Ever since I started up MTGO several months ago I had been wanting to try out dinosaurs. Not sure if it the artwork or the love of Jurassic Park but this is my attempt to play a deck that will be fun and hopefully somewhat competitive. If you have some constructive criticism, I am all ears as I am always looking to improve both the decks and my own deck-building ability.

One of the difficulties I found when building a dino deck is their high CMC. To overcome this I have a number of creatures to lower the CMC such as Goblin Anarchomancer, Kinjalli's Caller, and Marauding Raptor and a number of ramping dinosaurs like Ranging Raptors and Topiary Stomper. I am running Goblin Anarchomancer as its runs a bit wider than Otepec Huntmaster although both of them have trouble when Marauding Raptor is on the field. I considered dropping Goblin Anarchomancer entirely and just run additional copies of Marauding Raptor but getting two copies of Marauding Raptor on the field at once is not exactly ideal as it would limit what I could play. In total, I have 8 creatures in the deck that lower the CMC of the dinosaurs and 5 ramping dinosaurs giving me goods odds of being able to hit some of the big guns much quicker than usual.

In terms of triggering the enrage ability, cards like Cinderclasm hit all the creatures going for a mass enrage while others are more targeted like Reckless Rage, Rile, and Savage Stomp. Running Marauding Raptor and Forerunner of the Empire provide some additional enrage triggers as well. In total, I have 12 ways to trigger enrage in addition to combat damage giving me good odds of being able to hit that consistently.

As a good portion of this deck relies heavily on having certain creatures on the field to lower the cost of the big guns or the cards needed to enrage the dinos, I added in a considerable amount of potential extra draws to "search" the deck for what I want/need. Ripjaw Raptor provides draws when dealt damage via enrage, Runic Armasaur provides draws if the opponent relies on activated abilities of lands/creatures. Rile provides a cheap draw while also letting me target an enraged ability, and lastly The Great Henge is a card that meshes well with this deck given the big creatures it fields and also give me a draw ability when a creature is cast. That gives me 9 cards total with draw potential again giving me good odds that I will be able to play one at least and keep the fun going.

Radiant_Draconis - I did a little bit of playtesting of this last night and was a little disappointed with Polyraptor. It works to well! I had out a Marauding Raptor and played Polyraptor and it creates an infinite cycle of creating tokens, lol. I mean, I did want to use that combo as a wincon but not because the opponent gets annoyed that I have just been making tokens for the last 5 mins! Pretty sure I am going to have to remove Polyraptor for something else which is sad.

Balaam__ - I appreciate the upvote!

kamarupa - Thanks for the upvote! Still a work in progress but isn't every deck?

Hello! i have attested these chickens for the last 2 years and got some cool results in my country's online championships. this is my latest list, hope it helps! (yes, I wrote that in google translator). https://www.moxfield.com/decks/0_7d66gIMkmCSm-yIJqpxg

heinzu - Thanks for the heads up, I will check it out! Any suggestions for how the deck currently looks given your dinosaur expertise?

Niko9 - Thanks for the upvote!

Nice dino deck! Honestly, part of me kind of hopes that they don't print newer and better dinosaurs in the future just because of how cool the ones we've got are. Ranging Raptors and Ripjaw Raptor are so good, and I really like your addition of Reckless Rage That's one I always wanted to try and it just never quite made the list, but I bet it can be nuts good.

One that I play in dinos is Ulvenwald Tracker to get another one drop and to have reusable fight effects. I know that it can be hard to find room for non dinos in there, but it's a very good one if you can find space for it.

But yep, I have a sans-red version if you ever want to check it out Dino Stomps To Value and it uses Tamiyo, Field Researcher to great effect and also Enter the Unknown which is one of my favorite ramp/scryish/pump cards. And Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip as both a flash indestructable to go with enrage, but also when she flips and hits all creatures for enrage effects. Plus a big flash flier is just good : )

But it's just different. Your deck is definitely more synergistic in dinos, and I really like seeing the different takes on my all time favorite magic creatures. They are surprisingly versatile for big bitey lizards : ) Awesome list!

Also, amazing deck name : )

I am glad at least one person saw that quote and put it into context with a dinosaur theme deck! If I had more of a pure raptor presence in the deck, I was going to go with Shoot Her! Shoot Her! but I thought that would be wasted on most people, lol.

Ha, that would have also been great : ) It will always be the best dinosaur first and people second, movie ever.

Squee_Spirit_Guide - Thanks for the upvote!

If you have any janky suggestions, I would love to hear them. This is definitely not my strongest deck but I have found it is the one I enjoy playing the most!

Hey lhetrick13! I'm not the best source for ideas since my favourite dinosaur is Dromosaur and it isn't even modern legal :)

But a lack of good suggestions hasn't stopped me before! I'd definitely run the Ghalta, Primal Hunger you have in the maybeboard, since it would be pretty cheap once you've got a few other dinos out. I also like Deathmist Raptor for the lower end of the curve if you run multiples, since they can get each other back from the graveyard.

On the jankier end I really like Polyraptor, which would pair nicely with the Riles you've got in there. It would really shine with relpeatable pingers so it might require too much reworking to fit nicely with what you've already got.

Anyway, I hope that helps!

Squee_Spirit_Guide - Thanks for the suggestions!

Ghalta, Primal Hunger is pretty easy to get out for dirt cheap, under ideal circumstances I can drop him easily by turn 4 with haste. He started in the deck as one of my big guns but I wanted to experiment with some others.

I had not really even considered Deathmist Raptor and its ability to recall itself from the grave. That may have some merit! I do like the deathtouch and with Savage Stomp, that might be a good removal of something much bigger than Deathmist Raptor.

I feel you about Polyraptor. I love token creation but I quickly discovered the infinite loop of token creation triggered by Marauding Raptor + Polyraptor . If Marauding Raptor was not one of the main pieces of this deck, I would totally run Polyraptor for the exact reason you mentioned. I mean, can you imaging Forerunner of the Empire + Polyraptor for like one or two turns? Epic!!!

Thanks for the food for thought!

SirRocketsauce - Thanks for the upvote!

RebelGenius - Thanks for the upvote!

Hi lhetrick13 Nice deck :) and may life find its way... Considering the struggle with Propaganda maybe you can think of Atzocan Seer or Drover of the Mighty instead of Kinjalli's Caller, they have a dinosaur theme, survive enrage trigger and have the same effect as the caller if you cast 1 big boy per round, but they can pay other costs as well as they provide mana. As you are using WG and cast creatures regularly Aura Shards may be worth a look. Happy stomping!

Xtough - Thanks for the compliment and upvote. Always nice to have some feedback!

You are not wrong about the deck struggling when the opponents sets up Ghostly Prison or even worse, multiple of those kind of cards as the deck does struggle against heavy artifact/enchantment decks. Dinos just do not have the best removal for those which is sad.

The thing I love about Kinjalli's Caller is how it speeds up the deck. Dropping it on turn 1 allows me to cast 3 CMC dinos on turn 2 and speed is something dinosaurs need as they usually are pretty expensive. Dropping Kinjalli's Caller for either of those two would essentially push me back one or two turns as Atzocan Seer and Drover of the Mighty would fill...similar rolls but are just more expensive.

Atzocan Seer has a little more upside with the graveyard yank but at 3 CMC, it is a high price to pay for what you get. I talked with Radiant_Draconis who runs a similar themed deck (Prehistoric Rumble!) about Atzocan Seer as he used to be in that deck and that helped me rule him out.

Is Aura Shards legal in modern? According to cardhoarder and cardkingdom it is not; otherwise, I would be running maybe 1-2 copies in the deck and adding the rest of the full playset to the SB.

Thanks again for the feedback!

DreadKhan - Thanks for the upvote! If you have any suggestions or thoughts either positive or negative I would love to hear them.

I feel like you could use more ramp, you could use enchantment ramp like Utopia Sprawl or even Trace of Abundance incase you're worried about your beefy land being targeted somehow. I also wonder if Pyrohemia is worth a look, this would 'solve' annoying decks with x/1 (and x/2, even x/3 probably is safe for most of your dinosaurs) creatures like Elves and Faeries, and it can Enrage your dinosaurs for you for only R, which seems like a lot of value.

Metallic Mimic might be a low mana 'dinosaur' that can help, Realmwalker is another that might help, it's a tiny advantage acutely, but having access to one more card at all times is pretty good. Masked Vandal might be worth a look if you think you can get creatures into your own graveyard to power it, exiling stuff is pretty strong.

Not sure if you ever get 'outmuscled', but Blasphemous Act does offer you a wipe that can trigger your Enrage abilities on the way out, which can be a nice perk that offsets the annoyance of wiping your own board.

DreadKhan - Utopia Sprawl has been on my wish list for a while but I feel like you are right this may be a good fit for it considering the abundance of high CMC dinos in the deck. If i can procure some in the new future I will need to test that out. Any thoughts on what you would cut to make room for 3-4? My first thought was 1xForerunner of the Empire and 1xTrapjaw Tyrant but after that things start getting tight!

I looked at Pyrohemia but Forerunner of the Empire provides a very similar mass enrage trigger ability when creatures enter the field so I decided to go that route.

Metallic Mimic and some of the other shapeshifters you mentioned have some merit...The +1/+1 counter ability is not exactly needed with how big most dinos are for their cost but it would give a cheaper option. Realmwalker wmight be a good addition to give me a "larger hand" as you mentioned and Masked Vandal would give me a decent artifact/enchantment removal option seeing how that is something dinos struggle with.

Good stuff and some ideas to try out! Thanks for your thoughts!

I would figure the deck would run smoother if you switched out the 2 you mentioned, as well as 1 each of Regisaur and Silverclad, both are good cards but will clog your hand turn 1 when you'd very much like to see a Utopia Sprawl. You also might try x2 rather than x4, and switch between which cards you pull to see if you really 'notice' any of them being reduced?

My other consideration is whether or not you have enough Forests, but it doesn't have to be a Basic Forest, it can be any Forest, so you have quite a few effectively. What I figure is that you are probably mana screwed if you don't draw any Forests in your opener, so I feel like most hands where you'd be 'stuck' with a Sprawl you'd have used a mulligan for not having a Forest (and having a 4-7 drop creature wouldn't have changed that either), so I suspect the 'risk' of using Sprawl is actually lower than I'd have expected.

DreadKhan - Ya, both of those two can be knockout punches with the right support around them but running 3xTrapjaw Tyrant feels excessive at times and same with 4xForerunner of the Empire. I will need to play around with that and see if I like Utopia Sprawl and if so, how many copies I feel like the deck needs...I am imagining like a turn 1 Utopia Sprawl, turn 2 Kinjalli's Caller and Marauding Raptor, followed by a Turn 3 enraged dino that has up to a CMC of 5...that is not shabby...

I have done alot of swapping things around over the last couple weeks for testing and you are right, I likely need to balance my lands again based on the cards I currently have or will add to it. With the shock, filter, fetch lands as well as Ranging Raptors I usually do not have issues getting the mana I need to cast what ever but there are times where I have a killer opening hand but I have the wrong color mana to cast everything within the first 3 turns :(

DreadKhan - Your advice did not fall on deaf ears my friend! I finally procured 4xUtopia Sprawl. I had been wanting a playset of that card for a while now but just never had a deck where I felt it was needed or suggested. Can not say I will get to playtesting out your suggestion right away but I do have the option to do so now. Thanks for your suggestions!

I hope you're very happy with your Utopia Sprawls, I bought one myself recently, but it's not arrived yet. Even if it doesn't necessarily work in this deck, there are a lot of things that benefit from having lands that tap for more than 1 mana, and as a ramp source it's one of the best ever printed.