Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino | Art by Narendra Bintara Adi

A Web-Slinging... Dinosaur?!

Last week Magic fandom got to preview all five of the Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man Welcome Decks. There are one for each color of Magic, and they're 30 card decks designed to welcome Spider-Man fans to Magic, with cards tailored to a new player experience but chock full of Spider-Man flavor.

While the power level of these cards is on the lower end, I did find a few cards that got me excited to play in Commander, and chief among them was Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino! If you, like me, had never heard of Spider-Rex before now, I scoured the internet to educate myself. From the Marvel Fandom Wiki:

On a prehistoric Earth, the T-Rex Norrannosaurman and his lackeys pursued the weakling Pteranodon Pter Ptarker. Just as Norrannosaurman bit Ptarker, both were hit by a meteorite containing alien spiders. When they awoke, the two found that they switched bodies, which now also were clad in colorful costumes. Norrannosaurman once more attacked Ptarker for the theft of his body, but Ptarker fought off Norrannosaurman and his lackeys with his new Spider-Powers. Now powerful and confident, Ptarker swung away, but the tree branch broke and he fell down, crushing both Norrannosaurman and two innocent dinostanders. Horrified by the result of his recklessness, the Amazing Spider-Rex learned the power of responsibility.

His personality? Gentle, kind, caring.

Powers/abilities? Organic webbing; large, wideset eyes.

Weaknesses? Presence of extremely short arms - LOL!

Pter Ptarker goes on to have multiversal adventures across multiple versions of Earth, but I'll leave further exploration to you - you can click the link above to read more.

But even if you don't like Spider-Man specifically or Universes Beyond in general, you got to love an upgraded Colossal DreadmawColossal Dreadmaw in the command zone!

Colossal DreadmawColossal Dreadmaw has been printed and reprinted in eight Magic sets, and even included in a Secret Lair - if you want a foil alt-art Dreadmaw, it's there for you!

There's even a wacky legendary version of it from Mystery Booster 2 called The Colossal DreadmawThe Colossal Dreadmaw that lets you cast any creature card in your hand as a Colossal DreadmawColossal Dreadmaw.

What Does Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino Do?

Now we can't expect the great responsibility of great power from an uncommon legend, but there are still some cool things about Spider-Rex besides being a Colossal DreadmawColossal Dreadmaw in your command zone.

First, you also get reach, which makes sense because Spider-Rex is also a Spider. So if you don't want to smash face with a 6/6 trample creature, it makes a formidable blocker. Spider-Rex also has ward , making targeted removal annoying.

The most fun part of Spider-Rex is that it's both a Spider and a Dinosaur - and a Hero too, but there's not too many Magic cards (yet) that care about Heroes. Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has given a ton of support to Dinosaurs in the expansions set in the world of Ixalan, so much so that we can nicely round out a solid Dino deck even in mono-green.

But since the commander is also a Spider, we can pepper in some spice that cares about Spiders too, making this a bit different than your typical Dinosaur typal pile.

Since the commander is lower power, and it's mono-green, the overall strategy is simply going to be smashing face with large Dinosaurs. And there's nothing wrong with that; sometimes you want to kick back, chill, and take chunks out of your opponents' life totals.

Key Cards for Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino

I first went looking for Dinosaurs that cared about other Dinosaurs. Cherished HatchlingCherished Hatchling is a fun card you can deploy if you expect a battlefield sweeper, and hold up mana to flash in a bigger Dinosaur afterwards that can munch any other creature on the battlefield.

Metallic MimicMetallic Mimic is an honorary Dinosaur that, along with Regal ImperiosaurRegal Imperiosaur, give your Dinosaurs just a little bit bigger size.

Pugnacious HammerskullPugnacious Hammerskull has ridiculous stats for a three-mana creature, and its drawback is going to be mostly irrelevant in this deck. Curious AltisaurCurious Altisaur and Earthshaker DreadmawEarthshaker Dreadmaw are awesome Dinosaurs that help you draw more cards.

Dinosaur EggDinosaur Egg will quickly evolve even if drawn later on, and provides additional insurance against battlefield sweepers. Masked VandalMasked Vandal is both a Dino and a Spider, and provides excellent removal of an artifact or enchantment by exiling it.

Ideally you'd like to play Sunfrill ImitatorSunfrill Imitator early so when it attacks it can copy one of your larger, more fearsome Dinosaurs you play in subsequent turns.

I particularly love how many Dinosaurs have utility attached, from Thrashing BrontodonThrashing Brontodon and Tranquil FrillbackTranquil Frillback, to Scion of CalamityScion of Calamity.

We even get ramp with Topiary StomperTopiary Stomper and Ranging RaptorsRanging Raptors, and more card draw with Ripjaw RaptorRipjaw Raptor.

I only have a few Dinosaurs with an enrage trigger, but I wanted to have a fair number of fight spells like Savage StompSavage Stomp in the deck to have that combo. Khalni AmbushKhalni Ambush and Bridgeworks BattleBridgeworks Battle are awesome because they can be played as a land early if you need to; I'm also playing Arid ArchwayArid Archway and Guildless CommonsGuildless Commons so I can pick those up later in the game and use the spell side.

If an opponent tries to swarm me with a bunch of small token creatures, I've got Hail StormHail Storm as a big surprise, and since most of my creatures are quite large, the one damage to my creatures shouldn't hurt and will set off any enrage triggers.

DesertDesert can take down a small unblockable creature attacking me, or ping one of my own creatures with an enrage trigger if defending player won't cooperate by chump blocking.

To take advantage of the Spider-ness of the commander, I've got the awesome SwarmyardSwarmyard to easily regenerate it from a destroy effect. And the fine print of ArachnogenesisArachnogenesis says you prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn by non-Spider creatures, so Spider-Rex can join those Spider tokens to gang block one or two attackers and take them down.

In a nod to the flavor of a web-slinging Dinosaur, I made room for Arachnus SpinnerArachnus Spinner which can tap an untapped Spider you control to search up Arachnus WebArachnus Web to tangle up the most threatening creature on the battlefield.

Playing a Dinosaur deck means often having a large creature on the battlefield to juice up the power of Lifestream's BlessingLifestream's Blessing and Greater GoodGreater Good for card drawing, and to have Unnatural GrowthUnnatural Growth make the huge creatures even more huge.

I love the flexibility of Season of GatheringSeason of Gathering; you usually want to use the draw paws, but the ability to grow one or more creatures and give them vigilance and trample can be clutch, as is the ability to sweep all artifacts or enchantments.

The Skullspore NexusThe Skullspore Nexus is excellent in this deck; it will usually be pretty cheap to cast, provides insurance against creature removal (and how cool that the token it makes is a Dinosaur), and that power doubling activated ability can be lethal.

A few other key cards include: Endless AtlasEndless Atlas for added card draw in a mono-green deck with tons of Forests; Horrid VigorHorrid Vigor provides instant speed protection, and occasionally combining deathtouch with trample means you can push through a lot more damage than your blocking opponent was expecting; and Evolutionary LeapEvolutionary Leap lets you cash in a big creature doomed to otherwise die or be removed, and hopefully find a suitable replacement to deploy.

How Does This Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino Commander Deck Win?

I designed this deck to play comfortably in Core (Bracket 2) Commander pods, where games have time to breathe and creature combat often gets the job of ending the game done.

Cards like Overwhelming StampedeOverwhelming Stampede and Triumph of the HordesTriumph of the Hordes can turn your opponents' threat assessment on its head by making even a few Dinosaurs into lethal threats. I've also got Heroic InterventionHeroic Intervention in here to turn what otherwise would be a game reset with a battlefield sweeper into a chance for victory.

If you'd like to try this deck in Upgraded (Bracket 3) games, you can add a few Game Changers like Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor, Natural OrderNatural Order, and Ancient TombAncient Tomb to juice up your deck's power.

But at the end of the day, as cool as the commander is, its power level isn't really up to facing down higher powered decks.

Spider-Rex, Daring Dino Commander Deck List

Conclusion

If you're looking for a more casual deck that turns big Dinosaurs sideways to attack down your opponents' life totals while you laugh and chill with your friends, give this deck a try once Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man releases.

Once we start to see more previews from the main set, I'll have my eyes out for cards that care about Spiders, Heroes and - maybe? - Dinosaurs that might be worth finding slots for in a mono-green deck!

Which cards would you put in your Spider-Rex, Daring DinoSpider-Rex, Daring Dino Commander deck I might have overlooked here? Which of the other new legends from the Welcome Decks do you think will be fun in Commander?

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