Gargos's Reckoning - Green Hydra Commander

Commander / EDH Counters Fight Hydra Mono-Green

spawnoftyphon

Creature (28)

• 1x Apex Devastator
• 1x Benevolent Hydra
• 1x Capricopian
• 1x Goldvein Hydra
• 1x Hooded Hydra
• 1x Hungering Hydra
• 1x Hydra Broodmaster
• 1x Hydra Omnivore
• 1x Ironscale Hydra
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Keeper of Progenitus
• 1x Lifeblood Hydra
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Mistcutter Hydra
• 1x Mossborn Hydra
• 1x Nessian Wilds Ravager
• 1x Neverwinter Hydra
• 1x Oran-Rief Hydra
• 1x Polukranos, World Eater
• 1x Primordial Hydra
• 1x Protean Hydra
• 1x Rampant Rejuvenator
• 1x Scourge of Skola Vale
• 1x Steelbane Hydra
• 1x Ulvenwald Hydra
• 1x Vastwood Hydra
• 1x Voracious Hydra
• 1x Whiptongue Hydra

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Blanchwood Armor
• 1x Boar Umbra
• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Gaea's Embrace
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Hydra's Growth
• 1x Snake Umbra
• 1x Spider Umbra
• 1x Unnatural Growth

Artifact (7)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
• 1x Rhonas's Monument
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Urza's Incubator

Land (36)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 33x Forest
• 1x Lair of the Hydra
• 1x Path of Ancestry

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Commander (1)

Instant (10)

• 1x Band Together
• 1x Bite Down
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Invigorating Surge
• 1x Overprotect
• 1x Setessan Tactics
• 1x Signature Slam

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Monstrous Onslaught
• 1x Outmuscle
• 1x Primal Might

Battle (1)

• 1x Invasion of Shandalar  ^Flip

---

Sideboard

Instant (17)

• 1x Barrier Breach
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Evolution Charm
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Might of Oaks
• 1x Moment's Peace *list*
• 1x Relic Crush
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 2x Smuggler's Surprise
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Stonewood Invocation
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 1x Verdant Rebirth
• 1x Wilt
• 1x Withstand Death

Creature (13)

• 1x Briar Hydra
• 1x Brooding Saurian
• 1x Carven Caryatid
• 1x Domesticated Hydra
• 1x Feral Hydra
• 1x Heroes' Bane
• 1x Honored Hydra
• 1x Khalni Hydra
• 1x Llanowar Tribe
• 1x Polukranos Reborn  ^Flip
• 1x Sprouting Phytohydra
• 1x Stumpsquall Hydra
• 1x Wall of Blossoms

Artifact (2)

• 1x Predator, Flagship
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Curse of Predation
• 1x Elemental Bond
• 1x Familiar Ground
• 1x Keen Sense
• 1x Primal Vigor
• 1x Season of Growth
• 1x Shapers' Sanctuary
• 1x Treefolk Umbra
• 1x Tribute to the World Tree
• 1x Unbound Flourishing

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Biogenic Upgrade
• 1x Blessings of Nature
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Long Rest
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Primal Command
• 1x Recollect
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Stomp and Howl

---

Maybeboard

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Epic Confrontation
• 1x Hunt the Weak
• 1x Hunter's Edge
• 1x Prey Upon
• 1x Savage Punch
• 1x Savage Swipe
• 1x Time to Feed
• 1x Wild Instincts

Instant (4)

• 1x Ancient Animus
• 1x Pounce
• 1x Ram Through
• 1x Titanic Brawl

---

This is not my best commander deck, but it runs quiet well for what I want. I focused many of the spells around procing Gargos's spell-targeter ability, while trying to keep them thematic to how Hydras feel. Things to make it feel like they are essentially unkillable with effects like regenerate, indestructible, hexproof, and umbras.

Asceticism is especially gross in this deck because even though it locks out opponents from targeting, it allows you to regenerate Gargos when you plan out when you want it to fight. For our targeting, we have 8 auras to proc his effect. We have 6 instants for that. We have about 4-5 sorceries (since you can also ping your own creatures with Monstrous Onslaught while Gargos is indestructible or regenerating). Cards that can target "any number" like Setessan Tactics is especially gross if you can keep Gargos alive, and potentially wipe someone's field with a massive fight. One of the easy things for this is targeting Gargos with fight cards to give you double fight. Outmuscle is one of the best for that since you make him indestructible at the same time. (The deck has about 5 fight cards in it, but you can always stack more. I find more value in umbras since I'd rather proc Gargos's fight and keep it alive for as long as possible.) (I listed some more fights in the maybeboard.)

I added a bunch of cards that revolve around doubling counters. Kalonian Hydra, Branching Evolution, Unbound Flourishing, Hydra's Growth, and Invigorating Surge. The Oozilith can keep them from feeling wasted if a board wipe happens.

Gauntlet of Power, Keeper of Progenitus, and Nissa, Who Shakes the World gives double mana to get more value for those X-costers.

Urza's Incubator and Rhonas's Monument pairs nicely with Gargos's cost reduction. (Gargos is such a fun lord for Hydra. Since he's my favorite of Typhon and Echidna's children in Greek mythology, I'm glad I enjoy this one a lot.)

Some hydras struggle with trample so there are some consistent options in the form of Garruk's Uprising, Rhonas's Monument, and Gaea's Embrace. There are only 8 hydras here that come with it to start and 1 that can gain it by itself. (And I made sure to keep up with MtG's hydras to always have the best ones in here.)

Although deck-summoners like Defense of the Heart, might seems a little counter-intuitive in a hydra deck with X-costers, it can still give you some game-changing value. I have 18 options that I can grab and 10 X-costers that I can’t pick. So if you account for the fact that you might be drawing from both of those pools through a match before you get to use these summoner cards, you'll still have some strong options to pick.

I know my decks tend to not have much in terms of draw, but I build decks more to have fun packed with certain cards I want to try. But hydra does offer some more options than most of mine. For some more consistent draw, I have Garruk's Uprising, Guardian Project, and Snake Umbra. Season of Growth doesn't feel that necessary, but it pairs well with Gargos's ability. I also have a burst draw in the form of Lifeblood Hydra, Hunter's Insight, and Inspiring Call (though those are less guaranteed).

I recently added Long Rest to see how that works. It's an X-coster with a feel of hydras resurging after someone thinks they put them down. (When I first got this card, I missread it, thinking it was only for creatures, but it's for anything. So if you lose something important, it gives a great comeback potential.)

I usually don't enjoy when more niche "anti" cards burn a hole in my hand so I don't put them in my decks. However, that's different with Hydras. For consistent artifact/enchantment destruction, we have Steelbane Hydra. (Some of my friends' decks don't rely on strong enchantments, so cards like Naturalize don't have as much value for me.) For anti-flying, we have one of the best in Whiptongue Hydra. Pulling this straight from the deck with Defense of the Heart against a swarm of either 5/5 dragons or 1/1 birds can be game-winning.

Even though Gargos is our commander, Kalonian Hydra is the real MVP lord. You want to protect this hydra at all costs. Many of the hydras are just good overall. They'll give you benefits throughout the match. But Kalonian Hydra is how you can let your deck get out of hand. Even most of the hydras that aren't X-costers still work with putting counters on themselves so your hydras will become colossal in a hurry if your opponent leaves Kalonian unchecked.

(I normally don't like explaining my decks since I usually just use Tappedout to backup my lists, but I was in the mood for this because I noticed they made Benevolent Hydra.)

Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 3 Mythic Rares 37 - 20 Rares 14 - 21 Uncommons 6 - 8 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.33
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Honored Hydra 6/6 W, Hydra X/X G, Morph 2/2 C, Phyrexian Hydra 3/3 GW w/ Lifelink, Phyrexian Hydra 3/3 GW w/ Reach, Snake 1/1 G, Treasure