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Zaxara, the Exemplary

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Zaxara, the Exemplary

At a glance

  • Commander: Zaxara, the Exemplary
  • Colors: Sultai
  • Archetype: Sultai X-spell / +1/+1 counter ramp-midrange
  • Power tier: mid

Cards

Commander

Zaxara, the Exemplary — , Legendary Creature — Nightmare Hydra, with:

Deathtouch : Add two mana of any one color. Whenever you cast a spell with in its mana cost, create a 0/0 green Hydra creature token, then put X +1/+1 counters on it.

Real printed text confirmed via the CLI (--full-text). Two things matter: (1) she is a mana engine — tap for two mana of one color, which both ramps and fixes toward a single color you need; and (2) every spell with in its mana cost spits out a Hydra sized to X. commander_oracle_ok = true.

Honest framing (this is the important part). The true -in-mana-cost pool at common is real but finite. This list runs 8 spells that actually trigger Zaxara’s Hydra: Ivy Elemental, Nyxborn Hydra, Disembowel, Drain Life, Consume Spirit, Soul Burn, Condescend, and Syncopate. That is a meaningful engine — every one of those is a 2-for-1 (its effect plus a free, scalable body) — but it is not the deck’s whole plan. The core identity is a Sultai +1/+1-counters / proliferate midrange deck that uses Zaxara as a value commander and an X-spell payoff on top. If you want to think of one sentence: this is a counters/proliferate deck that happens to have a great X-spell commander, not an “all-in X” deck.

Two things the previous writeup got wrong and are now fixed:

  • Crypt Rats and Pestilence do NOT trigger Zaxara. Crypt Rats is with an activated : deal X to everything ability; Pestilence is <i class="ms ms-2 ms-cost"></i><i class="ms ms-b ms-cost"></i><i class="ms ms-b ms-cost"></i> with <i class="ms ms-b ms-cost"></i>: .... Neither has in its mana cost, so neither makes a Hydra. They are excellent standalone repeatable damage engines and are run as such — not as X-spell payoffs.
  • The list no longer references cards it doesn’t contain (no “Simic Initiate,” no “Festergloom” — the actual card is Festercreep).

Gameplan

  1. Ramp + fix turns 1–3 (dorks, Signet/Prism, green fetch-ramp) into Zaxara on turn 3–4.
  2. Zaxara’s deathtouch makes her a strong free attacker/blocker; her tap makes two mana toward whatever color you’re short.
  3. Pour mana into X-spells — the two X-hydras (Ivy Elemental, Nyxborn Hydra), the X-removal/burn (Disembowel, Drain Life, Consume Spirit, Soul Burn), and the X-counterspells (Condescend, Syncopate) — each making a Hydra on top of its effect.
  4. Snowball counters with proliferate (multiple sources) so every Hydra, graft creature, and ETB-counter body keeps growing.
  5. Close with oversized trampling/evasive Hydras and a wide counter-pumped board. Temperamental Oozewagg gives modified creatures trample; Bog Badger (kicked) hands the team menace so the fatties connect.

Key synergy lines

  • Zaxara + any X-spell = double dip. Disembowel kills a creature and leaves a Hydra. Drain Life / Consume Spirit / Soul Burn point X damage at a face or a creature, gain you life, and leave a Hydra the same size. Condescend/Syncopate counter a spell and still make a body. Ivy Elemental is doubly good — its own X counters AND a same-sized Hydra.
  • Crypt Rats / Pestilence as standalone engines. Both are repeatable “deal damage to everything” levers. Once your Hydras are counter-buffed, you can tick these to clear their board while yours survives. They are not Zaxara triggers — they’re the deck’s repeatable inevitability.
  • Proliferate as a force multiplier. Contentious Plan / Steady Progress / Courage in Crisis / Grim Affliction / Spread the Sickness bump every counter on board at once — a 5/5 Hydra and a grafted Aquastrand Spider grow together. Thrummingbird and Guildpact Informant proliferate on combat damage for a recurring engine.
  • Counters + trample = lethal. Temperamental Oozewagg gives all modified creatures trample; Bog Badger (kicked) gives the team menace; Servant of the Scale / Aquastrand Spider add to the pile.
  • Mesmerizing Dose / Grim Affliction double as removal and proliferate fuel.

Role breakdown (with counts — matched to the actual 99)

  • Lands: 37 — 20 fixing nonbasics + 17 basics (8 Forest / 5 Swamp / 4 Island). Captivating Cave & Cave of Temptation even bank into +1/+1 counters late.
  • Ramp: 15 — 7 dorks/value-ramp (Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Quirion & Sylvok Explorer, Deathbloom Gardener, Llanowar Visionary) + 5 green fetch (Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Farseek, Wood Elves) + 3 rocks (Arcane Signet, Prophetic Prism, Commander’s Sphere). Most also fix.
  • Card advantage: 9 — Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Night’s Whisper, Deadly Dispute, Costly Plunder, Vivisurgeon’s Insight, Contentious Plan (draw + proliferate), Steady Progress (draw + proliferate), Grapple with the Past (dig). Honest note: Contentious Plan/Steady Progress are light (one card each) and Grapple is selection rather than raw card advantage, but all replace themselves.
  • X-spells (Zaxara triggers): 8 — Ivy Elemental, Nyxborn Hydra, Disembowel, Drain Life, Consume Spirit, Soul Burn, Condescend, Syncopate. Each makes a Hydra sized to X.
  • Spot removal / interaction: 11 — Murder, Cast Down, Feed the Swarm, Tragic Slip, Bone Splinters, Spark Harvest, Vraska’s Fall, Disembowel (X), Grim Affliction, Mesmerizing Dose, plus the two X-counterspells (Condescend, Syncopate) for stack interaction. Drain Life / Consume Spirit / Soul Burn add further flexible reach/removal on top of the spot-removal core.
  • Mass / pseudo-wipe: 4 + 2 engines — Drown in Sorrow, Mephitic Vapors, Eyeblight Massacre, Festercreep are the one-shot -X/-X sweepers (4, in band); Crypt Rats and Pestilence are the repeatable damage engines that double as recurring board control. These small symmetric effects sweep opposing tokens and small creatures while my counter-pumped Hydras shrug them off — the deck’s inevitability lever in a color set that can’t hard-wrath at common.
  • Payoffs / threats / proliferate enablers: ~18 — Ivy Elemental, Nyxborn Hydra, Servant of the Scale, Llanowar Elite, Aquastrand Spider, Kiora’s Dambreaker, Pollenbright Druid, Thrummingbird, Guildpact Informant, Contagious Vorrac, Urban Daggertooth, Adaptive Sporesinger, Evolution Witness, Temperamental Oozewagg, Festercreep, Courage in Crisis, Bog Badger, Grim Affliction.

Manabase / fixing note

37 lands: Command Tower, all three on-color guildgates (Dimir/Golgari/Simic), Guadosalam (GU), three “choose a color” gates (Black Dragon/Manor/Sea), and a stack of any-color taplands (Rupture Spire, Transguild Promenade, Crystal/Shimmering/Hidden Grotto, Painted Bluffs, Conduit Pylons, Unknown Shores, Heap Gate, Surveillance Room, Captivating Cave, Cave of Temptation). Add the any-color rocks (Signet/Prism/Commander’s Sphere), the explorer dorks, and green basic-fetch, and total fixing sits well north of 20 — comfortably above the ~17–19 target for a three-color deck. Black-heavy X-spells (Drain Life/Consume Spirit/Soul Burn want black on X) are well supported by Zaxara’s two-of-one-color tap.

Pilot notes

  • Lead on a green dork or fetch-ramp; prioritize getting Zaxara down turn 3–4, then leave up her tap for X-spells.
  • Hold X-spells until you have mana for a meaningfully sized Hydra — a 1/1 Hydra off a cheap counter is fine, but the burn/hydra spells shine when you can dump 4–6 into X.
  • For the X-burn (Drain Life/Consume Spirit/Soul Burn), remember you must spend the colored restriction on X — pile black mana in, and Zaxara’s two-black tap helps.
  • Sequence proliferate after you’ve built counters. One Courage in Crisis or Grim Affliction late can add 6–10 power across the board.
  • Treat Crypt Rats/Pestilence and the -X/-X wraths as asymmetric: fire them when your board is counter-buffed and theirs isn’t.

Weaknesses

  • Finite X-spell density (8). Some games Zaxara is “just” a 2-mana fixer; the counters/proliferate plan and the goodstuff midrange shell have to carry. That’s by design — she’s a payoff, not the engine.
  • Symmetric damage / -X/-X effects can clip your own small dorks if you fire them carelessly.
  • No hard board wipe at common — a wide aggressive table that goes under you before counters scale is the scariest matchup. The answer is removal density (11 spot + flexible X-burn) and the repeatable Pestilence/Crypt Rats.
  • Flying defense is light; lean on Zaxara’s deathtouch as a deterrent.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

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