Brewed EDH: Gishath Dinosaurs!

Welcome to Jurassic Park

Art: Gishath, Sun's Avatar by Zack Stella

Welcome to another installment of Brewed EDH:

Todays Featured Commander is:

Gishath is a very fun Naya dinosaur commander he is high costed but also has a great ability that can help swing games into our favor. Even though Gishath has a high cost we are a Naya deck after all, so we can ramp a ton and cast Gishath and a lot of our high power creatures very early in the game.

The Deck:

Gishath Dinos!

Commander (1) 1 Gishath, Sun’s Avatar Creatures (36) 1 Birds of Paradise 1 Elvish Mystic 1 Llanowar Elves 1 Priest of the Wakening Sun 1 Marauding Raptor 1 Otepec Huntmaster 1 Atzocan Seer 1 Kinjalli’s Sunwing 1 Ranging Raptors 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways 1 Somberwald Sage 1 Thrashing Brontodon 1 Topiary Stomper 1 Tranquil Frillback 1 Wayward Swordtooth 1 Forerunner of the Empire 1 Knight of the Stampede 1 Ripjaw Raptor 1 Territorial Allosaurus 1 Quartzwood Crasher 1 Ravenous Sailback 1 Regisaur Alpha 1 Trapjaw Tyrant 1 Zilortha, Strength Incarnate 1 Carnage Tyrant 1 Etali, Primal Storm 1 Etali, Primal Conqueror 1 Ghalta and Mavren 1 Goring Ceratops 1 Tyrranax Rex 1 Verdant Sun’s Avatar 1 Polyraptor 1 Wakening Sun’s Avatar 1 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn 1 Zacama, Primal Calamity 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger Planeswalkers (2) 1 Huatli, Warrior Poet 1 Huatli, Dinosaur Knight Spells (10) 1 Commune with Dinosaurs 1 Eladamri’s Call 1 Farseek 1 Finale of Devastation 1 Cultivate 1 Kodama’s Reach 1 Fling 1 Explosive Vegetation 1 Triumph of the Hordes 1 Overwhelming Stampede Artifacts (8) 1 Sol Ring 1 Arcane Signet 1 Pillar of Origins 1 Chromatic Lantern 1 Herald’s Horn 1 Urza’s Incubator 1 Gilded Lotus 1 Vanquisher’s Banner Enchantments (7) 1 Burgeoning 1 Descendants’ Path 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc 1 Glorious Sunrise 1 Mirari’s Wake 1 Unnatural Growth 1 Warstorm Surge

Lands (36) 1 Ancient Tomb 1 Arid Mesa 1 Bonders’ Enclave 1 Boros Garrison 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Bountiful Promenade 1 Branchloft Pathway 1 Canopy Vista 1 Castle Garenbrig 1 Cavern of Souls 1 Cinder Glade 1 Command Tower 1 Cragcrown Pathway 1 Fabled Passage 2 Forest 1 Jetmir’s Garden 1 Jungle Shrine 1 Mosswort Bridge 1 Mountain 1 Needleverge Pathway 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Plains 1 Reliquary Tower 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Secluded Courtyard 1 Selesnya Sanctuary 1 Spectator Seating 1 Stomping Ground 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion 1 Temple Garden 1 Temple of the False God 1 Unclaimed Territory 1 Windswept Heath 1 Wooded Foothills 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Why Gishath Suns Avatar?

There are a lot of great options for Dinosaur tribal commanders like Zacama, Primal Calamity and Ghalta and Mavren I believe what puts Gishath on the top of the dinosaur tribal commander is that he can give us an insane creature advantage just from one attack, this in a way makes his mana cost less if you attack with Gishath and hit maybe 2 or 3 creatures that pays for Gishath’s mana investment right there and gives you a big creature advantage on the board! Gishath allows us to have big board state swings and get some free efficient dino’s on the field.

Deck Overview:

Since we are a Naya big creature deck the first thing we need to do is ramp, there are many ways for us to do that including format staples like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate. But we also play some creature specific ramp like Shaman of Forgotten Ways and Somberwald Sage, we also run Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves all of these cards help us to Gishath and some of our other bombs as early as possible. As far as tribal discounts we are packing Urza's Incubator and Herald's Horn which are very boiler plate for any kind of tribal deck but still have an important impact. Our dinos provide tribal discounts as well with cards like Knight of the Stampede and Otepec Huntmaster. We are above average on lands with 36 mostly due to our higher average mana cost than most decks. Due to the high cost of the deck you rarely ever feel that you have been flooded especially in the late game when you cast 1 to 2 high cost dinos a turn. For our enchantment suite we have some powerhouses like Unnatural Growth and Glorious Sunrise both of these cards aim to make our combat step even crazier and with Gishath out get even more creatures for free! Gishath is arguably the best Dino in our deck and he can very regularly end games with commander damage, but he has a great supporting cast including Quartzwood Crasher,Regisaur Alpha and Tyrranax Rex. In addition to our enchantments adding combat tricks we also have creatures that do it as well Goring Ceratops gives our other creatures double strike which is great for Gishath as well as just finishing games. Since we are a combat deck we have to include game ending cards like Triumph of the Hordes and Overwhelming Stampede. Overall Gishath is a fun and fast dino tribal commander with a lot of different lines of play and a ton of Jurassic fun, combine that with great general support and a lot of dinosaur support and we have a very fun stompy deck!

Strengths of the Deck:

• A lot of anthem effects / discounts for dinos
• Mana ramp / Discounts allows us to cast big creatures early
• Gishath gives a ton of free creatures

Weaknesses of the Deck:

• Weak to creature hate
• Not much in the form of removal
• Not much early game a lot of our big-impact creatures are high cost

Deck Stats:

Sample Hands:

Main Win Conditions:

Our main win con is through combat damage and getting free creatures but we also have some combos!

Polyraptor + Marauding Raptor + Fling

Result: Infinite creature tokens. Infinite ETB. Marauding Raptor’s power is infinite until end of turn. In addition with fling you can fling the Infinite Marauding raptor power at someone to end the game

Conclusion:

In conclusion I think that Gishath is one of the best options for a Dino tribal deck, not only can he make your board get out of hand quickly he has a ton of support in Naya to get the job done. Combined with combo potential a ton of ramp and ton of ways to make creatures big, Gishath is a very fun tribal stompy deck!

Thanks for Reading to the end!