Hey friends. Welcome back to another precon guide on EDHREC. In our Precon Review of Veloci-Ramp-Tor, the Naya Dinosaur deck from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we saw that this deck is slow and easily demolished by board wipes. So today we’re gonna make upgrades to speed things up and keep our Dinos from going extinct. 

We’ll break our upgrades up into two categories: budget (~$5 or less) and non-budget ($5 or more).

Ancient History

To recap, this deck is led by Pantlaza, Sun-Favored, a 4/4 Dinosaur for five mana. When Pantlaza or another Dino enters your board, you Discover X, where X is that creature’s toughness. To Discover, you exile cards from the top of your library until you hit a nonland card that costs X or less, then you cast it for free. This triggers once per turn.

Our backup commander is Wayta, Trainer Prodigy, a 1/5 Human Warrior for three mana with haste that can be activated for three mana to make two creatures fight. If both creatures are yours, the ability costs two less. Wayta also doubles all triggers that happen from your creatures being dealt damage.

Here’s the original decklist:

More Roar

Even though the deck had a good amount of ramp right out of the box, it never felt like enough in playtesting, due to the high mana value of the deck. So we’ll start the budget upgrades with some cheap ramp staples: Fellwar Stone, Nature’s Lore, and Kodama’s Reach.

To resurrect our Dinos, I’m adding two cards. First is Reinforcements, one of my favorite underplayed cards. It’s absolutely perfect if you’re running a commander that plays creatures from the top of the deck, like Atla Palani, Nest Tender. With Pantlaza’s Discover ability, it’s hugely beneficial to stack the top of the deck with stuff we want from the grave. Next is Revivify, which is an insurance policy against board wipes.

I also felt the deck needed more protection spells, so I’m adding Lightning Greaves, which is just on the edge of budget/non-budget, to give Pantlaza some peace of mind. I’m also throwing in Boros Charm, because it’s just an all-star in creature-heavy decks. It can save us from a board wipe, help a Dino deal out a lot more damage, and even take out a planeswalker or player who’s low on life.

We’ve also got some honorary Dinosaurs joining the party. Realmwalker gives us some card advantage, as well as knowledge of what’s coming. And Mirror Entity can be activated for a massive alpha strike.

Some real Dinos are dropping in as well, starting with Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. 72% of decks are adding it, so why wouldn't you? I’m also adding Ghalta and Mavren, since the token creation is an an excellent way to trigger Pantlaza’s Discover if you find your hand lacking in Dinosaur cards. In a pinch, it can also give you a bunch of little vampires with lifelink, which will be great against a go-wide deck or if your life total needs a boost.

Last is Swords to Plowshares, for some cheap, fast removal.

Here’s what’s coming out: Apex Altisaur, Earthshaker Dreadmaw, Fiery Confluence, Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath, Migration Path, Quartzwood Crasher, Regisaur Alpha, Savage Stomp, Shifting Ceratops, Thriving Bluff, Verdant Sun’s Avatar, and Xenagos, God of Revels.

With these changes we’ve dropped the average mana value of the deck from 4.08 to 3.74, which is a significant step towards speeding up these Dinos. 

Here’s the budget upgraded decklist for Veloci-Ramp-Tor:

Tyrannosaurus Flex

Alright all you big spenders, listen up. It’s time to look at some non-budget upgrades for this Dino deck. 

Only one actual Dino going in, and that’s Hunting Velociraptor, from Jurassic World Collection. This raptor lets you cast Dinosaurs for just three mana if you’ve dealt combat damage with a Dinosaur this turn. Seems like a great way to cheat out a Zacama, Primal Calamity.

Speaking of cheating out big creatures, let’s also add in Monster Manual. A less killable Elvish Piper, this card is especially good in this deck because it works at instant speed, allowing us to trigger Pantlaza’s Discover on other players’ turns. We can also add Urza’s Incubator to drop the cost of our Dinos by two.

The Great Henge is an all-star in any creature-heavy deck, as it fits both our ramp and card advantage needs. It also has a hefty price tag despite a couple of recent reprints, but it’s in 162k decks, so the price isn’t surprising.

Doubling triggers is almost always beneficial in a Commander deck. With Pantlaza’s Discover being an enter-the-battlefield trigger, Panharmonicon feels like a no-brainer. Unfortunately the once-per-turn clause shuts that down. But there are more than enough triggered abilities in the deck, including Enrage abilities, to warrant adding the new Roaming Throne.

For commanders that like casting from exile, Passionate Archaeologist is unbeatable for the amount of damage it puts out.

We’re also giving our Dinos a bit more protection with Heroic Intervention and Flawless Maneuver, and bringing on the alpha strike with Akroma’s Memorial.

These cards aren’t bougie enough to hang with this list: Atzocan Seer, Boros Charm, Deathgorge Scavenger, Descendants’ Path, From the Rubble, Raging Regisaur, Rhythm of the Wild, Rishkar’s Expertise, and Topiary Stomper.

Here’s the non-budget upgrade list:

Life Finds a Way

That’s it for our Upgrade Guide for Veloci-Ramp-Tor. What did you think? Anything I missed? Let me know in the comments. And be sure to keep checking back for more precon guides here on EDHREC.

More Precon Guides:

Precon Primer - Explorers of the Deep

Precon Upgrade Guide - Explorers of the Deep

Blood Rites - Precon Review

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.