An 8/8 Trample actually looks kinda anemic when
we've got 9/9's that can't be blocked except by
three or more creatures running loose. Khalni
Hydra's attraction comes from the fact that with
enough green creatures on the board, you can
power it out for cheap. Then again, you can do
that with the Eldrazi too, thanks to their Spawn
tokens. And mana acceleration ramping into fat
creatures early is nothing new to Green, so...
what's so special about Khalni Hydra again?
Khalni Hydra is very big, very green, very
dangerous, and very cool. Green creatures this
aggressive have generally found a lot of fans,
and I'm sure this will be no exception. Try it
with Wolfbriar Elemental or Grizzly Fate.
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is
one that makes my inner Timmy sense tingle,
Khalni Hydra from Rise of Eldrazi. The high mana
cost of this card is offset by the fact it costs
one less green mana for each green creature you
control. Wow, the ability to play a spell for
free should not be overlooked at any point; an
8/8 trampling body for free is a powerful thing.
In standard mono green monument decks may pump
out enough tokens to take advantage of this
card, if not by playing it for free then by a
heavily reduced mana cost. Even if you get this
at four or five mana it’s a great deal. In
extended and eternal this card could see play in
some sort of stompy deck but the commitment of
creatures to the table could be a problem. In
casual and multiplayer this is where this card
will see the most play, elves and saprolings
both being popular decks this card could be
played for free more often than not. An 8/8
trampling creature for free may be win more but
in multiplayer it can help bolster your defense
or hold your other guys back as you send this
guy out. In limited you would need a heavy
green commitment to play this card but if you do
pull it off this guy is a bomb.
Today's card of the day is Khalni Hydra which
is a fantastic large creature for mono-Green
decks that can hit the field as early as the
third turn. An 8/8 with Trample is quite
reasonably priced at eight mana, but the
reduction in cost being something Green tends to
specialize in anyway is an excellent addition.
This is a card that will see play in Green decks
for some time to come and can really help the
Chroma mechanic in extended.
For Limited this isn't quite as easy to cast at
a highly reduced rate, but the price is quite
fair if running a mono-colored deck in Booster.
Draft as much Green as possible, especially
creatures, and this can come out as quickly as
the Eldrazi threats. Single color is much
harder to manage in Sealed, especially trying to
field enough creatures to reliably play this
early, so it may not be playable at all
depending on your pool.
