Dino Combo

Dinosaur combo deck. In some ways it is extremely boring - the main goal is Needlefibre into True King of All Calamities. However, it's also a little bold, in that I've shaken up the True King dino formula a little bit to try and increase consistency, at the cost of interactivity. This is a real cost, and it does lead to the usual problems with super heavy combo decks, especially in a combo format. So, why are you playing Dinos as a going first deck instead of Adamancipator?

One reason is flexibility. Your deck is intrinsically good going second and has easy OTKs (as well as a Borrelsword combo just in case), and the ability to break boards. You also have easy recovery plays in Double Evolution Pill, and while your combos are smaller, that leaves room for more follow-up plays. You won't extend as far as rocks, and you don't get the advantage of Koa'Ki Meiru Guardian, but rocks can also generally be stopped on the Needlefibre, whereas your opponent might not always be able to stop you from using Dinosaur effects at all with Miscellaneousaurus, and that makes it hard to stop Calamities and the Pill at the same time.

I tried to build it with this in mind, so that while you blind going first you're prepared to win going second.

The numbers on Dinosaurs are pretty standard, but there are some meaningful inclusions and exclusions. Lost World is cut - the deck needs a face-lift and Lost World, while an easy consistency boost, doesn't make a whole lot of sense going first. A meaningful inclusion is Carboneddon and Guarddragon Justicia. This can make Coral Dragon of off 6 1 card starters, but more importantly, is also the whole Calamities combo. You don't really care if you see the bricks, since you like having tuners anyways, and Carboneddon is still a Dinosaur monster you can use to activate effects, then get some free value off of.

The extra deck is just layers of combos. The most important is making True King of All Calamities off of Needlefibre, but the extra deck can also make Borrelsword Dragon off of Needlefibre (with the small downside of running Jet Synchron over Deskbot 001, which in turn gives the deck an extra 1 card starter). Since sometimes you have a couple of extra monsters on the field and can't do the combo, we have I:P, with Unicorn and Apollousa being the most notable targets.

Almiraj and Secure Gardna seem weird, but they make Baby dinos with Pill into UTC, and give him fodder. It's just more ways to start plays, so that most combinations of cards will get you onto the field.

I wanted more room for hand traps, but even without Lost World, the Diagram "engine" is still really good in the deck. It doesn't hurt to leave Ravenous Croc or Vermillion Mech on the field when you make Calamities, especially with I:P around, and you just need more ways to pop cards. Gamma seems essential - I need high impact hand traps that are flexible and generic. There's just a lot of stuff only Gamma will answer, and Gamma is generally a better option than other hand traps going second. I don't really care about having bricks in the hand going second, I need the highest impact hardest to interrupt stuff possible. Imperm makes the cut on the other 3 spaces. You could run 7 hand traps, and I think statistically that would be a more correct ratio, but I feel like it's worth seeing hand traps less often to hand them be high impact.

Back on Ash, making space for Deskbot 001. This makes Borrelsword a reliable follow-up and makes Jet Synchron a better starter.

Made space for Gamma. Unsure on the True King Engine, in practice it gives another way to pop cards and opens up value, but it's not strictly necessary most of the time, and you don't see those cards most games. On the other hand, sniping extra decks is cool... But is it as cool as Hand Traps? I think I'll start testing a version without the True King Engine...

Cut Jet Synchron, back to 2 UTC. This freed up space for Carboneddon. Having a back-up way to start combos and a free dino extender is actually pretty useful, you get a lot of value off of Carboneddon. I could just run Jurrac Aeolo #2 and save deck space, but Carboneddon gives me an extra extender, and replaces Jet Synchron as another 1 card Calamities.

Trying a more budget-friendly split of One For One, 1 Animadorned Archosaur, and 1 Jet Synchron. This gives the deck 2 more 1.5 card starters, puts back in the Borrelsword follow-up, saves money, and gives us ways to pitch Carboneddon alongside other fringe benefits (like One For One being a Special Summon, and Archosaur actually being better when special summoned usually.)