Kalonian Hydra

Creature — Hydra

Trample

Kalonian Hydra enters the battlefield with four +1/+1 counters on it.

Whenever Kalonian Hydra attacks, double the number of +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.

Discussion (51)

DeinoStinkus on Zaxara, the Finite

3 weeks ago

Love Zaxara, but also am a sucker for combos. But did you consider Kalonian Hydra over Journey to Eternity  ^Flip? Journey seems kind of weak considering it can't reanimate X-costers. Also, Diabolic Revelation is a pretty awesome tutor.

cadstar369 on Pir//Toothy

1 month ago

Here's some cards you may want to add to the mana base: Temple of the False God 'cause extra mana. Forge of Heroes + Opal Palace for the easy +1/+1 counter on Pir/Toothy. Novijen, Heart of Progress to give any creatures a +1/+1 counter on entry. Bonders' Enclave + Karn's Bastion for card draw & proliferate on demand. Nesting Grounds to shift any of your counters around. Castle Garenbrig + Castle Vantress for extra mana to activate abilities and some scry on demand. Mosswort Bridge's Hideaway is very easily fulfilled by Toothy. Blast Zone should help if you find a horde of tokens blocking the way. Misty Rainforest if you want a fetch land. Fabled Passage + Terramorphic Expanse to increase the basic fetching.

Additionally, since it seems you are mainly aiming to put lots of counters everywhere, here's some cards that may be useful towards that end (in no particular order): Crystalline Giant + Nesting Grounds + Vivien, Monsters' Advocate lets you start moving various keyword counters around your creatures. Hornbash Mentor + Wingspan Mentor give other creatures a flying or trample counter respectively, then start handing out +1/+1 counters to any creatures with those keywords. Avian Oddity + Titanoth Rex give the same keyword counters as the above pair when cycled. Skatewing Spy + Trollbred Guardian give everyone that has +1/+1 counters flying and trample respectively. Additionally, Longshot Squad gives reach to creatures with +1/+1 counters, Herald of Secret Streams gives unblockable, and Crowned Ceratok + Pridemalkin + Tuskguard Captain give trample as well. Ominous Seas pumps out tokens twice as fast with Pir around. Primal Empathy either gives you card draw or an extra +1/+1 counter. Contagion Clasp + Contagion Engine for additional proliferate on demand. Sword of Truth and Justice also works when you really start pounding people. Primal Vigor is a second Doubling Season, but beware that it affects all players. Song of Freyalise is a time bomb finisher that also activates any of your passive buffs for creatures that have +1/+1 counters. Branching Evolution doubles any +1/+1 counters you generate. Inspiring Call makes all your creatures with +1/+1 counters indestructible, as well as drawing you a card for each one. Give / Take lets you draw at least three cards (four with Pir on board) if you need to dig for something quickly. Vivien of the Arkbow + Vivien, Arkbow Ranger + Vivien, Nature's Avenger are all great support Planeswalkers. The two arkbow Viviens have removal with their minus ability (note that Arkbow Ranger can hit planeswalkers!), and the avenger grabs the top creature in your deck with her minus. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar isn't as great at putting counters on your creatures as the Viviens, but the tokens should prove useful blockers, and her minus puts counters on everyone instead of just one creature. Additionally, since you'll probably be drawing lots of cards, Jace, Arcane Strategist will also be handing out counters with his passive. Kalonian Hydra doubles everyone's +1/+1 counters every time it attacks. Also, Rite of Passage is great if you find your creatures constantly taking nonlethal damage, as it gives them an extra counter for surviving.

Hope this helps finish your deck! :)

NinjaKitty778 on Ruric Thar's Guide to Punching Mages in the Face!

2 months ago

king-saproling Knowledge Pool does disrupt our opponents similar to Possibility Storm so it is worth considering for a Ruric Thar deck; especially if you decide to include more artifacts in the deck for more interesting interactions. It's high CMC can be a deterrent for some though. And Helm of the Host is good in basically any EDH deck :P my main reason for not including it is because it doesn't net me enough value fast enough. I have to spend 4 mana to play it and then 5 mana to equip it which is most likely going to take up the majority of two turns at best when I could be playing something that interacts with the field; which is almost always the better option. I will say though that a Voltron Ruric Thar deck would be interesting; utilizing equipment and enchantments to beef up Ruric Thar is a good idea in theory so finding ways to cheat in equipment or reduce their equip costs would definitely warrant the Helm as an auto-include; it's just not the focus of this deck.

Necron19 by all means, I don't mind someone using this deck for ideas or inspiration. I have no problem with Borborygmos or Kalonian Hydra in general but this deck doesn't really utilize +1/+1 counters save for a few exceptions. Kalonian Hydra wouldn't be maximized to it's fullest potential unless I had more things giving my dudes +1/+1 counters. Even if I did include Borborygmos that would still only give me 3 card in the deck that give my creatures +1/+1 counters; so with only a 3% chance there's no guarantee that those cards would end up on the field at the same time as Kalonian Hydra. If the deck geared more towards utilizing +1/+1 counters then yes by all means include them. But as the deck stands now I can't justify adding them. There are other ways of enabling aggro in the deck, haste being the most important mechanic.

dadragonman on "X" Marks the Spot

3 months ago

So, I have been looking at your deck some more, (love it so much, by the way!) Have you considered putting in Kalonian Hydra? It seems like a huge threat for the late game, that would be nice to add, because it has some huge potential to buff your other hydras. On the side of cards that I think you could take out, I think that Altered Ego is not doing you much good. I don't know what you were using it to copy, but if you copy a hydra, it doesn't get the counters, and so it's pretty much just paying an extra 2 mana for nothing. The fact that it can't be countered is great, but if people are running a counter deck, by the late game you just have so many threats that it won't matter if one gets countered. Also consider adding Mishra's Bauble for cheap card draw and knowledge. This is just food for thought, love the deck definitely a +1!

RiotRunner789 on X = Destruction

3 months ago

So, if you are looking purely for win-cons,

Vigor is amazing but Asceticism will protect your creatures better and be harder to remove.

Stroke of Genius can kill a target player with infinite mana or you could target yourself for something like 50 and grab your win-con + counterspell. You could also throw in a Thassa's Oracle and/or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries to just win on spot. I also like Demonic Consultation since it can also win you the game with above cards if you name Mountain or it can be an emergency tutor.

You may want to add a few counterspells to specifically protect the turn you win. The best would be cheap ones such as Swan Song, Dispel, and Ertai's Meddling. Ertai's meddling stops even un-counterable spells and only needs 2 mana spent if you are going to win that turn. There are also the x-counterspells but they are more mana intensive which you may not have yet if you are casting your infinite mana pieces (though they are flavorful and on theme).

Some tutors in general specifically to grab your infinite mana pieces or your win-con. Preferably Vampiric Tutor or Demonic Tutor.

Your very creature heavy (personal bias) with several not the best option. You'd want Kalonian Hydra with the number of creatures you have but not Capricopian. Basically, I would try to remove any hydra that doesn't have trample, built in removal or card advantage. This should work out in your favor since you'll be making a generic hydra practically every spell you cast. Also, a lot of your ceatures are specifically there to boost the number of +1/+1 counters and none of them are bad but this strategy is going for a combat/aggro win. It is easier to win on the spot with an instant or something like Torment of Hailfire (which yes you have)) but you don't currently support this as much as your creature based win-con. If you just want to win with giant hydras, try Concordant Crossroads and Crashing Drawbridge to give your (hopefully infinitely large trample-ly) hydras haste to win the turn they come down.

For speed, you'll want faster ramp. Any of the 1-drop mana dorks can help along with cards like Harrow, Nature's Lore, Burgeoning, Exploration and Wild Growth. The 3 and less ramp options (especially 2 and less) will help get your commander out turn 3/4 and possibly at the same time with your infinite pieces while your opponents are tapped out. Though, with cards that like Burgeoning you may want to up your land count to at least 36 to better take use of it if you use it.

So all of these suggestions are assuming you simply want to win fast. The deck looks good right now but can be sped up fairly easily from my point of view.

king-saproling on Voltron whale wolf thing

3 months ago

Looks good! You might like these: Cauldron of Souls, Sporeback Troll, Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, Death's Presence, Sigil of Sleep, Mark of Sakiko, Birds of Paradise (can get Ukkima out turn 2!), Elves of Deep Shadow, Kalonian Hydra, Berserk (can kill two players at once if Ukkima has 20 power), Sanguine Bond, Aetherflux Reservoir, Bear Umbra, Life's Legacy, Fruit of the First Tree, Unspeakable Symbol

Lordeh on Hail Hydra

3 months ago

Definitely have a look at Kalonian Hydra

magehuntz on The Exemplary Zaxara: A Budget Hydra Primer

3 months ago

Decidares it's just a good card to have in play overall. If you can fetch a corpsejack menace or have any other card that doubles the counters on your creatures like Kalonian Hydra, it can grow very fast. Unfortunately, since the time I reccommended it here, I've found out that the Zaxara tokens doesn't trigger won't trigger Gyre Sage's evolution. It's still a great resource.

Keep in mind my deck also runs Altered Ego and Vorel of the Hull Clade, which makes Gyre Sage a little more synergetic. Maybe in your deck a regular mana dork would be better, who knows. It's worthy to test it, though!