About the Author
Howdy, I am
. I started playing the TCG seriously in early 2016 and have a history of playing Duel Links as well, hitting King of Games every month for 3 years stopping just recently in favor of Master Duel. Dinos have been one of my favorite decks and engines in both the TCG and DL that I have taken to multiple events over the years, and I have played nearly every iteration and variant of them at some point. Hopefully I can translate some of what I've learned over the years here.Shoutouts to
for helping me write the guide and for putting together most of the resources available in the Discord.Overview
What do Dinos even refer to? Typically, Dinos revolve around the interactions between Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , and the somewhat recent Loading... . In addition to them, Dinos also pack an incredible boss monster in Loading... , arguably one of the strongest individual monsters ever printed.
There are many ways Dinos have been played over the years, by far it is most commonly known for being fantastic at going second and breaking boards like it’s nobody's business. However, over the years Dinos have received a lot of indirect support, and new builds and combos have been discovered that open dinos up into being one of the most diverse in terms of variants. Whatever you might want to do, dino can do it. Do you want to seemingly break every board under the sun? Dinos can do that. Do you want to summon some of the most broken cards available in the game? Dinos can do that. Do you want to FTK your opponent so that they don’t even get a chance to play? Dinos can do that. Synchro? Xyz? Link summon? Dinos can do it all if they set their mind to it, which makes this one of the harder guides to put together.
The most common way to play it on Master Duel is definitely with the Scrap engine, which helps it access powerful level 8 Synchros like Loading... and more rank 4 xyzs like the dinosaur exclusive Loading... , and add more interaction to their opening play, without subtracting any of the things that make standard pure dinos good.
Core Monsters in Main Deck
Souleating Oviraptor 2x
![Souleating Oviraptor]()
On normal or special summon, Oviraptor gets any of your Dinosaurs out of Deck, either by adding them to hand or sending them to the GY. His second effect can revive a Dinosaur from the GY by destroying another dinosaur on the field, perfect for triggering the effects of your Loading... and Loading... . Just be sure to not to revive the same Baby you just destroyed, otherwise you will not get its effect. Oviraptor can also pop Dinosaurs your opponent controls, which is important for interactions with Loading... or the mirror match.
Miscellaneousaurus 3x
![Miscellaneousaurus]()
Misc’s hand effect allows you to discard it to protect your dinosaurs (on the field) from your opponent's activated card effects. Discarding it also allows you to get it quickly to the GY to use its second effect, which allows you to banish any number of dinosaurs (including itself) from the GY to summon a Dinosaur from your deck with a Level equal to the number of dinos you banished.
Babycerasaurus 3x and Petiteranodon 1-2x
![Babycerasaurus]()
![Petiteranodon]()
Babycerasaurus and Petiteranodon are the keys to the Dinosaur strategy. The majority of your cards will include an effect that will destroy Dinosaurs on the field, hand, or even the Deck. This is where the babies come into play, as whenever they are destroyed by a card effect, they will summon a Dinosaur from the deck. Babycerasaurus summons level 4 or lower dinosaurs, while Petiteranodon will summon a level 4 or higher.
Ultimate Conductor Tyranno 2x
![Ultimate Conductor Tyranno]()
This is your boss monster, arguably one of the most powerful in the game, and it does a lot for your deck, oftentimes winning you the game on its own via OTKs. You can special summon UCT from your hand by banishing 2 Dinosaur-type monsters from your GY. Once UCT is on the field, during either player’s main phase you can activate a quick effect that on resolution will destroy 1 monster from your hand or field to change as many monsters your opponent controls to face-down Defense position as possible. While in combat, UCT can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each, and if UCT attacks a monster in defense position, UCT can activate an effect that will send that monster to the GY and inflict 1000 damage to the opponent.
Animadorned Archosaur 2x
![Animadorned Archosaur]()
Animadorned is the glue of the deck, who on summon can destroy a dinosaur on the field or in your hand to (for the purposes of this deck) add a Loading... from your deck to your hand. Being level 1 is important for a multitude of reasons, mostly as it makes Animadorned very accessible with the effect of Loading... .