Sideboard


Maybeboard


This Gruul-colored () deck was designed around two dinosaurs that came from the Ixalan blocks, Marauding Raptor & Polyraptor. This deck uses their combo for victory. Chomp-chomp-chomp!

This combination of effects between two creatures ends up producing an infinite amount of creatures if left unchecked. With Marauding Raptor in play as Polyraptor enters the field, it triggers the effect of the first to deal damage to the newly entering Polyraptor. The damage registers and causes Polyraptor to create another one of itself.. which in turn reactivates Marauding Raptor. Without any other interaction.. this is a stalemate.

The only thing keeping the cycle going once you've started the combo is the existence of Marauding Raptor, so feel free to allow that ability to resolve at whatever threshold you want. The key component is stopping the combo with a Lightning Bolt effect. Thus, giving you infinite dinosaurs.

"Why build this list? The interaction is flimsy and protecting it is hard in a competitive setting."

..because who doesn't love dinosaurs??!? I have a real big love for chompy bois and with Ixalan slated (again) in late 2023, I'm hoping to inevitably revisit these ideas.

"What pieces are competitive viable?"

Klothys, God of Destiny and Atarka's Command are both straight savage bombs in Gruul () colors. I'd use these guys in any competitive build that shares both because of the pure utility for ramp, damage, and Graveyard control over your opponents.

However, some other pieces aren't too impactful. The Ancient Tomb and Green Sun's Zenith of the deck provide little to the overall functionality, it is more of a space to speed up ramp if nothing else. So more interactive pieces might benefit a playstyle better.

"What sideboard picks are we using?"

I personally believe this can be answered dependent on a few things: intent, meta, and budget.

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Under 1.00$

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More than 1.00$

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More than 5.00$

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More than 15.00$

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More than 25.00$

On our first turn we emphatically need one thing: a mana dork. So what better dork than one that provides us with a flying blocker at worst? Birds of Paradise is necessary setup for turn two, where two more reduction bodies have to make it to the field.

On turn 2, in order to nail this combo on turn 3, you need an Ancient Tomb to make it out, so that you have access to exactly. In order, cast Goblin Anarchomancer and THEN Marauding Raptor for only .

On turn three, you need any Ole land down. Using Natural Order, sacrifice your Birds of Paradise to go get Polyraptor and put him into play. If I'm not mistaken, you'll have used to have done it, leaving you with access to at least one mana, which is necessary to interrupt the combo flow. Let Polyraptor resolve until you have the desired amount of dinosaurs, then casting Blazing Salvo or Lightning Bolt to end the combo, gifting you an immaculate board state.

This panel is included so that I may detail some Jund-variant specific dinosaurs, but truthfully (much like the Naya-shard alternative) serves to surgically dissect our deck for no better purposes than maybe a nuance of playstyle choice. For instance, by name Abrupt Decay and Assassin's Trophy are the only stapled inclusions that could make sense. Not that some finagled deck-list wouldn't appreciate this effort, but for what this combo is supposed to do, I see no real reason to call this a Jund unless we include some Black Dinosaurs.

On that topic of Dinosaurs including the third color shard (in this case it's ), and considering when this deck was initially created, I could've said that Rotting Regisaur and Deathrite Shaman would have been the only creatures that could have done me some real justice.

Besides some Reanimator tactics through cards such as Exhume, Reanimate, Entomb, etc., you really only serve to crap on the manabase that is developed for Gruul needs, and replace our whole structure with a gas-ramp into something something profit. Personally, I don't mind the idea of a Jund-Dino-Build, but trying to recreate this shell when it's already so clearly defined for the combo, doesn't really mean we're going to improve our odds of success.

I'm gonna rate this 5/10 if the current list is 10.

Now despite how the Jund-shard color aligned materials went for this build, I believe that some White-associated cards might actually be helpful here; things like Kinjalli's Caller can enter the field turn 1 and left unabated, speed up the process pretty significantly.

At the core functionality of 'include ' I don't really see much of the overall playstyle changing, but I do have a chronicled list that I have had time to think about if we did, in fact include the Naya-shard.

Dromoka's Command comes to mind from when I ran a Zoo deck in Naya colors, for it's utility and ease of use.

Path to Exile seems a valuable removal at any stage of the game, honestly.

Including in our list would provide us the ability to sideboard Leyline of Sanctity and even run things like Solitude, which would strictly just be better than running Path, and more useful in the slot.

I'm sure there's other associated cards that could help us accomplish this task while frivolously adding another color to worry about, and while easier than my former shard that was detailed, this shard still doesn't provide quite enough love to merit the shift.

I'm gonna say like 7/10 if the current list is 10.

Suggestions

Updates Add

With the release of Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI, 2023), I decided to revisit this list and detail notes regarding the color shards most aligned with Dinosaur identity; Naya () and Jund ().

While neither one of those shards (before now) really lended any additional love to the Combo deck I've detailed, new cards are being released that are totally fucking cool and it lends me to making new Standard-legal decks, BECAUSE DINOSAURS HAVE COME BACK TO STANDARD.

Anyways, this list is now officially retired, unless someone from the community points out a card that quite literally re-breaks this list and allows me to pop-off prior to turn 3. It's a lovely list, a passion project, and has brought me a lot of joy. An overwhelming wave of dinosaurs was a defining characteristic of how I wanted to build a list and that's exactly what I've done here.

Chomp Chomp, my friends. <3

Comments

25% Casual

75% Competitive

Revision 1 See all

(2 years ago)

+3 Atzocan Seer maybe
+2 Crop Rotation maybe
+2 Gods Willing maybe
+2 Khalni Heart Expedition maybe
+3 Kinjalli's Caller maybe
+3 Knight of the Stampede maybe
+3 Otepec Huntmaster maybe
+3 Shifting Ceratops maybe
+3 Wayward Swordtooth maybe
Top Ranked
  • Achieved #40 position overall 2 years ago
  • Achieved #4 position in Casual 2 years ago
Date added 5 years
Last updated 9 months
Legality

This deck is Casual legal.

Rarity (main - side)

10 - 0 Mythic Rares

34 - 4 Rares

4 - 7 Uncommons

12 - 4 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.35
Tokens Copy Clone
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