MTGNexus

Has anyone got any thoughts on running Dina to lead a deck that isn't a pile of mana elves and Blood Artists? Of all the STX legends I think I'm most into her - she's in my favourite colours and doesn't combo with herself. The problem is that she combines too well with Exquisite Blood and so desperately calls to be another deck where sacrificing stuff is the whole of the law.

I think it'd be nice to play her going wide with tokens (Pests are her obvious allies but green black has so many further options...) and using Volrath's Gardens and Harmony of Nature for a more thematic win. Things like Mitotic Slime and Saproling Burst can give Dina a massive power surge; there's Mycoloth too but having Dina be the sole sacrificer in her own deck seems best, plus tiny 1/1 saprolings are not particularly interesting to sacrifice to her ability. What's the best version of Centaur Glade right now? The point would be to fill the board with beefy tokens and then create horrifying attacks with Dina at the helm.

and... do you see Dina as an irritating commander, assuming she's just gonna sit in the corner and try to win passively? Would love to find other ways to play her!

Dina does technically have that second ability on her too, so you could take her in a voltron direction fuelled by classic stat-disproportionate fodder like Phyrexian Dreadnought. I'm not sure how much success you'd find with that, as all in all I feel you'd end up with a strictly crappier Varolz, but it exists as a possibility.

As for the lifegain part - while it doesn't necessarily need to be a pile of Blood Artists, you do obviously want stuff that's going to grant many instances of life gain. There are quite a few land-related ones, for example - Courser of Kruphix, Grazing Gladehart, Jaddi Offshoot, Kazandu Nectarpot, Lifegift, Polluted Bonds, Primeval Bounty, Retreat to Hagra, Retreat to Kazandu. Lisette, Dean of the Root feels like a good payoff card for all the trickle lifegain that will be happening, and the ramp to fuel the landfall trickle will help pay for her triggers too.