This deck is built around exploiting
Forerunner of the Empire
to create a lot of copies via
Polyraptor
.
I used to run 4
Raptor Hatchling
, but the deck is more effective only running 2 or 3.
To deal with Aggro decks, I have ran it with four
Raptor Hatchling
and 4
Consuming Fervor
which makes my deck act a bit aggro early on and allows me to delay the game until I get the cards that I really need, if not win the game outright, with just a single
Raptor Hatchling
and his tokens on the field.
I am now running a couple
Solar Blaze
and these are life savers in this deck. It clears out the board and even activates some enrage abilities. I prefer
Solar Blaze
over
Star of Extinction
as it doesn't kill most of my creatures, but still activates their enrage ability. Making creatures indestructable may also help here, as I could clear the board and drop either of the two onto
Forerunner of the Empire
and I now have a set of 8+
Polyraptor
at minimum.
With 23 land, 3
Kinjalli's Caller
, 3
Ranging Raptors
, and 2 commune with dinosaurs, I very rarely have a situation where I am hurting for land. Add in the fact that I have so many cards that allow me to draw, I can keep a full hand most of the game.
Supernatural Stamina
(now replaced with
Justiciar's Portal
) not only keeps my creature from dying, but it is awesome because it allows ETB abilities to happen again. Ex. I have a
Polyraptor
on the field that I have just attacked with so it is tapped. I have a
Raptor Hatchling
and a
Forerunner of the Empire
which I just cast this turn so I didn't get a chance to start duplicating
Polyraptor
. A lot of times, my opponent sees this as an opportunity to attack. What do I do? Block with
Raptor Hatchling
and cast Supernatural Weakness. The hatchling will come back with summoning sickness, but that's okay, because it is not my turn. This lets
Forerunner of the Empire
deal 1 damage to all creatures, so now I used my opponents offense as my own offense to turn the tides in my favor.
Edited to keep my deck standard. I had to change from black to white, but the cards that I chose to use work almost identically to how I had my deck set up previously. I am now able to run
Kinjalli's Caller
which is cheaper than Otepic Huntmaster. I found that I used the haste ability of Otepic rarely, so it was a huge plus getting the same early card for one less mana. I can now run
Chance for Glory
as a side card. I think that 3 is too many, but I haven't figured out which card that I would like to run one more of.
As I have played, I have found that most of the time I do not go for the infinite combo. I usually lose quite a bit of my health as I set up my strategy for that game, but I normally win. Substituting in
Reckless Rage
helps against aggro decks. Now that I have
Justiciar's Portal
, I have more defense than I previously did, but with similar effects to what I used previously. Getting an important creature exiled, isn't as much of a threat.
All in all, the deck is stronger than it was previously, so the adjustment to keep it standard worked out for the better.
I still have
Commune with Dinosaurs
listed here, but I am currently not running it in my deck. I honestly do not know if it helps or hurts me.
I am currently trying to modify my main deck to be able to handle aggro decks better. If I can just delay them for a few extra turns, I should be able to put a stop to their deck. The only problem is what adjustment should I make?
