Hydra king

Format: Commander

Commander: Zaxara, the Exemplary

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 33

Deck overview

This deck is a Sultai X-spell and +1/+1 counters midrange deck built around Zaxara, the Exemplary. The game plan revolves around deploying early mana acceleration, resolving Zaxara on Turn 3 or 4, and utilizing its static ability to create massive 0/0 Hydra tokens whenever any X-spell is cast. Zaxara provides both mana velocity by tapping for two colored mana and board presence on every subsequent X-cost cast. In the mid-game, the deck compounds this advantage using counter multipliers such as Doubling Season, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Railway Brawler, and Unbound Flourishing. Victory is achieved by overrunning opponents with massive trampling Hydras enabled by Garruk's Uprising, Kodama of the West Tree, or Champion of Lambholt, alternatively closing out games through Simic Ascendancy growth counters or an overwhelming Genesis Wave. While the strategy features immense board scaling and resilient card draw, it remains reliant on creature combat and vulnerable to well-timed board sweepers.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Alchemist's Refuge
  • 1 Animist's Awakening
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Benevolent Hydra
  • 1 Blooming Marsh
  • 1 Celestial Reunion
  • 1 Champion of Lambholt
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Curse of the Swine
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Delighted Halfling
  • 1 Doubling Season
  • 1 Dreamroot Cascade
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Elementalist's Palette
  • 1 Elvish Mystic
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Flooded Grove
  • 5 Forest
  • 1 Garruk's Uprising
  • 1 Genesis Hydra
  • 1 Genesis Wave
  • 1 Geometer's Arthropod
  • 1 Goldvein Hydra
  • 1 Green Sun's Twilight
  • 1 Guardian Augmenter
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Hungering Hydra
  • 1 Hydroid Krasis
  • 1 Ilysian Caryatid
  • 1 Ingenious Prodigy
  • 1 Insatiable Avarice
  • 1 Inspiring Call
  • 1 Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria
  • 4 Island
  • 1 Kami of Whispered Hopes
  • 1 Kinetic Ooze
  • 1 Kodama of the West Tree
  • 1 Lifeblood Hydra
  • 1 Llanowar Elves
  • 1 Llanowar Wastes
  • 1 Mind into Matter
  • 1 Nature's Lore
  • 1 Opal Palace
  • 1 Overflowing Basin
  • 1 Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Pest Infestation
  • 1 Primal Might
  • 1 Primo, the Unbounded
  • 1 Primordial Hydra
  • 1 Pull from Tomorrow
  • 1 Railway Brawler
  • 1 Rapid Hybridization
  • 1 Rishkar's Expertise
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Silkguard
  • 1 Simic Ascendancy
  • 1 Sodden Verdure
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spectral Denial
  • 1 Stargaze
  • 1 Steelbane Hydra
  • 1 Study Hall
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 3 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Temple of Malady
  • 1 The Goose Mother
  • 1 Three Visits
  • 1 Tribute to the World Tree
  • 1 Troyan, Gutsy Explorer
  • 1 Turbulent Wilderness
  • 1 Twilight Mire
  • 1 Tyvar's Stand
  • 1 Unbound Flourishing
  • 1 Unnatural Growth
  • 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
  • 1 Viridescent Bog
  • 1 Voracious Hydra
  • 1 Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast
  • 1 Zagoth Triome
  • 1 Zaxara, the Exemplary
  • 1 Zimone, Infinite Analyst
  • 1 Zimone, Paradox Sculptor