Forerunner of the Empire

Creature — Human Soldier

When Forerunner of the Empire enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a Dinosaur card, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it.

Whenever a Dinosaur enters the battlefield under your control, you may have Forerunner of the Empire deal 1 damage to each creature.

Combos

• Forerunner of the Empire + Otherworldly Journey
• Cloudshift + Forerunner of the Empire

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (47)

SpeedOfLightning on We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s EDH Story

2 months ago

lhetrick13 - Very true! To be honest, that combo to draw has made me consider cutting Polyraptor from the deck. I know it seems crazy to remove such a powerful dino, but if I had to remove one to avoid the combo, I'd rather have the ramp and add in another powerful dino or Forerunner of the Empire.

Wow, you're absolutely right! All this time, and I just realized that. I completely agree, Steely Resolve or Privileged Position could offer better protection. I may opt for Whispersilk Cloak however, as the unblockable could make a larger impact. What are your thoughts on Asceticism over Steely Resolve or Privileged Position? I found that Asceticism is very similar, even same mana cost. But being able to tap 2 to regenerate a creature could definitely be a life saver.

Deflecting Swat is a fantastic card in any deck, but you're right; it's a big investment. I'm only adding it as I had a copy of it in another deck. Might I suggest Bolt Bend as a budget option? I plan to replace the Deflecting Swat with that. It offers the same effect for only one mana if you have a strong enough creature. Since we'd be using it to protect Gishath, you'd likely have the reduced mana cost already.

lhetrick13 on We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s EDH Story

2 months ago

SpeedOfLightning - Good thoughts on the Forerunner of the Empire and Rampaging Ferocidon. I avoid the Marauding Raptor + Polyraptor combo because technically it creates an infinite loop that you can not stop and technically ends the game but the presence of Marauding Raptor would complicate that!

For protection, you might consider Steely Resolve or Privileged Position over cards like Swiftfoot Boots. I am assuming you are likely wanting to protect Gishath and she already has Haste that is kinda redundant. Whispersilk Cloak has more potential is you are set on an equipment. Deflecting Swat would be a great addition but that is a solid investment. Trying to pick up one myself but there are other more pressing needs than that at the moment.

SpeedOfLightning on We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s EDH Story

2 months ago

lhetrick13 Thanks for checking out the deck!! And oh yeah, it certainly can. I plan to add a little extra protection, but focus on ramping as well in case Gishath gets taken out. If at first you don’t succeed, hit them with your giant dino-queen again!

Forerunner of the Empire is definitely a great recommendation! I’m in a place of trying to find the right cards to cut to make room for cards like him. Rampaging Ferocidon is a great recommendation as well, but I chose to cut it as it started to to ding me whenever dinosaurs hit the field from Gishath. Plus, I’ve found that Marauding Raptor and Polyraptor end up being an inadvertent draw. Add Rampaging Ferocidon and I’d lose.

All of those other dinosaur cards have served their purpose, but some I’ve kept more for sentiment than strategy. Bellowing Aegisaur and Territorial Hammerskull are two of my favorite dinosaurs. Territorial Hammerskull is still a great card as it can tap down a big creature and clear the way for Gishath. But I may cut a card soon to add in Deflecting Swat. Great for protection, and includes a dinosaur to boot!

lhetrick13 on We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s EDH Story

2 months ago

SpeedOfLightning - Gishath Right? You cast him and suddenly games are 3v1!

Always fun to see how others build a similar theme deck as I like some of the different additions you have. I would definately recommend adding in Forerunner of the Empire. He adds a Enrage trigger you may choose to activate whenever a dino enters to field AND allows you fetch a dino to your hand (Wakening Sun's Avatar just in case). Another great potential add is Rampaging Ferocidon. Good way to completely shut down lifegain decks and token decks, both of which are run commonly at my LGS.

Otherwise, how have Bellowing Aegisaur, Burning Sun's Avatar, Raging Regisaur, Raging Swordtooth, Territorial Hammerskull, Thundering Spineback, and Snapping Sailback been? I had some of those in previous iterations of my deck but felt they were a little lackluster and dropped them.

kamarupa on speedy Ghalta

2 months ago

One thing about having a lot of mana dorks is that you tend to run out of spells pretty quickly. I think it might be worth it to drop 2xCommune with Dinosaurs and add in 2xHarmonize. Or drop Commune with Dinosaurs altogether in favor of 2xHarmonize and 2xForerunner of the Empire. You never need a dinosaur on T1, and barely one T2, so the 1MV cost of Commune isn't really helping, per se. I'll also throw out Time of Need as a possible tutor for a few of your threats at a lower cost, but you might want to reconsider your creatures to add in a 3rd Legendary to make such a spell 'worth it.'

You need some kind of interaction with your opponent, as wallisface already said. In order to make room for non-creature/non-land spells, you have to cut either creatures or lands. Given some of the high MVs of spells here, I think it's safe to say, you can't afford to cut any lands, so you'll need to cut some creatures. I suggest dropping 1x of each of your elves. 6 is still quite a lot and 3 of each makes their removal less effective for opponents. I'd also cut 2x each of Otepec Huntmaster and Raptor Hatchling. I realize you need dinos for Drover of the Mighty to get buff, and obv Ghalta's discount, but I think you'll be just fine with those numbers and it opens up 6 slots for some utility spells. 28 creatures is still quite a lot. Additionally, having non-creature / non-land spells makes it a lot easy to swap spells with your sideboard.

Beast Within is pretty useful as it hits pretty much everything, but of course, comes with a downside. And of course, I'm 100% with wallisface on Lightning Bolt and Primal Might.

Some sideboard spells I really like: Return to Nature - sometimes getting rid of artifacts, enchantments, and graveyards is crucial.

Elixir of Immortality - just say no to mill

Ratchet Bomb - just say no to tokens.

Lands: Scavenger Grounds could be useful in some matchups.

Castle Garenbrig seems relevant

Field of Ruin is nice against tron and more

Boseiju, Who Endures is really nice.

1xYavimaya, Cradle of Growth might allow for one less forest and one more mountain.

kamarupa on Halo, and Welcome!

5 months ago

This deck won 2 of 2 in it's first three player match. I can't recall what it faced.

It won 1 of 2 the next week (still three player). It faced Polyraptor+Forerunner of the Empire and Elf Tribal. The first match, this deck got mana-screwed, so it fizzled. The second match, mana was barely passable, but Soul Sisters kept it in the game long enough to overwhelm both decks, using 4/4 Angel tokens to evade Polyraptors and sheer numbers to overwhelm the elves.

Andramalech on Dino-Combo

7 months ago

Lucrative1020 but the part about Forerunner of the Empire I wasn't aware of. I have a pretty surgically created deck here, but maybe in one of those shard-variants that I'm going to detail, it can definitely find a place.

Lucrative1020 on Dino-Combo

7 months ago

Forerunner of the Empire will do the same thing and you are able to stop it whenever you want.