We’re back with another small end step for man (and one giant leap for…. You know the rest). And while we’re here at Thunder Junction, having just met Lilah, the Undefeated Slickshot, I find it prudent over yonder to explore the wilderness for a Goldvein Hydra. Right?
Hydras, you say? No, not the Greek kind. This ain’t some Mount Olympus stuff going on, so you can tell Zeus to get.
Thing is you may well know that while Magic: the Gathering’s all about the beasts, the wild, wild west isn’t wild without them, too. We have more than just horses and armadillos here. In fact, the horses (if you want to call them that) can be pretty weird, too.
How About that Goldvein Hydra?
For those who love the green stompy of MTG, this one’s a doozy. Look at the size of that thing next to a dingy little wagon. But a single green mana and X for a creature might not seem like a lot until you realize that the X gets to be +1/+1 counters. As many as you have mana to spend. And guess what: we’re in green! There’s plenty of mana to spend in green.
Right off the bat, this is the beast worth sticking not only in a mono-green stompy deck but in a Gruul deck if you were so inclined. We’ll get to that. But first, let’s put insult to injury on this sick creature –
It also has haste, vigilance, and trample. Oh…. But it doesn’t end there.
What happens if it dies? You get a number of tapped treasure tokens equal to its power. At its base power level, that’s minus one mana you’d have to spend casting it if it dies! And to make things worse, green isn’t without capabilities for graveyard recursion. So watch your opponent squirm as you keep bringing this hydra back onto the battlefield for more grossness.
That’s not all the Goldvein Hydra can work well with, however….
How’s About a Little Shivan Devastator?
A card that oddly looks similar to the Goldvein Hydra is this nasty beast from way back in Dominaria United. Fun fact: it’s also a hydra. A dragon version, of course. What else do you expect from WotC? They love mixing their creature types.
Gruul, as you can see what this would be, sticks red into the mix and pumps up the 1-drops with pizzazz as you might even want to mix in some counter doublers like the Kami of Whispered Hopes, and the Ozolith, the Shattered Spire.
Just one Kami and an Ozolith turns your Devastator or Goldvein Hydra into a 5/5 beast on freakin’ turn three. And remember: these monsters have haste. So they come in swingin’.
That’s not all these varmints can muster, though….
Add Polukranos Reborn Into the Mix, and You Have Quite the Nasty Hydra Tribal Deck
Pretty disgusting. This March of the Machine madness of a card already boasts wicked hot stats at three green mana for a 4/5 with reach. But its transform cost for phyrexian or white mana gets to a boiling point fast.
For starters, Polukranos, Engine of Ruin, is a freakish 6/6 with reach and lifelink. But to make things worse, whenever the monstrous many-headed snake dies – or any other nontoken hydra dies (that’s going to be important to remember) – you get to create two 3/3 Selesneya hydra tokens, one with reach and the other with lifelink.
Picture your opponent tortured into killing your Goldvein Hydra only to have to deal with not only you getting a boatload of treasures but two hydras to deal with. It’s not fun.
You can even make it worse for your opponent with a Mondrak on the battlefield. Doubling your treasures and hydra tokens, please? Heck, yeah.
Add a Little Twist to This Deck With a Rather Unrated Card: Creepy Puppeteer
One of the things I loved about Innistrad: Crimson Vow was the aggro kick it was in. So, a lot of cards fit right into this. Creepy Puppeteer is no exception as a 4/3 hasty human rogue with an interesting ability –
When it attacks, if just one other creature attacks with it, that other creature gets base power/toughness 4/3 with it. Now do the math….
A Goldvein Hydra has base power 0/0. So imagine that 5/5 hydra you just dropped on the field, swinging in with a puppeteer for nine damage. On turn four. Yeah.
Something you could also do with your devastators. Just for fun.
Whether You’re a Mono-Green, Gruul, or Naya Build, the Goldvein Hydra Terrifies
And make no mistake – the +1/+1 counter decks already run rampant to a degree. So this is just gravy. Snakes are in. Start hissin’.
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