I wish it was +1/+1 for each desert, not just the first. Surely that wouldn't have been OP?
Maybe if it was only in your graveyard. Have they ever made a card with unconditional trample and P/T based on lands in play?
Yeah, but it's a seven drop. Being a four drop with two other relevant abilities more than makes up for the lack for scaling.
And Molimo being legendary means they shaved at least G off of what they thought it should have costed in a non-legendary version. So yeah; this is fine. I can totally see why there's a feel-bad moment from some players; Wizards has shown a willingness to do silly things of late but this is a great step at rebalancing where creatures should be for rare. Playable beats are playable. Also, for comparison: rubblehulk - no trample, no vig, no reach and no base P/T for 2 more mana in 2 colors.
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
I hope to open one of these in Sealed. Examining only the creatures from Amonkhet, at 4/4 it already beats 67% of them in combat and at 5/5 it beats 86%, so in a Limited/Sealed environment it pretty much controls the board. There are enough deserts that being a 4/4 on turn 4 (or on turn 3 with a dork like Naga Vitalist) is not outside the realm of possibility. Given that we now have a cycle of desert lands which cycle means that turning it into a 5/5 for attacking is also not outside the realm of possibility. None of the removal spells spoiled thus far remove it, which is also a good thing.
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
Whatever you say Kellyanne
Public Mod Note
(Wildfire393):
Flaming/Trolling warning issued
Have they ever made a card with unconditional trample and P/T based on lands in play?
Only once or twice, as far as I can tell; the second creature is conditional because it gains p/t only on Wastes. Still, for the same cost as Reality Smasher the Walker could have been anywhere from 4/4 to 9/9 the turn it enters the battlefield...if only anyone had ever used it.
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
I have to agree entirely. Comparing this card to creatures that are even banned in EDH because they are too broken pretty much proved your point. I guarantee if this hydra was a red card, it would have been forced into mythic. But that's green for you, nowadays. These players have been overly spoiled for so long with busted creatures (though arguably green should have the most busted creatures) that they are upset when their new toy isn't insanely dominant. The fact that the green gearhulk only sees play in one deck is amazing to me. An 8/8 trample for 5 isn't strong enough for these people either. Until they print a 10/10 trample, reach, and etb destroy target non creature permanent for 4cmc they wont be happy. Wizards still hasn't figured out balance in this game, and this creature is proof. It's overpowered and people are pretending it's underpowered. (which it could only be currently underpowered when comparing it to all the other completely overpowered green cards like verdurous gearhulk or sylvan advocate as a couple examples)
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Good. I prefer a lower powered, more balanced environment to what we get when Wizards puts out OP cards.
First of all you can just say "it's overpowered in general just not in this context!" because over/underpowered is entirely contextual.
Second I think that the problem with this lies not in the reward for meeting the condition, though at this point it's probably not more than "good enough" with the bonuses. The problem is in the conditions to meet them. Are deserts worth playing outside of a casual desert deck? Maybe, but probably not.
I do think that this is a fine card, I won't complain about its printing, but it's probably not going to be constructed worthy, and that's largely not due to "man this creature sucks I want a 25/25 for 2 cmc."
Side note, if green is getting massive undercosted creatures and they're still not seeing play, maybe they aren't the problem?
I swear I first read it as Wingbonger...something tells me that "As Long as Wingbonger is paired with another creature, both creatures have weed." wouldn't be as good. Seems solid for limited.
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Good. I prefer a lower powered, more balanced environment to what we get when Wizards puts out OP cards.
Yeah, it's so much better being told by WotC which version of Gideon I'll be playing in standard while the rest of the set is draft fodder. Sets today have a couple story line related cards that are severely pushed and the rest of the set is worthless cardboard. This hydra was created for Timmy, by Timmy. It's just another beater in an exhaustive line of beaters. Vengevine is almost a decade old and it's light years ahead of this card. Now that's power creep. I'd put this card more on the power level of Festerhide Boar
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
I have to agree entirely. Comparing this card to creatures that are even banned in EDH because they are too broken pretty much proved your point. I guarantee if this hydra was a red card, it would have been forced into mythic. But that's green for you, nowadays. These players have been overly spoiled for so long with busted creatures (though arguably green should have the most busted creatures) that they are upset when their new toy isn't insanely dominant. The fact that the green gearhulk only sees play in one deck is amazing to me. An 8/8 trample for 5 isn't strong enough for these people either. Until they print a 10/10 trample, reach, and etb destroy target non creature permanent for 4cmc they wont be happy. Wizards still hasn't figured out balance in this game, and this creature is proof. It's overpowered and people are pretending it's underpowered. (which it could only be currently underpowered when comparing it to all the other completely overpowered green cards like verdurous gearhulk or sylvan advocate as a couple examples)
This is just a big dumb idiot who dies to Doom Blade. Cards like this haven't been exciting in a decade.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating. Take it back!
I think it really puts into perspective just how absurd creatures have become when people are poo-pooing this.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
I have to agree entirely. Comparing this card to creatures that are even banned in EDH because they are too broken pretty much proved your point. I guarantee if this hydra was a red card, it would have been forced into mythic. But that's green for you, nowadays. These players have been overly spoiled for so long with busted creatures (though arguably green should have the most busted creatures) that they are upset when their new toy isn't insanely dominant. The fact that the green gearhulk only sees play in one deck is amazing to me. An 8/8 trample for 5 isn't strong enough for these people either. Until they print a 10/10 trample, reach, and etb destroy target non creature permanent for 4cmc they wont be happy. Wizards still hasn't figured out balance in this game, and this creature is proof. It's overpowered and people are pretending it's underpowered. (which it could only be currently underpowered when comparing it to all the other completely overpowered green cards like verdurous gearhulk or sylvan advocate as a couple examples)
This is just a big dumb idiot who dies to Doom Blade. Cards like this haven't been exciting in a decade.
I'm not saying it is exciting; but "dies to removal" is, and always has been, the biggest strawman argument that people for some reason continue to use. People always get this backwards. "doesn't die to removal" should be a major argument for a card being especially good, with abilities like indestructibility, shroud, and the like- and really should only be tacked on mythics if we are to continue to use mythic rarity. But dies to removal is the same thing as saying "gets wet when water is poured on it". It's a moot point, and only serves to show that the card really is good. If that's the best argument against a card, then there really is no argument. But you actually just provided more credibility to my statement the same way the second poster did to the firsts' argument. The fact that these cards haven't been exciting in a decade is because green keeps getting cards this good. Like I said if this was a red card, and stayed at rare, it would be the top end of every single red deck in standard; that didn't want to go up to 5 cmc for glorybringer. yes this card is more of the same, but the problem with magic today is the creatures are overpowered compared to the answers, and this creature is another fine, if not bland, example of that
It's like I've said before: "Dies to Doom Blade" is a stupid argument, because Doom Blade is a ridiculous removal spell that kills even some of the best creatures in any given format. If it didn't, it wouldn't see play in those formats.
It's not that hard to be consistent with the Hydra, barely harder than Wild Nacatl. We have plenty of Deserts to sacrifice and discard, including Desert of the Indomitable for an on-color option, and for all we know the enemy duals in this set are also Deserts (perhaps with cycling-from-play effects a la Horizon Canopy).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
First of all you can just say "it's overpowered in general just not in this context!" because over/underpowered is entirely contextual.
Second I think that the problem with this lies not in the reward for meeting the condition, though at this point it's probably not more than "good enough" with the bonuses. The problem is in the conditions to meet them. Are deserts worth playing outside of a casual desert deck? Maybe, but probably not.
I do think that this is a fine card, I won't complain about its printing, but it's probably not going to be constructed worthy, and that's largely not due to "man this creature sucks I want a 25/25 for 2 cmc."
Side note, if green is getting massive undercosted creatures and they're still not seeing play, maybe they aren't the problem?
to be fair, we all know the real problem is lack of answers, and green has the worst removal in an era of bad removal for all colors. Green only sees a small amount of play, but where it does, it uses its giant undercosted creatures. If someone wanted to make a mono green tempo creatures deck right now it would have by far the best curve and a steady stream of giant beaters. but decks like that are boring; I think most people would agree, and rarely feature any fun new mechanics to play with. But don't try to say people aren't saying "man this creature sucks I want a 25/25 for 2 cmc" because obviously no one is saying it to that extreme of a level, but people did complain about verdurous gearhulk like it was the worst of the cycle for being 'too weak' and it since it came out has been only outclassed by the blue one, and has seen more play than the other 3 combined.
It's like I've said before: "Dies to Doom Blade" is a stupid argument, because Doom Blade is a ridiculous removal spell that kills even some of the best creatures in any given format. If it didn't, it wouldn't see play in those formats.
It's not that hard to be consistent with the Hydra, barely harder than Wild Nacatl. We have plenty of Deserts to sacrifice and discard, including Desert of the Indomitable for an on-color option, and for all we know the enemy duals in this set are also Deserts (perhaps with cycling-from-play effects a la Horizon Canopy).
Most of those are more than just their power and toughness, this is just it's power and toughness and even then 5/5 for 4 isn't that remarkable.
Big creatures that don't effect the game beyond them being large are never as good as they look
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating. Take it back!
It's like I've said before: "Dies to Doom Blade" is a stupid argument, because Doom Blade is a ridiculous removal spell that kills even some of the best creatures in any given format. If it didn't, it wouldn't see play in those formats.
It's not that hard to be consistent with the Hydra, barely harder than Wild Nacatl. We have plenty of Deserts to sacrifice and discard, including Desert of the Indomitable for an on-color option, and for all we know the enemy duals in this set are also Deserts (perhaps with cycling-from-play effects a la Horizon Canopy).
Most of those are more than just their power and toughness, this is just it's power and toughness and even then 5/5 for 4 isn't that remarkable.
Big creatures that don't effect the game beyond them being large are never as good as they look
*cough* Tarmogoyf *cough*
But really your mostly right, it often depends on the environment, but sometimes cards can outperform their initial appearance.
Does anyone use Doom Blade outside of Pauper? I don't see it in any non-Pauper decklists anywhere. Legacy has a base set of 8,850 creatures; of those, 6,936 are "nonblack" while 7,294 of them are monocolor and not colorless so wouldn't "dies to Ultimate Price" be a better argument given that it hits more targets? For Modern those numbers are 5,964 total, 4,671 nonblack, and 4,793 for monocolor/not colorless so the same logic applies.
Personally I feel hydras should try and involve an X mana cost or at least counters wherever possible, bit like honored hydra, I'd just make it a wurm or horror or something else.
what's likely to be a 4/4 pr 5/5 if you're supporting it, vigilance/reach/trample for 4. As said funny world when that's considered not quite good enough, but honestly...not sure where it belongs unless a desert theme'd deck is going to work with more support. Maybe if it could have gained deathtouch in certain circumstances..
X doesn't really work in a -1/-1 counters block, unless part of it was a mechanic that gave creatures a bonus for each -1/-1 counter on them.
Personally I feel hydras should try and involve an X mana cost or at least counters wherever possible, bit like honored hydra, I'd just make it a wurm or horror or something else.
what's likely to be a 4/4 pr 5/5 if you're supporting it, vigilance/reach/trample for 4. As said funny world when that's considered not quite good enough, but honestly...not sure where it belongs unless a desert theme'd deck is going to work with more support. Maybe if it could have gained deathtouch in certain circumstances..
X doesn't really work in a -1/-1 counters block, unless part of it was a mechanic that gave creatures a bonus for each -1/-1 counter on them.
you're absolutely correct, the iconic 'this is what makes it a hydra' does not work in this set, so there should not have been a hydra in this set. I am so sick of Wizards taking stupid big green creature cards with no mechanical ties to hydras and just slapping on the creature type and generally some art. a hydra without some way of getting ludicrously huge is like an angel without flying. the card itself is fine, I just HATE that it's a hydra
Primordial Hydra is the best example of getting it right (incidentally it also lays waste to basically the entire rest of the hydra tribe)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
Most of those are more than just their power and toughness, this is just it's power and toughness and even then 5/5 for 4 isn't that remarkable.
Big creatures that don't effect the game beyond them being large are never as good as they look
Power, toughness, and Trample, Reach, and Vigilance. Not hard to grant it haste either.
It's not meant to be the most impressive creature in the format, just a good beatstick for green Deserts matter decks. It's about on par with the Skyship Stalker from Kaladesh; not a format house, just a neat big creature for players who like them.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
This wont do anything and putting terrible "deserts" in your deck just for this really doesnt help.
If at all, this is fringe playable, but most likely has no chance to see the light of day in constructed.
Its still a pretty solid card in limited, where its a undercosted Colossapede but thats pretty much all it is.
Maybe if it was only in your graveyard. Have they ever made a card with unconditional trample and P/T based on lands in play?
I don't think with Trample, but Nightmare had flying.
The problem is this card is almost always going to be worse in a deck than woodland wanderer which saw no play.
Not really. wanderer requires at least 4 colours. This can be played in mono-green. That said the number of deserts you'd need to reliably make it 5/5 might get a little iffy.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Rose tint my world, keep me safe from my trouble and pain.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Yeah, but it's a seven drop. Being a four drop with two other relevant abilities more than makes up for the lack for scaling.
And Molimo being legendary means they shaved at least G off of what they thought it should have costed in a non-legendary version. So yeah; this is fine. I can totally see why there's a feel-bad moment from some players; Wizards has shown a willingness to do silly things of late but this is a great step at rebalancing where creatures should be for rare. Playable beats are playable. Also, for comparison: rubblehulk - no trample, no vig, no reach and no base P/T for 2 more mana in 2 colors.
False. Primeval Titan is absurd. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is absurd. Steppe Lynx is infinitely more absurd. The only place this will ever see play is in a janky desert-themed deck at your kitchen table. They've been constantly watering down this game more and more since OG Zendikar.
Thanks for proving my point entirely. There was a period where this would be one of the best creatures in the game. Erhnam Djinn and Lhurgoyf used to be top dogs. This is leagues better than them.
So yes, it puts into perspective how absurd creatures have become.
Whatever you say Kellyanne
Only once or twice, as far as I can tell; the second creature is conditional because it gains p/t only on Wastes. Still, for the same cost as Reality Smasher the Walker could have been anywhere from 4/4 to 9/9 the turn it enters the battlefield...if only anyone had ever used it.
I have to agree entirely. Comparing this card to creatures that are even banned in EDH because they are too broken pretty much proved your point. I guarantee if this hydra was a red card, it would have been forced into mythic. But that's green for you, nowadays. These players have been overly spoiled for so long with busted creatures (though arguably green should have the most busted creatures) that they are upset when their new toy isn't insanely dominant. The fact that the green gearhulk only sees play in one deck is amazing to me. An 8/8 trample for 5 isn't strong enough for these people either. Until they print a 10/10 trample, reach, and etb destroy target non creature permanent for 4cmc they wont be happy. Wizards still hasn't figured out balance in this game, and this creature is proof. It's overpowered and people are pretending it's underpowered. (which it could only be currently underpowered when comparing it to all the other completely overpowered green cards like verdurous gearhulk or sylvan advocate as a couple examples)
Good. I prefer a lower powered, more balanced environment to what we get when Wizards puts out OP cards.
Second I think that the problem with this lies not in the reward for meeting the condition, though at this point it's probably not more than "good enough" with the bonuses. The problem is in the conditions to meet them. Are deserts worth playing outside of a casual desert deck? Maybe, but probably not.
I do think that this is a fine card, I won't complain about its printing, but it's probably not going to be constructed worthy, and that's largely not due to "man this creature sucks I want a 25/25 for 2 cmc."
Side note, if green is getting massive undercosted creatures and they're still not seeing play, maybe they aren't the problem?
RIP Mike McArtor. The Mothership won't be the same.
Legacy
GG Aggro Elves GG
Yeah, it's so much better being told by WotC which version of Gideon I'll be playing in standard while the rest of the set is draft fodder. Sets today have a couple story line related cards that are severely pushed and the rest of the set is worthless cardboard. This hydra was created for Timmy, by Timmy. It's just another beater in an exhaustive line of beaters. Vengevine is almost a decade old and it's light years ahead of this card. Now that's power creep. I'd put this card more on the power level of Festerhide Boar
This is just a big dumb idiot who dies to Doom Blade. Cards like this haven't been exciting in a decade.
I'm not saying it is exciting; but "dies to removal" is, and always has been, the biggest strawman argument that people for some reason continue to use. People always get this backwards. "doesn't die to removal" should be a major argument for a card being especially good, with abilities like indestructibility, shroud, and the like- and really should only be tacked on mythics if we are to continue to use mythic rarity. But dies to removal is the same thing as saying "gets wet when water is poured on it". It's a moot point, and only serves to show that the card really is good. If that's the best argument against a card, then there really is no argument. But you actually just provided more credibility to my statement the same way the second poster did to the firsts' argument. The fact that these cards haven't been exciting in a decade is because green keeps getting cards this good. Like I said if this was a red card, and stayed at rare, it would be the top end of every single red deck in standard; that didn't want to go up to 5 cmc for glorybringer. yes this card is more of the same, but the problem with magic today is the creatures are overpowered compared to the answers, and this creature is another fine, if not bland, example of that
Hey, you know what else dies to Doom Blade? Baneslayer Angel. And every Titan but Grave Titan. Polukranos, World Eater. Thundermaw Hellkite. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
It's like I've said before: "Dies to Doom Blade" is a stupid argument, because Doom Blade is a ridiculous removal spell that kills even some of the best creatures in any given format. If it didn't, it wouldn't see play in those formats.
It's not that hard to be consistent with the Hydra, barely harder than Wild Nacatl. We have plenty of Deserts to sacrifice and discard, including Desert of the Indomitable for an on-color option, and for all we know the enemy duals in this set are also Deserts (perhaps with cycling-from-play effects a la Horizon Canopy).
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
to be fair, we all know the real problem is lack of answers, and green has the worst removal in an era of bad removal for all colors. Green only sees a small amount of play, but where it does, it uses its giant undercosted creatures. If someone wanted to make a mono green tempo creatures deck right now it would have by far the best curve and a steady stream of giant beaters. but decks like that are boring; I think most people would agree, and rarely feature any fun new mechanics to play with. But don't try to say people aren't saying "man this creature sucks I want a 25/25 for 2 cmc" because obviously no one is saying it to that extreme of a level, but people did complain about verdurous gearhulk like it was the worst of the cycle for being 'too weak' and it since it came out has been only outclassed by the blue one, and has seen more play than the other 3 combined.
Most of those are more than just their power and toughness, this is just it's power and toughness and even then 5/5 for 4 isn't that remarkable.
Big creatures that don't effect the game beyond them being large are never as good as they look
*cough* Tarmogoyf *cough*
But really your mostly right, it often depends on the environment, but sometimes cards can outperform their initial appearance.
X doesn't really work in a -1/-1 counters block, unless part of it was a mechanic that gave creatures a bonus for each -1/-1 counter on them.
you're absolutely correct, the iconic 'this is what makes it a hydra' does not work in this set, so there should not have been a hydra in this set. I am so sick of Wizards taking stupid big green creature cards with no mechanical ties to hydras and just slapping on the creature type and generally some art. a hydra without some way of getting ludicrously huge is like an angel without flying. the card itself is fine, I just HATE that it's a hydra
Primordial Hydra is the best example of getting it right (incidentally it also lays waste to basically the entire rest of the hydra tribe)
Power, toughness, and Trample, Reach, and Vigilance. Not hard to grant it haste either.
It's not meant to be the most impressive creature in the format, just a good beatstick for green Deserts matter decks. It's about on par with the Skyship Stalker from Kaladesh; not a format house, just a neat big creature for players who like them.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
This wont do anything and putting terrible "deserts" in your deck just for this really doesnt help.
If at all, this is fringe playable, but most likely has no chance to see the light of day in constructed.
Its still a pretty solid card in limited, where its a undercosted Colossapede but thats pretty much all it is.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
I don't think with Trample, but Nightmare had flying.
Not really. wanderer requires at least 4 colours. This can be played in mono-green. That said the number of deserts you'd need to reliably make it 5/5 might get a little iffy.