Theros Game Day: Hydra Deck Contents

Theros Game Day: October 19-20, 2013

The hydra challenge deck is a 60-cards. There are 19 head cards and 41 Sorcery cards. Up to four of the 19 heads start on the battlefield based on difficulty. The deck contains only 15 unique cards.

11x Hydra Head
4x Ravenous Brute Head
1x Snapping Fang Head
1x Shrieking Titan Head
1x Savage Vigor Head

Hydra Head
When it dies, each player gains 2 life.
0/3
*Two, three, or four of these start on the battlefield at the beginning of the game.

Ravenous Brute Head
(Probably Elite)
When it dies, each player gains 2 life and draws a card.
0/6

Snapping Fang Head
Elite
Deals 1 (additional) damage to each player during the hydra’s end step.
(Has some sort of beneficial effect when it dies.)
0/8

Shrieking Titan Head
Elite
Each player discards a card during the hydra’s end step.
(Has some sort of beneficial effect when it dies.)
0/8

Savage Vigor Head
Elite
The hydra draws/casts an additional card during its end steps.
0/8

The 41 unique spells are as follows

2x Strike the Weak Spot
Destroy target head. (You make all choices for the hydra.) If the head is Elite, the hydra takes another turn after this one.

4x Hydra’s Impenetrable Hide
Heads are indestructible until the hydra’s next turn.

3x Neck Tangle
Something about tapping two heads and then something else. (Tapped heads won’t damage players during the hydra’s end step.)

4x Torn Between Heads
I don’t remember this one’s text.

4x Grown from the Stump
Return up to 2 of the 0/3 heads from the hydra’s graveyard to play. If there aren’t any, reveal the library until you hit a head and put that into play and the rest into the graveyard.

5x Swallow the Hero Whole
I think this one was already spoiled, but it’s like Journey to Nowhere. Each player chooses a creature they control to exile but those creatures come back when a head dies.

4 Hydra’s Noxious Breath
Choose one — 5 damage to each player or destroy each tapped non-head creature. (You make decisions for the hydra. We assume this means you can choose the latter option on turn 1 when you have no creatures.)

6x Unified Lunge
The hydra deals X damage to each player where X is the number of heads it controls.

5x Disorienting Glower
Each player can’t cast spells until the Hydra’s next turn.

5x Distract the Hydra
I don’t remember the text of this one.There was a Sorcery to the effect of:
“Each player may sacrifice a creature. Each player that does so may tap a head. Each player that doesn’t sacrifice a creature loses 3 life.” (Tapped heads don’t do damage to players during the hydra’s end step.)

There was a Sorcery to the effect of:
“If the hydra has 5 or more heads, do something. Otherwise the hydra casts the top card of its deck.” (The hydra never had five heads when we drew it so I don’t remember what the first clause did.

The player(s) always take the first turn (and don’t draw on their first turn.

The hydra “casts” the top card of its library each turn (again a ~15:41 head:spell ratio). During its end step, each untapped head deals 1 damage to each player. Each Elite head deals an additional 1 damage to each player. (Snapping Fang Head’s ability thus causes it to deal 3 total damage to each player by itself since it’s also elite.)

Players attack the heads directly with creatures.

When a head dies, the hydra reveals the top two cards of his or her library. Any heads come into play; any sorceries go to the graveyard. (Hitting double spells is not unlikely.)

If a head would leave play, it dies instead. (Disperse / Cyclonic Rift do good things.)

The player(s) win when no heads remain on the battlefield.

As far as I can remember, the graveyard never reshuffles, so the 19 head cards (and 4 copies of Grown from the Stump) are the actual kill limit. (Though this will vary randomly based on the exact order of spells in the deck.)