If you looked at the card Gifts Ungiven and thought "I MUST HAVE THAT" and then looked at the price for Snapcaster Mage and thought "Oh HELL no," then this deck is for you.
This is my attempt at building a Gifts Ungiven deck within a friendly budget.
Budget Exceptions:Eternal Witness is our "budget" Snapcaster Mage and the main reason we're in Green. A playset will run you about 20 dollars.
Gifts Ungiven: No way around paying for this one. This is the whole point of the deck, so we have to shell out about 30 dollars for the playset.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: I pulled one in a MM2015 pack (yay!) so I threw her in. Its hard to replace her, but it can be done. There are a lot of great budget creatures to reanimate in her place of you don't want her, but DAMN SHE SCARY.
Outside of these cards, no card costs more than 5 dollars. I'm trying to cut costs anywhere along the line.
Why Play Gifts? You will feel smart. This deck makes you think about what cards you need, and forces you to think about what your opponent is thinking, and plan around what they're going to give you. Gifts is literally the most fun card I've ever seen! Lets dive into card explanations:
The Landbase:Checklands are AMAZING, and for some reason are super cheap compared to other duals! This is a 4 colored deck, so we'll end up paying for it in the landbase somehow. But this manabase is surprisingly consistent as is, and costs WAY LESS than the Fetch-Shock combinations we're all used to paying through the nose for. Evolving Wilds can also be used to fetch the appropriate basic to turn on the rest of the checklands in your hand.
The Life from the Loam Package:Life From the Loam + Raven's Crime + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Ghost QuarterFetching this package allows you to pick apart land-based decks like Tron, and though it won't help you much against Amulet, its better than no plan. You can recur Ghost Quarter once per turn by using Life from the Loam. Playing Urborg will give you enough black mana sources to discard the rest of the lands you pick up and make them discard their hand. This is great against control decks or slower decks, allowing you to drain them of their resources or damning instants.
The Wrath of God package:Wrath of God + Supreme Verdict + Day of Judgment + Eternal WitnessThis guarantees you one wrath. And if you want, you can get Eternal Witness to get another wrath (for more mana).
The Eternal Witness package:Eternal Witness + Sun Titan + Unburial Rites
+ any other card, like Timely reinforcements or Raven's CrimeEternal Witness is insane. You probably want one in your graveyard anyway. Eternal Witness returning Eternal Witness is my favorite way to generate continuous blockers! Sun Titan also returns Eternal Witness, so as long as you can cast Sun Titan, you can get back Eternal Witness, AND another card from that trigger! If you are struggling to cast Sun Titan, you can always Raven's Crime yourself to discard and reanimate it with Unburial Rites.
The Reanimation package:Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Unburial Rites
or any other fattyYou only have to pick 2 cards! And your opponent will be forced to put it into the graveyard! Do this on the end step, and then flash back Unburial Rites to make a huge play.
The Desperate Survival package:Eternal Witness + Timely Reinforcements + Lingering Souls + Wrath of GodThere are some games where you're going to be on the back foot, desperately scrambling for survival. These are your best cards vs Agro. Tokens will stall your death while you find another card to keep going.
Oust, Condemn, Bant Charm, and Mana LeakThese cards are the ones I'm still struggling to work with. Path to Exile is just so much money! These budget alternatives are my workaround for now. They do buy a surprisingly good amount of time, though. I'm also experimenting with Detention Sphere, Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, and Banishing Light as budget alternatives, but you just can't beat Path to Exile. That won't stop my from trying, though.
Why not UW Tron gifts? UW Tron gifts is probably more competitive. It has a lot of flexible win conditions, including the Mindslaver + Academy Ruins lock, but my playgroup frowns on such things. Instead of comboing directly into a win, the philosophy of this deck is to have a good game of Magic.
Based on popular Gifts Ungiven decks and the "Birthday Gifts" deck in this link http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3759591
