I wasn't suggesting to cut Grave Titan for Sun Titan, on the contrary, I was suggesting you make room for BOTH, in some boards. That way, you will always have a powerful 4 card package for Gifts Ungiven so it will never be offline against grave hate. Depending on their type of gravehate, Sun Titan could potentially be even more powerful than Grave Titan. I'd actually suggest cutting a wrath effect, since you have quite a few cards that serve as mini wraths already, Engineered Explosives, Maelstrom Pulse, and Drown in Sorrow seem a little overkill with 3 wraths. Choose your weakest wrath card, and cut it.

That's just my opinion though.

nbarry223: The idea of both Sun and Grave MB is neat, but I feel that the deck would be a tad bulky, that way. I don't like the idea of having too many lategame cards in an opening hand, and throwing him in would, I feel, lead to a lot more mulligans. I'll try it out doe, see how it works.

While it seems like Drown In sorrow and the wraths serve the same purpose, they do not. Drownsies is used against Affinity and Delver. Wraths are used against Merfolk and Pod. The nature of these decks lead to the unfortunate situation that certain sweepers simply are not as effective against certain decks. (and yet, I still need -a- sweeper.)

Would simply putting in more focused SB hate improve the matchups? Do I -need- sweepers?

...I'm honestly not sure. It's not really something I've ever thought about seriously- I've always seen sweepers as a very 'gifts' thing to have. Perhaps that is something I need to reevaluate.

I think the suggestion was to have both in the 75, split between main and SB somehow. I don't think having more than 3 fatties between main and side is correct, however, because you will never have more than 2 in play (and at that, you probably already won).

I'd agree that a sweeper is cuttable, because you have means of recursion that still let you cast them when you find a Gifts package. Between the four 6+ creatures you have, I like playing Elesh Norn + Iona + Sun Titan ATM, with the Titan in the sideboard.

I don't feel comfortable having 4 fatties between main and side, in any case. Perhaps a sweeper is cuttable, although I'd probably put something like Surgical Extraction in the SB to replace it.

That's fine, I just see a sweeper as expendable, especially with the 4x Chalice of the Void for the more aggro matches. I just like the idea of 4 fatties in case one dies to removal. None are hexproof or anything along those lines.

nbarry223: I hear ya; your suggestions are perfectly reasonable. I just kinda feel like I have all the fatties I need w/o adding more. Batterskull can win games on it's own, and that +2 fatties + Celestial Colonnade hasn't really steered my wrong yet. I can't think of a single game that I've lost b/c I just ran out of things to drop.

1-2 Dig Through Time might add some consistency for longer games. Life from the Loam and Liliana of the Veil give you a pretty full graveyard pretty quickly. Might as well take advantage of it and use Dig Through Time to fetch your combo pieces.

Iona main? I can't say I agree with that. Yea, burn is a thing, but many decks can rely on other colors they have. I suppose Pod is shut down because green is absolutely necessary, but it'd be a pretty late point in the game unless you're dead set on having your first Gifts be Iona + Rites, but maybe I'm not seeing something.

Saljen: This is a suggestion I get often, and while it seems perfectly reasonable on the surface, there's a very good reason Dig isn't in my list. That reason is: Gifts is not a combo deck. It -can- win by comboing off, but it is at heart a control deck, and does not need to find combo pieces in order to win- which is one of the reasons why I only run 1 Unburial Rites. If this were a combo deck, I'd run 4, and it'd be clunky as hell :P

Dig would essentially function as Gifts Ungiven 5-6, which the deck doesn't really need.

bigguy99: Honestly, I don't think there's a single time where I've actively searched for her where I haven't faced a mono-colored deck. No matter what deck I'm playing against (save for 1-2 decks), I search for Elesh Norn.

Right, so why have her mainboard?

bigguy99: Because I don't search for Grave Titan either when I have him; or rarely do.

The few times I do search for her, she instantly locks out the game- especially if opponents aren't expecting her. Iona comes out in sideboarding 99% of the time, and yet she's most effective during G1 on all levels. It's weird, but it's how it is xD

She's also excellent bait for explosive graveyard hate, like relic of progenitus. The opponent will often scramble to counter her in any way possible... which sets up Elesh Norn to punch em' in the proverbial dick.

24 lands still bothers me here. Do you ever have problems getting enough mana?

Honestly? I really haven't. Once or twice, I've used Life from the Loam to recur fetchlands, but it's rare that I'm forced to. I'm all for a 25th land. If I add one, what should it be? What should I take out, in your opinion?

I'm not sure. If you were to remove anything for another land, I'd probably suggest MaelPulse, which is a bit unsettling. As for what exactly to put in, something you can fetch, rather than another fetch. You play 10 fetches and 9 fetchable lands. If it's not a problem, then you shouldn't worry about it. Because removing anything in this deck is... difficult.

Yeah, every minute change to this deck is agonizing. MalePulse is really my only answer to Planeswalkers or big enchantment drops. They are very rare mind you, but all the same, it helps with not getting caught with my pants down.

I'm thinking of going with 9 fetches and adding in a Hallowed Fountain, as I don't have on in my deck and often times hurt a little because of it. I guess the most equivalent thing would be to take out a Sylvan Caryatid, buuuut... T2 Carytid is nuts, and it usually gives me the breathing room I need to control the game- especially in this aggro meta.

I'd personally go with a fixing land, like Reflecting Pool or a black filter land, like Sunken Ruins or Twilight Mire. Beyond those, there's the scry lands, which might be a decent choice given the lack of t1 plays. Temple of Malady or Temple of Deceit probably.

The only utility lands I can see fitting in here are Alchemist's Refuge or the very narrow Boseiju, Who Shelters All, neither of which I think are worthy of a slot.

nbarry223: Actually, I was thinking of going with Tectonic Edge, as Tron can be a difficult matchup for me.

GlistenerAgent: What do you think of:

-1 Abrupt Decay, -1 Slaughter Pact OR Dismember (and given the choice, which would you choose?)

FOR

+1 Tectonic Edge and +1 Darkblast

Moving to 2 Abrupt Decay sounds scary, but I like those changes. I'd cut the Slaughter Pact, because killing Siege Rhino is very important to be able to do against Pod, which nowadays plays at least two copies.

I think I like cutting a Thoughtseize instead of the Abrupt Decay, because the latter is just super good right now.

Ah, note that in removing an Abrupt Decay, I would also be altering my sideboard with 2 Nature's Claim. I'm probably going to be doing that anyway, as Pod is a difficult matchup for me.

It's not just for artifacts and enchantments though. Abrupt Decay is phenomenal against Delver, reasonable against Pod and vital against Jeskai Ascendancy. I feel Thoughtseize is generally worse in this metagame, because Jeskai Control isn't doing well and Dig Through Time + Treasure Cruise screw with discard spells.

Also, I'd consider finding room for Putrefy somewhere, since it can kill a guy, a Pod or a Plating.

Is that in addition to Maelstrom Pulse?

Correct. Instant speed is nice, and having two seems totally worth it to me.

My problem with Tectonic Edge is that you need to wait until tron gets their lands online. Unless you are playing the blue variation, most R/G tron decks can get out a turn 3 Karn Liberated or something along those lines. Also, if they see you have it as one of your land drops, it is very easy to play around. For that reason, I find Ghost Quarter to be much better in that particular match. If you are just trying to deprive a multi color deck of a certain color, then Tectonic Edge is better, but the games where you want designated land hate, Ghost Quarter is usually better, since you can blow them up faster.

For some reason, you aren't running permission spells like Remand and Mana Leak so that point stands. Letting them resolve a Karn Liberated turn three can easily lose you the game, especially since you only have one removal card, in the form of Maelstrom Pulse.

To do that, I'd need to start cutting away my removal. Path to Exile is simply too efficient to comfortably remove, Abrupt Decay is a powerhouse for reasons that you've mentioned previously... The only thing I could really see getting rid of in this deck is the Dismember. That's not an awful thing actually, as that still allows me a removal Gifts package, but Dismember tends to be extremely efficient.

The question is, do I really want to ever actually pay the 4 life in an aggro/beatdown meta... Probably not.