Esper Gifted Brains *Dead*

Modern Combo Control Gifts Ungiven WUB (Esper)

TiagoMourao

Boardwipes (2)

• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Wrath of God

Combo (8)

• 3x Beck / Call
• 3x Brain in a Jar
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Unburial Rites

Defense (7)

• 1x Collective Brutality
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 4x Lingering Souls
• 1x Timely Reinforcements

Discard (7)

• 1x Collective Brutality
• 3x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3x Thoughtseize

Enablers (9)

• 3x Gifts Ungiven
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 3x Serum Visions
• 2x Snapcaster Mage

Lands (23)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 2x Darkslick Shores
• 4x Flooded Strand
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 2x Godless Shrine
• 2x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Island
• 1x Plains
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 1x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Watery Grave

Removal (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Collective Brutality
• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 2x Path to Exile

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Sideboard

Other (15)

• 3x Countersquall
• 2x Dispel
• 2x Engineered Explosives
• 2x Fragmentize
• 1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 2x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Timely Reinforcements
• 1x Yahenni's Expertise

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Reanimation, Bird Tokens and Drawing 4 cards for 1 mana? What is this madness..?

Unfortunately, this deck is dead. The ruling on split cards has been revisited, and now the Brain in a Jar interaction no longer works.

Hello and Welcome!

This is an Esper Gifts Ungiven deck that utilizes the synergy between the card Brain in a Jar and other fuse spells (on this case, Brain in a Jar + Beck / Call ) to cheat on mana costs and, of course, have some fun!

This deck showcases a larger number of singleton cards than usual, because Gifts Ungiven obliges us to search for cards with different names, and so we are tasked with finding creative ways of choosing those cards, either with different cards that do the same thing or ways to recur the cards we actually want. More on that will be explained on the Commom Gifts Piles section.

Alright, for those who are wondering what is the actual synergy between Brain in a Jar and fuse cards, it is that you may cast BOTH halves of the spell for EITHER converted mana cost number (here 2 or 6) when you reach that many counters using the Brain , as it allows you to cast it without paying its mana costa, but whenever you get to cast a fuse spell for free, you can always choose to fuse it. This follows from the rule:

Rule 708.6a Show

"Anything that performs a positive comparison (such as asking if a card is red) or a relative comparison (such as asking if a card's converted mana cost is 3 or less) involving one or more split cards in any zone other than the stack or involving one or more fused split spells gets only one answer. This answer is "yes" if either side of each split card in the comparison would return a "yes" answer if compared individually."

And this way, you get 4 flying 1/1 bird tokens and draw 4 cards from your second activation of Brain in a Jar . Of course, although very sweet, this wouldn't be enough to warrant the inclusion of this small combo in any deck. What pushes it even further is being able to play sorceries at instant speed using the Brains activated ability (just as you can play creatures anytime you have priority with a Aether Vial on the right number of counters), and so you can play discard spells (namely Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek ) on your opponent's Draw Step, playing mid combat Lingering Souls or maybe an End of Turn Wraths . And, lastly, you can always reduce the number of counters on the Brain by Scrying with the last activated ability.

Another cool interaction here is using the Yahenni's Expertise free-spell part to cast the Beck / Call fused. The Expertise resolves first, so the birds do stay in play!

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Play Patterns

This deck is a little special because of how it is set up. We have two main combos in Brain in a Jar + Beck / Call and Gifts -> Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Unburial Rites . They actually have some synergy in the fact that the first allows you to draw into the second very easily (since you only need Gifts in hand). The second one puts out an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite , that turns those 4 bird tokens into really scarry threats (while also killing/downgrading every creature our opponent may have).

However, even though we have a couple combos in our main deck, we are definately not a real Combo Deck. We have many control/midrange elements ( Thoughtseize , Inquisition , Snapcaster Mage , some boardwipes and removal ). Therefore, we look to play a very interactive game, until we suddenly pivot into a combo that generally closes out the game. This also means that the 4 cards we draw with Beck / Call are generally interactive and useful.

What this actually means from a gameplay standpoint is this: you simply play an interactive one-for-one and two-for-one game, always keeping in mind your combo finishers. For this reason, we have many cheap interaction spells, and we always have a way to spend our mana. This is the main reason I don't have manlands in here. I almos always already have a turn one play, and lands that enter the battlefield tapped are a huge problem that I try to avoid.

Lastly, althuogh obvious, if you have Brain in a Jar + Beck / Call in hand, you want to play the Brain as soon as possible and charge it. However, there is a trick: if you can already play a fused Beck / Call , wait until your opponent's turn to do so. This allows you a few things: first, it avoids sorcery speed removal, if you play at your opponents end step. Secondly, and most importantly, if they play any creature spell, you can respond with activating the Brain and casting Beck / Call , since Beck triggers from ALL creatures entering play.

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Commom Gifts Ungiven Piles

Firstly and foremost, these are just a few suggestions to give you grounds to work on you own piles. As any Gifts deck, this deck benefits greatly from creativity and predicting your opponent's choices. There are always some interesting and creative ways to "get" your opponents, since you know what cards you have in hand, and you can use that for trying to trick them. This is the great apeal to the deck for me =)

The Piles Show

Now, as most people already know, Gifts is worded in such way that you can choose up to four cards, and then, necessarily, 2 cards go to the graveyard and the rest to your hand, at the choice of your opponent. Wich brings us to the

• Reanimator Pile:

=> Unburial Rites and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (or Iona after sideboard)

This is the traditional Esper Gifts combo, and it abuses the way Gifts is worded to be a double- Entomb , allowing you to flashback Unburial Rites targetting the fatty now on the graveyard.

• Boardwipe Pile:

=> Wrath of God , Supreme Verdict , Noxious Revival + Either Yahenni's Expertise or Lingering Souls

This pile always grants you at least one boardwipe effect, since if they bin both Wrath and Verdict , you can Noxious Revival and draw one of them next turn. You generally go for the Expertise when you have Beck / Call in hand, otherwise just grabe the Souls , since if you want a boardwipe, you porbably want Souls in that matchup.

As a side note, you can get Snapcaster Mage as well, if you feel like you are gonna need another wrath in the future.

• Value Pile:

=> Lingering Souls , Snapcaster Mage , Gifts Ungiven & Elspeth, Sun's Champion

This one is simply the "card advantage them to death" pile, since every card here can provide at least a two-for-one. Don't forget that you have just casted a Gifts Ungiven , so if they don't want you to cast another one, they MUST bin the Snapcaster and the new Gifts , or else you get another go at it (and another two-for-one).

Here you can also swap Elspeth for a Esper Charm if you are constricted on mana.

• Removal Pile:

=> Path to Exile , Go for the Throat , Fatal Push & Anguished Unmaking

This one is the most simple one, and it works perfectly if you simply wanna kill a creature with CMC<5. It can be reworked and tweeked the following ways:

1) For creatures with CMC>4, you can swap the Fatal Push for a Snapcaster Mage .

2) For Indestructilbe creatures you can swap Go for the Throat and Fatal Push for Snappy and Revival .

3) For artifact creatures, swap the Go for the Throat for a Snappy or a Revival .

PS.: In any of this Removal Piles you can put in a Wrath or a Lingering Souls if you feel like it might be more useful than another removal spell.

• Engineered Explosives -Lock:

=> Engineered Explosives , Academy Ruins , Noxious Revival & Snapcaster Mage

This definately guarantees you the Engineered Explosives + Academy Ruins lock, since they are probably gonna give you Snappy and Revival , you can get Revival the Engineered Explosives (this one before the Academy because you probably need it sooner), then target the Academy Ruins with the flashback on Revival , from the Snapcaster !

From there you can play Engineered Explosives as many times as you can draw cards and can afford the mana.

• Nihil Spellbomb -lock:

=> Nihil Spellbomb , Academy Ruins , Noxious Revival & Snapcaster Mage

This one is pretty similar to the EE one, and the same principles apply.

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All suggestions are welcome and, please, don't forget to +1 (Up Vote)

Cards under consideration: Show

Mainboard:

• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Timely Reinforcements
• 1x Esper Charm

Sideboard:

• 2x Fulminator Mage
• 2x Surgical Extraction
• 1x Timely Reinforcements
• 1x Crucible of Worlds

Top Ranked	Achieved #10 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	G
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 1 Mythic Rares 29 - 3 Rares 18 - 5 Uncommons 0 - 6 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.89
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W
Folders	Build this, Nice, Modern Gimmicks, Decks, Want to, Cool Modern Decks to Playtest Against, Decks I dig, Gifts Modern