Daghatar the Hydra King

Commander / EDH* BGW (Abzan, Junk) Casual Counters Theme/Gimmick

Nebman227

Add Counters (16)

• 1x Abzan Battle Priest
• 1x Abzan Charm
• 1x Abzan Falconer
• 1x Corpsejack Menace
• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Enduring Scalelord
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Hooded Hydra
• 1x Hydra Broodmaster
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Longshot Squad
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Mikaeus, the Lunarch
• 1x Primordial Hydra
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Tuskguard Captain

Draw/Filter/Tutor (12)

• 1x Abzan Charm
• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Drumhunter
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Soul's Majesty
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Triumph of Ferocity

Mana (46)

• 1x Blossoming Sands
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drumhunter
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 8x Forest
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Gyre Sage
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 8x Plains
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 9x Swamp
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Grove
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wood Elves

Ramp (12)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Drumhunter
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Gyre Sage
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Wood Elves

Recursion (4)

• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Necromantic Summons
• 1x Reviving Melody
• 1x Stitch Together

Removal/Control (11)

• 1x Abzan Charm
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Ashes to Ashes
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Prison Term
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Unmake
• 1x Utter End

Utility/Value (13)

• 1x Abzan Battle Priest
• 1x Abzan Falconer
• 1x Crowned Ceratok
• 1x Familiar Ground
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Longshot Squad
• 1x Mistcutter Hydra
• 1x Mutant's Prey
• 1x Salt Road Quartermasters
• 1x Spike Cannibal
• 1x Spike Weaver
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Vastwood Hydra

Commander (1)

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Sideboard

Other (15)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Cytoplast Root-Kin
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Elemental Bond
• 1x Endless One
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Familiar Ground
• 1x Languish
• 1x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Overwhelming Forces
• 1x Plague Wind
• 1x Surestrike Trident
• 1x Wrath of God

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Overview

This is a deck that I built for my casual play group. It focuses on getting a couple of +1/+1 counters into play and multiplying them to get huge creatures.

Here's a picture of a boardstate I achieved when playtesting (an 80/80 commander isn't overkill, is it?):

Reading the List

Ramp: These are cards to get you a mana advantage and enable casting your big cost creatures for more sooner. You want a couple of these in your opening hand.

Mana: These are any card in the deck that gives you mana. Some cards from ramp overlap into here.

Add Counters: Any card that helps to get counters onto the board go here. In this deck, anything that adds counters usually does more than in a normal deck, raising the usefulness of the cards.

Removal/Control: Keeping your opponents in check is important to winning any game. This deck is not able to stop instants and sorcories, but should be able to control the board through targeted removal.

Utility/Value: These are cards that do not fit into the other categories, but have value when in this deck.

Recursion: returning a 0/0 creature your graveyard to the battlefield isn't very useful, so I stuck to recursion that put the creatures into my hand, or in Necromantic Summons ' case, made it enter not as a 0/0. Recursion is not essential to the deck, but as creatures are essential to the deck and creatures are naturally vulnerable, it is a very good thing to be able to always have access to your creatures.

Draw/Filter/Tutor: In any game of magic, keeping a card advantage is almost essential to winning. Abzan does not have much card draw, so this is a difficult area. I took advantage of the fact that this deck has mostly big creatures and added some conditional draw effects that require big guys. Of course, the obvious tutors are in there as well as Phyrexian Arena, which is, in my opinion, the best all around draw engine in magic.

Sideboard: These are cards that work in the deck, but are not in it right now.

Game Plan

The game plan, in most cases, is to ramp and drop Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, or Corpsejack Menace as soon as you can. After that, any creature in the deck is a threat that shouldn't be ignored. You then want to set up and use as big a bomb as you can. Abzan Falconer and Tuskguard Captain are both valuable in making sure that your damage goes through.

Tutoring

What to tutor for in this deck is dependant on what is happening in the game. If you don't have a counter doubling effect, you always want to tutor for Doubling Season. If you don't have a hydra out yet, the best one to go for is usually Kalonian Hydra or Primordial Hydra, depending on your situation and taste. If you already have both a hydra and a counter doubler out, you should be winning the game soon, in which case you want Abzan Falconer and/or Tuskguard Captain to help ensure hits or Inspiring Call to protect from a potential board wipe. If you really want to have fun, you can tutor for Spike Cannibal and make a huge creature. Depending on your situation, what you tutor for could be different, but these guidelines should work in most cases.

Here's a Challenge

Win the game by buffing up your Birds of Paradise. If you do this, put a testimonial in the comments for ultimate bragging rights.

Winners of Bragging Rights

None so far, it seems the world is full of cowards

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Exclude colors	UR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 2 Mythic Rares 21 - 7 Rares 28 - 5 Uncommons 16 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Hydra X/X G, Morph 2/2 C, Plant 0/1 G, Snake 1/1 G
Folders	Current EDH Decks, Others, Bits and Pieces (things to consider)