About
Welcome to my fun midrange dinosaur deck! This list is what if found to work so far. Through extensive testing it has finally settled at a place I’m ready to share. I still tweak numbers and some cards once in a while. Keep in mind you could easily play it Red-Green but adding White into the mix has hardly been a strain for me.
The Sideboard is still getting added to since I’m more often playing Bo1.
Getting access to
Huatli, Warrior Poet
,
Zacama, Primal Calamity
and
Deafening Clarion
by adding White has given me great versatility and allows for stabilizing via life gain.
Card Choices
Lands
I go with 20 to 22, that’s not for everyone but it’s felt good for me with as a single Ranging Raptors grabbing multiple lands. I know this might appear crazy at first because a more common number is 23, 24. I feel it works due to 3 cards,
Commune with Dinosaurs
,
Thunderherd Migration
and
Ranging Raptors
. All combining to ramp well and allowing for a lower land count.
Recently I have taken out Thunderherd Migration with the addition of the ramp from Domri. I might add it back though if he gets dropped but there is a little more Enrage triggers now with
Solar Blaze
which has felt adequate with Ranging Raptors.
Creatures
With so many different dinosaurs and many cards to support them, it was hard to decide which to cut. There are a number I have left out that can be good but just aren’t in my list at the moment.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
,
Wakening Sun's Avatar
,
Drover of the Mighty
and
Kinjalli's Sunwing
, are a few that stand out as popular choices.
The low end begins with
Otepec Huntmaster
a cornerstone for me, sometimes overlooked in other lists. I see him as a must answer threat for the opponent, it can catch people off guard. Especially when you slam down one of your Dino’s on Turn 3, granting it haste and attacking. I have him in place of
Drover of the Mighty
due to it being a static reduction of cost for all Dinosaurs. Often times this allows for two to be played in a turn instead of one.
Why you need Otepec Huntmaster
(Over Drover)
Example 1
Say it’s Turn 3, you only have 4 lands with a
Ranging Raptors
in hand. It would be far better to have Otepec instead of Drover. With your first 2 mana you’d play Otepec, reducing Ranging so that it can also be played. Drover just makes things slower in a lot of cases.
Example 2
Turn 1 - Forest
Turn 2 -
Rootbound Crag
+ Otepec
Turn 3 - Forest + Ranging +
Savage Stomp
+ Attack
If you had a Drover instead of the Otepec it would have severely cut down on not just that turns aggression but all future turns.
Example 3
It’s Turn 5, you have six Land out and a
Regisaur Alpha
+
Ranging Raptors
in hand. With a Drover out that still only means you could play one. Having
Otepec Huntmaster
instead means you could play both for a total casting cost of six. As an added bonus Regisaur would gain haste and you’d attack with all three (the Dino token). 10 power with haste in 3 creatures, for six mana is pretty darn good.
Ranging Raptors
-
The great bread and butter ramping buddy! 3 or 4 of for sure since having two out is even better, especially if they are hit with
Shake the Foundations
or other such spell. One of my favourite Turn 3 plays plus
Savage Stomp
. Not much more to say, a key creature.
Thrashing Brontodon
-
This guy is already a great body and with Otepec will often be GG. Another low cost Dino to enable Savage Stomp is always good. In a pinch, getting rid of an artifact or enchantment is always good but having that attached to a body is even better.
Ripjaw Raptor
-
Card draw is a must and having 4 Ripjaw means you should have at least have one out. He is another great Turn 3 play and similar to Ranging, the more the merrier!
Regisaur Alpha
-
Great for catching an opponent off guard, a must in any Dino deck. Needed due to the opponent likely killing that early Otepec. Really enables that GG
Ghalta, Primal Hunger
.
Carnage Tyrant
-
It’s “the” Dino, it’s incredibly hard to get rid of and will probably have haste. Not much more to say but having 3 of him still feels good and I see him often enough still. Great for drawing out that
Settle the Wreckage
by attacking with him alone. Not many will pass up the chance to get this guy off the board.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger
-
1 of is usually all that’s needed to win. Since he is going to be so low to cast having 2 of him can be nice since the opponent is probably saving an answer for him. Following up destroyed Ghalta with a second one is so much fun.
Zacama, Primal Calamity
-
King of the Dinosaurs. I like having 2 of since he has such useful abilities. Seeing him a little more often has worked great and then if anything is going to get answered, this will be it. Him plus Thrashing means your well stocked to get rid of Artifacts and Enchantments.
Spells
Commune with Dinosaurs
-
The must have card. It should always be 4 of since it’s great at all stages of the game. Makes things pretty consistent, especially for grabbing Zacama, Ghalta or other 1/2 of Dino’s. Another use could be to grab a big threat early, revealing it to play a bit of mind games on the opponent.
Thunderherd Migration
-
The ramp spell of the deck. It could go down to 3 of but I prefer the consistency of having 4. It basically replaces
Drover of the Mighty
since it’s the same cost but much harder to get rid of than Drover.
Savage Stomp
-
Removal, enrage trigger and power boost for . It’s a no brainer and should at least be 3 of. Great for Drake removal especially. Yes sometimes it’s a dead card if you’re against a creature-less deck but that doesn’t happen very often.
Deafening Clarion
- The top field wipe card with the added bonus of granting lifelink. I choose this over
Shake the Foundations
and others because it hits everything for 3 which removes a large number of creatures. Especially good against token heavy decks like Selesnya.
Yes you will lose Otepec, Dino tokens and likely Ranging but everything else is safe and can often lead to a win after playing this.
Huatli, Warrior Poet
My favourite planeswalker for this deck due to her versatility. Life-gain, Enrage trigger + allowing your creatures through, extra Dinos that likely have haste. She does so much for me and I’ve won many games due to having her out.
Final Thoughts
I mentioned before that this list works for me but I also like switching it up with other cards.
Shake the Foundations
can be nice if your going with more Enrage Dino’s.
Siegehorn Ceratops
can be an unexpected surprise and gets out of hand really quick. I love to pair it with
Tilonalli's Crown
.
Practice makes better but this is a good starting point. Try out things, that’s what Magic is about. There are many other possibilities I haven’t mentioned that can be good.
