Since the release of the TMNT Team-Up box set (which I haven't played yet) I've been interested in other co-op formats. I have the old Theros-block horde decks, and I enjoy playing online via SpellTable, so I decided to try to make web implementations of them, starting with the Theros set's Face the Hydra. Here's the site I'm working on.
Two friends helped me playtest it yesterday against Sealed decks. We got together (so we didn't test the link sharing feature) and played four games to test how hard it is to play against the hydra deck with different numbers of starting heads.
Secrets of Strixhaven just came out, so we opened a bunch of that and old Strixhaven.
The player who opened six Secrets packs built a Sultai deck, mostly Witherbloom with a splash of blue. I'll refer to them as Witherbluum. The player who did three and three got a bunch of great Izzet pieces, so they're Prismari. I opened the following pool:
Deckbuilding was a bit tricky. I spent a lot of time and prioritized 3-power creatures and ditched many combat tricks. I did not think Flying, Trample, Vigilance, etc, were useful abilities, so I mostly ignored those cards. Here's what I built:
Game 1: In the first game we tried to face down three heads, which is listed as the "Normal" setting. After playing, I think that meant "Normal" for a single player, not a team. We were never in any danger of losing this first game.
Since it's a more-than-two-player format, we decided that the first mulligan is free. All three of us took one in the first game. The Hydra started with three Hydra Heads in play. When playing, the players share a turn and go first, but don't get to draw. We each played a land and then the Hydra deck took its turn. It cast Noxious Hydra Breath, essentially a whiff as we chose to destroy all the tapped creatures which we didn't have. Then the hydra dealt us all three damage (one for each of the Hydra Heads) and ended its turn.
On the second turn, Witherbluum played Mindful Biomancer, Prismari played Multiple Choice, and I played Emergent Sequence to get a 2/2 Mountain. The Hydra flipped Strike the Weak Spot, and we killed one of the heads and gained our two life. When a Head dies, the Hydra deck flips over the top two cards of its library; any revealed Heads go on to the battlefield. Thankfully, we didn't get any. The Hydra dealt us two damage and was done.
On turn three, we attacked and killed both heads thanks to Prismari's Bulk Up on my Mountain. One regrew another Hydra Head, so it wasn't dead. (If the Hydra has no heads at the end of any turn, the players win.) I played Deluge Virtuoso and froze that head. On the Hydra's turn, it flipped a Ravenous Brute Head. Elite Heads deal two damage each turn, but tapped Heads deal nothing, so we only took two total damage.
On turn four, we attacked to kill the Ravenous Brute Head; no heads regrew. Witherbluum cast Lluwen, Exchange Student, and I kept the remaining head tapped down with Procrastinate. The Hydra cast Disorienting Glower and did nothing else.
We had enough to kill the last head in combat on turn five, but it regrew. The Hydra played a second Hydra Head on its turn and dealt us each two damage.
On turn six, Witherbluum cast Blech and Prismari played Elemental Summoning. We attacked to kill both Hydra Heads, which regrew a Ravenous Brute Head. The Hydra cast Grown from the Stump and resurrected two Hydra Heads.
We ended the game on turn seven, still all above twenty life. Prismari cast Zaffai and the Tempests, then Banishing Betrayal on the Ravenous Brute Head (bouncing a head is as good as killing it) but it regrew into a Hydra Head. We attacked to kill all three heads, and only one regrew into a Ravenous Brute Head. Witherbluum cast Grapple with Death to kill the last head which did not regrow anything. Win!
Game 2: Since we were never in any real danger, we jumped up to five starting heads for the second game. Once again, we all cashed in on our free mulligans.
On turn one, the Hydra player cast Disorienting Glower, then hit us for five. We were down to 15 already. (From here on I will continue to mention the lowest life total among the three of us.)
On turn two, we could only play land. The Hydra cast Grown from the Stump and got a Shrieking Titan Head. We took seven and had to discard a card to boot, putting us at 8.
We could finally act on the third turn. I played Deluge Virtuoso to tap a Hydra Head and Witherbluum cast Procrastinate on the Shrieking Titan Head. The Hydra cast Hydra's Impenetrable Hide and put us to 4.
On our fourth turn, Witherbluum did a little bit of lifegain so they would be able to stay alive, but the Hydra cast Unified Lunge and killed us all anyways. Loss!
Game 3: We took it down a notch and battled four starting heads. On the first turn, the Hydra flipped over another Hydra Head and put us down to 15.
On turn two, Witherbluum cast Slumbering Trudge and Prismari cast Landscape Painter. The Hydra cast Hydra's Impenetrable Hide and the heads hit us again. (We must have tapped down one of the heads because I have us only going down to 11. Maybe I cast Procrastinate.)
On turn three, I cast Deluge Virtuoso, which Witherbluum said was our MVP. Prismari cast Seize the Spoils. The Hydra cast Noxious Hydra Breath, taking out the Slumbering Trudge, then put us to 8.
We started to rebound on turn four. Prismari cast Colorstorm Stallion, Witherbluum cast Pterafractyl, and I cast Emergent Sequence. We attacked to kill two heads, putting us to 12 life. One of the heads regrew into a Ravenous Brute Head. Unfortunately, the Hydra immediately got two back with Grown from the Stump and we went to 5 life from the six-headed beast.
On turn five Witherbluum killed the Ravenous Brute Head with Grapple with Death. I cast Cram Session before combat to make my Virtuoso big enough to kill a head again, and we attacked to kill four of the basic heads. The hydra regrew two Hydra Heads and a Ravenous Brute Head, but at least we gained a bunch of life. Prismari cast Vibrant Idea off the Landscape Painter and gained a copy of the Colorstorm Stallion. (We forgot it had haste, otherwise we'd've cast it before combat.) I cast Stonebound Mentor to end our turn. The Hydra cast Swallow the Hero Whole, which wasn't that terrible for us. It gobbled up our Deluge Virtuoso, Pterafractyl, and Landscape Painter. The heads "attacked" and put us to 10 life.
On the sixth turn, Prismari cast Heated Argument to kill the Ravenous Brute Head, bringing our three swallowed creatures back. It also doubled the Colorstorm Stallions to four; we had plenty to attack and kill all three remaining heads. They regrew into one Hydra Head and a Snapping Fang Head. Witherbluum played Blech and we passed the turn at 18 life. The Hydra played another Hydra Head and passed.
On turn seven, we were in full control. Prismari played Vibrant Idea again and doubled the horses to eight! We attacked to kill all three Heads. A Ravenous Brute Head regrew, but I took it out with Closing Statement. Nothing regrew from that. Win!
Game 4: We decided to give five heads another try. On the first turn the Hydra whiffed with Swallow the Hero Whole, but still attacked to put us to 15.
On the second turn, Prismari cast Banishing Betrayal on a head, but it regrew. (At least we gained 2 life to go to 17.) Witherbluum dropped Bogwater Lumaret, a key combo piece. The Hydra cast Distract the Hydra and we all just took the three damage. After that, the Heads put the lowest of us to 9.
On turn three, Prismari played Frost Trickster, I played Deluge Virtuoso, and Witherbluum played Pest Mascot.
The Hydra grew a Ravenous Brute Head and we went to 4 life.
On our fourth turn, Witherbluum cast Send in the Pest, Prismati cast Elemental Mascot, and I played Emergent Sequence. We attacked to kill two Hydra Heads and the Ravenous Brute Head and went to 10 life. A Hydra Head and a Snapping Fang Head regrew. On it's turn, the Hydra got two more heads from Grown from the Stump and we went to 1 life.
We had a big comeback on turn five. We attacked to kill three Hydra Heads and the Snapping Fang Head. It regrew a Savage Vigor Head and a Ravenous Brute Head. Witherbluum cast Burrog Barrage to kill the Savage Vigor Head and nothing regrew. I cast another Deluge Virtuoso and ended our turn with 15 life. The Hydra cast Grown from the Stump and recovered two of its heads. We took five and went to 10.
On turn six we attacked and killed all the heads and went to 24 life. Four heads regrew: two Hydra Heads, one Shrieking Titan Head, and one Ravenous Brute Head. I cast Procrastinate on the Ravenous Brute head, Prismari flashbacked a Faithless Looting, and Witherbluum cast Studious First-Year. The Hydra cast Distract the Hydra and I we all sacrificed a creature before going to 20.
On the seventh turn, we attacked again and killed all the heads, which regrew into a Hydra Head and a Ravenous Brute Head and went to a comfortable 30 life. The Hydra cast Torn Between Heads, but it was too little, too late. On the eighth turn we attacked and killed all the heads. Nothing regrew. Win!
Here are my takeaways from this day of fun:
- For the three of us, I think five starting Hydra Heads was the most fun. Perhaps the-number-of-players-plus-two is a good heuristic for the number of starting heads.
- There are a couple critical turns early on that you just need to get past to be on course to win.
- One big creature does not break the game, since Trample doesn't matter and it can only kill one Head per turn.
- Bears are probably better than I expected. Two power can't kill a Hydra Head alone, but they can work with other creatures to take down the big ones. I might put more of them in when building.
- Lifegain is pretty strong. Things that trigger off of lifegain are wicked strong, since you are killing heads often.
- We opened packs, built decks, and played the four games in about 3.5 hours total.
- Tooting my own horn: playing with the webpage made it easier to remember all the triggers.
- Thanks to my two friends! I made a bunch of updates to the site and it's much improved from what it was.
So, now you can Face the Hydra with your friends! If you use my site, please let me know what you think. Happy Magicking!
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