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Goldvein Hydra

Creature — Hydra

Vigilance, trample, haste
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
When this creature dies, create a number of tapped Treasure tokens equal to its power.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{X}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
mythic
Set
Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Price
$6.66
EDHREC rank
#1476
Buy on TCGplayer
Goldvein Hydra card art
Goldvein Hydra enters as a massive X/X and leaves a pile of Treasure when it dies, meaning it pays forward even when answered. The combo ceiling with Enduring Renewal and the engine role in Zimone, Infinite Analyst make it one of the more deceptively powerful Hydras printed.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Zimone, Infinite Analyst

Zimone, Infinite Analyst

89.6% of decks · synergy 0.86

Zimone, Infinite Analyst is the deck where Goldvein Hydra shows up in nearly 90% of lists because the two cards form the backbone of an infinite mana and draw loop — Zimone's ability to cash in counters pairs directly with the Hydra as a repeatable engine piece.

02

Polukranos Reborn

69.6% of decks · synergy 0.67

Polukranos Reborn wants large green creatures with meaningful death triggers, and Goldvein Hydra delivers both a Hydra body that scales with mana investment and a Treasure flood that refuels the board after a board wipe.

03
Rosheen, Roaring Prophet

Rosheen, Roaring Prophet

64.9% of decks · synergy 0.62

Rosheen, Roaring Prophet turns X spells into an identity, and Goldvein Hydra is among the best payoffs because Rosheen's tap ability directly subsidizes the investment needed to make the Hydra a genuine threat on entry.

04
Gargos, Vicious Watcher

Gargos, Vicious Watcher

63.8% of decks · synergy 0.59

Gargos, Vicious Watcher reduces the cost of targeting your own creatures, and Goldvein Hydra is a natural inclusion because any spell that targets it to trigger Gargos's fight ability also interacts with a body worth protecting.

05
Primo, the Unbounded

Primo, the Unbounded

61.5% of decks · synergy 0.58

Primo, the Unbounded cares about +1/+1 counters moving around the battlefield, and Goldvein Hydra enters loaded with them — making it both a counter source and a Treasure generator if Primo's proliferate or counter-transfer lines send it to the graveyard.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Goldvein Hydra is legal in every major Constructed format but its home is Commander, where the combination of a scalable body, death-trigger value, and infinite-combo potential all matter in the same game. In competitive Commander specifically, it slots into fast Simic combo shells as a win condition that doubles as a mana sink when you have infinite mana but lack an immediate outlet. In 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, Goldvein Hydra is too slow and fragile for the aggressive metagames — a five-mana 5/5 with a conditional death trigger doesn't compete with the format's threats. Legacy and Vintage are similarly uninterested; the Hydra does nothing broken enough to justify the slot. Standard is the one exception where a midrange green deck might occasionally run it as a finisher, but it's fringe there too.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

If the combo-centric role is the draw, Crystalline Crawler and Voracious Hydra both cost under $1 and serve as scalable green bodies that interact with +1/+1 counter themes — they lack the Treasure generation but fit the same mana-sink slot. Goldvein Hydra's death trigger and specific loop potential with sacrifice outlets are genuinely hard to replicate cheaply, so treat any substitute as a placeholder rather than a true equivalent.

Price Context

Current price

$6.66 mid tier

At $6.66, Goldvein Hydra sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate include but cheap enough that its combo role justifies the slot without much deliberation. Given its near-90% inclusion rate in Zimone, Infinite Analyst lists and steady demand across Hydra and +1/+1 counter builds, the price is unlikely to crater absent a reprint.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.