Getting on the Naya train? I approve! Mayael is an excellent starting commander!

Oracle of Mul Daya and Courser of Kruphix have great topdeck synergy with Mayael! (As does Lens of Clarity, but it's mostly a pauper top.)

Soul of the Harvest may not be a Dino, but its good for what you want to do, I recommend it.

I still have to get a Zoologist and Call of the Wild for my deck!

You probably know all this, but the deck looks good! I hope your son likes it!

Thanks for the suggestions and thoughts, GoldenDiggle. I think I'll include Soul of the Harvest and Lens of Clarity. I've got to start trimming now. This will be my first run at a Naya build, and have had my eye on Mayael the Anima for some time. Hopefully, it will be a fun deck that also works decent.

Ok, I think I've got the initial version of this deck set now. I worked in a little more spot removal, but not as much as I'd like to have. There will be some switching going on, for sure, but we'll see how it plays out after I get it put together.

Wow, these are quite some strong and complicated cards for a 7 year old! You might throw Scroll Rack into the mix as well. Rings of Brighthearth would be another way to copy the activated ability of Mayael the Anima.

I also noticed some cool cards in your deck that I didn't know before: I might consider Zoologist, Call of the Wild and Game Preserve for myself.

Thanks for checking it out, Bxbx! I plan to solitaire the deck with my son when I get it put together so he understands how the cards work together, and he can hopefully see the setup. He's been playing with me for some a little over a year now, and the best way for him to play is to get familiar with a deck and then he usually starts to recognize what the cards he draws do. He got really familiar with the Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas precon, and he can usually work his way around it pretty well. As stoked as he is about the dinosaurs, I think he'll pick up on this one quick, too.

Thank you for the suggestions, too. I really like Rings of Brighthearth, but I don't have any, and its a bit pricey. I do have some Scroll Racks laying around, so those might find their way into the deck. Call of the Wild is one of my favorite cards, and it pairs nicely with cards like Sylvan Library, Mirri's Guile, Sensei's Divining Top, and the aforementioned Scroll Rack. Mayael has it built-in, although not nearly as good (since she has to tap and requires all three colors), so I thought I'd play with her as the commander and run some creature tutor to get to Gishath, Sun's Avatar. I've been looking for a theme to run Call of the Wild in, and I think I've found it. We'll see how it goes.

If I want to run Scroll Rack, what do you think I should cut? I also have both of the Huatli planeswalkers, and don't know what to cut for them, either.

Again, thanks for the look! Here's to hoping for more good dinos out of Rivals!

Yeah, it would be great if they printed some more dinosaurs with good etb-effects in Rivals!

For Scroll Rack you could maybe cut the Academy Rector. It's propably in there to get your pet card Call of the Wild, but apart from that I don't see that much use for it. Additionaly, you only have one card in your deck that can kill the rector. Letting it die in combat can be difficult sometimes.

Another possibilty would be to cut Archetype of Courage as it's no dinosaur and I don't consider first strike that important.

Personally I would not play Huatli, Dinosaur Knight as her abilities seem to have not enough impact for her mana cost. But Huatli, Warrior Poet is good because she can make dinosaurs, gain life and trigger enrage.

Thanks for the help, Bxbx. At first glance, I figured Academy Rector would dig for any of the enchantments, since I'm running so many. But you may be right about actually getting rid of it without some sac outlets.

I ran with Archetype of Courage to get some cheap anthems for the dinosaurs, and wasn't sure on this one. I was also trying to run Archetype of Aggression in the initial list, but since most of the dinos have trample, I decided to cut it. All that said, I think I'll cut the Rector for the Rack and see how that works out.

I'm still a ways out from completing this one, but it will likely become a priority, at least for my son. Thanks for all the input!

So it looks like you've gone the route of '5 power matters' which is fun for Naya, but if you're still tinkering around, you could build an enrage tribal deck with Marath, Will of the Wild. Throw in giving indestructible to all your dinos, and you've got an easy to abuse system of pinging Raptor Hatchling or Ranging Raptors for hilarious ramp and devastating damage.

Cool deck! Have you thought about Citanul Flute or Quicksilver Amulet for some additional tutoring and creature dropping?

Maybe Herald's Horn for extra cost reduction and free scrying. Also you could do Privileged Position for some extra protection.

If you want some other ideas you could look at my dino deck, That Isn't a Fossil... (EDH Tribal Series #6). I doubt it would be of much help to you though.

Maybe Herald's Horn for extra cost reduction and free scrying. Also you could do Privileged Position for some extra protection.

If you want some other ideas you could look at my dino deck, That Isn't a Fossil... (EDH Tribal Series #6). I doubt it would be of much help to you though.

Thank you for the comments and upvotes so far, everyone! :) I really appreciate them all!

@KeelHaul10: I've got the Marath, Will of the Wild precon, and I've played it a few times, but I'm still not sure on how to focus him or build with him. I like your suggestion, though, and would be more than willing with tinkering with some kind of build with him. I'll take any and all suggestions on how to focus with him. I've looked around at some other builds with him, but I'd really rather not build one like everyone else does, cause that's just no fun. But I understand he tends to be rather powerful?

@Darkshadow327: Herald's Horn is in the maybeboard/sideboard; I went back and forth between that and Vanquisher's Banner, and I ended up going with the Banner for the card draw. I could add the Horn in, but am not for sure what I'd take out. I checked out your build, and I like it. Titanic Ultimatum appears especially nasty as long as it doesn't get countered (but that casting cost!). Privileged Position is a bit more expensive than I want to pay right now, but down the road I'll consider it, for sure.

@airbornezenith: Those are great suggestions, but I figured with what I had going on with Call of the Wild and the like, I didn't think I need them. I'll see how it keeps playing out, though, and those cards could very easily work their way in. That, and I subbed my Citanul Flute into my Dragon precon for the time being...

Great theme deck to get a younger kid into Magic! Mayael is definitely more logical, but I think you're right they'll switch our Gishath after a bit. Seeing as the deck has some serious money it, I don't feel to afraid to suggest Cavern of Souls as a land to slot in, if you're gonna invest all that mana in a big dino, you want it to land, and if he switches the commander out, then he has a guaranteed commander out too. I also might suggest Burgeoning as a ramp piece because your curve is high, and that enchantment can allow you to ramp really quickly in multiplayer games. Otherwise, I agree with most the other suggestions, namely Rings and Citanul Flute. Deck looks great man!

Thanks for the comment, untraceablez. The budget here is a bit misleading...most of the dual lands are cards I've had for a long time, and the Gaea's Cradle....well, I was playing pretty heavily during the Urza block, so I got some in packs. That said, Cavern of Souls is an unlikely acquire. Burgeoning is a good suggestion, too. I'll have to see if I can make a spot for Citanul Flute.

Whats the point of playing sun blessed mount without Huatli?

Because I'm limited on dinosaurs. Its likely to get pulled. I haven't updated in some time.

Hey, saw your post and figured I'd give you my ¢2. Great deck overall and I get budget and not updating, I have many decks that haven't changed in years.

So "budget" suggestions are: Etali, Primal Storm, Marauding Raptor, Garruk's Uprising, Kodama's Reach looks like a well put together deck but a few extra tools are always fun.

Not so budget suggestions are: Runic Armasaur, Wayward Swordtooth, Rhythm of the Wild honestly could think of a few more and suggest lands, but I find that non-budget suggestions aren't as helpful. Let me know if you want a bigger list of suggestions though

As for cards to think about cutting, without calling out anything in particular I'd suggest you look at the top of your curve and try to make your 6+ value cards the most impactful cards in your deck. Anyways it's a fun looking deck

Thanks for looking, Monomanamaniac. I like your budget suggestions, and a few of your not-so-budget suggestions. Etali is slated to go into the deck...I just need to buy or find another copy in my collection. I'd like to add Wayward Swordtooth, but that may take some time. Runic Armasaur isn't that far out of budget, though, and I think I will add it, too.

I'd considered Rhythm of the Wild as an upgrade to Fires of Yavimaya, which I had in the deck, but I removed it, mainly because if the deck is running right, creatures are entering the battlefield with Gishath's ability, and haste doesn't do much good then. Next time I go upgrading, I'm getting those cards!

I like budget suggestions over non-budget ones because they're often overlooked cards that can make an impact and if you don't own the cards it feels a lot better to spend $5-10 to see a reasonable upgrade rather than spending that to get 1 card. Etali is never going to be as affordable as it is right now, it has a high mana value, but high impact too. Runic armasaur is low key op, there's been a moving away from activated abilities due to removal, but there's still plenty of them out there. So the good thing about riot is that it actually still gives you a little benefit in the form of a +1/+1 counter if you don't need the haste. I'll take another look at it later today and see if I can find a few more decent suggestions

You're right about the small buff that Rhythm gives, but in a deck with big creatures like this, I just don't worry about the buff as much. If it were a deck of elves or goblins, then maybe. But with a bunch of 4+ power creatures, I'd rather fill that spot with something that is going to offer more function, like another protection card or a draw spell.

That's fair. Some more suggestions might be Carnage Tyrant is pretty decent stats for the cost. You might consider Arcane Signet and maybe a couple other 2 cost or less mana rocks. rhythm of the wild might not be up your alley, but what about Unnatural Growth? That could probably get you there. A decent budget card might be Thrasta, Tempest's Roar, the Terrasque, or Rampaging Brontodon you could get some serious beaters with them lol. Congregation at Dawn feels extremely solid. Not at all budget but Regal Behemoth is op. I don't normally recommend lands but Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse are better than they look. Also not budget but this would be a great deck for The Great Henge.

I know you just worked on lowering your curve but it looks like this deck thrives on having big bombs. I decided I would drop in a few more suggestions because I was just starting to get a better feel for what cards you were already using

I originally had more two-drop rocks, but went away from them to go with more land ramp. I'm actually considering dropping some more of the artifacts I have, but have not convinced myself to do so yet. Urza's Incubator and Herald's Horn are good, but once I get Gishath out, they tend to not be quite as useful with Gishath doing all the work to get dinos out. I've been keeping them around because I know there will be times when my Commander won't be an option.

My mana base is pretty good, so I won't be adding Terramorphic or Evolving Wilds. If I didn't have the mana base I have already available, I would probably run them.

Regal Behemoth is out of budge, as is The Great Henge. I own a copy, but it's in another deck for now. The Tarrasque's fight ability could be useful, but it probably won't ever have Ward 10 in this deck. I'm on the fence about it. Rampaging Brontodon is easy beats, for sure.

I can definitely see the point on land ramp, less interactive, helps thin of your deck. That's why I saved the least budget stuff for my second lol. The terrasque not having ward 10 is hardly a downside considering it's a 10/10 that spot removes when it attacks.