Bioessence Hydra
Creature — Hydra Mutant
Trample
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each loyalty counter on planeswalkers you control.
Whenever one or more loyalty counters are put on planeswalkers you control, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- War of the Spark
- Price
- $0.28
- EDHREC rank
- #17306
Bioessence Hydra enters as a threat proportional to the loyalty sitting on your planeswalkers — in a deck with multiple active planeswalkers, that's easily a 10/10 or larger on the spot. The cost is real: five mana and a board state requirement mean it's a payoff card, not an engine, and it folds immediately to any removal.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only format where Bioessence Hydra earns a slot, and only in dedicated planeswalker builds. Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, and Vintage all have faster, more consistent threats that don't require an active planeswalker army to be relevant — Bioessence Hydra never sees competitive play in those formats. In Commander, a superfriends deck running Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or a similar loyalty-stacking commander can make this a 15/15 trampler by the midgame, which is a genuine threat; outside that shell, it's a vanilla 4/4 for five that wins no games.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.28 bulk tier
At $0.28, Bioessence Hydra is bulk — low supply pressure and niche demand keep it there. It fills an extremely specific role in superfriends Commander builds, so don't expect the price to move unless a high-profile planeswalker commander drives a surge in that archetype.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.