Kessig Dire Swine MTG Card

Reaching delirium transforms the Swine into a powerful 6/6 threat, making it a potent force. A mana cost of six makes it a sizable investment, crucial for deck building considerations. Despite its power, requiring delirium can be a drawback, demanding strategic graveyard management.

Kessig Dire Swine - Shadows over Innistrad

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Boar Horror
Abilities	Delirium
Released	2016-04-08
Set symbol
Set name	Shadows over Innistrad
Set code	SOI
Power	6
Toughness	6
Number	214
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jason Kang

Text of card

Delirium — Kessig Dire Swine has trample as long as there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.

In the quiet of the Somberwald, new horrors stir.

Cards like Kessig Dire Swine

Within the realm of hefty green creatures in Magic: The Gathering, Kessig Dire Swine stands out as an embodiment of raw power. Mirroring the Swine’s remarkable strength, we have creatures like Stampeding Rhino, which also boasts a formidable presence with its trample ability. However, the Swine excels with its delirium trait that can turn it into a far more threatening 6/6 presence. This potential exceeds the Rhino’s fixed 4/4 stature, offering a superior advantage once delirium is achieved.

Examining Terra Stomper, another card that competes for a slot in decks craving bulky Green attackers, we see that it comes with an innate trample and can’t be countered. While it lacks the condition-based power boost of Kessig Dire Swine, its consistent uncounterable nature and always-on trample can be pivotal against control-heavy opponents.

In essence, Kessig Dire Swine has a place in decks that synergize with the graveyard, leveraging its delirium ability. While there are other creatures in its class, the Swine’s potential for growth and game impact assures its place among MTG’s powerful green creature options, rewarding strategic graveyard play.

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: One of the fundamental benefits of Kessig Dire Swine lies in its potential to contribute to card advantage when combined with delirium effects. Although the card itself does not draw additional cards, having delirium enables it to become a formidable 6/6 creature with trample, pressuring your opponent and potentially drawing resources away from them as they deal with it.

Resource Acceleration: While Kessig Dire Swine does not directly accelerate resources, its significant presence as a large creature for six mana demands answers. Efficiently reaching delirium can act as a form of resource acceleration, as it turns this hefty swine into a major threat without the need for additional mana investment.

Instant Speed: While Kessig Dire Swine itself is not an instant, playing it strategically alongside instant-speed spells and abilities can increase your chances of achieving delirium swiftly. This enables you to surprise the opponent with a suddenly enhanced creature after they’ve committed to their own play, possibly during the end step prior to your turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To unleash the full potential of Kessig Dire Swine, you must have delirium, which necessitates having four different card types in your graveyard. This may force players to discard valuable cards early in the game, potentially depleting crucial resources.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that requires both green mana and generic mana, Kessig Dire Swine can be restrictive for multicolored decks. The necessity for green mana may not always align with a player’s mana base, particularly in the early stages of the game when mana efficiency is vital.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a six-mana cost to play (five generic and one green), Kessig Dire Swine is a significant investment. In the competitive environment where tempo is key, the mana spent on casting it could be better utilized on creatures or spells that provide immediate impact or value to the player.

Reasons to Include Kessig Dire Swine in Your Collection

Versatility: Kessig Dire Swine is a dynamic addition to any green deck that benefits from high power creatures. It thrives in environments where delirium can be easily achieved, turning it into a formidable force with trample.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes effectively with self-mill and graveyard strategies, enabling you to get an under-costed beater on the board. It’s a natural fit in decks that manipulate the graveyard for value, making it more than just a simple creature.

Meta-Relevance: Given the ever-shifting landscape of MTG, a 6/6 trampler that can potentially hit the board as early as turn four is never to be underestimated. This swine can become a key player in a meta that favors large creatures and graveyard play.

How to beat

Kessig Dire Swine demands attention on the battlefield with its formidable presence as a creature in Magic: The Gathering. Its delirium ability makes it a significant threat by granting it trample once there are four or more card types in your graveyard. This turns an already hefty creature into a rampaging force that can deal considerable damage if left unchecked.

To effectively counter Kessig Dire Swine, it’s essential to disrupt the graveyard synergies that bolster its power. Employing graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze can prevent or remove key cards from the graveyard, mitigating the delirium activation. Removal spells are also highly effective; a timely Path to Exile or Murder could send the beast packing before its trample ability becomes relevant.

Moreover, consider using control elements such as Pacifism or Frost Lynx to neutralize the Swine without resorting to elimination. Pacifism will negate its combat capabilities, while Frost Lynx can tap it down, buying you crucial time. By staying ahead of the delirium threshold and managing the battlefield, you can keep Kessig Dire Swine from running wild and secure your place in the game.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Kessig Dire Swine MTG card by a specific set like Shadows over Innistrad, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Kessig Dire Swine and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Kessig Dire Swine has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Kessig Dire Swine card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-04-08	Because you consider only the characteristics of a double-faced card’s front face while it’s not on the battlefield, the types of its back face won’t be counted for delirium.
2016-04-08	In some rare cases, you can have a token or a copy of a spell in your graveyard at the moment that an object’s delirium ability counts the card types among cards in your graveyard, before that token or copy ceases to exist. Because tokens and copies of spells are not cards, even if they are copies of cards, their types will never be counted.
2016-04-08	The card types in Magic are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal (a card type that appears on some older cards). Supertypes (such as legendary and basic) and subtypes (such as Human and Equipment) are not counted.
2016-04-08	The number of card types matters, not the number of cards. For example, Wicker Witch (an artifact creature) along with Catalog (an instant) and Chaplain’s Blessing (a sorcery) will enable delirium.
2016-04-08	Trample matters only as combat damage is being assigned, before it’s dealt. If Kessig Dire Swine doesn’t have trample while assigning its combat damage, it won’t matter if a creature dying due to combat damage causes Kessig Dire Swine to gain trample.