Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => Spellbook Design and Construction => Topic started by: silverclawgrizzly on June 23, 2014, 12:21:51 AM
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This is an idea I came up with a while back and even tested a watered down version of today with someone elses book. Basically the Beast Master here turns himself into a nasty front line fighter and dukes it out along side his animal friends. Eventually if you get it set up completely(and hey it's Mage Wars that's a big IF I concede) You could be swinging 10 attack dice with the Beast Master while his minions are backing him up with their usual awesomeness.
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Beast Master Warrior[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA01]1 x Arc Lightning[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j02]2 x Animal Kinship[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j10]1 x Lair[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]1 x Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J01]1 x Rajan's Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ08]1 x Renewing Spring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]2 x Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c04]2 x Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC02]2 x Dire Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c14]1 x Feral Bobcat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC03]1 x Galador, Protector of Straywood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC16]2 x Spitting Raptor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c34]1 x Steelclaw Grizzly[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]4 x Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e13]1 x Eagle Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]3 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]2 x Block[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q18]1 x Mage Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i03]1 x Call of the Wild[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]
I'm gonna run this hopefully tomorrow but I'm open to pointing out any major flaws I've made here in my logic or suggestions on how to get more OOMPH out of the book.
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Looks like fun, I might give it a go myself
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I have not the most experience in this game but I guess you want to push your mages limit by:
- Equipment
- Enchantments
- Creatures + Animal Kinship
For the first two i would at least somehow add an enchanters wardstone and armor ward, just to be sure that if my opponent comes in my way of getting strong it hurts him too!
Not sure what to exclude thou..
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So, have you run with it yet? How did it go and against what type of mage?
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Gonna give it a try today. I'll post the results later on. I like the idea for an Armor Ward. No idea where I'll get the spell points for it but I can try.
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Great, looking forward to it. I like playing the Beastmaster, just don't tell my group
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Just played a match against a Skeleton necromancer. Won but barely. Idol of Pestilence came out early and I needed to deal with it before Deathlock followed.
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Ok I played it three times today. 3 matches, 3 victories.
1. Necromancer. This match was so close I was literally at 35 damage when it ended. I was slowed down by the placement of walls and felt rushed by the Idol of Pestilence. I was able to focus directly on attacking the mage for a good solid long while, I put Force Hammer on the Mage Wand and that helped me take down the Idol and Deathlock. I actually destroyed the walls with my mage doing melee attacks and brought them down fast. I was able to save up a good bit of mana with most of my big creatures out and use a Force Hammer/Cheetah Speed Bash combo to good effect a few turns in a row. The hammer finished the Necromancer at the end or I'd have been toast. In this game I placed my Lair in the opponents near center zone early on. This helped a lot.
2. Priestess: Defensive Build. This book has been tearing up our local events and is played by one of our best Mage Warriors. However I think he got spooked and I took a total of 12 damage before finishing him off in like half an hour. Guardian Angels are absolutely no match for you when you have Reach and Falcon Precision :) I kept my Lair in my center back row this game and this next to keep archers off it.
3. Priestess: Aggressive Build. Then he went and got his aggro based Priestess book and I was legitimately troubled at first. Note: At first. A buffed to all get out grizzly bear got up in my face on Round 3 and was tearing me a brand new one with it's controller Battle Furying it. However eventually I was able to survive the onslaught long enough that I killed the horrible thing along with a Unicorn which took out the Priestess main defenders. I kept the pressure on her from then on with Cervere, a fox, falcon, and Spitting Raptor. Once I was able to start healing with my Regrowth Belt and swinging 10 dice of damage a hit the game was more or less over.
Observations:
-This build takes a little build up so you need to use Tanglevines, Teleports, guards, etc to buy a few rounds. However once you actually start rocking and rolling then it's VERY fun to play.
-I notice I'm more likely to cast the scrub creatures early on to get the benefits from Animal Kinship. Thus I'm thinking of replacing the Dire Wolves with normal Timber Wolves as they're A: Easier to cast and B: Cheaper in my book.
-I lost my Lair and Battle Forge at one point but it didn't really slow me down by the time they'd fallen....well ok the Lair hurt but I managed to Quick cast the creatures I needed.
Overall this build is really really fun to play. I'll tinker it some later.
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Looks like a fun build, although I wouldn't have chosen quite that distribution of utility. Do you find yourself playing multiple Animal Kinships?
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After three games I've gotten both the Animal Kinships out twice. Changes I'm most likely going to make:
-Call the Wild to be exchanged out for Rouse the Beast.
-Dire Wolves are likely to be exchanged for Timber Wolves. No idea what the points will go towards.
-One of the Rhino Hides has already been turned into something else, I forget what.
-May get another Regenerate and change the Regrowth Belt for the Veterans Belt.
-I either need to put in a Moonglow Amulet on it's own or replace my Mana Crystal with it. I need more mana and space.
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Weaknesses I've noticed:
-I need stronger cats. My opponents very quickly figured out how important the kitties were to my strategy. Feral Bobcats are literally one unavoidable attack from death and Cervere receives way more attention than he normally would from enemy fire with this build. Of course I could Pet the bobcat I suppose.
-The problem with supporting two spawn points is I'm incredibly mana starved. Maybe I can Harmonize the Battleforge as well as the Lair but still. Fortunately spending my full action hitting things helps but I've yet to get that bear out.
-There is really no way I can realistically expect to cast all those Conjurations in one game. That means Renewing Spring and even Bam Shalla stay in the book more than I'd like.
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I've never liked the idea of spending the actions to actually use Renewing Spring, and I rarely use Hand of Bim-Shalla. I'd pitch them for a Wand of Healing and some other utility.
I've been hoping for a level 2 cat for a while. That would make Makunda worth a try, would give us another strong Pet option, and would help maintain the bonus from Animal Kinship. Having a smaller bear would probably help Animal Kinship plays too, but that seems less likely. Maybe a level 3 brown bear or something.
I don't see why the cats in particular would receive attention. You can always get Elusive from Mongoose Agility if they kill your cats. I'll be trying Cervere + Lion's Savagery + Eagle Wings at some point, but in that case it makes sense to try to deal with the kitty.
How do you afford to get both spawnpoints down and apply pressure quickly? I've been mulling over different openings for this type of build, and I can see plenty of options that uses one or the other, but using both early seems like it would slow you down too much.
As I see it, you can open with something along the lines of:
Turn 1 (19): Mana Flower -> Mana Flower (9)
Turn 2 (20): Ring of Beasts -> Steelclaw Grizzly (2)
At which point you can play a few more creatures (probably Timber Wolf + Spitting Raptor/Emerald Tegu, maybe a Pet Feral Bobcat), then drop Animal Kinship and start enchanting yourself. Possibly drop a Battle Forge after getting 3 or so animals down in order to start equipping yourself. You don't start attacking for a while, but you should have a reasonably strong push when you attack, and you have plenty of creatures.
Turn 1 (19): Lair -> Enchanter's Ring (2)
Turn 2 (11) [2]:
At which point you can equip yourself and enchant yourself while building up to 3-4 creatures, or rush forward and have creatures follow after you (or alternatively replace Enchanter's Ring with Harmonize).
Or you can do something with Battle Forge.
That could be a rush:
Turn 1 (19): Sprint to NC -> Battle Forge (11)
Turn 2 (20): Ring of Beasts -> Steelclaw Grizzly -> FD Rhino Hide (1)
Turn 3 (10): Enchanter's Ring -> Pet Thunderdrift Falcon -> FD Bear Strength (1)
That doesn't set you up for Animal Kinship as well, but it puts pressure on your opponent much faster (Pet Bitterwood Fox is a reasonable alternative to the Falcon that sets up Animal Kinship better).
Or a more economic approach:
Turn 1 (19): Mana Flower -> Battle Forge (6)
Turn 2 (16): Ring of Beasts -> Timber Wolf -> FD Rhino Hide (5)
Turn 3 (15): Enchanter's Ring -> Emerald Tegu -> FD Bear Strength (5)
You say that it takes you a while to get going, and that you need to stall while everything gets setup. What does that look like? If your opponent doesn't pressure you, how do you open? Do you push once you have 4 creatures, a Harmonized Lair, a Battle Forge, a few pieces of equipment, and an Animal Kinship? What is the point you're trying to reach in midgame? I'm just trying to get a better sense of how you're actually playing.
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Good questions and suggestions. I'll take em one by one:
1. We're all putting Lions Savagery on Cervere :) It's honestly my favorite spell from FiF. I could do a whole post on "Crap I'm putting Lions Savagery on" starting with Cervere and ending with The Lord of Fire. The mascot of the local sci-fi convention in Charlotte is a winged panther. I'm also a Carolina Panthers fan(don't judge me) Obviously I love making the kitty fly too. ;D
2. I think those Pharoahs Cheetahs from that kick starter thing are level 2 and they're not horrible. Again especially with Lions Savagery.
3. Panda bears. Best way to go. Nobody is going to see this coming. That or a Frost Immune Polar Bear.
4. Generally I go either Lair/Harmonize first turn, or I go Battle Forge/Enchanters Ring. Either way I try to get myself prepped as fast as possible. Of the 3 matches I've gone with the Battle Forge start twice now. Then I get the Lair and on Round 3 I'm gearing/enchanting up my Mage to get in there if need be. Cheetah Speed and Bears Strength along with Gauntlets of Strength from the forge. Early creatures are either foxes or bobcats and
I get the first Animal Kinship out. Mid game I'm generally swinging 7-9 attack dice with the mage with a fox, bobcat, raptor combo backing me up. I use my Quick Cast each turn to put out something else that will make me stronger be it another enchantment, the second Animal Kinship, or whatever.
Bear in mind I've only played this book 3 times so far, twice against a Priestess. I've yet to test it against a super aggressive Force Master, a control Druid, or any of the other popular book ideas. I concede I don't have it anywhere near down pat yet. I will most likely play it again today when I get up against a Warlock, and a Wizard most likely either Friday or Sunday. I will continue to report on how it does however. Also if anyone else plays something similar I'd be excited to hear their reports too.
I am going to HATE Arcane Corruption being played on this guy.
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I put Force Hammer on the Mage Wand
*bzzzzt*
Other that that, great write-ups, sounds like you've got a pretty solid build in the works!
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3. Panda bears. Best way to go. Nobody is going to see this coming. That or a Frost Immune Polar Bear.
Not sure Pandas are bears. Mind you, dinosaurs aren't lizards and spiders aren't insects!
I was hoping for a 'Lost bear cub'. 5-mana creature with 3 dice attack, lumbering, pest. If your opponent hurts a hair on its head you get to instantly summon its mama (steelclaw grizzly) for free.
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I was hoping for a 'Lost bear cub'. 5-mana creature with 3 dice attack, lumbering, pest. If your opponent hurts a hair on its head you get to instantly summon its mama (steelclaw grizzly) for free.
<3
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3. Panda bears. Best way to go. Nobody is going to see this coming. That or a Frost Immune Polar Bear.
Not sure Pandas are bears. Mind you, dinosaurs aren't lizards and spiders aren't insects!
I was hoping for a 'Lost bear cub'. 5-mana creature with 3 dice attack, lumbering, pest. If your opponent hurts a hair on its head you get to instantly summon its mama (steelclaw grizzly) for free.
According to the mighty "Wikipedia" the Giant Panda is in fact a bear. I was kinda shocked. Granted the Red Panda is unrelated to the Giant Panada, being more closely related to Weasels than Bears.
Did you mean that dinosaurs aren't reptiles? Going back that far in time it's tough to say what they classify as other than Dinosaurs. I'm sure we could go back and forth on that.
I know that spiders are not insects. That one is pretty ironclad. However, from a game standpoint when you want the possibility in the future of a mage focusing on "arthropods" it's easier to just call everything and insect than to put "arthropod" on a card. But that's part of the problem with "animals" in general. By pure science the beastmaster should have a fair bit more animals, but part of our clarifications are based on aspects of the game world and ease of reference.
Sorry to any zoologists out there who are offended by our loose classifications.
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Ok technically speaking humans are animals so I SHOULD theoretically be able to have a Pet Knight of Westlock in theory....but yeah game balance and all that jazz. Though honestly when we get down to it elves are little more than savage animals just below the sentient level so a Pet Royal Archer shouldn't be out of the question there. Though admittedly they'd make terrible pets what with their pitiful melee attacks and inability to make it to the liter box in time. 8)
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If I put together an Animal Kinship build that ran both a Lair and a Battle Forge, I would probably run something like this, although a few cars are placeholders.
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Warrior of the Wilds[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j10]1 x Lair[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j02]1 x Animal Kinship[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC16]2 x Spitting Raptor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]4 x Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC03]1 x Galador, Protector of Straywood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c12]1 x Emerald Tegu[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c04]2 x Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c38]2 x Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c14]2 x Feral Bobcat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c34]1 x Steelclaw Grizzly[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]2 x Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]2 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e33]1 x Retaliate[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e13]1 x Eagle Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e07]1 x Cobra Reflexes[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]2 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x Vampirism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q18]1 x Mage Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q25]1 x Ring of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]2 x Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]
I would replace the pair of Bull Endurance with a pair of Lion's Savageries, the pair of Piercing Strikes with a pair of Defends, and the Mage Staff with a Morningstar. Few things are worse than having your mage hit himself for 8+ dice.
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Very interesting book indeed. As Beastmaster is one of my favorite mages, I think I might steal some ideas from here :-)
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4. Generally I go either Lair/Harmonize first turn, or I go Battle Forge/Enchanters Ring. Either way I try to get myself prepped as fast as possible. Of the 3 matches I've gone with the Battle Forge start twice now. Then I get the Lair and on Round 3 I'm gearing/enchanting up my Mage to get in there if need be. Cheetah Speed and Bears Strength along with Gauntlets of Strength from the forge. Early creatures are either foxes or bobcats and
I get the first Animal Kinship out. Mid game I'm generally swinging 7-9 attack dice with the mage with a fox, bobcat, raptor combo backing me up. I use my Quick Cast each turn to put out something else that will make me stronger be it another enchantment, the second Animal Kinship, or whatever.
The build sounds pretty cool. The only thing I'm suspect of is the double spawnpoint. In my experience, spending more than ~20 mana on your opening sets you too far behind against a skilled opponent (not just someone going "aggro"). I think a cool start could be forge + animal kindship, and ditch the lair. I'd like to try the book out though.
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Doug that book looks pretty solid man.
Dark Dar steal away.
Arlemus I was dubious of the two spawn points, still am even, but it's been working so far so we'll see.
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[quote author=silverclawgrizzly link=topic=14258.msg38290#msg38290 date=1403835014
Arlemus I was dubious of the two spawn points, still am even, but it's been working so far so we'll see.
[/quote]
When I tried double spawnpoint I always tried to recover the costs with med amulet, but your build is making me think it might be better to just continue without meditating...
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Yeah unfortunately you really don't get time to meditate with this build, but then I've never been good with the amulet to begin with.
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3. Panda bears. Best way to go. Nobody is going to see this coming. That or a Frost Immune Polar Bear.
Not sure Pandas are bears. Mind you, dinosaurs aren't lizards and spiders aren't insects!
I was hoping for a 'Lost bear cub'. 5-mana creature with 3 dice attack, lumbering, pest. If your opponent hurts a hair on its head you get to instantly summon its mama (steelclaw grizzly) for free.
According to the mighty "Wikipedia" the Giant Panda is in fact a bear. I was kinda shocked. Granted the Red Panda is unrelated to the Giant Panada, being more closely related to Weasels than Bears.
Did you mean that dinosaurs aren't reptiles? Going back that far in time it's tough to say what they classify as other than Dinosaurs. I'm sure we could go back and forth on that.
I know that spiders are not insects. That one is pretty ironclad. However, from a game standpoint when you want the possibility in the future of a mage focusing on "arthropods" it's easier to just call everything and insect than to put "arthropod" on a card. But that's part of the problem with "animals" in general. By pure science the beastmaster should have a fair bit more animals, but part of our clarifications are based on aspects of the game world and ease of reference.
Sorry to any zoologists out there who are offended by our loose classifications.
Oh, I completely agree with the way MageWars classifies things in practice. Although my brother is very sad about the spitting raptor classification: the fact it isn't labelled 'dinosaur' means he doesn't expect to see many other dinosaurs popping up, and he was really hoping for a T-Rex pet.
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There had better be dinosaurs in future selves. If raptors can spit acid I want a lightning shooting pterodactyl and of course fire spewing t-rex. I will love him, and Pet him, and name him George ;D
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A T-Rex without 'baby' in front would obviously be legendary and thus no pet allowed :)
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Jack I don't crush your dreams man. Kindly allow me my delusions please :P It's bad enough Laddinface dashed my hopes for that tank a few months back.
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There had better be dinosaurs in future selves. If raptors can spit acid I want a lightning shooting pterodactyl and of course fire spewing t-rex. I will love him, and Pet him, and name him George ;D
Bad time to point out that pterodactyls aren't dinosaurs?
*Goes and hides in the pedantry shed*
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Yeah and as was mentioned earlier spiders aint insects but we're a little liberal with these titles here.