No Hooded Hydra?

Hmm, nope, dont have that one (yet). Might look for it though. But I'm thinking I would prefer another Mistcutter over the Hooded one.

Okay. What makes the Hooded Hydra so cool (if you were interested) is the fact that Anafenza keeps on making it bigger and bigger, and then, when it dies, you get an army of 1/1 snakes. it's the perfect target for counters.

Yes, you're right with that. Put it on the maybeboard and might have another look at buying it :) Thanks for the suggestion!

Hey man, I just saw your deck on the front page and had to have a look as I've been trying to build an abzan deck with hydras as well. I've got a few comments on your deck, and would love to hear what you think of mine as well.
First, Birds of Paradise is much better than Elvish Mystic on every level except cost, which as this isn't a budget deck shouldn't worry you too much at 3 a card. I've also worked some card draw into mine to try to speed things up as I had the same problem with pacing as you. Abzan Charm can do the job, but if their function in the deck is for card draw then you'd be better off with Read the Bones.I love the deathtouch thing with Hooded Hydra and Mer-Ek Nightblade, and I think you could use him in the main board. Obviously it is important that your hydra's are not getting blocked by pesky 1/1's. I use Tuskguard Captain to give them trample, but Abzan Falconer definitely works equally well.I don't know what your budget is, mine won't stretch to this, but you could create a much faster mana base with Llanowar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, Sunpetal Grove and maybe even Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.The final thing is boosting counter growth. I prefer Corpsejack Menace as he is much more powerful, but if you think Hardened Scales works better here due to much lower mana cost, then that's also fair.I really enjoyed reading this deck list and seeing how it compared to mine; maybe you could head over and see what you think of Menacing Hydra's (needs help!).

Thanks for your comment! It supposed to be a Standard legal deck, which is why both Birds of Paradise and Corpsejack arent in here. I'll keep them in mind though if I'd want to change to modern (which I do, just not right now as we dont have many Modern tournaments around).

Read the Bones is one I'll definitley try out and is on my wishlist. Abzan charm works for removal as well as the counters if I need them, which is why I havent replaced it yet.

My budget does stretch to painlands, and I even have them lying around, but the amount of lifegain in this deck is close to none, and the Battlepriests are usually a bit slow to be helpful, so I'l have a think about how to solve that. Especially against Temur life is important in the FNMs here.