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.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

lazarusdraigon on MONO GREEN JERK

1 week ago

i feel that Kalonian Hydra has a place here

Max_Hammer on

1 month ago

You also said you think you might need more ramp, right? Well, I counted eighteen ramp spells. Unless you play test it and you think it needs more, then it probably doesn't. Although, I think you need some more hydras.

Fortunately, I also found some hydras for you!

Stealthy hydras here Show

Oh, no, you found the secret hidden hydras!

• Kalonian Hydra is going to double the +1/+1 counters on all of the hydras you have.

• Primordial Hydra is something you already have on your maybe list, but this should definitely be on your list.

• Neverwinter Hydra is statistically going to be at least give you what you paid back into it, but hopefully it'll give you a lot more. For 4d6 (which is if you're only paying two and using Gargos to pay for the rest) will on average give you 11.5 counters, so it's not a bad deal.

• Steelbane Hydra is just plain good removal.

• Polukranos, World Eater is pretty solid removal and can be used to feed any enrage mechanics you have in your hydras.

• Protean Hydra and Hungering Hydra would both kick ass in a deck like this. Lifeblood Hydra is an honorable mention.

ndame24 on Counter Deck

3 months ago

Rebullet I'm more than willing to cut Scavenging Ooze and reduce the number of other cards to make room for more lands. That is why I added Sylvan Caryatid though so I could offset the number of lands I was running while also allowing for slight mana ramp.

My thoughts on non-creature cards is to be prepared for anything but mainly focus on removal since the main engine of the deck which is Kalonian Hydra and Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch is a bit slower. So keeping the opponent in check while I build up my strategy was my thinking there. So you suggest only running 4 copies of Assassin's Trophy for removal? Or run that and maybe a couple Thoughtseize as well to aid in removal?

For the other non-creature cards, my thinking on cards like Inspiring Call and Colossal Majesty is so that I can manipulate my own deck and draw the cards I want quicker. I was finding that I was ending up with no cards in my hand more often than I wanted. I do agree that adding more counters, since that is the focus of the deck, would be more beneficial than some of the others that I have.

As far as Domri, Chaos Bringer goes, I was primarily focused on using his first ability which gives slight mana ramp and allows a creature to either have haste or gain a +1/+1 counter. And then his second ability was to manipulate my deck so I could get the creatures I want sooner. After using him though, I did find that he was more beneficial in late game so it did slow the deck down a little. I'm thinking about cutting down Domri, Chaos Bringer and Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch down to 2 each.

I do like the idea of adding Managorger Hydra though. That is the first time I have ever seen that card.

I like some of the additions you made to the deck you created as well. Going to consider mixing in some with what I currently have.

Rebullet on Counter Deck

3 months ago

yea Fabled Passage is fantastic. now looking at your lands it is much better, you are hard pressed to have a dead land in the beginning as long as you draw more than 1 in the opening hand. though you are running 5 cost creatures and you average mana cost is relatively high i would not go below 23 lands as a rule unless my avg mana cost was below 2.0. your avg mana cost is currently 2.64. there are some things that you can finagle to make lower lands work like cost reducers and mana ramp, but your deck really needs lands and neither of those options fix the issue so i would say cut some things.

second thing. other than lands your non creature cards are unfocused and detrimental. you have too many situational cards that can be dead cards in many matchups. when putting in cards to deal with matchups you want to put things that deal with many things effectively in the mainboard and efficient things that deal with specific decks in the sideboard. you also want to avoid putting too much instant interaction into a creature based deck. doing so can split your focus, sometimes you will have too many instants and no creatures making it so you can only play defensive. you should focus your mainboard to your strategy only and have only a few cards to deal with threats. 4 assassins trophies is more than enough. usually in games getting a single permanent removed is the difference between a win and a loss. you want to focus on putting as many threats onto the board as possible instead of worrying what your opponent has out. in this sense Cremate, Thoughtseize, Gaea's Blessing are purely detrimental to you in the mainboard. cards like Oblivion's Hunger and Inspiring Call do nothing to advance your board state and rely on you having a sufficient board state to function correctly. if you have no creatures out then they are dead cards. Abrupt Decay is really good but you want to cut down on things that do not progress your own board state, same thing with Riveteers Charm. Assassin's Trophy is the most efficient and versatile removal you have access to so you should focus that card and leave the others out.

now on to domri. you only ever want up to 2 legendary anything unless they are your main strategy for the deck or if they have value from being replaced. domri is neither. he is there for utility. this logic also applies for large costed creatures. if you have big mana cost things then you will likely draw more if you have more, making them dead draws until you have the ability to cast them. Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch and Kalonian Hydra are much to costly for an aggro deck to have 4 of them. you should cut them down to 1 or 2 so that your early game doesnt suffer.

now that i look at this closer you have nothing that "produces counters" for your creatures. all your creatures produce a set and then continue, the only one who really produces counters is Kalonian Hydra and that is very inefficent. your board without a kalonian hydra cannot grow beyond their own scope. you should look into putting in some counter producers like Hangarback Walker, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, The Ozolith (kinda counts), Dreadhorde Butcher etc. things that have a way to continuously get counters without limiting it like with evolve.

420MensRightsActivist on Counter Deck

3 months ago

ndame24 legacy is going to be even more brutal than modern. pioneer would be better. Kalonian Hydra is a bit too slow for modern. giving up 2 life for a land isn't much.

ndame24 on Counter Deck

3 months ago

Rebullet and 420MensRightsActivist do you feel this deck would player better in legacy instead of modern? Does Kalonian Hydra play better in legacy than modern?

ndame24 on Counter Deck

3 months ago

Rebullet and 420MensRightsActivist thank you both for the help. I’ll take a look at some cards that better align with counters. Not sure I want to change it to a white deck cause I’m really attached to Kalonian Hydra’s ability to double counters. I’ve also had overgrown tomb in the deck originally but didn’t like the idea of giving up 2 life to have it enter untapped.

Do you think Domri Rade is worth keeping in the deck? His 7 loyalty ability is incredible and I like his first ability to give some card advantage.

ndame24 on Counter Deck

3 months ago

Rebullet I have been trying to find something like cockatrice so thank you for that. I get what you’re saying about control decks. Makes complete sense. I just don’t want to stray too far from the original plan of the deck by building up massive creatures with +1/+1 counters using Kalonian Hydra and just being too powerful. Then again, if Kalonian Hydra and Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch enter early, those two cards alone would allow for massive damage early on.

420MensRightsActivist same thing I said above. I completely get what you’re saying and will definitely consider making those changes. I just don’t want to get too far away from the main focus of the deck which is to have massive creatures on the board using Kalonian Hydra’s ability. So I would be good with removing cards like Gore-House Chainwalker and Ghor-Clan Rampager but I don’t think removing Experiment One or Rakdos Cackler is a good idea cause it takes away from the main idea of the deck. But, if removing those cards makes the deck competitive in tournaments/free-to-play nights at my local store then I am strongly considering them. What cards would you suggest removing and replacing? Like what would you do to replace the lands, Corpsejack Menace and Champion of Lambholt?