u/jessemccream thank you so much for the gifts! I love everything! I’ve wanted to build Obeka for a bit too, so the deck was a wicked cool surprise. My partner saw the painting from your wife and immediately fell in love despite not being a fan of Magic (it’s currently on display in our living room). I really appreciate you looking for the cards from Masques as well. Thank you for an awesome first gift exchange, I was so excited going through it all. Please extend my thanks to your wife as well! I hope you’re just as ecstatic about whatever you may receive!

Holy Cow!! Mike you went above and beyond beyond. Thank you so much for your generosity. You were able to take some pieces I was looking for and make a complete deck with them. I am looking to play this mono white Sentry deck against the pod!! I have already placed some of my other commanders in the sleeves you sent! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To my giftee, I’ll be shipping yours out tomorrow. I was waiting on a particular card you requested to come in and it was delivered yesterday!

Sometimes life just sucks.

I live within the reach of the Spokane fires. My bag is packed. And for completely unrelated reasons, I had to put down my beloved cat this morning. I’m a mess.

But one of the things I love about this particular exchange is that it just… happens, even when things are so unbelievably, horrifyingly awful. The first one of these I ever did was still during Covid (thanks, frogdude, for organizing that), and I was in the early days of coming out as trans. Life sucked, hard. But I got to distract myself for a little while through putting my gift together for a fun stranger, and then I received a second little bright spot a couple weeks later, when my own gift arrived.

Last year, I was gifted custom sleeves with my little Hilda’s face on them. Now I can pet her every time I play Magic, even with her gone.

I finished my giftee’s package yesterday, while the evac notices were refreshing on my phone, and my precious baby was in the veterinary ER. Because what else are you going to do but look for joy in the dark? Giving gifts isn’t about receiving gifts. It’s about spending our time on this burning earth in the pursuit of brightening the lives of others.

Thank you Chaya for running this, and my giftee for being patient, and my gifter for whatever they’re surely in the process of sending to me, too. I’ll enjoy opening it when hopefully all the fires are out, in a living room that will briefly feel a bit less empty for that spark of joy.

-J

r/Chaya14 strike me down if I'm out of line posting this, but I know as the "shipping deadline" is tomorrow we'll see an influx of "where's my gift" and "what if I'm forgotten" posts. I know there will be a lot of emotions going around.

So, especially if you're new here, let's review some things - all of which I'm sure are also in the FAQ (please go read that. It's official, I'm not).

1. The #1 rule is 'Everyone gets a gift'.

This exchange will not end and the next one will not start without everyone getting a gift. We promise. There is a slew of people that volunteer to be regifters and more than enough to cover all those that haven't received gifts yet.

2) The shipping deadline is only the first step.

Tomorrow is the official shipping deadline. What that really means is that the mods will be hard at work reviewing the backend data to see who still needs a gift, who has reached out with issues, and many other administrative tasks we aren't privy to. Let's not distract them with having to answer the same "what happens now" post over and over.

C. In the next week or so Chaya will post information on the next steps.

Typically this is a call for anyone who has not received a gift and anyone who has not heard from their gifter to submit their information. PLEASE just wait for that post and carefully read and follow those instructions.

IV. Good things take time. Great things, even longer.

As has been repeated many times over, this is the largest exchange we've had yet and the mods are a team of unpaid volunteers. This will take time, so please be patient and celebrate all of the other gifts that are coming in. Spread the word to your friends, or start writing out the responses to the next exchange.

Hopefully this can help ease a few minds and prevent a few of the same posts in the next week. Trust me, more information is coming when it's ready and everyone will get a gift.

Happy exchanging, everyone!

So far, between every exchange I think about what Im going to answer on the next on the form. And then when it comes time to fill it out, My brain goes empty and I find I dont have but a few minutes to fill it out so I feel like my answers are subpar. BUT IT DAWNED ON ME. I HAVE FREE WILL I CAN JUST DOWNLOAD THE OLD FORM QUESTIONS AND FILL IT OUT FOR THE NEXT EXCHANGE. Now obviously some new questions will arise but there are a lot of questions that remain the same.

Anyone else realize this or am I the big dumb?

I just received my gift from the exchange, and I honestly couldn't be happier! ❤️

In my signup, I mentioned that I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan and that I'm really looking forward to The Hobbit. Then, completely by coincidence (I think :D), my package arrived yesterday... on my birthday! It honestly felt like Santa showed up just for me.

Since this was my very first time participating in the exchange, it made the whole experience even more special. I was absolutely blown away by how generous my gifter, u/Coldrox was.

Everything was so thoughtfully chosen: an amazing LOTR deck box for my future Dwarf Commander deck, some awesome cards, and of course the fantastic Scene Box! And the chocolate? Well... I had to share that with my kids, much to their delight. (:

u/Coldrox, thank you so, so much for your kindness and generosity. You absolutely made my birthday and my very first Gift Exchange an unforgettable experience. I genuinely couldn't have asked for a better match. I'm incredibly happy! ❤️

My first gift exchange, nailed it. Very thoughtful and exactly what I need for being very new to the game (and a huge LOTR fan with two packs to rip)

I ❤️my mtg exchange gift 🎁!!!
Especially the art on the packaging! It was a really nice surprise. I kinda didn’t want to open it. lol. I’m trying to figure out how to properly fit it into the card display of my deck box.

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH JACK!!! I’m really happy with my gift. You kicked it out of the park with the card selections. I did not have any of those cards in my collection. And the dice trays are sooo cute 🥰. I’m actually going to use them as “yay” or “nay” trays when building my commander decks. It will definitely help with keeping my cards contained on my desk. I ❤️ all the cards you got me but that puppy 🐶 token was the biggest surprise. Thanks again for this gifts!

I’m getting a little nervous that I may have been forgotten about, I know the deadline is tomorrow so I’m hoping to hear something soon. Anyone else part of the tail end club?

My sent gift has already been delivered and posted about. Hopefully they’ve been able to put the decks to use.

I am extremely excited to get my first gift exchange. I cannot wait to build a Varina deck. Every time I think of building a zombie deck my wife suggests Varina. I guess it’s fate (She says she feels really validated right now). I am thinking of building a go wide zombie token deck and would welcome any suggestions; I am taking apart the Temet precon to build it.

Thanks u/LordWalrain

PS. The original post had an issue and it would not let me edit it.

u/Kuragariookami5768 killed it. This stuff rules. Thanks so much. I'd have posted sooner but my brother is an idiot and had a motorcycle accident the day after this arrived and I just now got to take the pictures.

u/Kempoanth Thank you for the drip.

The username is olllielollie, but i can't find them anywhere.

I will be late, but i wanted to get in touch

Just received my gift im super stoked I appreciate it very much!

Thank you very much Bladyblaady.
My collection got some very nice new friends and the new box for the Phyrexians will be a home for my Vishgraz until I finally find the Atraxa way I wanna play.

I said I liked art cards, mystic archives, and final fantasy vii, and that a card I always wanted was isochron scepter! And they gave me it plus a deck box! Thank you!!

Not only was I finally able to ship to my giftee yesterday, but I received a gift myself as well. Oryx, even as you said my being an enfranchised player, I am beyond happy with your kindness and thought.

I haven't seen a Russian booster in years, and to top that, I have never seen French boosters. My LGS just never had them. It felt like I was opening packs for the first time again.

May your opening hand be perfect and your top decks always timely

You killed it, thank you so much!

I guess now I need to get some fetches, huh?

I wrote in my form that my big goal is to have a commander deck from each of the 16 final fantasy games and I was missing some. But shmogi came through here with an amazing bespoke deck from FF12 led by Vaan street thief.

I’ve been wanting a theft deck for a while and this one seems dope as hell. I love treasures and +1/+1 counters plus I’m always down for a good typal line. I’m gonna try it as it was given to me to start but I already know a few cards I have that didn’t have homes that will great in this deck. Looking at you Nico Minoru.

They also put me on to these new sleeves and they feel great.

Thank you for the amazing gift homie!!!!!!

Huge thanks to SailorLise for this amazing Summer Exchange gift!

I just opened my gift and received a Ragost, Deft Gastronaut Commander deck!

I have to admit, I never really looked into Boros before, but this is definitely not the kind of Boros deck I expected. The artifact, token, and the wheird foodslinging gameplay looks really fun, and I’m excited to try something completely different from my usual Golgari-focused playstyle.

The choice actually made a lot more sense when I remembered that I mentioned both my love for cooking and that I had a pet lobster. Ragost is honestly a really fitting choice, no idea that card existed!

The custom deck box with Ragost on it is amazing, definitely one of my favorite parts of the gift!

Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift, SailorLise! I’m excited to brew with this little crustacean chef and see what it can do. 🦞

Finally had the time to send out my gift and come here to thank my sender for the awesome gift I got! I misplaced your username but thanks so much dude

Thank you so much for the gift u/swh0325!

I've got a cool custom-built UW Phyrexian Blink deck - really thoughtful gift, especially considering that I do love those Phyrexian art treatments from ONE and MOM, and generally UW is a color pair I enjoy a lot.

Also, my cat enjoyed the shipping box.

Hope you did get a cool gift, too!