So, this is George Fan's idea for a Magic card.
I dunno, it doesn't seem very Plants vs.
Zombies-ish other than being a big carnivorous
plant; but then again, I don't know if it would
necessarily have to be. It reminds me a little
bit of Genesis Wave, which is always fun, but it
trades the ability to possibly put your whole
deck into play for providing a gigantic creature
in addition to your free spell. That's not too
bad a trade, in my opinion.
Today's card of the day is Genesis Hydra which
is an X and two Green 0/0 with X +1/+1 counters
and you may put a card from the top X cards of
your library with converted casting cost of X or
less into play. This really requires a
decent supply of mana to do much, but with
enough mana as X to cast the average creature in
the deck you get quite a bit of power into play
from this one card. This effect is very
similar to Cascade which was a powerful and
popular effect in the Alara block and it is
likely this will see some play across most
formats, particular in acceleration builds.
In Limited this can be a game changing play that
can dominate the endgame if another powerful
card is revealed. Even without that nearly
any X creature is strong in Limited and that is
only enhanced by the effect. A clear first
pick in Booster that can still allow other
colors, though it lessens the value slightly in
the early game as the percentage of Green mana
sources in play needed to cast it would be
higher. In Sealed this is a strong
foundation for a deck using Green as a secondary
or primary color and any acceleration in the
pool gains added value as support.
We're getting to look way into the future now -
all the way to M15! This set won't be out for a
few months, but let's look at what kind of
craziness awaits us.
At first glance, it seems Genesis Hydra is just
another boring green monster. Closer inspection
reveals much more. Notice you get the extra card
when you CAST the Hydra, not when it enters the
battlefield. What's the difference? The bonus
card happens even if the Hydra gets countered or
for some other reason doesn't ever hit the
battlefield under your control. That means the
extra card you get from the Hydra is
uncounterable, because you're not actually
casing it - only putting it onto the
battlefield! If you can somehow manipulate
what's on the top of your library (scry,
anyone?) you can make sure to play the Hydra at
the right time to get a powerful uncounterable
card.
The only real problem is the mana cost. To get
something worthwhile out of the Hydra and the
extra card, you're probably going to want to
make X at least 4, and that's a pretty
significant investment, but when has a high mana
cost ever been a hinderance for green. And in
this case, the opponent can't destroy your whole
investment with a simple Doom Blade since you'll
have two cards for the price of one!
The more I look at this card, the more excited I
am to use it when it comes out. It's going to be
a favorite in casual and multiplayer (those
formats love big fatties), and of course in
limited. Time will only tell if it will fit very
well in standard when it comes out, but I expect
it will have a home.
My my, what have we here? Fancy new card
design? Cool font updates? Awesome art style?
What you're seeing today is a preview of a Magic
2015 card, Genesis Hydra!
There are actually some really neat things to
note about Magic 2015, as well as this card in
particular. Most notably is that several very
big names from the gaming industry were asked to
design cards for M15. As you can see on this
card, in place of flavour text is actually a
credit to George Fan, who was the designer of
the game Plants vs. Zombies.
I almost wish that the card he had designed was
an actual Plant Zombie instead, but Hydras have
become pretty popular lately too, with their
many powerful options. Let's see how this one
stacks up!
This card is definitely something of a mana
sink. I feel like it's got casual player written
all over it. The main ability reminds me a bit
of the cascade keyword, except not as good,
although in actuality it has both pros and cons
over cascade. Genesis Hydra, as with most
Hydras, gets better the more mana you're able to
pump into it. The con it has compared to cascade
is that you can only look X cards down into your
library to find something to play, you don't
keep going until you find a card. So for example
if you pay 4 mana and X = 2, you only get to
look at the top 2 cards and hope that one of
them costs 2 or less mana to put into play. The
pro, however, is that you get to select the card
if there's more than one option! And if say you
pay 8 mana, and X = 6, being able to look at the
top 6 cards of your library and then being able
to put into play any one of those cards that
cost 6 or less mana is GREAT versatility. Oh,
and getting a 6/6 out of it is good too I guess.
That's Genesis Hydra's strength, but also its
weakness.
Because Genesis Hydra really only gets good when
you're able to pump tons of mana into it. If you
play it for 3 mana, then X = 1. That means you
get to look at the top card of your library, and
if it's a non-land card with converted mana cost
of 1 or less you can play it, otherwise the
effect is wasted. And of course the hydra itself
would be a generic 1/1 in that case. I suppose
its alright to have the option, but really if
you ever ever do that you must really be
desperate to chump block something.
It doesn't have cool abilities that make it more
powerful and add additional +1/+1 counters, and
it also doesn't have fun combat abilities like
trample. But don't think of Genesis Hydra as
purely a creature spell. Think of it as a
sorcery that lets you dig X cards into your
library for something that costs X or less...
and as an additional bonus, just happens to also
throw in an X/X creature for free. Play this in
a green mana ramp deck with some cool other
cards you'd love to sneak into play, and I don't
think you'll be disappointed.
Be on the look out for other M15 cards designed
by big names from the gaming industry! Also how
cool is that hydra-with-venus-flytrap-heads art?
