Call Me Anytime

So this happened against Noah's new and improved aggro Scapeshift deck:

T1: Forest, Wild Dogs, go.
Noah: Stomping Grounds untapped (N:18 life), Bolt you for 3, (Me: 17) go.
T2: Wild Dogs find a new master with Noah during upkeep.
Play Forest, 2x Uktabi Drake, swing for 4 (N: 14 life), go.
Noah's upkeep: Yoink, steak means Wild Dogs are mine now.
"Oh crap, that's right. That happens on my turn now."

Raise the pints in a toast, and scene.

I pondered for quite a bit of time about What To Do with Dirty Deeds. Losing 8 games in a row will do that. I had a Eureka! moment and even pulled out Ring of Kalonia and Ranger's Guile from the binder to make things awesome. Bigger creatures? Hexproof with more damage? That's got to be fantastic for this deck, right!

Fortunately, I took a walk (my best thinking comes while walking or writing in a pub) before I actually did this and realized: Ring takes too long to do what I need it to do and taking out Colossal Might for a Ranger's Guile blunts this deck's impact in a pretty severe way. Something needed to be done: Shard Volley's additional cost is one I can't afford in a deck with only 16 mana producers and Elephant Guide is awesome but expensive. I wanted to go with Rancor-it's cheap, it's recastable pump effects (Spark Elemental and Uktabi Drake can both benefit from it without me having to lose a card) and the trample is critical when I have a 4/5 Tarmogoyf and can't punch through a 1/1. I've made 'arguments' that essentially say: you have to justify why you aren't using Rancor.

Alas, my Rancors are being used. So there you go.

But there is another. Oh yes. When Noah saw it for the first time said "Why don't I know this card: I have a bunch of Fifth Dawn."

That's right, the forgotten sister of Cranial Plating is out there and has found its time in the sun.

Horned Helm, Ladies and Gents. Horned Helm. I can cast it cheaper than I can get out an Elephant Guide and I can re-equip it to whatever creature I want like a more versatile Rancor and there is more!

I lose a card type by taking out the Elephant Guide, potentially decreasing the size of Tarmogoyfs. Horned Helm replaces that card type, allowing me to give the 'Goyf (or anything else) trample without decreasing the number of card types in the deck.

Don't get me wrong: I would still rather have trample but a deck like this has to work every angle it can and so far the Helm has been doing the dirty work I hoped.