Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt

Legendary Creature — Dinosaur Cat Nightmare

Mutate {2}{BR}{W}{W} (If you cast this for this spell's mutate cost, put this ontop or underneath target non-Human creature you own. They mutate into the creature that is on top and that creature has all the abilities of every card that is underneath it.)

Double strike

Whenever this creature mutates, CARDNAME deals 4 damage to target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls and you gain 4 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (8)

snopdax on snopdax

1 year ago

Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt

Vallaris on Commander Challenge! Build A Block …

2 years ago

If I were to build around a specific block, probably Scars of Mirrodin since Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon was my first ever Mythic. Kind of tempted to build that for real...

Second choice would be Innistrad block with Olivia Voldaren or Mikaeus, the Unhallowed . This set I was far more familiar with and saw much more of that than SOM block. It's hard to choose a favourite between those two blocks, but I think I have to give it to Innistrad.

1empyrean Ikoria is definitely a good set to build around! My Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt deck was almost entirely cards from Ikoria when I built the rough draft of it (plus some from Theros Beyond Death). After editing, the majority of the cards were still from sets that came out that year (although to be fair, some of those included cards from Mystery Booster and 2020 Commander). Still, over half the non-land cards are Ikoria, and if I had to make a version that was Ikoria only, it could definitely be done and not be much different.

ImaginitiveRascal on Jegantha, 5C Mutate

3 years ago

Why are Essence Symbiote and Pollywog Symbiote not here? They are basically staples of a mutate deck. I would also add Invisible Stalker, Glowstone Recluse, and Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt.

multimedia on

3 years ago

Hey, looks like you opened an Ikoria booster box and got some nice rares/mythics. I'm jealous of the alt art/foil Raugrin Triome :)

I'm confused about your deck. The entire deck is all Ikoria cards except 1x Temple of Enlightenment which is in Theros Return. The Temple tells me that you can play other Standard legal cards in the format you're playing. Can you play other Standard legal cards? There's other legal sets besides Ikoria in Standard.

Budget cards from Ikoria to consider adding:

• Pollywog Symbiote: reducing the mana cost of mutate and draw/discard a card is very good value with Vadrok for a two drop.
• Cathartic Reunion: discard cards for Vadrok and then draw cards.
• Sea-Dasher Octopus: flash makes this one of the better mutate creatures since can mutate at instant speed for two mana.
• Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt: can cast it for it's mutate cost without needing black mana and double strike is good with flying.
• Jubilant Skybonder: three drop 2/2 flying creature who makes it harder to kill Vadrok/mutated creature since it will have flying.

These are just cards from Ikoria. There's many budget cards that could be good with Vadrok in other Standard legal sets. Would you like me to suggest them?

Blackgate on Apex predators (Mardu mutate/menace aggro)

4 years ago

Hello Frosto, thanks! It’s really fun to play and I am still play testing it on Arena. There are a lot of fun combinations available to construct a pretty wild Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt.

Labyrinth Raptor is amazing in the deck too!

Agreed - Mutate is a very interesting ability and I didn’t know what to make of it either but I like it and this set overall looks very fun. I gravitated to Snapdax right away (my favorite Mutate card) and am looking to build another deck with some of the other mutate cards in the set.

BountyHunter200 on Jeskai Mutate Control

4 years ago

Play Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt. It provides EXTREMELY valuable lifegain against aggro, and can destroy most threats with no trouble, and also a fourth Teferi, Time Raveler.

triproberts12 on Suggestions for Rakdos?

4 years ago

Oh, in that case, if you aren't super set on Rakdos, but are just trying to play RBx, I'd suggest going for a Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt infect deck. Mutating up an Ichorclaw Myr, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon Flesh-Eater Imp, Ogre Menial, Phyrexian Crusader, etc. seems awesome with double strike. Or you can just hardcast Snappy and put a Grafted Exoskeleton or Phyresis on it.

abby315 on Snapdax Midrange

4 years ago

Ooh, I've been waiting for someone to brew with Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt! I love the idea. I do have a few suggestions to speed up the deck a bit:

1) Replace the 3x Savai Crystal with +1 Murderous Rider, +1 Bonecrusher Giant. Savai Crystal is very slow for standard, and you don't really need to go from 3 mana to 5 mana with this curve.

2) Cut Offspring's Revenge, which is way too expensive for what it does. Use those two slots and the extra slot from Savai Crystal to add 3x Spawn of Mayhem.

That will bring your curve down to be even more aggressive and give you more flexible creature/removal options.

I also think this deck has a bit of a crisis of identity. The mutate cards are actually pretty /slow/ since they don't add to the power/toughness on the board. I really don't think any Mutate cards here besides Snapdax and probably Necropanther have abilities that make Mutating worthwhile. And even though Snapdax has a great mutate ability, it's also just a really aggressive card. IMO you should be planning to play Snapdax as a 4-drop "6"/5 and then mutate with Necropanther late in the game for value.

This is just my opinion, so feel free to disagree. Vulpikeet is definitely interesting since it adds flying and a counter, but I'm still not sure the risk is worth it.

Here are the additional tweaks I would make, but again, grain of salt:

Cut Vulpikeet, Insatiable Hemophage, and Shepherd of the Flock (this doesn't work very well with Mutate cards since you have to bounce the whole stack). This frees up 10 slots.

Add:
- 4x Marauding Raptor, which doesn't kill any of your remaining creatures and makes them all really cheap, plus it gets buffed for pinging Snapdax and lets you play him on turn 3! He also cheapens Mutate costs.
- +1 Necropanther to get up to 4 copies.
- +2 Bedevil for planeswalker removal.
- +3 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger to give you an additional 2-drop play, stay aggressive, and give you a finisher.

Again, just my take on the deck (and it assumes a bit of a budget since Kroxa is expensive - you could definitely add other things instead, maybe Kunoros, Hound of Athreos to hose the other Titan).

If you do want to keep trying the Mutate theme, I will say, I think the interaction with Dreadhorde Arcanist is an interesting one people haven't explored. It's a useful way to permanently buff the Arcanist to start casting 2+ drop spells. You don't have a ton of these right now, but you could retool the deck to try it out.

I'd also add a few Noxious Grasp in your sideboard. You're really likely to run into Gideon, Tef3ri, or Nissa out there.

Let me know what you think!