Dinosaurs

Illustrated by: REPLACE NAME

Purchase the Dinosaur Faction on Forgefire! (link coming soon)

If there's one thing dinosaurs know how to do... actually, with a brain the size of a walnut, they don't really know how to do anything. But they are big. And—holy cats!—someone gave them lasers!

Dinosaurs are from the Core (Base game) set and have a Titan card - Fort Titanosaurus.

Mechanics

• Big Minions
• Embiggening Said Minions

Dinosaurs are one of the simplest factions in the game. Their main strength is literally their strength. The abilities of their minions (or lack thereof) augment themselves with extra power. Their actions do the same, along with capitalizing on their minions' high power and protecting those few and powerful minions. They don't mess around with extra card draws and plays, tricks, surprises, or special techniques, just raw domination.

Strategy

Dinosaurs are great at laying down a ton of direct and immediate power on bases. This raw power tends to keep Dinosaurs safe, since many effects can only target minions up to a maximum power. Even so, each minion does a lot of heavy lifting, so you will want to make sure they stick around to win you bases. Armor Stego is definitely one of these, as it gets bonus power on your opponent's turns to preserve your dominance.

Speaking of preserves, the action Wildlife Preserve helps keep your minions safe from harm, as well as discarding actions that were played on your minions. Use Tooth and Claw... and Guns to safeguard a minion from one instance of any manner of effect.

The actions that boost your power are mostly temporary, so you should save them until they break and win you a base. Your partner faction can offer the extra action plays to capitalize on this bonus power with actions like Survival of the Fittest. Technically, Laseratops' ability also capitalizes on high power minions. It is a mandatory non-specific destruction, so if no others are present, it will target your own minions. All Dinosaurs, at least, are safe from its effects.

Synergy

Dinosaurs mainly have their raw power to offer their teammates, ideal for those who manipulate that power to further ends. Most of the time, the other faction provides support while Dinosaurs dominate the show, but when the partner has strong power as well, Dinosaurs build on them.

• Itty Critters: Straightforward power plays are Dinosaurs' forte, but in the hands of seasoned trainers, they become devious juggernauts. Coach and Evolve your team to send forth King Rex whenever you please, and easily maneuver your War Raptors.
• Ninjas: They appreciate Dinosaurs' immediate bursts of power for their quick moves. King Rex and Armor Stego are prime candidates to win bases with Hidden Ninja, and you can swap in double War Raptors. Ninjas have a decent amount of power as well.
• Elder Things: Shoggoths become easy to bring onto the field with the support of Augmentation, Armor Stego, and King Rex. If you're lucky enough to have Rampage and Elder Thing available, you can one-shot most bases all by yourself, but Dinosaurs don't help you much in summoning the monster.
• Bear Cavalry: With large amounts of power, protection, and destruction of their own, Bear Cavalry are an excellent partner for Dinosaurs, and safe from Laseratops. Boost your Cub Scouts and Polar Commandos to dominate the bases.
• Wizards: The extra actions provide you a lot of options, like Summon double War Raptors, or chain power boosts together to smash down bases and make the most of Sacrifice. Wizard minions don't have a lot of power for you to work with, though.

Cards - Minions

1x King Rex

Power 7 - (no ability)

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• The ability is deliberately blank. (What, do you think King Rex isn't strong enough already?)
• King Rex can be given an ability via an action, such as Potion of Redundancy Potion.

2x Lasertops

Power 4 - Destroy a minion of power 2 or less on this base

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If there are one or more minions of power 2 or less on the base Lasertops is played to, you must target one of them for destruction, even if it's your own minion.
• You can choose a minion that cannot be destroyed. In such a case, the minion does not die.
• If a minion has a printed power of 2 but has +1 power from another card (e.g. The Central Brain), the minion's power is actually 3, so you cannot even target it with Laseratops's ability.

3x Armor Stego

Power 3 - Ongoing: has +2 power during other players' turns

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If it is your turn, and an opponent's Armor Stego gains +2 power thanks to it's ability, if this brings the total power of all players on that base above its breakpoint, you still do not score the base immediately - you only check if a base scores during phase 3 of a player's turn.

4x War Raptor

Power X - Gains +1 Power for each War Raptor on this base (including this one)

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• A War Raptor's power is 2 when in hand, deck, or discard pile, and only changes to 3 after it's on a base.
• If there are exactly two War Raptors on the same base, each one is power 4. If there are exactly three War Raptors on the same base, each one is power 5. And if there are exactly four War Raptors on the same base, each one is power 6.
• If you play War Raptor on a base where there is an an enemy Leprechaun:
  • War Raptor's Ongoing ability activates before Leprechaun's on-play reaction begins testing its conditions. This means if the War Raptor you play is the third on that base, it will be power 5 and will be safe from the Leprechaun's ability which tests the War Raptor's power after it becomes power 5. However, if the War Raptor isn't power 5 or more after resolving all applicable Ongoing abilities, then the Leprechaun will destroy it.
• You cannot play War Raptor on Tsar's Palace, as before it's in play a Raptor has a power of 2. Its ability only happens once it's in play. So you cannot play War Raptor on Tsar’s Palace and if you actually try to, the War Raptor will be discarded without effect.
• If you gained an extra minion of power 2 or less to play (for example from The Homeworld or Zapbot), you may play a War Raptor as in your hand, its power is 2.
• War Raptor interacts with Cub Scout like this:
  • If you move a War Raptor to a base where there's a Cub Scout and there's no other War Raptor, as long as the Cub Scouts power is still 3, War Raptor will not be destroyed as its Ongoing ability remains active and gives it +1 power by itself.
  • However, if there are two War Raptors on a base (making both of them power 4), and you move one of them to a base with a Cub Scout that's also at power 4, the War Raptor will be destroyed as after it moves, the War Raptor's power immediately falls down to 3 and Cub Scout's ability is triggered immediately after the move is completed.
• If you have a War Raptor and a Microbot Alpha, Microbot Alpha's ability does not cancel War Raptor's ability. Both abilities keep working just fine. War Raptor is still named "War Raptor", it's just also considered as a Microbot.

Cards - Actions

2x Augmentation

One minion gets +4 power until the end of your turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If played during another player's turn, the effect lasts until the end of your next turn.
• If it is played with a card like Furious George or Clyde 2.0, it does not count as being played "on a minion".
• You can target any minion on a base, not just yours.
• You can not use Augmentation to boost a minion in stasis, as cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis
• Augmentation interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +4 power.
  • If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +4 power.
  • If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +4 power.
  • With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it affects one of your minions, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +4 power

2x Howl

Each of your minions gains +1 power until the end of your turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If played during another player's turn, the effect lasts until the end of your next turn.
• Howl only affects minions currently in play, not any future minions played later in the turn. (The dinosaurs haven't broken the space time continuum that much.)
• Howl does not give +1 power to minions you own but do not control. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
• If you manage to play Howl on another player's turn, the power boost will last until the end of your upcoming turn.
• If a minions controller changes, the +1 power still remains applied to it until the end of the turn.
• Howl does not boost minions in stasis. Cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
• Howl interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • Diva can't copy it because it would already be directly affected by it.
  • If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +1 power.
  • If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +1 power.
  • Funky Town can't copy it because you need to be the one who played the action and so all your minions are already directly affected by it.

1x Natural Selection

Choose one of your minions on a base. Destroy a minion there with less power than yours.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• You cannot choose a minion you own but don't control. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
• Rampage interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of Diva's power. Note that you can only copy the destruction; merely choosing a minion doesn't count as affecting it so you can't copy that part.
  • If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power. Note that you can only copy the destruction; merely choosing a minion doesn't count as affecting it so you can't copy that part.
  • If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power. Note that you can only copy the destruction; merely choosing a minion doesn't count as affecting it so you can't copy that part.
  • With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if you destroy one of your minions, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power. Note that you can only copy the destruction; merely choosing a minion doesn't count as affecting it so you can't copy that part.

1x Rampage

Reducte the breakpoint of a base by the power of one of your minions on that base until the end of the turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• The breakpoint of a base cannot be reduced below zero.
• If you play Rampage to reduce a base's breakpoint by the power of a minion, but then in the same turn (still during Phase 2) you move the minion to a different base, the original base still has its breakpoint reduced - the effect doesn't "follow" the minion to the other base.
• If the minion's power is changed after playing Rampage, the breakpoint reduction remains the same as when it was played - it is not reevaluated if the minion's power changes.
• You can use Rampage on a base that you cannot play actions on - Rampage targets a base, but is not played on it.
• Rampage cannot use a minion that you own but don't control. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
• Rampage does not interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic or Funky Town's ability, as it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.

1x Survival of the Fittest

Destroy the lowest-power minion (you choose in case of a tie) on each base with a higher-power minion.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• Here's how Survival of the Fittest works:
  • For each base that has at least two minions: Do all the minions here have the same power? If so, do nothing at that base. Otherwise, what is the lowest power of a minion there? Choose one of the minions there that has that power (possibly your own minion). Once you've done this for all the bases, destroy all the minions you chose.
• Survival of the Fittest still works on bases you have no minions on - as long as there are at least two minions there, even if they're all controlled by other players, you still destroy one the lowest-power minions there.
• If there is a base where there are only two minions and both have the same power, nothing happens. Survival of the Fittest only applies to bases where there is at least one minion with a higher power than another. That's not the case here, so Survival of the Fittest doesn't apply to that base.
• If there are two minions with the lowest power on a base, but one cannot be destroyed, you still can choose it for the effect - it will just survive the destruction and so no minions will be destroyed on that base by Survival of the Fittest.
• Survival of the Fittest interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanics and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of Diva's power.
  • If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power.
  • If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power.
  • With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if you destroy one of your minions there, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed, regardless of the minion's power.

1x Tooth and Claw...and Guns

Play on a minion. If another player's ability would affect this minion, destroy this card and the ability does not affect this minion for the rest of the turn.

Errata? Yes

Clarifications:

• You can play Tooth and Claw...and Guns on a minion you don't control.
• You can not play it on minion in stasis. Cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
• If it is played on a minion you don't control with an ability that affects itself, as long as it fits the definition of "affect", it will cancel the use of that ability. For example, it can prevent the activation of the Pirate King's Special ability to move itself.
• Tooth and Claw...and Guns does not prevent your own effects from affecting the minion it is played on.
• Here's how Tooth and Claw...and Guns interacts with Poison:
  • While resolving Poison, you play it on the minion, but by attaching it to the minion, you're affecting it, so Tooth and Claw... and Guns activates and prevents that. So Tooth and Claw... and Guns is eventually destroyed, but Poison couldn't be attached to the minion so it is discarded.
• If an ability is already affecting your minion (e.g. Sleep Spores) and you play Tooth and Claw...and Guns on it, Tooth and Claw...and Guns is destroyed and the ability stops affecting your minions for the rest of the turn.
• If you have a minion with Tooth and Claw...and Guns, and another player plays Sleep Spores on the same base it is at, Tooth and Claw... and Guns is destroyed and Sleep Spores doesn't affect your minions until the start of the next turn.
• Tooth and Claw...and Guns interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • If you're asking about when Tooth and Claw... and Guns is played, it doesn't interact with them at all, because Tooth and Claw... and Guns says "Play on a minion", which means that it is not a standard action.
  • If you're asking about when you copy an effect onto a minion with Tooth and Claw... and Guns on it, then Tooth and Claw... and Guns is destroyed and the minion isn't affected.
  • If you're asking about when a minion with Tooth and Claw... and Guns on it is directly affected by a standard action and you want to copy that, then Tooth and Claw... and Guns is destroyed, the minion isn't affected and because no minion was affected, you can't copy the effect.

1x Upgrade

Play on a minion. Ongoing: This minion has +2 power.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• You can not play Upgrade on minion in stasis. Cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
• This card does not interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic or Funky Town's ability as it says "Play on a minion" which means that it is not a standard action.

1x Wildlife Preserve

Play on a base. Ongoing: Your minions here are not affected by other players' actions.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If an opponent plays this card on a base and you have a minion there, that minion does not gain the benefit. Your opponent played the action, so they control it, and therefore the action only addresses them and the ability must be interpreted from their point of view. So "your minions" means "their minions" and "other players" means "their opponents".
• Wildlife Preserve does not protect minions you own but don't control. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
• Wildlife Preserve does not protect your minions against other player's minion abilities - Tiger Assassin or Collector, for example, can still target your minions.
• If an opponent plays Bear Hug (or Unfathomable Goals, Griefer, or Out of Sight), forcing you to affect one of your minions, you can choose one of your minions on the same base as Wildlife Preserve, but since the cause of the effect is "another player's action", Wildlife Preserve will protect it, even if the card makes you do the effect.
• If you are prevented from playing Dinosaur minions because of Block the Path, and then play Wildlife Preserve there, it will not help - you can try to play a Dinosaur minion there but it will be discarded without effect. Also, Wildlife Preserve only protects minions that are already in play, not in hand. Besides, Block the Path does something that's not listed in the definition of "affect" anyway.
• If you play Wildlife Preserve on a base where you have a minion with an opponent's action attached to it (e.g. Poison), the action will be discarded. Since the action is currently affecting the minion ("having an action attached" is considered as affecting), Wildlife Preserve prevents that action from affecting your minion any longer. So it can't remain attached to it and is therefore destroyed.
• If you are given control of another's player minion because of their actions (e.g. Repaying Debts, Hostage Exchange), if you then play Wildlife Preserve on the same base, it does not give them back control of their minion. Those cards did a "punctual" change of controller and are no longer "maintaining" it. This is different from Make Contact which actively maintain the change as long as it remains in play, but those cards changed the control and then no matter what happens to those cards (in fact, they are discarded after use), the change of control still remains. So, a change of controller (except for Make Contact) isn't a continuous "affection", and playing Wildlife Preserve doesn't retroactively undo that like it does with continuous effects, e.g. Sleep Spores or an action attached to the minion.
  • In the same situation (you are given control of another player's minion because of their actions), it would now be under the protection of your Wildlife Preserve on the same base and their actions that can retake control of minions they own (e.g. Activate the Spy, Banner Call) can't affect it.
• Wildlife Preserve interacts with Steam Queen in this way:
  • If you have Wildlife Preserve in play and your opponent has Steam Queen in play: If your opponent tries to affect your minions on the base with Wildlife Preserve, Steam Queen will not prevent Wildlife Preserve's protection. Blocking the effect of an action does not count as affecting it.
• Wildlife Preserve interacts with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability like this:
  • If you're asking about when Wildlife Preserve is played, it doesn't interact with them at all, because Wildlife Preserve says "Play on a base", which means that it is not a standard action.
  • If you're asking about when you copy an effect onto an opponent's minion with Wildlife Preserve protecting it, then the minion isn't affected. Note that Wildlife Preserve only protects against other player's actions, so if Wildlife Preserve's controller plays a standard action, you can copy it with Dancing King and have it affect one of that player's minion, bypassing Wildlife Preserve's protection because the minion is considered as being affected by its own controller's action.
  • If you're asking about when an opponent's minion with Wildlife Preserve protecting it is directly affected by your standard action and you want to copy that, then it's not possible because the minion isn't affected by your action and because no minion was affected, you can't copy the effect.
  • If you're asking about when an opponent's minion with Wildlife Preserve protecting it is directly affected by that player's standard action and you want to copy that, then you can indeed copy it the same way.

Cards - Bases

1x Jungle Oasis

Breakpoint 12 - VPs: 2 0 0 - (no ability)

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• The ability is intentionally blank
• If you have Infiltrate on this base, if you choose to ignore its ability, nothing happens.

1x Tar Pits

​Breakpoint 16 - VPs: 4 3 2 - After each time a minion is destroyed here, place it at the bottom of its owners' deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• This card interacts with Escape Hatch or Grave Situation like this:
  • Despite both their wordings, the minion is actually not destroyed when Grave Situation's or Escape Hatch's ability occurs. So Grave Situation and Escape Hatch save their minion from destruction by placing it into your hand and Tar Pits is not triggered because the minion was not actually destroyed.
• If Buccaneer is on Tar Pits and targeted for destruction, he uses his ability to move to another base. Tar Pits's ability doesn't trigger, because there is never a point in time "after" the minion is destroyed
• If both The House of Nine Lives and Tar Pits are in play, if a minion is chosen for destruction, The House of Nine Lives is triggered first because the minion "would be destroyed". So the minion's owner decides if they want to use The House of Nine Lives's ability or not. If they want to, the minion is moved there and Tar Pits isn't triggered because the minion wasn't destroyed after all. If they want to ignore The House of Nine Lives, then the destruction is applied and if it succeeds, Tar Pits is triggered and the minion is automatically placed on the bottom of its owner's deck.
• This card interacts with Infiltrate like this:
  • If you have Infiltrate on this base and then you destroy a minion there, follow this process to determine if you can choose not to place it on the bottom of its owner's deck:
    • If you're the minion's controller and not necessarily its owner, you can prevent it from being affected by the base's ability.
    • If you're the minion's owner and not necessarily its controller, you can choose not to follow the base's instruction.
    • If you're neither the minion's controller nor its owner, you can't prevent the minion from being placed on the bottom of its owner's deck.
  • If you have a minion there which is destroyed, you can choose not to place it on the bottom of your deck as, because you are the owner, the base's ability instructs you to place it on the bottom of your deck, instruction that you can ignore.

Card - Titan

1x Fort Titanosaurus

Special: On your turn, if you have not played a minion, you may destroy one of your minions to play this titan on its base. Place +1 power Counters on it equal to the power of the destroyed minion. Ongoing: Once per turn, after you play an action that directly affects one or more minions, you may place a +1 power counter on one of those minions and/or on this titan. Talent: If this titan has four or more +1 power counters on it, draw a card.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• Be careful, "Special" does not mean the card can be played out of turn. "Special" simply means that it's an ability that can be used when its condition is met. Whether it can be used out of turn, activated straight from your hand/discard pile, or if it can only be used when it's already in play (essentially being a synonym of Ongoing), it entirely depends on the wording. In the case of Fort Titanosaurus, the condition is "On your turn", which already restricts its usage during your Play Cards phase, not at any other times. Note that it's restricted to your Play Cards phase only, not any other phases of your turn either.
• You can not destroy a minion you ownbut don't control. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
• If you already have a minion in play, you can boost it (e.g. with Augmentation) then destroy it to play Fort Titanosaurus, and the power boost would count for the number +1 power counters it gains. "The power of the destroyed minion" refers to the power it had while in play, so including any modifications.
• If a base is chosen to score and you have no minions there but you have Fort Titanosaurus there with no power counters on it, you can not get VPs from the base even if 0 is among the top three total power. Fort Titanosaurus is a titan, not a minion. To be eligible to receive VPs, you must have at least one minion or at least 1 total power on the base. If you have no minions and your total power there is 0, then you can't receive any VPs from the base. Now, if Fort Titanosaurus had any +1 power counters on it or gave you any total power (e.g. on Kaiju Island), then you would have at least 1 total power and be eligible. Otherwise, no.
• If, after using your talent, you have more than 10 cards in hand, you do not discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
• If a Sprout makes you play an extra minonat the start of your turn, you have not played a minion "on your turn" yet as it was not played during phase 2 of your turn, and so you can use Fort Titanosaurus's Special ability. When you check whether you have already played any minions or not, you only count those you played on your Play Cards phase. Minions played during the Start Turn phase don't count.