Even if you arent building around dinosaurs specifically, there are plenty of cheap creatures with high powers, like Atarka Efreet, which become harder to kill thanks to Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
But it gets even better with its [V] ability, Ultimate End, which gives all your other creatures +2/+2 until end of turn and puts an indestructible counter on each of them
Also, thanks to its increased toughness, Vivi should be able to hold its own in plenty of combat encounters
Lightning Bolt was especially important at PT 1, as it was the best clean answer to Black Knight, Order of the Ebon Hand, White Knight, Order of Leitbur, and so on (since both Swords to Plowshares and Terror had giant weaknesses)