Type: Deck Idea
Format (invalid) staStandard
Approx. Value:
$942.16

0 Likes 0 Comments
Avg. CMC 2.58
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 100 cards, 94 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (18)
1 Bloom Tender
$15.89 Creature - Elf Druid
1 Gargos, Vicious Watcher
$0.59 Legendary Creature - Hydra
1 Genesis Hydra
$0.27 Creature - Plant Hydra
1 Hungering Hydra
$2.80 Creature - Hydra
1 Hydroid Krasis
$1.65 Creature - Jellyfish Hydra Beast
1 Kalonian Hydra
$11.19 Creature - Hydra
1 Lifeblood Hydra
$1.39 Creature - Hydra
1 Mistcutter Hydra
$1.19 Creature - Hydra
1 Nyxbloom Ancient
$27.33 Enchantment Creature - Elemental
1 Primordial Hydra
$6.31 Creature - Hydra
1 Protean Hydra
$4.78 Creature - Hydra
1 Seedborn Muse
$7.53 Creature - Spirit
1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
$13.20 Legendary Creature - Elf Scout
1 Steelbane Hydra
$3.74 Creature - Turtle Hydra
1 Vastwood Hydra
$0.93 Creature - Hydra
1 Voracious Hydra
$4.63 Creature - Hydra
1 Walking Ballista
$12.13 Artifact Creature - Construct
1 Zaxara, the Exemplary
$1.21 Legendary Creature - Nightmare Hydra
Instant (13)
1 Assassin's Trophy
$3.01 Instant
1 Beast Within
$1.55 Instant
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
$1.58 Instant
1 Condescend
$0.33 Instant
1 Cyclonic Rift
$29.34 Instant
1 Disallow
$4.04 Instant
1 Icy Blast
$0.46 Instant
1 Mystical Tutor
$9.54 Instant
1 Power Sink
$0.21 Instant
1 Spell Burst
$0.27 Instant
1 Stroke of Genius
$0.50 Instant
1 Voidslime
$2.60 Instant
1 Worldly Tutor
$13.86 Instant
Sorcery (18)
1 Braingeyser
$16.59 Sorcery
1 Curse of the Swine
$0.41 Sorcery
1 Damnable Pact
$0.25 Sorcery
1 Demonic Tutor
$43.25 Sorcery
1 Exsanguinate
$1.99 Sorcery
1 Farseek
$1.30 Sorcery
1 Finale of Revelation
$0.60 Sorcery
1 Nature's Lore
$1.81 Sorcery
1 Nylea's Intervention
$0.55 Sorcery
1 Open into Wonder
$0.18 Sorcery
1 Pir's Whim
$2.02 Sorcery
1 Profane Command
$0.19 Sorcery
1 Three Visits
$3.87 Sorcery
1 Torment of Hailfire
$16.37 Sorcery
1 Toxic Deluge
$7.76 Sorcery
1 Triumph of the Hordes
$14.05 Sorcery
1 Villainous Wealth
$0.35 Sorcery
1 Wildest Dreams
$0.38 Sorcery
Artifact (7)
1 Akroma's Memorial
$27.69 Legendary Artifact
1 Arcane Signet
$0.30 Artifact
1 Fellwar Stone
$0.83 Artifact
1 Lightning Greaves
$5.03 Artifact - Equipment
1 Sol Ring
$1.10 Artifact
1 The Ozolith
$36.77 Legendary Artifact
1 Thought Vessel
$1.03 Artifact
Enchantment (9)
1 Branching Evolution
$4.90 Enchantment
1 Doubling Season
$41.32 Enchantment
1 Freed from the Real
$3.79 Enchantment - Aura
1 Kindred Discovery
$4.44 Enchantment
1 Mana Reflection
$14.50 Enchantment
1 Pemmin's Aura
$5.08 Enchantment - Aura
1 Primal Vigor
$6.38 Enchantment
1 Simic Ascendancy
$1.88 Enchantment
1 Unbound Flourishing
$13.79 Enchantment
Land (35)
1 Alchemist's Refuge
$1.19 Land
1 Arcane Lighthouse
$4.89 Land
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
$10.19 Legendary Land
1 Breeding Pool
$17.23 Land - Forest Island
1 Cabal Coffers
$24.51 Land
1 Cavern of Souls
$40.74 Land
1 Command Tower
$0.18 Land
1 Drowned Catacomb
$1.95 Land
1 Flooded Grove
$1.59 Land
3 Forest
$0.09 Basic Land - Forest
1 Hinterland Harbor
$1.08 Land
1 Homeward Path
$16.33 Land
3 Island
$0.09 Basic Land - Island
1 Misty Rainforest
$20.05 Land
1 Overgrown Tomb
$11.76 Land - Swamp Forest
1 Polluted Delta
$20.49 Land
1 Reflecting Pool
$10.95 Land
1 Reliquary Tower
$1.53 Land
1 Rogue's Passage
$0.22 Land
1 Sunken Ruins
$26.67 Land
3 Swamp
$0.76 Basic Land - Swamp
1 Twilight Mire
$4.87 Land
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
$41.14 Legendary Land
1 Verdant Catacombs
$17.26 Land
1 Volrath's Stronghold
$89.00 Legendary Land
1 Watery Grave
$12.36 Land - Island Swamp
1 Woodland Cemetery
$1.53 Land
1 Yavimaya Hollow
$74.42 Legendary Land
1 Zagoth Triome
$22.41 Land - Swamp Forest Island
Sideboard - 0 cards, 0 distinct
No cards here. :(

Notes
 
Quickly slapped together a deck around the freshly spoiled Zaxara, the Exemplary. The main name of the game is to take advantage of Zaxara's token engine ability via  mana cost hydras + spells (current number of  mana cost cards in this brew = 28). Toss in a heap of Sultai cruelty into the mix and we've got ourselves a formidable kitchen table threat.

On top of the hefty hydra tribal flavour, there's a few other tricks in here to steer you to victory. You'll want as much mana as possible to funnel into all of those  spells and there's a couple of cards that generate infinite mana when paired with Zaxara's mana tap ability (likewise with Bloom Tender and/or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds if the conditions are met): Freed from the Real & Pemmin's Aura. If you're able to pull that combo off, here's a few of the non-hydra beat-down ways to win:

Infinite direct damage via Exsanguinate, Profane Command, Torment of Hailfire or Walking Ballista
Mill an opponent out with Blue Sun's Zenith, Braingeyser, Damnable Pact, Stroke of Genius or Villainous Wealth

On top of those instant kill combos, if you've got infinite mana to play with you'll have the means to throw down an  mana cost hydra with infinite power/toughness. Ideally you'll have Akroma's Memorial on the table for the haste/trample/evasion kill, but we've also got Icy Blast, Open Into Wonder & Rogue's Passage just in case you need to clear the path for those giant hasty hydras.

As a final alternative win condition we've got Simic Ascendancy which will stack up to 20 counters in no time. Doubling Season might have a little role to play in all of this too.

And there you have it. BUG is evil at the best of times, but I like the mix of big janky tribal tokens fun that Zaxara also lends itself to. Always welcome feedbac

First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone that has offered suggestions, ideas and critiques - it's really helped hone the deck and I've enjoyed the process. There's been a whole bunch of discussion here, nearly 50 comments in 1 week in fact! I'm going to reset the comments today to start anew, but you can always review the comments in the archive to see how the deck evolved over the course of week 1.

Second, the Ikoria release notes cleared up the token doubling debate. Here's the points on Zaxara for reference, straight from WotC:

The value of  in Zaxara's last ability is the value of  of the spell you cast.
If the spell you cast has  in its mana cost, the token gets only  counters, not twice .
The Hydra token enters the battlefield as a 0/0 creature. Any abilities that modify or trigger on this event apply. After the token is on the battlefield but before any player can take actions, +1/+1 counters are put onto the token.
If  is 0, the 0/0 Hydra token will die immediately after the ability's done resolving unless something else is raising its toughness.
If an effect, such as that of Doubling Season, causes Zaxara's ability to create multiple Hydra tokens, they each receive  +1/+1 counters.

There. Clarified. Cards like Parallel Lives & Primal Vigor suddenly appeal and I'll need to think on whether or not they need a home in here.
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