The thing about Commune with Dinosaurs is it makes your deck more consistent. Turn one it can make sure you get your third or fourth land or get you that ripjaw you want to cast on turn 3 because you have a Drover or Huntmaster in hand. It digs 5 deep for that carnage tyrant you want and worst case, you dig 5 and get a land. But with a critical mass of dinosaurs this becomes our cantrip. It hasn't over performed for me, but decks not running it run less smoothly I've found.
The thing about Commune with Dinosaurs is it makes your deck more consistent. Turn one it can make sure you get your third or fourth land or get you that ripjaw you want to cast on turn 3 because you have a Drover or Huntmaster in hand. It digs 5 deep for that carnage tyrant you want and worst case, you dig 5 and get a land. But with a critical mass of dinosaurs this becomes our cantrip. It hasn't over performed for me, but decks not running it run less smoothly I've found.
When I've been running it the feeling I've been getting is that it is a necessary evil for consistency. This is especially true in three colors.
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I have that card in the sideboard since I can't push red too hard in my current deck build. It does work well against aggressive pikers and is really good against swarm tactics with servos. If someone builds the Monument deck that spawns tons of x/1 creatures it will become even better since we can ramp to it and get it out turn 4 usually. The downside is that it doesn't have haste on it's own.
Red got insane creatures at the uncommon level and probably some of the best uncommons of the set. Regisaur Alpha is actually more of a 1.5 uncommon dinosaur as I'd take Raging Monstrosaur or Raging Swordtooth in that slot as well depending on what I'm trying to do.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Deathgorge Scavenger seems good enough to be in every green maindeck, it's a MD answer to The Scarab God, aggro archetypes and any graveyard-matter strat (Angel of Invention recursion for example). In a 2-color deck, it sounds like a no-brainer for the first week.
I'm pretty rusty with the previous standard, so I surely miss some nice options for the SB. Same goes with the Deserts, the manabse can be optimized, but I'm unsure how. So how can I improve those 2 parts of my build ?
Not sold on the numbers of Huntmasters yet.
Edit : I feel like 8 mana dorks aren't needed, trying out more Savage Stomps to force raptors triggers (opponents play too much around).
We have Sorcerous Spyglass to answer gods and planeswalkers in the format right now and there's also Scavenging Grounds and Field of Ruin. All three of those are fairly good includes in the sideboard. I'm not really scared of the Scarab God anymore than I am of Carnage Tyrant: They are both end game win conditions for their respective decks that are equally hard to deal with, but in the case of the god there are ways to make him strictly worse without much trouble.
Also, does anyone else forget to include the word "the" in the card name when they do the [card.] ... [/card.] stuff?
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Currently brewing decks up for standard and threw Jund Dinos together and im a pretty big fan of it. Deck has built in lifegain and graveyard hate with tons of control hate. I do not want to play against this post sideboard as any control deck currently in the format. Manabase could use some work and so could the sideboard but so far with proxy testing it has been doing great.
Looks like Wedge from the Mana Source just released a video with a deck tech for Naya Dinosaurs. I think I like the list, though I think a Gruul deck is still pretty plausible. (posting below for convenience)
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Looks like Wedge from the Mana Source just released a video with a deck tech for Naya Dinosaurs. I think I like the list, though I think a Gruul deck is still pretty plausible. (posting below for convenience)
I think he wastes slots by playing 24 lands and 7 mana dorks. I run 4 6-drops with 22 lands and 4 dorks and if it's a bit greedy, I don't feel it (4 Commune help for sure).
I really doubt Huatli is better than Chandra, as we probably prefer to interact with the opponent rather than doing our little thing on our side.
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I'm an advocate for Chandra and going gruul colors over Naya. I've played with Garruk Primal Hunter and if hautli were set up like that guy I would play her.
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Looks like Wedge from the Mana Source just released a video with a deck tech for Naya Dinosaurs. I think I like the list, though I think a Gruul deck is still pretty plausible. (posting below for convenience)
I think he wastes slots by playing 24 lands and 7 mana dorks. I run 4 6-drops with 22 lands and 4 dorks and if it's a bit greedy, I don't feel it (4 Commune help for sure).
I really doubt Huatli is better than Chandra, as we probably prefer to interact with the opponent rather than doing our little thing on our side.
I've tested out Wedges deck and I think he's got the right idea. The mana dorks are there to accelerate, not count as an actual land. Playing Kinjalli's Caller on turn 1 followed by Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2 means you can drop Ripjaw Raptor AND a 3-drop Dino on turn 3 (assuming you still make your land drops), which is nuts, and not to mention Otepec Huntmaster can give your Dino haste. Even if don't get another mana dork on turn 2, you can still drop Deathgorge Scavenger or Kinjalli's Sunwing on turn 2. On turn 4, if you still got both mana dorks alive, you can drop Regisaur Alpha AND another 3-drop Dino.
The point is that if you get two mana dorks and make your land drops in the first 3 turns, this deck is simply explosive.
His deck is more reliable than the enrage build of dinosaurs as well.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Oh so it's actually 11 dorks and 24 lands. The list is full of air, and the payoffs don't even match what other decks can do...
The mana dorks are there to accelerate, not count as an actual land
I don't know what you mean here. A Coco deck in Modern considers both the land count and the mana dorks altogether. The more dorks you play, the less lands you play. See Elves, Vizier, G Devo, etc... Here the list has 35 mana sources, in short. And I don't count the 2 Commune with D. It's way too conservative and reminds me of bad versions of aggro decks in the early weeks of standard formats that run 24 lands where only 20 are needed. Ramunap Red is the latest example.
Playing Kinjalli's Caller on turn 1 followed by Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2 means you can drop Ripjaw Raptor AND a 3-drop Dino on turn 3 (assuming you still make your land drops), which is nuts
...in certain MUs. Fatal Push kill Ripjaw or one dork pretty easily, and then you're left with nothing. But yes, you can hit for 4 damage right away, then Farm // Market followed by Fumigate 2 turns later annihilates the board, whatever it looks like. Or a single Cast Out will do the trick because the other bodies are irrelevant threats.
I don't deny the Naya shell is interesting, but that list is poorly thought through. I'm sure Mr Wedges will come back with a better version of it, but his first draft is very unimpressive.
I've tried white, and Kinjalli's Sunwing is good in creature MUs, but it struggles in the air VS Aethersphere Harvester, Heart of Kiran or higher cmc flyers. Too many dorks = too many dead draws VS midrange and control decks, which forces to over-extend and offer easy X-for-1s to our opponents.
So far, I've been very satisfied with Regisaur Alpha giving haste, and chaining a second one or more is busted enough to be worth playing 4 copies. Otepec Huntmaster will be best when we get another 4-drop aggro dino, but for now, I think he's underwhelming and situational. One reason is Dinos are less aggro than the other aggro decks, so giving a 3-drop haste when we look at what those 3-drops are, or implying that Ripjaw Raptor doesn't want to stay on defense, is not what I would qualify as getting the right idea about dinos.
His deck is more reliable than the enrage build of dinosaurs as well.
What do you mean by reliable ?
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Looks like Wedge from the Mana Source just released a video with a deck tech for Naya Dinosaurs. I think I like the list, though I think a Gruul deck is still pretty plausible. (posting below for convenience)
I think he wastes slots by playing 24 lands and 7 mana dorks. I run 4 6-drops with 22 lands and 4 dorks and if it's a bit greedy, I don't feel it (4 Commune help for sure).
I really doubt Huatli is better than Chandra, as we probably prefer to interact with the opponent rather than doing our little thing on our side.
I've tested out Wedges deck and I think he's got the right idea. The mana dorks are there to accelerate, not count as an actual land. Playing Kinjalli's Caller on turn 1 followed by Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2 means you can drop Ripjaw Raptor AND a 3-drop Dino on turn 3 (assuming you still make your land drops), which is nuts, and not to mention Otepec Huntmaster can give your Dino haste. Even if don't get another mana dork on turn 2, you can still drop Deathgorge Scavenger or Kinjalli's Sunwing on turn 2. On turn 4, if you still got both mana dorks alive, you can drop Regisaur Alpha AND another 3-drop Dino.
The point is that if you get two mana dorks and make your land drops in the first 3 turns, this deck is simply explosive.
The main problem is that Naya currently doesn't have the right land base to reliably hit white mana on turn 1 for Kinjalli's Caller. And if you get the Caller stranded in your hand and only get to play it on turn 2, things already are getting kind of awkward.
That is true but you can just play Drover of the Mighty and Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2, and then you can still get Ripjaw Raptor on turn 3. Better yet, if you play Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2, you can follow it with Caller on turn 3 so then you can still play 2 of your 3-drop Dinosaurs on turn 3, which is still pretty insane. Also, while having an untapped white source on turn 1 may not be very consistent I think it is quite doable to get two white sources by turn 2, in which case you can drop 2 Callers and still get to an explosive turn 3.
Well, before people start going on about the three color mana bases, keep in mind that grixis pirates is going to run into a similar problem and they probably can't even deal with it as well as this deck can due to not having as good of fixing. I think Naya dinosaurs works fine, it's just not the direction everyone wants to go with dinosaurs is all.
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Agree that it's not. I don't think it's going to be in the same tier as temur energy or ramunap red but I hope it does make a big splash because it's SO much fun to play.
Agree that it's not. I don't think it's going to be in the same tier as temur energy or ramunap red but I hope it does make a big splash because it's SO much fun to play.
Kaladesh block was a set where I was buying cards to keep up with the game, but didn't really feel like the set was that exciting and the same could be said of Amonkhet. From my own perspective, it felt like the two sets didn't test as well on popularity and Wizards decided to use the less popular set ideas to test the waters with Inventions and Invocations. As a result, the sets were opened more because of the lottery cards than because they were super fun and popular sets. That and the bannings that happened shortly after the set release really killed my interest in playing any format of magic over the following months.
I want to play energy before it rotates, at FNM at least once, though. I have the cards for both aggro and temur versions and energy itself looked like a lot more fun than what they are doing with treasure tokens. Albeit, thanks to a single blue common we may actually see a Tezzeret the schemer deck pop up. They needed a 1/4 or something that was either an artifact or made an artifact. As for dinosaurs, I think the deck will get better once the second set comes out and when we hit the next rotation. I feel like they might be trying to head more towards a devotion theme or trying to cut back on three color decks being as viable in standard in some way.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Looks like we have another list now from Strictly Better MTG. I got to say I like his list a lot more than the naya one and his card selection echoes what a lot of people here (including myself) have been brewing with. I still think it's a toss up between Servant of the Conduit and Otepec Huntmaster, but I tend to agree with the logic that going with an energy package at this point. The Enrage direction is probably plausible in the future if they print more dinosaurs with the ability in Rivals, but for now the good creatures seem laid out.
He also suggested bringing in Chandra, Torch of Defiance as a possible sideboard option. I'm totally with playing the arguably best walker in the format right now. I'm not feeling like we really need the third Carnage Tyrant and Nissa is largely there to also help against control, which is why I ended up trying it myself. Also, love the guy and his channel.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I disagree. I think Naya is still a better shell given that the deck really needs the white for Kinjalli's Caller, Kinjalli's Sunwing, and Cast Out. Without the discounts from Kinjalli's Caller and Otepec Huntmaster, the Dinosaurs are just slow and clunky creatures that's sure to get steamrolled by Ramunap Red. You could replace the Servants with Huntmaster but it still doesn't yield the same value as Caller. Sunwing is necessary to help slow down the opponent and is also the only flying dinosaur that's constructed worthy. And of course you need Cast Out to deal with Hazoret and The Scarab God.
Without the discounts from Kinjalli's Caller and Otepec Huntmaster, the Dinosaurs are just slow and clunky creatures that's sure to get steamrolled by Ramunap Red
This is not true. Ramunap Red isn't quite the deck it used to be, and non-white dinosaurs like Raptors and Scavenger are good enough for the MU. Regisaur is a nice stabilisation, and the Gruul versions run removal spells in the main anyway. Dinosaurs struggle against decks that go over the top (Energy), not decks that sneak under. And it's obviously a bit tricky against interactive decks (Control, Pirates, BG Midrange).
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Yeah, I'm building both tempo pirates and dinosaurs. I realized early on that it is easy to shut down most threats in the dinosaur decks with a few spells and fly over, which is why I run heaven to earth in the sideboard.
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3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Without the discounts from Kinjalli's Caller and Otepec Huntmaster, the Dinosaurs are just slow and clunky creatures that's sure to get steamrolled by Ramunap Red
This is not true. Ramunap Red isn't quite the deck it used to be, and non-white dinosaurs like Raptors and Scavenger are good enough for the MU. Regisaur is a nice stabilisation, and the Gruul versions run removal spells in the main anyway. Dinosaurs struggle against decks that go over the top (Energy), not decks that sneak under. And it's obviously a bit tricky against interactive decks (Control, Pirates, BG Midrange).
Are you sure about that? Ramunap Red hasn't really lost much; it lost Incendiary Flow which got upgraded to Lightning Strike and can still fly over the top with Glorybringer.I just feel that Kinjalli's Sunwing gives you much more breathing room.
Against Temur Energy, I think having white is more critical because without the discounts from Kinjalli's Caller, Temur would just be able to outgrind Dinosaurs.
However one card that I think Dinosaurs will have a VERY hard time dealing with is Settle the Wreckage; this card almost seems too broken as the extra ramp I think does not equally balance out exiling all opponent's attacking creatures, especially when additional ramping by Turn 4 doesn't yield as much benefit. Carnage Tyrant isn't immune since it doesn't target, so I'm not sure how the Dinosaurs can beat that. Maybe just Fling the Dinos to get that last bit of damage through?
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CUBE: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/73964;jsessionid=2DE1F5FF41A24820A137448A2FD5CF8F
I LIKE DRAGONS!
When I've been running it the feeling I've been getting is that it is a necessary evil for consistency. This is especially true in three colors.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Walking Ballista, Electrostatic Pummeler,
Bomat Courier, Hope of Ghirapur, Metallic Mimic,
Earthshaker Khenra, Raptor Hatchling, Combat Celebrant, Veteran Motorist,
Sacred Cat, Toolcraft Exemplar, Priest of the Wakening Sun, Glory-Bound Initiate, Aethergeode Miner, Adanto Vanguard, Aven Mindcensor, Angel of Intervention,
Siren Stormtamer, Skyship Plunderer, Champion of Wits, Nimble Obstructionist,
Dread Wanderer, Deadeye Tracker, Fathom Fleet Captain, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner,
tokens (vampire, servo, thopter).
It dodges removal like Glorybringer, Cut // Ribbons, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and it tramples over chumpblockers.
I also want to run 4 Burning Sun's Avatar, this card is hard to cast but very efficient. In addition to the creatures above, it also kills (or forces to react) :
Scrapheap Scrounger,
Kinjalli's Caller, Anointer Priest, Aetherstorm Roc, Fairgrounds Warden, Kinjalli's Sunwing, Sunscourge Champion, Regal Caracal,
Glint-Nest Crane, Whirler Virtuoso,
Gifted Aetherborn, Dreamstealer, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Hostage Taker,
Inventor's Apprentice, Bloodrage Brawler, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, Pia Nalaar, Ahn-Crop Crasher, Rampaging Ferocidon, Depala, Pilot Exemplar,
Narnam Renegade, Old-Growth Dryads, Longtusk Cub, Servant of the Conduit, Voltaic Brawler, Winding Constrictor, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Rogue Refiner, Ramunap Excavator, Bristling Hydra, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter,
mana dorks,
pirates,
Dinosaur tokens.
It can obviously hit PWs, which will be a big deal in the format anyway.
I feel like it's a better maindeck 6-drop than Carnage Tyrant, which answers the control MUs only.
I have that card in the sideboard since I can't push red too hard in my current deck build. It does work well against aggressive pikers and is really good against swarm tactics with servos. If someone builds the Monument deck that spawns tons of x/1 creatures it will become even better since we can ramp to it and get it out turn 4 usually. The downside is that it doesn't have haste on it's own.
Red got insane creatures at the uncommon level and probably some of the best uncommons of the set. Regisaur Alpha is actually more of a 1.5 uncommon dinosaur as I'd take Raging Monstrosaur or Raging Swordtooth in that slot as well depending on what I'm trying to do.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The main weaknesses of Gruul so far are the gods, the enchantments and the big flyers. That's why I think 2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance is an easy inclusion maindeck to deal with at least Glorybringer and Angel of Sanctions. We can expect MD cards like Noxious Gearhulk, Latnu Hellion, Greenbelt Rampager, Regisaur Alpha, pumped Winding Constrictor, unpumped Verdurous Gearhulk, Archfiend of Ifnir, Ammit Eternal, and why not Vona, Butcher of Magan or other top end vampires, and ALL the Eternalize creatures coming back from the dead.
So far my draft is this :
4 Regisaur Alpha
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Ranging Raptors
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Heart of Kiran
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Savage Stomp
2 Lightning Strike
4 Commune with Dinosaurs
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Hashep Oasis
5 Forest
3 Mountain
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Nissa, Vital Force
2 Abrade
I'm pretty rusty with the previous standard, so I surely miss some nice options for the SB. Same goes with the Deserts, the manabse can be optimized, but I'm unsure how. So how can I improve those 2 parts of my build ?
Not sold on the numbers of Huntmasters yet.
Edit : I feel like 8 mana dorks aren't needed, trying out more Savage Stomps to force raptors triggers (opponents play too much around).
Also, does anyone else forget to include the word "the" in the card name when they do the [card.] ... [/card.] stuff?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
2x Carnage Tyrant
4x Deathgorge Scavenger
4x Drover of the Mighty
4x Regisaur Alpha
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
4x Ripjaw Raptor
2x Servant of the Conduit
4x Fatal Push
3x Lightning Strike
Land (25)
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Canyon Slough
4x Dragonskull Summit
5x Forest
2x Mountain
4x Rootbound Crag
2x Swamp
4x Duress
Planeswalker (2)
2x Liliana, Death's Majesty
4x Abrade
2x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2x Heroic Intervention
1x Lay Bare the Heart
4x Prowling Serpopard
2x Shaper's Sanctuary
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Kinjalli's Caller
3 Kinjalli's Sunwing
3 Otepec Huntmaster
3 Regisaur Alpha
4 Ripjaw Raptor
2 Huatli, Warrior Poet
Spell 8
3 Abrade
1 Cast Out
2 Commune with Dinosaurs
2 Savage Stomp
Land 24
3 Forest
2 Hashep Oasis
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Plains
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Scattered Groves
3 Sheltered Thicket
2 Sunpetal Grove
2 Unclaimed Territory
I don't know if I like Hashep Oasis as much as Ramunap Ruins, but it looks solid.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I think he wastes slots by playing 24 lands and 7 mana dorks. I run 4 6-drops with 22 lands and 4 dorks and if it's a bit greedy, I don't feel it (4 Commune help for sure).
I really doubt Huatli is better than Chandra, as we probably prefer to interact with the opponent rather than doing our little thing on our side.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I've tested out Wedges deck and I think he's got the right idea. The mana dorks are there to accelerate, not count as an actual land. Playing Kinjalli's Caller on turn 1 followed by Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2 means you can drop Ripjaw Raptor AND a 3-drop Dino on turn 3 (assuming you still make your land drops), which is nuts, and not to mention Otepec Huntmaster can give your Dino haste. Even if don't get another mana dork on turn 2, you can still drop Deathgorge Scavenger or Kinjalli's Sunwing on turn 2. On turn 4, if you still got both mana dorks alive, you can drop Regisaur Alpha AND another 3-drop Dino.
The point is that if you get two mana dorks and make your land drops in the first 3 turns, this deck is simply explosive.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I don't know what you mean here. A Coco deck in Modern considers both the land count and the mana dorks altogether. The more dorks you play, the less lands you play. See Elves, Vizier, G Devo, etc... Here the list has 35 mana sources, in short. And I don't count the 2 Commune with D. It's way too conservative and reminds me of bad versions of aggro decks in the early weeks of standard formats that run 24 lands where only 20 are needed. Ramunap Red is the latest example.
...in certain MUs. Fatal Push kill Ripjaw or one dork pretty easily, and then you're left with nothing. But yes, you can hit for 4 damage right away, then Farm // Market followed by Fumigate 2 turns later annihilates the board, whatever it looks like. Or a single Cast Out will do the trick because the other bodies are irrelevant threats.
I don't deny the Naya shell is interesting, but that list is poorly thought through. I'm sure Mr Wedges will come back with a better version of it, but his first draft is very unimpressive.
I've tried white, and Kinjalli's Sunwing is good in creature MUs, but it struggles in the air VS Aethersphere Harvester, Heart of Kiran or higher cmc flyers. Too many dorks = too many dead draws VS midrange and control decks, which forces to over-extend and offer easy X-for-1s to our opponents.
So far, I've been very satisfied with Regisaur Alpha giving haste, and chaining a second one or more is busted enough to be worth playing 4 copies. Otepec Huntmaster will be best when we get another 4-drop aggro dino, but for now, I think he's underwhelming and situational. One reason is Dinos are less aggro than the other aggro decks, so giving a 3-drop haste when we look at what those 3-drops are, or implying that Ripjaw Raptor doesn't want to stay on defense, is not what I would qualify as getting the right idea about dinos.
What do you mean by reliable ?
I've played upwards of 32 but even that has felt like too many.
That is true but you can just play Drover of the Mighty and Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2, and then you can still get Ripjaw Raptor on turn 3. Better yet, if you play Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2, you can follow it with Caller on turn 3 so then you can still play 2 of your 3-drop Dinosaurs on turn 3, which is still pretty insane. Also, while having an untapped white source on turn 1 may not be very consistent I think it is quite doable to get two white sources by turn 2, in which case you can drop 2 Callers and still get to an explosive turn 3.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Kaladesh block was a set where I was buying cards to keep up with the game, but didn't really feel like the set was that exciting and the same could be said of Amonkhet. From my own perspective, it felt like the two sets didn't test as well on popularity and Wizards decided to use the less popular set ideas to test the waters with Inventions and Invocations. As a result, the sets were opened more because of the lottery cards than because they were super fun and popular sets. That and the bannings that happened shortly after the set release really killed my interest in playing any format of magic over the following months.
I want to play energy before it rotates, at FNM at least once, though. I have the cards for both aggro and temur versions and energy itself looked like a lot more fun than what they are doing with treasure tokens. Albeit, thanks to a single blue common we may actually see a Tezzeret the schemer deck pop up. They needed a 1/4 or something that was either an artifact or made an artifact. As for dinosaurs, I think the deck will get better once the second set comes out and when we hit the next rotation. I feel like they might be trying to head more towards a devotion theme or trying to cut back on three color decks being as viable in standard in some way.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
2 Bristling Hydra
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Regisaur Alpha
2 Rhonas the Indomitable
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Servant of the Conduit
Spell 10
2 Abrade
3 Attune with Aether
1 Commune with Dinosaurs
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Aether Hub
6 Forest
3 Hashep Oasis
3 Mountain
3 Ramunap Ruins
4 Rootbound Crag
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Unclaimed Territory
2 Abrade
1 Carnage Tyrant
3 Glorybringer
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Magma Spray
1 Nissa, Vital Force
3 Sweltering Suns
He also suggested bringing in Chandra, Torch of Defiance as a possible sideboard option. I'm totally with playing the arguably best walker in the format right now. I'm not feeling like we really need the third Carnage Tyrant and Nissa is largely there to also help against control, which is why I ended up trying it myself. Also, love the guy and his channel.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Ranging Raptors
3 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Regisaur Alpha
4 Carnage Tyrant
4 Savage Stomp
4 Commune with Dinosaurs
4 Lightning Strike
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Huatli, Warrior Poet
Lands (22)
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Hashep Oasis
5 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Plains
Tested the deck. It is fine when it curved right with no interaction. Worst when early drops were killed by burn spells, and everything comes in late while decks like Temur Energy starts beating with their early drops. The idea is quite similar with https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/carnage-tyrant-rules-and-breaks-the-rules-standard-rg-dino-aggro/, a turn 4 haste Carnage Tyrant. Regisaur Alpha felt slightly meh I don't know why. Ripjaw Raptor as well but I'm loving Ranging Raptors. I kinda feel like replacing Ripjaw Raptor with Kinjalli's Sunwing. It kills off blockers, excellent turn 3 drop off Drover of the Mighty and Otepec Huntmaster to set up next turn Tyrant. As for the mana base, I feel just fine. Sheltered Thicket approves both check lands, and just run more Forest.
Modern : RG Titan Shift RG | RG Revolt Zoo RG | RG Ponza RG | RGW Naya Burn RGW
Legacy : RG Belcher RG
This is not true. Ramunap Red isn't quite the deck it used to be, and non-white dinosaurs like Raptors and Scavenger are good enough for the MU. Regisaur is a nice stabilisation, and the Gruul versions run removal spells in the main anyway. Dinosaurs struggle against decks that go over the top (Energy), not decks that sneak under. And it's obviously a bit tricky against interactive decks (Control, Pirates, BG Midrange).
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Are you sure about that? Ramunap Red hasn't really lost much; it lost Incendiary Flow which got upgraded to Lightning Strike and can still fly over the top with Glorybringer.I just feel that Kinjalli's Sunwing gives you much more breathing room.
Against Temur Energy, I think having white is more critical because without the discounts from Kinjalli's Caller, Temur would just be able to outgrind Dinosaurs.
However one card that I think Dinosaurs will have a VERY hard time dealing with is Settle the Wreckage; this card almost seems too broken as the extra ramp I think does not equally balance out exiling all opponent's attacking creatures, especially when additional ramping by Turn 4 doesn't yield as much benefit. Carnage Tyrant isn't immune since it doesn't target, so I'm not sure how the Dinosaurs can beat that. Maybe just Fling the Dinos to get that last bit of damage through?