Modern - Gifts Aggro

Yeah you are right. I was thinking that it would stop the cascade mechanic from playing the card from the library, but even THAT is technically played from exile. Good lookin out, Graffdigger's may come out for Batterskull.

For rites, yes it can be a brick, but I've also played games where it was necessary to revive both Elesh and Iona. I definitely like to have the option, or a backup plan in case the first Rites is countered or something to that effect. This is rare, but also I have played a game where I went Turn 3 Thirst for Knowledge while having Rites in hand, drew the Iona and resolved her on Turn 4 without even having to use Gifts. It won't happen every game, but it's nice to increase the likelihood as much as possible without taking to much away from the deck.

For the counters, when I thought of the way the deck would play out of the deck before I constructed it, I decided there were a few ways of going about it. One way is with hand disruption for Turn 1 and then a Turn 2 threat like Goyf. I don't own the playset of Goyfs and I don't quite feel like shelling out 800 bucks for them just yet. I've also noticed that in some situations Delver is just plain faster and more evasive than Goyf. The other line that I decided that I like is Delver Turn 1, then leaving up counter magic from Turn 2 onward to protect him. Mana Leak also seems to have much greater synergy with Snapcaster than a Thoughseize or IoK would. The idea with Delver/Geist is to present a threat that will require them to tap out at some point, at which point you will be able to fire off a Gifts either for value or one of the combos. Another role that Delver fulfills, although it may be slight, is that if you play an early game Delver and you haven't drawn a Gifts yet, then you can "Delver scry" with an uncracked fetchland by responding to the upkeep trigger before you've drawn, thus deciding if you would like to draw that card or shuffle it away. It's a trick that you see more in Legacy and less in Modern, but I like the card quality aspect. Also another small factor is that if they have not played you before then they are super confused about what it is that you are playing. I had been wanting to make a Gifts deck for a while and I also like the Delver/Geist beatdown shell, so I decided to mix the two worlds and it's actually been working pretty well.

I'll probably get a Damnation at some point I don't have one. I'll probably keep the Verdict because I like it's uncounterability, but I would agree that Damnation is strictly better for this deck than Day of Judgment for the regeneration factor. I just figured if I need double white at all I might as well have the boardwipes uniform in that aspect, but I usually would like at least two black sources for Liliana and Raven's Crime anyway so it's a good fit.

I really like your list as well, the only thing I noticed instantly is that in the main deck you are very weak to Path to Exile and I feel like Wurmcoil + Batterskull in the main is kind of overkill. I would probably put Wurmcoil in the side and Iona in the main, as she seems to me to be just as likely to be the target over Elesh depending on the matchup. Also the Suppression Field in the board might be awesome at stopping certain things but it hurts you just as bad since you have to pay an extra two mana each time you crack a fetch and also an extra two any time you return Batterskull or blow the Explosives. I like the miser Sultai Charm by the way, as an answer card that doubles as a decent cantrip, how has it been working out?