No Time Like the Presents: A UW Tron Gifts Variant

Modern* Control Gifts Ungiven WU (Azorius)

MisterFamous

Creature (3)

• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Empyrial Archangel
• 1x Iona, Shield of Emeria

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Land (25)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 2x Celestial Colonnade
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 3x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Island
• 1x Plains
• 4x Seachrome Coast
• 1x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 3x Urza's Mine
• 3x Urza's Power Plant
• 4x Urza's Tower

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Oblivion Ring

Artifact (10)

• 4x Azorius Signet
• 1x Batterskull
• 3x Expedition Map
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Instant (16)

• 1x Condescend
• 4x Gifts Ungiven
• 3x Path to Exile
• 3x Remand
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation
• 4x Thirst for Knowledge

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Unburial Rites

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Sideboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

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I was asked the other day - What kind of deck would I need to play to want to play competitive Modern? I took a look at recent Top 8's and was fairly disappointed; nothing but Junk aggro, twin, and other boring-sounding decks that require a massive investment in cards that will probably fall out of favor in a block or two. I like the classics, like Faeries or Affinity (ironic, I know), but I'm also a bit of a rebel by nature. I don't like to play what everyone else is playing, and I hate "solved" metagames. I want to surprise people.

Then I remembered I have a playset of Gifts Ungiven lying around. I know it's not really sweeping the Top 8's as of late, but the versatility and combo potential touches my inner Johnny in all the right ways.

THE HATELORDS

There are three targets for Unburial Rites in this deck, each chosen to hose a particular matchup. I call them The Hatelords:

• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite stomps out Affinity and Twin with impunity. Even when not against these matchups, it's very, very hard to recover once she hits the board.
• Empyrial Archangel actually does a good job countering burn; Anything short of a seriously huge Fireball or Banefire won't put a scratch on her.
• Iona, Shield of Emeria hoses just about everything else. This is something that is just extremely hard to recover from no matter what you're playing.

EDIT: After seeing UW Tron and the sheer consistency it brings (something 4C sadly lacks), I've decided to ditch special snowflake status for a deck that works and works well. I kept Empyrial Archangel in the deck because I think she's overlooked, and cobbled this deck together from some recent Top 8 lists, edited to suit my own tastes and budget. The release of Modern Masters 2015 has helped the latter TREMENDOUSLY. As of this writing Elesh Norn is $15. I'll let that sink in.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 1 Mythic Rares 17 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B