God-Pharaoh's Gift is a card whose popularity ebbs and flows with the inclusion of cards like Abrade and Thrashing Brontodon in people's maindecks. The card has shown itself to be very powerful in Blue shells alongside cards like Champion of Wits and Strategic Planning, as well as Red shells featuring Skirk Prospector. This week, Kogamo is showing us that the time may have come for God-Pharaoh's Gift to make a comeback in Standard, and that you don't have to play Blue to make it happen.
B/G Gift -- Dominaria Standard | Kogamo, 5-0 Standard League
- Creatures (32)
- 2 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
- 2 Verdurous Gearhulk
- 4 Jadelight Ranger
- 4 Kitesail Freebooter
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Merfolk Branchwalker
- 4 Ravenous Chupacabra
- 4 Seekers' Squire
- 4 Walking Ballista
- Artifacts (6)
- 2 God-Pharaoh's Gift
- 4 Gate to the Afterlife
- Lands (22)
- 8 Forest
- 4 Swamp
- 2 Ifnir Deadlands
- 4 Blooming Marsh
- 4 Woodland Cemetery
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Duress
- 2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
- 2 Ruin Raider
- 2 Thrashing Brontodon
- 2 Vraska's Contempt
- 4 Wildgrowth Walker
This exciting deck combines Amonkhet and Ixalan superstars to build a God-Pharaoh's Gift deck that relies on the explore mechanic. This deck plays all of the most efficient explore creatures so that you can keep pace on the board. You don't mind trading your creatures off, and they continuously allow you to stock your graveyard, sculpt your draws, and hit land drops while you work your way up to either the six creatures in your graveyard or sevem mana in play to put a God-Pharaoh's Gift into play.
Unlike other God-Pharaoh's Gift decks, you don't have Angel of Invention and Champion of Wits to stabilize the board and keep the cards flowing. Instead, you can re-buy Jadelight Ranger to keep your graveyard packed with creatures, and Ravenous Chupacabra helps you keep the board stable. Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar is your best way to actually close out games, as it is both an enormous threat to recur with God-Pharaoh's Gift as well as a resilient threat in its own right.
One of the strengths of this deck is that Kitesail Freebooter is a disruptive threat that can help ensure that your God-Pharaoh's Gift both resolves and stays on the battlefield so that you can take over the game. Additionally, the reliance on the explore mechanic means that Wildgrowth Walkers out of the sideboard are a powerful engine against opposing aggressive decks. Being able to keep those on the board and continuously recur explore creatures means that you can keep your life total high while growing your board.
If you've been looking for a new shell for God-Pharaoh's Gift that lets you play a more creature-oriented midrange game, this seems like a great choice for the current Standard format.