Hydra's Menace

Modern GregGreg

SCORE: 113 | 110 COMMENTS | 30103 VIEWS | IN 100 FOLDERS


Need for speed (testing) —Jan. 16, 2017

-3 Hall of the Bandit Lord

-3 Asceticism

+3 Lightning Greaves

+3 Rogue's Passage

kamarupa says... #1

April 5, 2016 7:47 a.m.

GregGreg says... #2

kamarupa thank you for your suggestion!

April 6, 2016 7:50 a.m.

chaoswalker says... #3

I feel link instead of trying so hard to ramp these hydras into play you should use some cheaper +1/+1 friendly creatures to hold out the early game. I'm not saying don't ramp, but you could be doing it more efficiently.

Avatar of the Resolute and Experiment One are perfect examples of low cost creatures who can get the ball rolling without setting you back much if you they get lightning bolted. Avatar especially is helpful, as it comes in even stronger in the late game. With these guys you wouldn't need the random Khalni garden either. Or if you want to stick with the stall game, pick up some sticky creatures like Kitchen Finks to stall out hard.

Also, have you considered: Ordeal of Nylea? Two land for two mana, often the same turn you play it with this deck.

Doubling season seems like silly overkill you'll never get to play. At least corpsejack is cheaper and can block. Doubling season does nothing by itself.

April 18, 2016 4:48 p.m.

GregGreg says... #4

Hi chaoswalker, Avatar of the Resolute is a good card, i will add 2 of them to the side, Ordeal of Nylea is good, but for sac it in the same turn i should have to attack with at least a Corpsejack Menace in play (4 mana) and the only card that might have priority the next turn (5 mana) over an Hydra is Asceticism. Ordeal of Nylea imho is very good in a evolve/Hardened Scales deck

April 19, 2016 4:56 a.m.

GregGreg says... #5

chaoswalker, This is a "protect the queen" deck, where an hydra can and should finish the game in 1 or maximum 2 attacks.

April 19, 2016 5:06 a.m.

Juha says... #6

This deck is sweet! I like how direct it is. My hydra deck has blue mana so it's more tricky. Check it out for ideas! Party Size.

What could give this deck trouble are mass removals. Against them you could use: Withstand Death or Predator Ooze.

I'm not sure if you need 3x Bioshift. You could instead have Beast Within which would take care almost any problem, and the token would be small compared to your hydras.

You might also like Feed the Clan for lifegain.

April 19, 2016 5:58 a.m.

GregGreg says... #8

Juha thank you for your suggestion, for lifegain i like to use Predator's Rapport it's a 3 mana instant instead of 2, but the potential is huge, or Essence Harvest which can oneshot my opponents. Withstand Death is a good card. With Bioshift i can boost an unblocked creature, like turning one of the early game 1/1 mana dork into a huge creature. Or turning a Primordial Hydra without trample (which could be blocked with a small creature) into a 10/10 trampler, and remember that whenever i move counters whit a Corpsejack Menace in play i also double the number of them.

April 19, 2016 10:42 a.m.

Juha says... #9

Yeah. Predator's Rapport has great potential, but sometimes that one mana is the difference between winning and loosing.

Essence Harvest is just pure gold in this deck!

My hydra deck also used to have Birds of Paradise and Bioshift. I also tried Hunger of the Howlpack with some success. All this to make the mana dorks into potential threats and / or not so weak draws late-game. But I never could make it work as well as you have here. However a card like Bioshift, as sweet as it might sometimes be, has little room in a competitive deck because of it's dependant character.

April 19, 2016 12:15 p.m.

chaoswalker says... #10

I agree on Predator's Rapport. If you need a sudden jolt of life, chances are it's because you were facing an aggro deck that blasted down your ramp weenies and then you are stuck with wanting both to summon a hydra AND gain life, which you won't have the mana to do so early on.

April 19, 2016 12:32 p.m.

GregGreg says... #12

Fine, i give up, no more +32 life :( , i will replace Predator's Rapport with Feed the Clan

April 19, 2016 1:15 p.m.

chaoswalker says... #13

Sheltering Word is an option. A little between vines of vastwood and Predator's rapport. Personally though, I think Vines is much better. Like waaaaaaaaay better.

April 19, 2016 5:27 p.m.

chaoswalker says... #14

So I have a folder of strong decks that I used for playtesting sometimes, and yours is one of them for being able to make fatter creatures than my own decks. (which is why I keep having ideas for it, lol) One thing I noticed is that I never have a good occasion to play Asceticism. As a 5 drop, I always want to put down a hyrda instead. At the very least I think it could be cut down to 1 or 2 copies to make room for more ramp, small creatures, life gain, or protection.

The early game is largely a stall fest, so having detering blockers and life gain is probably what would benefit you most. I think trying out these cards would smooth out turns 1-4 a lot more:

Kitchen Finks: Read the effect as: Blocks two creatures and you gain 4 life.

Courser of Kruphix: Sustain and ramp in one card that synergizes with other ramp.

Deadly Recluse: One of the most anti interaction early cards in green. It would be nice if it was a 1/1 G drop, but it gets the job done.

Wasteland Viper: Again, death touch is a strong deterent for attacks early game, but this one lets you use birds of paradise as a secret murder weapon.

April 22, 2016 12:58 p.m.

GregGreg says... #15

Thank you very much chaoswalker for your suggestion, i was thinking about cutting Asceticism down to 3, Hexproof is very good to have, but regeneration imho is even more useful, my friend has got a deck based on deathtouch, and being abile to attack with a Kalonian Hydra and regenerate her without loosing counters is really useful.

My friend's deck has 4 wasteland viper and 4 deadly recluse, so i know them very well.

I was thinking about cutting down Asceticism to 3, and Bioshift to 2, and maybe adding Withstand Death (against board wipes) and maybe another Vines of Vastwood. Btw this deck in origin was based on this combo Hydra=huge source of counters + Bioshift + Sage of Hours, maybe one day.... Nothing beats playing 15 turns in a row...

April 22, 2016 6:23 p.m.

chaoswalker says... #16

Path to Exile hits this deck hard.

April 28, 2016 12:16 p.m.

GregGreg says... #17

Hi chaoswalker, my Hydras are protected by hexproof thanks to Asceticism and Vines of Vastwood, so Path to Exile is not a big problem.

April 29, 2016 5:29 a.m.

Maybe add Treasure Cruise :3

May 8, 2016 11:29 a.m.

GregGreg says... #19

WoestijnKonijn thank you for your suggestion!

May 13, 2016 2:58 p.m.

Kegrat says... #20

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx could be a good 1 of in the land base

May 23, 2016 6:06 a.m.

GregGreg says... #21

Kegrat How many of them ??? And thanks to your suggestion

May 24, 2016 2:26 a.m.

chaoswalker says... #22

Probably one. It's really nice to draw, but it really sucks to draw two since it's legendary and unlike a creature you probably won't be replacing the first due to death in combat.

May 24, 2016 2:27 a.m.

Kegrat says... #23

I'd only run 1 (maybe 2, but Im hesitant) since you dont have a way of discarding any extras. Its not necessary to win but in the games where you do draw it it'll rapidly accelerate you.

May 24, 2016 1:10 p.m.

GregGreg says... #24

Thank you guys, i really apreciate your help.

May 24, 2016 2:05 p.m.

i would recommend Hardened Scales in stead of Doubling Season, its cheaper and gives more +1/+1s and i didnt see a whole lot of tokens in your deck

June 14, 2016 1:03 p.m.