Hello, ACG Fans! DJKlaxx here, and I’m back with the promised Team Breakdown of Dino Thunder for Set 3 of the Power Rangers ACG! I have lots to cover, so this will be a LONG article, but it will be as in depth as I can manage.

Keep in mind, the cards I’m previewing are all that have been revealed as of June 24. This team introduces a strong Anti-Meta to the ACG, as well as a new concept that was later expanded on in the previews on the official Facebook page. I’ll get to that a bit later.

We’ll start with the Rangers themselves, in my opinion the main highlight of the Team’s presence in the set. First up is Connor, Dino Thunder Red.

Stat line is pretty weak on the low 3, but not terrible on the top 3. He’s not an unsafe play by any means.
He also rocks a Dual Symbol, which doubles his value when paying costs from the Training Area, which means, even if he loses, he will have a decent effect for you later in the game.

His effect activates as soon as he’s revealed (the [PLAYED] timing) and increases the cost of the opponents cards by one. This makes cards such as Teams and Zords/Megazords even more costly to play. This seems to be the theme of Dino Thunder; make the opponent’s heavy hitters too expensive to play. This will make things like DragonZord and MMPR Team almost impossible for someone to play.

Next, let’s look at yet another apperance of Tommy Oliver, as Black Dino!

Two Cost, 2 Damage, and a decent (at best) stat line pad a very scary effect- he increases the cost of your opponent’s cards by 3! It seems he really doesn’t want to see the Dragonzord show up!
In addition, his Scroll Symbol carries an interesting effect. Win or Lose, you may perform an extra judgement to change his RPS symbol based on the Die Roll. This can be potentially devastating on the offense or defense, as a Two Cost Ranger dealing Four damage is quite the hit.

Let’s jump ahead to a powered up version of one of the Rangers, as Blue and Yellow have not yet been spoiled. Connor combines his allies’ power into one, powerful form. Triassic Power!

A Two Cost with TWO Maxes! There is very little risk to this card. He is NOT to be missed should you be building Dino Thunder.
His ability is a bit of a twist on the earlier cards.
[PLAYED] The Cost for your opponent’s cards cannot be reduced and may only be paid from their Training Area.

This may be even better than increasing costs. It is rare to see more than two or three cards in the Training Area, with the exception of maybe RPM. Have a Megazord and a huge hand? That’s just fine by Triassic Ranger.
On top of that, Shield Symbol negates Bonus Damage from RPS loss. So, even if you somehow lose the Judgement, you still won’t be taking much damage.

Let’s look, also, at Triassic Battleizer.

While this card doesn’t quite follow the same formula, this card is a great check for your opponents. If you are going to lose the fight, or your opponent drops a powerful Team or Zord, you can pop both cards back to deck during Judgement. Still useful, nonetheless, especially with 3 Maxes and a Shield.

Now, let’s talk about Zords.

Three cost isn’t too bad at all, and a Dual Symbol keeps him useful even on a loss. His effect lets him return to battle for a reduced cost, which is pretty cool. He also counts double for Training Area Costs due to Dual.

The Four cost here is misleading. Indeed, it’s ability makes it Three cost against all but the most specialized Rangers. It carries a decent stat line for it’s cost, as well, and share’s Dino Black’s ability to change it’s Symbol on a Judgment (Scroll). Tommy’s PhD must really be paying off!

I’ve chosen to single out these next two cards in the group to point out something very Unique.

Dino White was the first revealed Ranger/Villain, later followed by a new print of MMPR Green, and have been dubbed by the community as Hybrids. Special thanks to Goujyujin from the PR ACG Fanpage and Rangerboard for the following explanation.

“Hybrid cards count as both types but they aren’t an entirely new type. If a card is Ranger/Villain that means it can be played in both a normal deck (Ranger, Support, Zord, & Megazord) or a Villain deck. For Villain decks only cards that include Villain can be included for deck construction.
A Zord/Villain or Megazord/Villain card can be played during the Summon Step or Extra Summon Step in either deck – the “Villain” type allows the card to be played during the Summon Step and the “Zord” type allows it to be played during the Extra Summon Step.”

Zord Villain? Hold on, we’ll get to that.
Trent is a one Cost, two Damage Ranger/Villain with a stat line that is Par at best, in my opinion.

The interesting thing comes here in the Ally and Evil Symbols.
Evil gives you the ability to discard the top card of your deck during Battle to add the Assist value of that card to Judgment. This makes the card a ton safer to use, and considering many villains are high cost as it is, this card is a safe drop in any Villain build.
Ally gives the card a +1 to assist when discarded for the purpose of increasing Judgment.

Here we have our first Zord/Villain. Four cost and Three Damage backs up a decent stat line.
The key here is when he’s played. During the Assist step, if you have no hand, your opponent can’t assist! This means your opponent will not likely be beating this Zord without one of their own. The Evil symbol further increases the likelihood of a DinoStegazord win.

Dino Thunder is a unique team in the metagame. But what does it bring to the table?

First and foremost, it was the first revealed Team to seem to focus on establishing an Anti-Meta. It hard counters Super Samurai, Samurai Beatdown, and RPM, as well as making Megazord focused decks near impossible to play without the main team being Mystic Force. However, with what we know so far, can it stand on it’s own?

This question is yet to be answered, as Vanillas and Blue and Yellow may yet have some strong ability that makes the deck stand on it’s own.

My suggestion? Pair it with another Team. My favorite theorycraft on this one so far is Time Force, as Time Force will force the discards of many powerful cards that you will have to deal with, and anything you miss with the effect of Time Force, Dino Thunder will make not viable to play in the course of play.

What are your thoughts on Dino Thunder? Do you have any builds you’ve considered using? What about thoughts on it’s effect on the Meta of the ACG? Leave your comments below!

I’d like to give special shoutouts to the Power Rangers Action Card Game Fanbase Facebook group, which helped me write this article with lots of healthy discussion and prompt updating of all rulings as we get them. Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/groups/366818190098321/?fref=ts.

You can follow me on Twitter at @DJKlaxx.

Next up, I break down Jungle Fury. Another strongly Anti-Meta Team, and one I’m very excited for.

Until next time, this is DJKlaxx. See you on the Battefield!