As I’ve said before, it’s hard to take an in-depth look at an archetype
prior to seeing the full set. That being said, Wizards of the Coast has
tendencies towards the designs of sets that we can still glean information
from. Sometimes a card is uncommon when it looks like it should be common,
and that suggests that it may be better than it looks. Even though we don’t
know all the Dinosaurs yet, let’s see if we can learn anything about how
this archetype may look.
Ah, the good old Trumpet Blast variant of the set. These kinds of cards
range from “always great” (Trial of Solidarity) to “solid in specific
strategies” to “unplayable.” My guess is that Dinosaur Stampede will be in
the upper tier of “solid in specific strategies.” Definitely no Trial of
Solidarity, though.
Trumpet Blast is usually a fine 23rd card in aggressive strategies, so you
don’t really need Dinosaurs for this card to make your deck. But if you do
have Dinosaurs, this card may end up being one of the best cards in your
deck. Trample combos nicely with large creatures, and most Dinosaurs happen
to have inflated stats.
The problem with this card is that it isn’t too hard to play around (or
doesn’t seem like it will be). My guess is that it’ll be much better in the
beginning of the format when people aren’t so trained to look for weird
attacks that suggest Dinosaur Stampede, but it will be good in a Dinosaur
deck regardless. If you’re in an aggressive Dinosaur deck, then you want
the Trumpet Blast, and if you’re not, then your creatures should be large
enough that Dinosaur Stampede gets enough equity to justify a slot in the
maindeck.
I’m going to start taking this card on the earlier side. Not first-pick,
but if I’ve started with a Dinosaur or two, this may be the payoff I want
to move into some Dino-beatdown strategy!
When you look at five cards, the probability that you hit a land is quite
high, so this card doesn’t have to take a spell slot; you can play sixteen
lands and Commune with Dinosaurs and your deck should function similarly to
if it had seventeen lands. Unfortunately, it’s not too easily comparable to
Attune with Aether, which was a high-ish pick in Kaladesh. Commune
with Dinosaurs replaces the subtle upside of energy plus the ability to
enable a splash with the ability to select a Dinosaur.
I don’t think this upside is better, mostly because it requires a specific
deck, but this card will be pretty good if your deck has eight or more
Dinosaurs. I expect this card to work as mana flood/screw insurance in
Dinosaur decks, and that is an irreplaceable effect. We’ve just seen
cycling lands work similarly, and those were very high picks. So I wouldn’t
take it highly until I’ve solidified into Naya, but in pack two I would
take this card over most non-impressive cards because it will always be
good in my deck.
This is probably the best Enrage trigger given the cost of the Dinosaur,
but since Raptor Hatchling only has one toughness, it isn’t as abusable. In
the average case, this is a 1/1 for two that creates a 3/3 Dinosaur token
when it dies. That card strikes me as solid, but not insane. There are a
couple of important notes for the evaluation of the card.
Are you aggressive? Cards like this tend not to be great in aggressive
decks because they can be ignored on the offense. Sure, you can always
leave it back to block and then attack with the 3/3, but that is less
efficient than most two-drops for aggressive decks. It’ll still be fine,
but just remember that the evaluation changes here.
How many one-toughness threats are in the format? If this card is trading
and producing a 3/3, then that is amazing. My guess is that this card will
make your maindeck almost all of the time, but its power level will vary
greatly based on your opponent’s deck.
Lastly, this card is abusable when combined with combat tricks and
Equipment. If you can make Raptor Hatchling have more than one toughness,
it can yield multiple 3/3s, and that is just crazy. So if you pick one up,
be on the lookout for ways to maximize this.
Then there’s the Spanish-language preview that I’ve seen translated as
Infuriated Gladiodon.
This card looks spectacular to me. In fact, it looks like one of the gold
uncommons that I would be happy to first-pick. Its ceiling is going to
depend on the number of one-toughness creatures and the density of Enrage
at common, but the floor is too high to pass up.
The fact that this card is standalone tells me that R/G may not require
much work, whereas when you look at the G/W gold card, that one requires
both bigger butts and ramp in order to be good. Given that Dinosaurs are
centered in Naya, there appears to be three builds: aggro, midrange, and
ramp. And it looks like Infuriated Gladiodon can fit in all three
strategies off a splash.
One thing to note is that this card will be better in paper Magic than it
will online. This is because the probability that you play against Enrage
cards is higher in a League than it is with in-pod-play.