Regal Imperiosaur: Supercharging Dinosaurs to Rule the Battlefield!

A dinosaur aggro deck that is able to kill the opponent on turn 4, now improved with Aetherdrift!

Introduction

Gruul Dinosaurs is one of the tribal deck archetypes currently available in Standard, ever since The Lost Caverns of Ixalan was released. Now, the deck got a great upgrade with the introduction of Regal Imperiosaur in Aetherdrift, wherefore it was time to upgrade my dinosaur aggro deck to a new level.

This deck focuses on fast aggro action with relatively small dinosaurs and several 1-mana spells, while many other dinosaur decks may concentrate on getting big end-game dinosaurs out to win the game. I believe that speed is the key for a successful dinosaur deck, since many other decks have much better late game than dinosaurs.

New Cards Since Previous Version

From Aetherdrift

Regal Imperiosaur is a long-coveted addition to the dinosaur deck, providing another excellent 3-mana drop (along with Pugnacious Hammerskull), which can be cast on turn 2 with Llanowar Elves. 

From Foundations

The deck has 4 Llanowar Elves, which are great for getting Regal Imperiosaur and Pugnacious Hammerskull out on turn 2. Burst Lightning is a magnificent addition, too, since it can be cast early with 1 mana, but the deck has enough mana production to cast it with 5 mana in the late game. 

Wilds of Eldraine

Monstrous Rage is great with dinosaurs, because both Pugnacious Hammerskull and Regal Imperiosaur lack trample. The previous version used Audacity, which is in many ways inferior to Monstrous Rage. Being able to give trample at instant speed and increasing target creature's toughness by 1 are huge advantages over Audacity.

Deck Design

Spot Removal

• Count: 9

There's only 3 copies of Triumphant Chomp in the deck, because it is a sorcery.

Creature Buffs

• Count: 4

Monstrous Rage is great for giving permanent trample at instant speed. It can be also combined with Triumphant Chomp and Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath to deal more damage. There are no green protection spells in the deck, because I think it's more important to be able to give dinosaurs trample than protecting them from being destroyed, which requires you to have one open green mana all the time, slowing the deck down.

Mana Dorks

• Count: 4

Llanowar Elves are better than Ixalli's Lorekeeper, because their mana can be used for any reason. Most importantly, the mana from Llanowar Elves can be used to activate Restless Ridgeline, which was not possible with Ixalli's Lorekeeper.

Card Draw

• Count: 3

Bonehoard Dracosaur is the only source of card advantage in the deck. But it also flies, which can be useful in many scenarios.

Counterspell Protection

• Count: 2

Man-lands

• Count: 3

Format

• The deck is for the Standard format with Aetherdrift being the last legal set.
• The deck is probably Tier 2 caliber.
• The deck can be played in both Bo1 and Bo3.

Source

This is my own brew.

Mana Base

Overview

• Total of 24 lands
• Total of 4 mana dorks with mana value 1

Mana Color Produced

• 18 lands produce red mana
• 15 lands produce green mana
• 2 lands produce colorless mana but may produce red or green mana for casting a certain creature type
• 4 lands may produce green mana, if a Mountain or Forest is in play (the deck has 7 Mountains or Forests)
• 4 mana dorks produce 1 green mana

Land Types

• 4 dual-color fast lands
• 4 dual-color pain lands
• 4 dual-color Verges
• 3 dual-color tapped man-lands
• 2 special lands
• 7 basic lands

Design

Primary Color

The deck's primary color is red. The deck has 15 red-mana-producing lands that can be played untapped on turn 1. This gives an 88.2 % / 91.6% chance (on the play / on the draw) to cast 1-mana red spells, such as Burst Lightning, on turn 1.

Secondary Color

The deck's secondary color is green. All green cards in the main deck are creatures, and there are 14 green-mana-producing lands (including Cavern of Souls) that can be played untapped on turn 1. Therefore, 1-mana green creature spells can be cast with an 86.1 % / 89.8 % chance (on the play / on the draw) on turn 1.

Later Turns

There are also 3 dual-color tapped manlands (Restless Ridgeline), wherefore there are 18 lands that can potentially provide red mana on turn 2 and later for noncreature spells. For red creature spells, there are 20 lands that provide red mana, when we count both copies of Cavern of Souls.

Thornspire Verge can potentially provide green mana from turn 2 onwards, if you have a basic land in play (65.4 % / 70.0 % chance with 7 basic lands). Therefore, there are 19 lands and 4 Llanowar Elves that can potentially provide green mana for green noncreature spells on turn 2 and later. For green creature spells, there are 25 mana sources which can potentially provide green mana on turn 2 and later. This should give a good chance of casting Regal Imperiosaur on turn 2 or 3.

Sideboard

1-Mana Spells

Ghost Vacuum

Cheap graveyard hate.

Torch the Tower

Exiling removal. Can be bargained with the Monster Role token from Monstrous Rage. Doesn't work against indestructible, though. Useful against Heartfire Hero and Mosswood Dreadknight, for example.

Tyvar's Stand

Creature protection that works also against Day of Judgment. Optional X can provide additional damage.

2-Mana Spells

Abrade

Flexible artifact and creature removal.

Pawpatch Formation

Enchantment hate and it can kill flying creatures, too.

Pyroclasm

Sweeper against token decks.

The Stone Brain

Against combo decks. Can be used to exile Omniscience, for example.

4-Mana Spells

Obstinate Baloth

Against discard spells, such as Hopeless Nightmare.