not from the original Grapeshot.
There’s obviously a lot more to the deck, but that’s the most basic combo line. Cantrips help set this up, and Repeal helps beat maindeck interaction such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Meddling Mage. Remand also gives you good interaction.
I hope you enjoyed my first article, even if it wasn’t the easiest to follow. Any feedback on how to improve these or any other constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
Also, don’t forget to like my video and subscribe, it helps me know that people like these. Now, without further ado, here’s the gameplay video!