Updated Apr 3, 2014.
This is a UWR control deck, based on a typical Wafo-Tapa draw-go UWR shell - but modified for Gifts Ungiven. Because the original draw-go deck had so many similar spells - a ton of removal, and a ton of counters - gifts ungiven can often just get good value by getting a bunch of similar cards and maybe a snapcaster. But when I played with the usual draw-go deck, I found that I had a hard time closing games, because very few win-cons were so strong that they were safe to tap out for. But unburial-rites on an iona or norn is strong enough to tap out for without fear - and we even have 4 tutors for our win con, if that's what we are in need of. But also, because the deck is just so darn good at surviving, you often get to the point of hardcasting your fatties.
One great thing, though, is that because you can randomly win on turn 5, cards that are normally awkward in control decks - remand, mana leak, path to exile - become much better. Remand is only a temporary counter, but if (like with combo decks) if you win in a turn or two anyway, then that doesn't matter as much. Path gives your opponent a mana advantage that can let them get ahead, and mana leak falls off later, but when you can just cast "I win the game" those drawbacks aren't as bad.
The deck is quite flexible - you can run pretty much whatever specific cards you want based on tuning for a particular metagame or based on personal preference - if you love electrolyze for example, add more. At one point I had the more obscure Luminarch Ascension and Porphyry Nodes in the deck, because I decided they are sweet cards. But be warned: I used to run more high-cmc cards - a second cryptic, a Godo, Bandit Warlord which can be cast or unburial-rites'd. But I found I had cards without the mana to cast them quite often. The deck really does need to run smoothly, and so I've done a lot to reduce awkward draws or hands that need to be mulliganed. Of late I've tried to put an increasing number of cheap, instant-speed cantrips. The top choices being Remand - the best for sure, but I don't like to run too many;
Shadow of Doubt
- gains huge value depending on meta (pod, scapeshift, RG tron) and pretty great on the play against any fetchland deck, but of course narrower than remand; and Azorius Charm - the worst of the three in my opinion, because in a format as fast and with as cheap spells as modern, charming something like a goyf means they are drawing a darn good card next turn still, and might mean that something better like a liliana comes into play.
Also there are other things you can do with the gifts that might be worthwhile. For example, adding Academy Ruins and Engineered Explosives and Crucible of Worlds. You'd need one more way to recur things to make that into a gifts pile, something like Buried Ruin. But you can also gifts for something like academy ruins, crucible, ghost quarter, tech edge. Then you don't get a lock going, but you get to kill 2 lands immediately. At present, I may add a crucible and ruins both in the sideboard, or just a crucible since the sideboard slots are valuable, because in control mirrors crucible is just solid value.
Discussion of various card choices:
Sweepers
Supreme Verdict, Pyroclasm, Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives,
Volcanic Fallout
.
A few of these are necessary, as they answer hard to answer creatures, and multiple of them at once. Supreme Verdict is the best for a general purpose sweeper. The only reason to run wrath of god is so that you can put it in gifts piles with verdict - there are a few regenerators in the format to catch - thrun, welding jar, experiement one - but uncounterable tends to matter quite a bit more. I would say that pyroclasm is a lot better than fallout, but faeries about be a thing, fallout may take it's place. Then there's explosives. I've found explosives to be super awkward and pretty slow; I had it in the deck for a while and just recently removed it. However, it may return as a way to deal with bitterblossom. It's nice in theory that it's a good mainboard out to liliana, and even, with the black splash, birthing pod (I've had this come up). But too often it just sits in the hand without a good amount to cast it for, and eventually one for ones later on. Currently I think 1-2 verdicts, 1 wrath of god, and 1-2 of clasm/fallout between the main and side is a good choice.
Counterspells
Remand, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Counterflux Dissolve, Cryptic Command. Pact of Negation
These are our answers to pretty much anything our opponent can do. It's important for a deck like ours to NOT have issues of drawing the wrong cards at the wrong times, and it's basically never bad to have counters in your opening hand. The only time you don't want counters is when your opponent's got threats down already, which of course is why we have all of our removal. So now, starting at CMC 1, we have spell snare. It turns out a ton of the important cards in modern have CMC 2 including but not limited to Bob, Goyf, Scavenging ooze, snapcaster, mana leak, remand, cranial plating, arcbound ravager, sylvan scrying, voice of resurgence, melira, pyromancer ascension etc etc etc. 2 drops are so prevelant, and some of them are quite powerful and hard to answer, that spell snare is an actually good maindeck counter spell. You absolutely cannot afford to run too many, however, so I'm liking 2 in the main, and its not worth a sideboard slot. I can see 1 in the main, but it can be really critical on the draw when you don't have 2 mana at the same time as your opponent is playing his 2 drop. Next, to two-mana counters. There are no, I repeat, NO, 2 mana counters in modern that are good in control decks. The drawbacks of remand and mana leak are very large. Nonetheless the true control decks play them, because there's nothing better. For us, we can close out games in an instant, so playing some remands and leaks isn't so bad. I heavily favor remand, as drawing extra cards early on is super helpful with this deck, but you want at least one mana leak for gifts packages, because it's great to gifts for a pile of cheap counters in response to the thing you want to counter. I go at least 2 remands, maybe 3 depending on how many other cheap cantrips you are running. Now for 3-mana counters, dissolve, counterflux, and I guess an honorable mention to
Dissipate
which I ran pre-Theros. I don't like to have many 3-mana counters in general, as they are slow and clunky, but having unconditional hardcounters is very handy, and they go in gifts packages all the time. A 1-1 split of counterflux and dissolve is probably where you want to be. Dissolve might not seem as good as counterflux on paper, but remember that there are tons of decks you'll play against where counterflux's "Can't be countered" means nothing, but the scry always is useful. (Be careful of scrying plus fetchland). Counterflux may be worth a slot or two in the board as well, whereas dissolve is not. One other drawback of flux is the manacost. Lands like tec-edge don't fit into it, nor does basic plains, and mystic gate can be awkward too. These come up in real games. But then we have the cryptic command. Powerful, versatile, just an extremely good card in general. I would not fault you for running more than 1. Personally I feel that 4 mana is just a ton, and the triple-blue mana requirement is also painful. But run 1. No matter what, do it. And we have one more counter actually, there's one of my pet cards. Pact of Negation. 0 mana counterspell. Then, you are vulnerable for a turn (or maybe not! maybe it's lategame and you can pay for pact with mana open still.) Hilarious to snapcaster. Great against remand. And most important, you can gifts for it then cast it immediately. And a typical thing with our deck and with this format is that usually, by turn 5 when your opponent has tried to do things and you've tried to answer them, they haven't much left to punish you for being tapped out. And there's one other really important thing about pact. Sometimes we go for turn four gifts, turn five rites, or something like casting a batterskull on turn 5, and this leaves the opponent with exactly one opportunity to do something before we untap and the game is essentially won. But with pact, we can do those powerful things but have protection against anything the opponent might do.
--more coming later--
