MTG’s powerful new card is recreating an iconic Jurassic Park scene from the Dinosaurs’ perspective.
Even audiences that have never sat down to watch a Jurassic Park movie have likely heard of the ‘clever girl’ scene. Transcending the films themselves and entering the broader pop-culture sphere, the moment is beloved by sci-fi nerds and Jurassic Park fans alike, an early example of the dinos’ cunning and lethality.
In capturing some of Jurassic Park’s most iconic characters and scenes, ‘clever girl’ is brought to life in the card Hunting Velociraptor, even being invoked directly in the flavor text. But far from just a reference, Hunting Velociraptor is shaping up to be a must-include in MTG Dinosaur decks.
Old abilities made new in Universes Beyond: Jurassic World
MTG’s The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set has gone to great lengths to bring back overlooked mechanics and give them another shot at the spotlight. One of Ixalan’s powerful god cards – Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch – is revitalizing the Rebound mechanic. Taking its lead from Lost Caverns, Universes Beyond: Jurassic World is giving the same treatment to Prowl.
Hunting Velociraptor’s Prowl ability functions as an alternate casting cost for dinosaurs. If you deal damage with a Dinosaur creature on your turn and Hunting Velociraptor is on the field, you may cast any Dinosaur creature from your hand for just 2R, rather than that creature’s mana value.
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Many dinosaur creatures in Magic have high casting costs to match their imposing stature, and Hunting Velociraptor will allow you to cheat out powerful, high-cost dinosaurs for a very low cost. This card is set to synergize exceptionally well with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan’s Veloci-RAMP-tor Commander deck.
As Reddit commenter SamTheHexagon pointed out, it’s possible to turbo out Gishath, Sun’s Avatar on turn three with a mountain, a Sol Ring, and Hunting Velociraptor, making for an incredible early-game combo.
Importantly, Prowl is not limited to activating once per turn, making it entirely possible to play a whole hand’s worth of dinos after dealing damage. Break out of containment and overrun your opponents with this powerful dinosaur enabler.