29, Jan, 25

New MTG Aetherdrift Spoilers Give Typal Players New Hope

When MTG Foundations was released, there was some hope that typal strategies would emerge in Standard. Multiple payoffs like Arahbo, the First Fang and Elvish Archdruid were printed, but unfortunately, nearly all typal strategies fell short of being competitive.

Aetherdrift is on the way now, and it appears a few more strong typal-focused cards are getting released. Recently, we covered Mindspring Merfolk as a top-tier one-drop option for Merfolk strategies in Standard and beyond. Now, if you’re a fan of Dinosaur or Goblin decks, look no further, because today, we’re going to showcase two cards that may help these archetypes become more competitive moving forward.

Regal Imperiosaur

Regal Imperiosaur

For Dinosaurs, Regal Imperiosaur is as good as they come. It’s efficient, has massive stats, and pumps the rest of your Dinosaur army. This card is a surefire inclusion in Dinosaur Commander decks, but it’s possible a Dinosaur deck shows up in Standard, too.

Both Llanowar Elves and Ixalli’s Lorekeeper can help you play Regal Imperiosaur as early as turn two. From there, Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath, Triumphant Chomp, and even Bushwhack take care of your opponent’s threats to pave way for big attacks.

There aren’t a ton of elite Dinosaurs in Standard to pair with Regal Imperiosaur, but pumping Belligerent Yearling and tokens from Palani’s Hatcher can go a long way. It’ll be cool to see if Regal Imperiosaur’s presence is enough to get the deck over the hump.

Burnout Bashtronaut

Burnout Bashtronaut

Up next, we have a powerful Goblin that fills a very different role for the Goblin deck. Burnout Bashtronaut is a measly 1/1, but thanks to Menace, it’s very easy to connect in combat in the early turns.

This is something that the Goblin deck in Standard has been lacking. The one-drops up to this point are frankly very mediocre. Cacophony Scamp is fine, but other attackers like Fanatical Firebrand quickly become outclassed.

Because Burnout Bashtronaut is difficult to block, it serves as the perfect precursor to Searslicer Goblin. The bigger a board you can build out, the stronger Rundvelt Hoardmaster and Dropkick Bomber become.

If left unchecked, Burnout Bashtronaut also scales well as the game progresses. As an evasive threat, it makes it easy to increase your Speed turn after turn. Once at Max Speed, you get a scary beater with Double Strike that you can sink mana into to grow.

With this in mind, it’s not impossible we see a more dedicated Speed deck in Standard built to work towards maximizing elite payoffs like Hazoret, Godseeker. Burnout Bashtronaut seems like a great inclusion there, too, letting you start increasing your Speed on turn two and onward.

There are undoubtedly still some inherent weaknesses with these typal strategies, such as they’re poor ability to overcome Sunfall. Nonetheless, having access to more efficient threats helps the cause, and these two creatures fit the bill nicely.

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