Hydra Kids, Hydra Wife! by Thunderthruster

Format: Commander

Commander: Zaxara, the Exemplary

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

This is a Sultai X-spell combo deck helmed by Zaxara, the Exemplary, built to weaponize the {X} in its mana costs. The primary plan is to ramp into Zaxara, use her tap ability for two mana and her trigger to turn every X spell into a Hydra, then assemble infinite mana with an untap aura - Freed from the Real or Pemmin's Aura - and sink it into a table-killing Exsanguinate, Villainous Wealth, or Stroke of Genius. Unbound Flourishing doubles the X on every payoff, while Seedborn Muse and Kiora's Follower multiply Zaxara's mana output. A secondary combat plan runs big Hydra tokens under Herald of Secret Streams (unblockable) and Garruk's Uprising (trample and card draw). With over twenty X spells, the deck is redundant in payoffs but thin in tutors, making Zaxara the indispensable engine that ties the whole machine together.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Awaken the Woods
  • 1 Birds of Paradise
  • 1 Black Sun's Zenith
  • 1 Bloom Tender
  • 1 Blooming Marsh
  • 1 Blue Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Botanical Sanctum
  • 1 Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks
  • 1 Capricopian
  • 1 Cazur, Ruthless Stalker
  • 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Condescend
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Curse of the Swine
  • 1 Darkbore Pathway // Slitherbore Pathway
  • 1 Darkslick Shores
  • 1 Darksteel Plate
  • 1 Deathcap Glade
  • 1 Dimir Signet
  • 1 Dreamroot Cascade
  • 1 Drift of Phantasms
  • 1 Endless One
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Fact or Fiction
  • 1 Fanatic of Rhonas
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Finale of Revelation
  • 4 Forest
  • 1 Freed from the Real
  • 1 Garruk's Uprising
  • 1 Gloomlake Verge
  • 1 Green Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Herald of Secret Streams
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Hope's Aero Magic
  • 1 Hydra Broodmaster
  • 1 Hydroid Krasis
  • 1 Ingenious Prodigy
  • 1 Inspiring Call
  • 5 Island
  • 1 Kiora's Follower
  • 1 Krosan Grip
  • 1 Llanowar Elves
  • 1 Mana Bloom
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Mind into Matter
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Open into Wonder
  • 1 Opulent Palace
  • 1 Overgrown Tomb
  • 1 Paradise Mantle
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Pemmin's Aura
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Profane Command
  • 1 Pull from Tomorrow
  • 1 Rampant Growth
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
  • 1 Seedborn Muse
  • 1 Simic Signet
  • 1 Slice from the Shadows
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sporocyst
  • 1 Stonecoil Serpent
  • 1 Stroke of Genius
  • 3 Swamp
  • 1 Syncopate
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Eternity Elevator
  • 1 Troyan, Gutsy Explorer
  • 1 Tyvar's Stand
  • 1 Unbound Flourishing
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Utopia Sprawl
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Villainous Wealth
  • 1 Waterlogged Grove
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Woodland Cemetery
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast
  • 1 Zaxara, the Exemplary