Unkillable MTG Jurassic Park Dinosaur Crushes Competitive Commander Event

Given the vast number of supplemental MTG products that get released nowadays, it’s easy to miss or forget about some unique printings. The Jurassic World Collection is a great example of a strong group of cards that have fallen by the wayside. Yet, just yesterday, one of the product’s legends boasted an undefeated record in a 111-player Duel Commander tournament, putting its power on full display.

Maximizing Indominus Rex, Alpha

This Sultai deck’s gameplan almost entirely revolves around its Commander, Indominus Rex. The goal is to discard creatures with a bunch of different keywords, thus creating a massive threat.

Given that this creature is your primary win condition, it’s super important that it enters with Hexproof or Indestructible and is thus immune to traditional removal. As such, this deck features a high density of unkillable threats ranging from Hit-Monkey Hit-Monkey This spell can't be countered.
Reach, vigilance, deathtouch, hexproof, haste to Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied Reach, trample, indestructible
Sab-Sunen can't attack or block unless it has an even number of counters on it. (Zero is even.)
At the beginning of your first main phase, put a +1/+1 counter on Sab-Sunen. Then if it has an odd number of counters on it, draw two cards. . Thanks to Lifelink creatures like Sire of Seven Deaths Sire of Seven Deaths Reach, first strike
Vigilance, menace
Trample, lifelink
Ward—Pay 7 life. and evasive threats like Nightveil Predator Nightveil Predator Flying, deathtouch
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.) , you also have the potential to make Indominus Rex nigh impossible to race.

Even if the opponent is able to deal with Indominus Rex, this legend’s enters trigger should at least draw you a ton of cards. Notably, Breaker of Creation Breaker of Creation When you cast this spell, you gain 1 life for each colorless permanent you control.
Hexproof from each color
Annihilator 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two permanents of their choice.) is especially impactful in this department, since discarding it creates five separate counters representing Hexproof from each color. All these cards then make it trivial to recast your Commander with a fresh new grip of creatures to discard.

The only concern is getting beaten down in the meantime, but fortunately, some of this deck’s keyword-heavy creatures like Baleful Strix Baleful Strix Flying, deathtouch
When this creature enters, draw a card. make for great early roadblocks as well. Qarsi Revenant Qarsi Revenant Flying, deathtouch, lifelink
Renew — {2}{B}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a flying counter, a deathtouch counter, and a lifelink counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery. , Barrowgoyf Barrowgoyf Deathtouch, lifelink
Barrowgoyf's power is equal to the number of card types among cards in all graveyards and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1.
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may mill that many cards. If you do, you may put a creature card from among them into your hand. , and Nighthawk Scavenger Nighthawk Scavenger Flying, deathtouch, lifelink
Nighthawk Scavenger's power is equal to 1 plus the number of card types among cards in your opponents' graveyards. are particularly brutal for aggro decks, potentially providing a big life buffer.

Alternatively, you can also lean on board wipes like Toxic Deluge Toxic Deluge As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn. and Damnation Damnation Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. to keep the battlefield clear. When combined with efficient counterspells, such as Daze Daze You may return an Island you control to its owner's hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}. and Force Spike Force Spike Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}. , it’s easy to play the control role until you slam Indominus Rex. Throw in some ramp pieces like Growth Spiral Growth Spiral Draw a card. You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. to get your Commander into play sooner, and you won’t need to worry about falling too far behind.

All-In On One Card

Ultimately, how well this deck competes largely comes down to how well prepared the opponents are to disrupt your game plan. Most creature decks are naturally going to struggle against a massive, untargetable, life-gaining monster that you have access to every game. With library-searching tools like Worldly Tutor Worldly Tutor Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, then shuffle and put the card on top. and Demonic Tutor Demonic Tutor Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle. adding extra consistency, you should have no problem enabling Indominus Rex on curve most games.

As a deck reliant on resolving one card, however, you are extremely vulnerable to opposing counterspells. Even trigger-countering effects like Tishana’s Tidebinder Tishana’s Tidebinder Flash
When this creature enters, counter up to one target activated or triggered ability. If an ability of an artifact, creature, or planeswalker is countered this way, that permanent loses all abilities for as long as this creature remains on the battlefield. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.) negating Indominus Rex’s card draw can be a big problem when backed up Edicts. Similarly, well-timed anti-Commander cards like Drannith Magistrate and Disruptor Flute Disruptor Flute Flash
As this artifact enters, choose a card name.
Spells with the chosen name cost {3} more to cast.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can't be activated unless they're mana abilities. can singlehandedly dismantle your plan if you don’t have an answer ready.

On top of these issues, this deck doesn’t do a great job applying early pressure, making your matchup against combo shells rather problematic. While you do have a decent number of counterspells at your disposal, you’ll eventually need to tap low to cast a threat, and the opponent can then pounce. Not to mention, a simple Defense Grid Defense Grid Each spell costs {3} more to cast except during its controller's turn. makes your counter magic much less effective.

As such, despite its power level, Indominus Rex isn’t the most resilient, which hurts its Duel Commander appeal. Nonetheless, its upside is through the roof, and there will be plenty of games where you cruise to victory unimpeded. It’s been a while since Jurassic Park cards made an impact in the competitive scene, so this performance was a fresh sight.

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