Serious Vintage Episode 22: Gifts Regiven

For episode 22, Geoff Moes (@ThallidTosser on Twitter), Nat Moes (@GrandpaBelcher), and Josh Chapple (@joshchapple) invited Andy “Brassman” Probasco to talk about the recent changes in the Vintage metagame: Treasure Cruise’s restriction, Gifts Ungiven’s unrestriction, and the arrival of Fate Reforged.

Podcast (seriousvintage): Download (Duration: 55:47 — 25.6MB)

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Here’s the timestamped table of contents for your listening ease and enjoyment:
00:27 – Treasure Cruising Into the Sunset
10:03 – Gifts Unrestricted
44:54 – Monk Business
55:15 – Outro
Total runtime – 53:23

Show Notes

I don’t want to cover too much here because the discussion was so lively and fairly comprehensive. We were all surprised but not shocked by Treasure Cruise, but the big topic was Gifts Ungiven, hence our special guest. You can read Brassman’s collected SCG articles here, and a lot of that content will be worthwhile for seeing where Gifts Ungiven came from and where it might go in the future. The first Gifts Era was a high point for Vintage and its writing, so there is a wealth of historic and historical information on that site from Brassman, Stephen Menendian, and others.

Anyway, here’s Brassman’s Empty Gifts list circa 2007, shortly before Gifts Ungiven was restricted. He talks about it being his favorite variant.

Empty Gifts 2K7, by Andy Probasco

Business (36) 1 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Brainstorm 1 Dark Ritual 4 Force of Will 3 Gifts Ungiven 1 Hurkyl’s Recall 4 Mana Drain 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Pyroblast 3 Repeal 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Empty the Warrens 3 Merchant Scroll 1 Recoup 1 Tendrils of Agony 1 Time Walk 1 Timetwister 1 Yawgmoth’s Will Mana Sources (24) 1 Lotus Petal 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Mana Crypt 1 Sol Ring 1 Tolarian Academy 1 Library of Alexandria 4 Polluted Delta 1 Flooded Strand 2 Underground Sea 3 Volcanic Island 2 Island 1 Snow-Covered Island

Sideboard (15) 2 Pithing Needle 1 Tormod’s Crypt 2 Hurkyl’s Recall 1 Pyroblast 1 Rebuild 2 Red Elemental Blast 1 Repeal 3 Duress 2 Empty the Warrens

Concluding Remarks

Thanks for listening! We hope to do more regular podcasting in 2015. We look forward to any questions or comments here or on Twitter. You can also email us at seriousvintagepodcast@gmail.com.