Overview

My latest baby, inspired by a BG Hydras deck I built years ago that was pretty bad. Adding together my years of deckbuilding experience, plus moving from 60 card to 100 card, plus having a stable income now, results in a much more functional and powerful deck.

Strategy is relatively simple. Ramp ramp ramp, cast Zaxara, cast a bunch of X cost spells, run everyone over with hydra tokens. Once in a blue moon I will get to cast a Torment of Hailfire for a big X value and win on the spot, but the value engine with the hydras is the most common win con. Probably gonna be vulnerable to removal and control, but that's life. Can't make every deck like Feather with recurring protection spells.

Specifics

The deck is built around the basic Hydras theme, but leans more towards X-cost spells in general than being specifically Hydra tribal. My goal is to have a good balance of threats and responses, and to get extra value out of my responses when they are X cost by creating threats with my responses. Card draw is also critical in the deck, and I probably need to add more of it with stuff like Mind Spring and/or Pull from Tomorrow in the future.

Threats

The big threats in this deck are mostly hydras. Goldvein Hydra, Hydroid Krasis, Voracious Hydra, Stonecoil Serpent, The Goose Mother, Primordial Hydra, these are the big boys who will slap opponents in the face (alongside the tokens that are generated when I cast them with Zaxara out). Kalonian Hydra and to a lesser extent Managorger Hydra are both big removal magnets for this deck, because they will quickly get out of hand if opponents leave them alone for too long. Kalonian Hydra in particular is also my main target for the Green Sun's Zenith and Finale of Devastation type effects, if I'm tutoring a creature it will be Kalonian Hydra 9/10 times. Managorger Hydra isn't precisely on theme, but I like to keep it in the deck as a card that can be a threat all by itself and demand responses in games where I'm having trouble keeping Zaxara alive. I also have Gargos kicking around, though he may be a cut in the future for more X cost gas.

For non-Hydra threats, spells like Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire are my main non-creature threats. They can be great late game finishers in games that have stagnated with big boards and lots of mana. Villainous Wealth is also a good late game stalemate breaker, allowing me to just steal a bunch of someone else's spells. I also loaded up on counter doublers like Branching Evolution and Doubling Season that don't threaten on their own, but will make all my other threats an even bigger problem.

Responses

This is where I think the true strength of the deck lies. There are a multitude of responses in here for all different types of strategies, allowing Zaxara to stay in the game even against odd or obtuse strategies. The classic is the counterspells, stuff like Power Sink and Repulsive Mutation allowing for some mild control that can also generate bodies for me when I have Zaxara out. I have a few off-theme classic BG target permanent removal cards like Abrupt Decay and Beast Within to stay adaptable, because it's never fun to get stuck in a game where your opponent is focusing on enchantments and all you have is creature removal. I have a few X cost targeted removal spells as well, namely Erebos's Intervention, Profane Command, and Voracious Hydra. I like having all these be modal spells that provide other utilities as well in case I don't strictly need the targeted removal aspect.

My favorite responses are my blue X cost one sided board wipe type cards. Lost in the Maze, Curse of the Swine, and March of Swirling Mist all allow me to at least temporarily delete one or more opponent's boards when things are getting sketchy or I need to go for the win. Lost in the Maze is my favorite out of these because it also doubles as protection for Zaxara and my other creatures when I am tapping out for mana or to attack.

As for creature protection, I have a good few spells included in here just to protect Zaxara and my other hydras when the removal starts to come in from my opponents. Tyvar's Stand and Silkguard are both X cost spells that I will often cast for X=0 just to get the protection effects. Revitalizing Repast   is also included for the indestructible effect.

Card Advantage

This is the area of the deck I think could use the most improvement. I have some solid card draw in here, but I could definitely have more.

Portent of Calamity is my favorite draw spell, though it isn't a straightforward "draw cards" spell. I have aimed to keep the deck fairly balanced with different card types so that I can reliably expect to get the free cast trigger off Portent, so it can potentially do 3 things at once, drawing 3-4 cards to my hand, getting a spell cast for free, and creating the big X/X body from Zaxara. I also have Finale of Revelation as a regular straight up X cost draw spell with some extra upside when I cast it super late game. Thassa's Intervention can provide some card draw if needed, with the additional mode as a counterspell to keep the card useful in my hand.

Hydroid Krasis, The Goose Mother, Ingenious Prodigy, and Garruk's Uprising are the other card draw engines in this deck. Krasis is the only one here that draws a bunch of cards at the same time, but it's also the only one that can't keep drawing me extra cards across multiple turns.