This situation came up in the daily event this evening and I am sure that there is a better Gifts pile than the one I made, and probably a line that would have won the game on the spot. I have streamed the video to twitch but I don’t know how long it will be there. So I’m going to document it the best I can here as well.
The game begins at 01:48:40 with side boarding:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/147933746
My post board decklist:
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
5 Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Gifts Ungiven
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 By Force
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Tinker
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Gush
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Dig through Time
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Wil
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Blightsteel Colossus
The part for the Gifts pile is at 01:56:10
The situation for me at the beginning of the turn before land drop:
In play: 3 Underground Sea, 1 Volcanic Island
In hand: Polluted Delta, Dig through Time, Gifts Ungiven
mana pool: 6 colorless Drain mana
life total: 11
graveyard: Drain, Drain, Mystical Tutor, Jace TMS, Delta, Tarn, Ancestral, Vampiric, FoW
exile: Hurkyl’s
The situation for him:
In play: (all tapped) Shop, 2x Ancient Tomb, Strip Mine, Revoker (@Lotus), Ballista (@2), Foundry Inspecter (Untapped)
In hand: 1 unknown card
life total: 12
graveyard: Trinisphere, Ballista, Foundry Inspector
So if I didn’t cast DTT first and instead cast Gifts, what should I have gotten to end the game? Or after seeing the DTT, what should I have gotten with Gifts?
The DTT was: Probe, Hurkyl’s, Tinker, Ruby, Island, Delta, LOA
I took the Hurkyl’s and Tinker. Gifted for 3 mox and By Force. Tinkered for BSC and passed with Hurkyl’s up. He attacked and I figured I would Hurkyl’s in response because if I blocked then I would take 4 and go to 6. Then he could ping me twice with Ballista and then cast another to kill me. In retrospect I should have played the odds that he didn’t have a 3rd Ballista, even though if you watch the game, he actually did have one.