Snake King! by BurkHydra

Format: Commander

Commander: Zaxara, the Exemplary

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 23

Deck overview

This Sultai deck is helmed by Zaxara, the Exemplary, focusing on leveraging scalable {X} spells to generate massive board presence. In the early game, the deck accelerates through mana dorks, land-fetching sorceries, and utility rocks to deploy Zaxara by Turn 3 or 4. Once established, Zaxara acts as both a double-mana dork and a continuous army builder, creating a scaling Hydra token alongside every {X} spell cast. The midgame revolves around compounding counter synergies with pieces like Corpsejack Menace, Loading Zone, and Garruk's Uprising, transforming utility spells such as Curse of the Swine and Hydroid Krasis into simultaneous removal, card draw, and aggressive board development. Victory is achieved by overrunning opponents with evasive, trampling Hydras or by channeling deep mana pools into a lethal Exsanguinate. While the deck boasts high redundancy and resilient threats, it remains vulnerable to sweepers and lacks dedicated stack interaction.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Agna Qel'a
  • 1 Altered Ego
  • 1 Animist's Awakening
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Astral Cornucopia
  • 1 Benevolent Hydra
  • 1 Biomass Mutation
  • 1 Black Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Black Sun's Zenith
  • 1 Blue Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Cancel
  • 1 Combine Chrysalis
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Corpsejack Menace
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Curse of the Swine
  • 1 Darkwater Catacombs
  • 1 Death Denied
  • 1 Death Wind
  • 1 Dimir Aqueduct
  • 1 Dimir Guildgate
  • 1 Elvish Mystic
  • 1 Escape Tunnel
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Exponential Growth
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Flooded Grove
  • 4 Forest
  • 1 Gargos, Vicious Watcher
  • 1 Garruk's Uprising
  • 1 Genesis Hydra
  • 1 Goldvein Hydra
  • 1 Golgari Guildgate
  • 1 Golgari Rot Farm
  • 1 Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager
  • 1 Green Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Growth Spiral
  • 1 Hedron Archive
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Hooded Hydra
  • 1 Hungering Hydra
  • 1 Hydroid Krasis
  • 1 Icy Blast
  • 1 Inspiring Call
  • 1 Island
  • 1 Jungle Hollow
  • 1 Kinetic Ooze
  • 1 Kodama's Reach
  • 1 Lair of the Hydra
  • 1 Lattice Library
  • 1 Lifeblood Hydra
  • 1 Llanowar Elves
  • 1 Llanowar Wastes
  • 1 Loading Zone
  • 1 Mana Bloom
  • 1 Mind into Matter
  • 1 Mistcutter Hydra
  • 1 Mortuary Mire
  • 1 Mosswort Bridge
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Mystic Sanctuary
  • 1 Neverwinter Hydra
  • 1 Nyxborn Hydra
  • 1 Opulent Palace
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Piranha Marsh
  • 1 Primordial Hydra
  • 1 Protean Hydra
  • 1 Putrefy
  • 1 Serpent's Pass
  • 1 Shared Roots
  • 1 Simic Ascendancy
  • 1 Simic Growth Chamber
  • 1 Sodden Verdure
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Steelbane Hydra
  • 1 Stonecoil Serpent
  • 1 Stroke of Genius
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 1 Swamp
  • 1 Tam, Mindful First-Year
  • 1 Temple of Deceit
  • 1 Temple of Malady
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Goose Mother
  • 1 The Ooze
  • 1 Thornwood Falls
  • 1 Twilight Mire
  • 1 Vastwood Hydra
  • 1 Villainous Wealth
  • 1 Voracious Hydra
  • 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
  • 1 Wild Growth
  • 1 Woodland Cemetery
  • 1 Wren's Run Hydra
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast
  • 1 Zaxara, the Exemplary