Mirrodin Besieged Speculation

Well the whole set is out now... and we've got a feature at the top of the blog about our picks for the prerelease (just look at the latest post...) We'll come back later and take a lok at what we got right and what we got wrong.... We predicted the return of the Mythic Swords and we got Goblin Wardriver horribly wrong.. lol, but thats all the fun of the game.. anyway have a look at our newest post and enjoy the Weekend...)   

(update jan 14th- this is important...with a bit of trial and error and tinkering with the orb of Insight.. we have some findings... look for any thing in red in this article....) 

Mirrodin Besieged wil soon be upon us and now's the time to start guessing...So we at Adventures in the Meta have been harrasing our contacts, making some educatred guesses and making stuff upand we've come to some conclussions and a load of speculations....

So what do we know?

Well we know that Scars contained a meagre 20% Phyrexian cards and that for Mirrdodin to be besieged by them its gonna take more than that, so we can assume we are due a large swing to the dark side... Perhaps 50/50? perhaps even more. Update Dec26th - Bingo - factions listed as 50/50

 We also know that there is at least one major player in the story missing and most likely two. So I’m gonna bet we see a return of Tezzeret and Nicol bolas. Tezzeret was once a seeker, but I’m guessing from the hints we’ve had that perhaps now he might be a thinker or perhaps a shaper?

 He is an Agent and he fits right into my Masterhy Forgery deck...

Speaking of which has anyone actually read any of their Scars cards? Have a look at Tempered Steel and tell me we won’t be seeing Ghalma the Shaper any time soon, perhaps a Loxodon Articifer?  As to her abilities we can only speculate but I’m guessing she could be a tutor of some description.  On the Pyherxian side I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a Sheoldred Whispering One popping up quite soon. As we already have an Infect lord, I suspect she may be tainted strike on a stick… In red, I’d bet my Alpha collection that we’ll see Krol the Furnace Priest, who I predict will be another goblin lord. There’s two more jumping out at me, but I couldn’t guess at their colours, but nonetheless I reckon we may see Vorimnclex, Voice of Hunger and Kara Vrist, Neurok agent…

Guys it looks like we have have to wait until the next set for some of these legends as if seems the most likely legendary creatures will be Glissa (which we know) and Thrun (possibky a troll...) 

And here he is and he is AWESOME...

Ok so we’ve made some educated guesses what else are we likely to see?

Maybe a vampire land? What exactly is the Mephidross? I haven’t got a clue, but its popping up all over the place, Speaking of lands I reckon we may see the Bladehold too… Update dec 26th - We haven;t seen the bladehold yet but we now know we were on the right lines With the release of (Hero of the Bladehold) 


There are 4 new non basic lands - 3 affiliated to Phyrexia and 1 to Mrran

There are at leas two heroes in the new set... 

Ok now the lateral thinking…   

Why do Rise From the Grave and Grave Titan make zombies? (asides from the obvious) (update 28th we forgot Nim Deathmantle thanks to Max from Brighton UK for pointing that out) Are we missing a zombie lord? Why if everyone is playing blue/white and mono green do we have 5 dual lands in the first part of the series? Logic tells me that there’s a whole pile of gold cards coming…

Zombie lord looking very likely, there are 5 new zombies too

Ok we’ve got the Myrs so what else is missing from the original Mirrodin? Well, with infect and distortion strike and vines of the vast wood it would be insane of Wizards to return the mighty Loxodon War Hammer, but are there any other artifacts out there that could make a re-appearance?

Personally, I ‘d love to see Pentavus return, but I wonder if it might just be a little too powerful since the addition of the proliferate mechanic… 

no pentavus yet... boo!

I can totally se the return of Annul, its s good sideboard safety net if Wizards have made anything too broken…

We''ve had all the Swords and all the Towers now and the last two were a little bit of a disapointment compared to their countreparts, so maybe there are more?

Here are our artists impressions of the missing tower and sword...

(UPDATE DEC 16th) look at this IMAGE  from the newly released Beseiged  Art Gallery and tell us we wrong about the new tower.. (WE WERE WRONG ABOUT THE NEW TOWER LOL...Well you can't get it all right : ) )

Update Jan 7th We are now almost certain to see a new sword in Beseiged.... My vote is for...

Sword of Chaos and Order?...  red/white?

equipped creaures has +2 +2 

when equipped creature attacks destroy target artifact (equipment?) and gain 2 life...

and protection form relevant colours

BINGO on the sword 100% confirmed as Mirran and pro red and white - possibly sword of something and ORDER but not chaos and god chance it gains life...OR... It's phyrexian alligned and pro green and black....UPdate Jan 15th - WE can now completely confirm that the sword is Mirran (fact) and its name is Sword of Feast and Famine (about 90% certainty) colours we're still shaky on it sounds black green... We just can't say for certain...as for ability... I am only guesng but... when equipped creatures attacks - each player sacrifices a creature and put two 1.1 somethings into play... 

Here's the sword at last....

There is No tower yet....

Wild stabs in the dark?

Well I personally think we’re a bit shy of walls, so I reckon we’lll be seeing a Steel wall or the equivalent and I’d like to see some colourless removal… Anyone remember Ghost fire? Also Wraths… We lost both Planar Cleansing and Scourglass in the last rotation and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got one of them back… Or maybe a return for Oblivion Stone? 

There is most certianly a wrath or two but not sure what kind yet...

Here we go.. A new kind of martial coup....

Also we now know that there are at least two mirrored cards Peace Strider and Pierce Strider (dreadful play on words by the way…)but it’s likely that there will be more..,

There's deefinitely more and we know there's a Forestwalk v's Mountianwalk one...

 Here's a gamble for you... Currently you can get a Mox Opal for about $20/£15... If Wizards decide to bring back Artifact lands then these little beauties could well be the most played card in standard.  So what do you think punk? Do you feel lucky?

There's an unconfirmed possibily of a legendary artifact land called ISH something

Well we got very close with this one...

Update dec 26th - new mechanic - 

Battle Cry (Whenever a creature with Battle Cry attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)

7 creatures have battlecry all mirran

Ok so we've had a sneaky peek at some of the new cards... Glissa the traitor, thopter squadron and and hero of bladehold and a sudden thought struck me... We are running low on cheap removal...So I predict we are going to see a new Path or Swords and I think we are going to see it very soon...

Update Jan 7th - Ok what we know....

Well we now know for certain, that there is a Glissa the Traitor, A Hero Of the Bladehold, Peace and Peirce Striders, Thopter Squadron and two knights one black one white... We also know that there is a hydra of some kind in green( Perhaps blight hydra? or poison Hyrda? (phyerxian hydra) or maybe Venonmous  Hyrda? ) We know that there is a Crawler of some kind.in black ( Phyrexian Crawler )and that there is some sort of (Angelic? ) Herald... in white or red or maybe even red/white.(Destiny's Herald)

Update jan 10th some new cards at last...

Further eveidence to suggest a powerhouse knights deck is on the way...


Update Jan 11th...unnofficial card alert...

I haven't seen an official version, but it's looking pretty likely....

As if red needed more quick critters...We should point out that this card doesn't officially exist yet, but I for one wouldn't be surprised if it does turn up soon looking pretty muxh as it does here...

looking good for this fella 


Well we got close...


Another unnofficial card...

seems like tatterkite is back... looks at first glance to be the answer to infect... but it ain't gonna stop a  plague stinger...


And yet more eviendce to suggest knights are going to be the deck of choice... Personally I still reckon it wiill be black/white rather than mono white...

And here's another....This one's a reprint...

Looking at this card I can't help thinking that this time it may be one of a pair like Peace and Peirce striders or Mirran and Phyrexian Crussadors.  Is there a Mirran Rager and if so what will it do? perhaps a 1/1 for three that draws a car and gains a life? ( if this is the case it'll be going straight in my Emeria deck...) Also note the reference to SHEOLDRED, whispering one in the flavour text, further eveidence to suggest we may yet be seeing her very soon...

Ok This is an Adventures Exclusive... We can now reveal that there is a phyerxian card that can potentially lose you the game... if it's cost is not met.. There is a slim chance this card says you can't lose the game, but ts far morelikey to be a kind of immortal coil or Slaughter pact... 
(Update Jane 16th... There is a slim chance that this card may actually be a target player loses the game... Or and I really hope not...but it could even be a reminder of the infect rule on a card... i.e If a player has more than 10 poison tokens they lose the game....:  (  ) OK this card has turnerd out to be a conination of cards including a wurm card that enters the battlefield and effectively draws your entire graveyard and allows you to have any hand size for the rest of the game...

We'll bring you more as we get it...

Phyrexia have an 11/11 perhpas a juggernaught

 Here;s the 11/11


There's a new Miran hell kite and they have a 9/9  (could be the same card who knows?)

Heres' the Hell Kite and she's a princess...


Jan 17th more new cards...

Bonehoard and Shimmer Myr are the most exciting for me... but I think we're starting to get  a picture of how prominent infect will be in this set...

BUDGET LEGACY IT EXISTS

 So we've got ourselves some legacy!  This deck idea and indeed article comes from Max Fan and I for one tip my hat to the man... It's all very well making a decent standard deck on a budget, but it takes some deep thinking to make a playable  legacy deck... Mr Maxfan I salute you!

And here it is...


I've been working on this list for Legacy for a while, it doesn't use a card over $12 except the fetches which anyone playing a Legacy tournament should own sets of anyway, and All Is Dust which is not an absolute must and was actually only $6 when I bought it.

Maindeck beats match-ups like Stifle-Naught, Enchantress, hands that are not the absolute fastest from Goblins/Zoo/Merfolk.

Sideboard has cards to win the creature matches, Engineered Plague is awesome, and then anti-combo cards.  It's surprising how many combo decks fold to Dark Ritual into Sadistic Sacrament.

So what's with the All Is Dust?  Well, when a blue deck runs out of counterspells, but has Jace down and keeps bouncing your creature, All Is Dust away Jace and proceed to beat face.

This deck uses creatures as a win con, but it is NOT a beatdown deck, it's really disruption/control.

Against decks where I expect to play the long game, I side in Leyline+Helm of Obedience.  For those unfamiliar with this combo, let me explain.  If you resolve the activated ability from Helm of Obedience with X=1 while Leyline of the Void is in play, you will exile your opponent's entire library.  This works because Leyline's replacement effect exiles the card attempting to go to the graveyard, then Helm checks and sees that no card has yet been put into a graveyard, and repeats the process.

Even Wheel of Sun and Moon isn't effective against this combo, because it only creates an infinite loop if your opponent keeps making the choice to put their card on the bottom of their library.  The rules force them to make the other choice even though it's not in their interest simply because they can to break the loop, so you get to exile their whole library.

I have yet to face a deck where I go "Man, I can't win this matchup" when I sit down in around 25 matches.

Creatures (15)
4 x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 x Nantuko Shade
4 x Vampire Nighthawk
3 x Tombstalker

Other (23)
4 x Dark Ritual
4 x Duress
4 x Hymn to Tourach
4 x Diabolic Edict
3 x Phyrexian Arena
4 x Nevinyrral's Disk

Lands (22)
4 x Verdant Catacombs
4 x Marsh Flats
2 x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 x Bojuka Bog
8 x Swamp

Sideboard (15)
1 x All Is Dust
3 x Chalice of the Void
2 x Helm of Obedience
4 x Leyline of the Void
3 x Engineered Plague
1 x Sadistic Sacrament
1 x Extirpate


And there we have it our first budget Legacy deck... I for one can't wait to sleeve this bad boy up and test it out... I hope we'll be hearing more from Maxfan and I just want to say thanks again for sharing your deck ideas...

An outside opinion

I fund this little gem on my travels recently and I just had to post it… If you are new to the game and want a deck that will give more experienced players a bit of a headache without spending lots of money or having to rely on god hand draws for your game winning combo then this is a good bet…

The premise is very simple it has three agendas and they’ll all give your enemy the fear…

Win condition one…

Make lots of little spawn creatures and play Beastmaster’s Ascension and swing, swing, swing… Once it triggers you’ll be overwhelming your opponent before they can say OW!

Win condition two…

Do the same thing except play a broodwarden instead of the ascension and swing swing swing.

Win condition three…

Sac 4 of your little monkeys to drop massive turn 3, 7/7 Eldrazi monsters …

You can mix and match any of the above… It’s cheap, it’s simple and it will win you games…

You will need….

4x nest invader
3x Overgrown Battlement
4x Kozilek's Predator
4x Emrakul's hatcher
4x Broodwarden
4x hand of Emrakul
4x Spawning Breath
4x Brood Birthing
2x Growth Spasm
4x Beastmaster Ascension
4x Khalni Garden
4x Terramorphic Expanse
4x Evolving Wilds
5x mountain
6x Forest

Credit for this deck is down to JP meka you can find him here… I’m sure he has other decks and I’m sure they will be good, but I wanted to highlight this one because it uses a lot of cards that are strong and are just not played any more…

Anyway top hat off to Mr Meka well done dude..

Tangle Mangle

OK we’re coming out of The Twilight Zone for a moment. This one is fast, nasty and cheap. It’s mean blue/green aggro and this is a contender

Tangle Mangle

You will need.

4 Tangle Angler

4 Blight Mamba

4 Overgrown Battlement

4 Prized Unicorn

4 Gargoyle Sentinel

4 Twisted Image

4 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Overwhelming Stampede

4 Turn Aside

4 Khalini Gardens 
use 4 teermorphics to find one of the 4 islands and the rest can be forests...

Simplicity itself this one... Regenerating toxic defenders and throwaway chump blockers to start and then quickly into mid game with tricksy lures and then for a finisher either use Garruk or the stampede to trample up that poison damage, of course don’t forget to switch the anglers power an toughness before you use the stampede... or if you’ve managed to get it past the blockers..  Ramp with the Battlements and Garruk, use the plants to get in the way and remember there’s more than one way to use Twisted Image. If you’re desperate it will draw you a card, if you’re smart it will draw you a card and take out a blocker or a ramper and if you’re lucky and smart it can draw you a card and win you the game. Yoiu can also use the Gargolyes as targets for the stampede, just remember to pump them frrst....

Remember that 8 of your creatures can force your oponents to block and theefore you can choose what a you want to get through... :

Use tangle angler or prized unicorn to tie up the blockers while you pile through with a combination of trample damage and poison counters. So why split the damage? Well what you are trying to do with the deck is to attack on two fronts. It has a few tricks which you’re opponent will have to watch unless he wants to concede and early defeat.  It’s nasty on a lot of levels, but there are some sneaky moves hidden in its midst.  Got a prize unicorn and a tangle angler in play with a twisted image in hand?  Left unchecked that’s 5 poison counters in one turn and you get to draw a card, add an Overwhelming Stampede and that’s game.

Twisted Image is not only a cantrip its also a doomblade for walls

  

Or it might just win you the game

    

Red/black/white madness

Well we’ve been here for 3 weeks and the feedbacks been great. So I did a bit of listening and it turns out a lot of folks want the same thing; something competitive and something cheaper than the tier. Well i 'm not sure how competitve this one is but its a lot of fun..

This deck is unusual in that it uses s few higher price cards, but as the game has changed these cards have dropped in value and the very idea that you could create a budget deck featuring them would have  been a joke three weeks ago.. Ladies and gentlemen this deck uses Baneslayer Angels and in a previously unheard of fashion. Before you say I’ve gone corporate, remember that a month ago these cards were £30/$45 and now you can pick them up on ebay ‘buy it now’ for £13/20 (just to prove my point look here). This deck also uses the planeswalker that proliferate was so clearly aimed at.... Sarkhan The Mad. You can currently pick one up for just £6.99 and by now you might be thinking ... ‘Oh yeah... I get it...’  Well good but we’ve got more to add, but these two cards have a natural synergy which this deck will exploit to the nines.   I call it.

Scars Tech 2- The Wrath of Sarkhan

You will need

4 Dragonmaster Outcast

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Sarkhan the Mad

4 Act of Treason

3 Liquimetal Coating

3 Throne of Geth

2 Everflowing Chalice

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Mimic Vats

4 Ratchet Bomb

4 Condemn

Lands, well I am open to suggestions ... right now I’m running 4 terra morphics and 4 evolving wilds and a mix of basics 

Ok basically this is red black control with a double splash of white for the Angels and condemns. The condemns will keep out early threats and defend well against dragons.  In fact most things in the deck will do well against dragons, which is also lucky because you are going to be facing lots of dragons. Why? Because you’re going to be giving them away like they are going out of fashion.

Ok so in what universe is it a good idea to give away dragons? Well it all depends on planning, let’s say you knew there would be dragons and maybe you had planned ahead and ordered the industrial size tins of wieners and a great big dragon cake for the party... and basically set your deck up around that fact... Well surely that would be better than having just anything turn up and try and eat you... and besides... you might be giving your opponent dragons, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to let them keep them.

So what’s the plan, well first things first, you’re not going to be giving away anything unless you a) need to and b) can handle it.

So here’s the general plan...

Early game you’ll be looking for the outcasts and condemns  to get in the way of early attacks. Then the game can run two ways, firstly use Sarkhan to make your opponent sac their biggest threat and give them a dragon, which will just bounce off your angels until you’re ready to steal them back and swing. Then either sac them to Sarkhan, to get a dragon all of your own or you can get Sarkhan to make it deal damage equal to its power to your opponent or their biggest threat before turning in to an artifact and sacking it to the throne to proliferate Sarkhan back up...

...Or you can steal their creatures, or even just sac an outcast, to make a dragon and swing through the air for massive damage... Obviously their dragons will just bounce of your Angels which have the all important ‘protection from Dragons’. Andif one does get through, don’t worry, that turn two ratchet bomb can take them out at instant speed.

Late game the outcasts will conjure up all sorts of chaos and give Sarkhan more fuel for the fire...  

Use the Chalices and the throne to ramp and you should be able to keep pace with most decks. 

Sarkhan can take out most threats and as long as you can deal with the dragons you are going to give your opponents you can mix up their strategies and confuse their game. Use the mimic vat to steal their sacked creatures and keep swinging.

Dependent on which of the tier you’re up against your play will vary, against Eldrazi Ramp don’t be afraid to blow up overgrown battlements with Sarkhan and obviously any actual Eldrazi, against Red Deck blow up your own outcasts and against elves blow up the mythic regenerator and the archdruids.

In testing it’s proving pretty capable, but as always I’d love to hear some suggestions...

News just  in fromn Karchev.... Bloodghast is a good additon to the gang maybe over the thrones ???  anyway keep em coming...

Polymorph Redux..

We’re going to have a look at an old friend this week... There once was a time when polymorph was the fringe deck to watch. It made a show at a few tournaments and it also made an appearance as the sideboard for Pyromancer’s Ascension. You might think that with the advent of Mass polymorph we might see a resurgence, but we’re hitting the border of Mirridon Besieged soon and we haven’t even had a postcard. 

So no one’s playing it and it’s in the card shop bargain bucket, sounds like the perfect time for a rethink.  Ladies and Gentlemen I give you a twist on a classic...

I call it 

Critical Mass

 The problem with polymorph was always the reliability, left unchecked and if you were lucky a turn 3 Iona or Emrakul was probably game however if it went wrong, and it so often did, you could spend the entire game with an Emrakul in your hand and no way in hell of getting it out... or worse yet, lay token after token and not catch a sniff of an actual polymorph and trust me numerous as they are eldrzi spawn do not an army make.

Yes, there were pros, without lots of creatures taking up your slots it had loads of room for answers. (if you’ve just started playing or just don’t know what I am on about... Polymorph was a deck build around the premise that you only had one or two creatures in the entire deck and the rest of it was token generation and ways to search for the elusive polymorph which itself was there to cheat one of your two horrendous fatties into play ) So with all those extra spaces you could add in all sorts of madness.. There was a blue/green version with Into the Roils and negates and ponders, there was a red/blue/green version with staggershocks and bolts and Sarkhan Vol and I as I mentioned above there was a blue/red limited edition hidden in the sideboard of Pyromancers Ascension...  The problem is sometimes it just didn’t work.   So I got thinking is there anything I could do to make it more stable, well... this is what I came up with....

You will need.

4 Mass Polymorph

2 Chimeric Mass

4 Squadron Hawk

3 Rusted Relic

3 Glint Hawk Idol

4 Liquimetal Coating

1 Indomitable Angel

1 Emrakul

1 Iona Shield of Emeria

1 Ulamog

4 Everflowing Chalice

4 Preordain

4 Revoke Existence

3 Contagion Clasp

1 Elixir of Immortality

Go the whole hog with Glacial Fortresses, Seachrome Coasts and Celestial Colonnades, which will give you another threat. You don’t need fetch lands, so save yourself the cash and besides the more decks that use fetch lands the sooner we’ll see main deck Leonin Arbiters, with this deck at least you’ll waste 4 spaces in their sideboard.

Ok what makes this deck different from polymorph is that is has actual threats rather than tokens. The Squadron Hawk is a test play, but it does give you decent targets and of course once you find the first one you can strip your deck of all creatures except for your fatties.  As neither Chimeric Mass, Rusted Relic or Glint hawk Idol actually count as creatures until they hit the open air and even then, two of them will need a nudge.

It might not seem like much but a 2/2 flyer is lightyears ahead of an Eldrazi Spawn and it won’t take long before your rusted relics are swinging in for 5 and you can lay the Chimeric Mass for as much as you can spare.  Meanwhile, preordain for the Mass Polymorph and use the liquimetal coating and revoke existence for the serious game threats. Use the clasps for light removal and to pump the chalices and the Chimeric Mass.

If you can resolve a Mass Polymorph for 4 and get the fatties, or as many as you can in, the end of the game can’t be far off...

So let’s look at the creatures one by one...

The four are a team and they’ll work like one too.. 

Emrakul, Ulamog and Iona need little explanation and unlike the original, this deck will actually let you to play them if you need them, but it could take a while, but why the others? well the angel is there to protect Emrakul or Iona, because with the liquimetal coating  you can turn them into artifacts at will and give them instant shroud, bouncing them with Jace was a favourite trick of Blue White Control and you don’t want to go to all that effort just to have the critters sent back to you hand. Keep Emrakul in play for just one turn and you’ll soon see why Eldrazi ramp is one of the top decks. The angel is also playable early gameand good for protecting your investments.

Competitive?  I think it’ll hold its own... It’s certainly a strong fringe/rogue deck, with careful play it could easily be a contender...it's definatelhy stronger than Polymorph, as it can win games without ever  pulling off the trick...And remember you don't have to animate the Mass or the idol, before you polymorph... unless you  need to...

Update

This is just the alpha list and I'm already thinking about dropping the clasps thanks to a suggestion I swap em for negates from a fella named 4 tens...  I reckon he could be right there.,..

New update...

Suggestions for a green blue version have been coming in and its not a bad play... green will give you ramp and more token generation and access to the possibly game swiinging Autumn's Veil and you can use nature's claim or naturalise inplace of revoke existence

Either way I'd strongly suggest swapping the clasps for See beyonds and not negates... as unlikely though it is to draw two or more of your fatties, fate would find it hillarious...

  

A cheap extended Deck THey Might be Giants (and some cows)

Well we’ve had a crack at standard and we’ve had a sneaky peak at EDH now it’s time for a pop at Extended. Post rotation extended has tightened its belt and we can finally say good bye to the dreaded Goyf...

There’s a lot of cards in extended and I’m not even going to try to trawl my way through them. Instead I am going to show you how to make a simple and effective extended deck which is part Lorwyn tribal, part mythic beat down and surprisingly inexpensive...

I call it...

They might be GIANTS (and some cows)

You will need...

4 Favor of the Mighty

4 Stinkdrinker Daredevil

4 Thundercloud Shaman

4 Inferno Titan

4 Sun Titan

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Hamletback Golliath
2 Brion Stoutarm 

4 Austere Command

4 Taurean Mauler

 Ok this deck is just ballsy aggro with a couple of tricks... You’ll want a favour and a stinkdrinker in the opening hand and if you’re lucky a thundercloud and a bolt. 

Turn one lay - a mountain...pass turn in their end step, bolt whatever they’ve dropped..

Turn two - lay a plains and favor of the mighty  and pass turn...

Turn three - Drop the stinkdrinker and if it resolves, because of Favor of the mighty, there’s very few ways that they can kill it...

Turn four – because of the stink drinker you can now lay a six mana Titan that will most likely have protection from all colours... And that it this deck in a nutshell... Use Austere Command if it all goes wrong and good luck...

The matchups...

Heaven knows what else folks will be playing these days but here’s what we do know...

V’s White weenie – you should be able to pace them and just swing swing swing,,, use inferno titan to take out spectral processions as soon as they come in...Thunderclouds will help you wipe the board...and keep you on the up...

V’s Merfolk – you’ll have a fight on your hands but you do have some secret weapons. 1.  Most of their critters have converted mana costs of 3 or less so as long as you stick with the maulers and the stinkdrinkers, because of Favor he won’t be able to target either your creatures or his with the rejerry, and don’t forget you don’t have islands but he does, so when he drops the lord of 

Atlantis you can wipe the smile off his face with your pumped cow shaped merfolk mauler (note to self Lord of Atlantis rotated out and... numpty!)

V’s Cascade Swans – You’ll  drive your opponent mental as your deck has an unintentional antidote to his, because of favor of the mighty as long as you keep your critters 4 mana or under your opponent will be unable to target his own swans and thus you’ll ruin his combo without even having to try... (another note to self no one plays swans)

V’s 5 Colour Contol – This one is going to be a bitch, the Quick and toast deck is one of the few decks that can deal with the turn 3 stinkdrinker, it does this with the annoying mechanic ‘Evoke;’ Because evoked creature do technically come into play before they have to be sacrificed they can evoke a Shriekmaw for just one mana and it will, for the split second that it’s in play, become the creature with the highest converted Mana cost and therefore steal protection from all colours long enough  enough to kill the stink drinker... So good luck here...

V’s Fairies - this one’s anyone’s game if you get the right start the stinkdrinker will allow you to drop a 2 point thundercloud turn 4 and this should be enough to kill all the fairies, I actually own a thundercloud with a personal message from the artist Greg Staples for just this occasion and you will be pleased to the message often got through loud an clear to Oona and her gang...

Ok the cards in short.

Favor - will give you a mid game advantage and has some interesting fringe benefits.

Taurean Mauler is an incredibly cheap and powerful giant that you can lay for a single red with a stinkdrinker out...

Brion Stutarm is a strong threat early game and his lifelink will help you stabilse your life, use his fling ability late game to break deadlock

 Lightning bolt  - nuff said / sideboard Volcanic Fallout for fairies...

Inferno and Sun Titan – oh if you could have a £1/$1 for every time someone says ‘oh I forgot they were giants!’ when you drop one turn four... Inferno Titan great for taking out spectral processions / sun titian great for bringing back the Uber Cow...

Austere Command – A pricy but flexible board wiper which has earned its place in many of my decks due to its ability to deal with just about anything.

Hamletback Goliath – pure unadulterated overkill enjoy!

Sideboard – you’ll want grave yard hate for quick and toast and in case some brings living end.  So stick in Relic of Progenitis, as mentioned volcanic fallout for fairies and either vexing shushers or Guttural Response for anything with counters...

Landwise if you have the cash  then stick in some Arid Mesas, but this deck works fine with the much cheaper Giant Amphitheatre and Rugged Prairie's an d a mixture of plains and moutaiins

(final note to self ...FNM tonight.... They might be Giants does eat Iona/Windbirsk/Summoning Trap and goes toe to toe with Reviellark hurrah!)