Feral Hydra
Creature — Hydra Beast
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Any player may activate this ability.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Battlebond
- Price
- $0.32
- EDHREC rank
- #9124
Feral Hydra enters as large as you want it to and keeps growing — opponents either answer it immediately or lose to a creature that doubles as a mana sink for the rest of the game. The cost is that it has no built-in protection and no trample, so it eats a Doom Blade and leaves you with nothing; Polukranos Reborn it is not.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Polukranos Reborn
Polukranos Reborn decks run Feral Hydra at a 71% clip because both cards reward you for flooding the board with large +1/+1 counter creatures — Feral Hydra enters big and grows bigger, feeding directly into the saga's counters-matter payoffs.
Gargos, Vicious Watcher
Gargos, Vicious Watcher cuts the cost of targeting your own creatures, and Feral Hydra's activated ability is a magnet for pump spells and fight triggers that generate free Gargos attacks — every counter investment pulls double duty.
Zaxara, the Exemplary
Zaxara, the Exemplary generates a free Hydra token whenever you cast an X spell, so casting Feral Hydra with a large X immediately produces two oversized bodies for the price of one mana investment.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Feral Hydra does its best work — the longer games give you the mana to grow it to a genuinely threatening size, and +1/+1 counter synergies are everywhere in green. In Legacy, Modern, and Vintage it's technically legal but effectively irrelevant; competitive decks in those formats don't want an underpowered X-spell creature with no immediate impact and no protection. Feral Hydra is a Commander card through and through, and even there it's a role-player rather than a staple.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.32 bulk tier
At $0.32, Feral Hydra is deep bulk — easy to pick up and unlikely to move in either direction given how many printings it has accumulated. Grab it without hesitation for a budget build; just don't expect it to appreciate.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Polukranos Reborn
- Gargos, Vicious Watcher
- Zaxara, the Exemplary
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.