Dinosaurs

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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.

Complexity Level: REPLACE

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.

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.)

1x Natural Selection

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

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

A
B
Etc.

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:

A
B
Etc.

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:

A
B
Etc.

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:

B
Etc.

1x Upgrade

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

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

A
B
Etc.

1x Wildlife Preserve

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

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

A
B
Etc.

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.

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

#x Titan Card Name

Stats & Titan card text in a sentence(s).

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.