Deck Forge: Zaxara, the Exemplary

Bennie Smith • March 12, 2025

Deckbuilding
Zaxara the Exemplary
(Zaxara, the Exemplary || art by Simon Dominic)

Building a Deck is Just the First Step

Hello, and welcome back to Deck Forge! In this series I choose a cool Commander deck built by a Magic creator - or occasionally my own - and compare it to the example decklist that's generated by EDHREC through analyzing all the many builds for that commander in the deck database. Checking out the differences -- and similarities -- provides insight into what makes these decks tick and hopefully highlights some fun card choices along the way!

All this is easy due to the really cool deck comparison feature from Archidekt! Simply generate the sample decklist for the commander you want to compare, import it into Archidekt, and click on the deck comparison button on the upper right hand corner of the deck you want to compare against.

For today, I nabbed one of the decks played on Episode #74 of Game Knights. In this episode, two of the Game Knights hosts, Josh & Jimmy, invited two fans to come play with them, and Allie Gier brought a really cool deck built around Zaxara, the Exemplary. I'll have a link to the YouTube video at the bottom of this article if you haven't seen it yet.

I've kicked around the idea of building a Zaxara deck myself, so I'll be curious to see what spicy stuff we might find here. Let's throw Allie's list into the forge with the heat of 3,733 Zaxara's Hydra-heavy decks from EDHREC and see what we can learn!

If you click on the Export button, you can have it import directly into Archidekt, where I saved it so I could have it be Deck B to Allie's Deck A:

A little over half of the cards are shared between the two decks, so let's check them out first.

In Both Decks

Zaxara, the Exemplary

Zaxara's got a lot going on! For four mana you get a 2/3 with deathtouch, and it taps for two mana of any one color. When you cast a spell with X in its mana cost, you create a 0/0 green Hydra creature token and then put X +1/+1 counters on it. Many Hydra spells have X in their mana cost, so you basically get two X-sized creatures for the price of one. Even better, if you cast some noncreature spell with X in the mana cost, you'll get a Hydra creature too, even at instant speed! 

Strategies that support +1/+1 counter and token strategies will obviously play nicely with Zaxara's ability. Now, let's dig into the cards that are found in both decks!

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

If you've got a fair number of Hydras or other X-spell creatures then Doubling Season, Branching Evolution, and Corpsejack Menace are going to be pure dynamite, quickly helping you build a fearsome battlefield. Herald of Secret Streams is super scary, making all your Hydras unblockable!

Inspiring Call isn't an X-spell, but it's both card draw and protection from non-exile effects that might otherwise destroy all your creatures with counters on them. If they do die, however, The Ozolith is happy to collect the counters and distribute them to another creature.

Kalonian Hydra is a Hydra but doesn't have X in its casting cost, so it won't directly benefit from Zaxara's triggered ability, but once it starts to attack all of your Hydras and other creatures with +1/+1 counters get to double those counters for more face-smashing!

X-Spell Synergies

Nexos is a super-cool card for this deck that lets you tap your basic lands for two colorless mana so long as you're spending that mana for costs that contain X. Just make sure you don't scrimp on your basic land count! Even though green decks don't normally need or want mana rocks, Elementalist's Palette is an exception since it charges up for each X-spell you cast and makes more and more mana you can spend on future X-spells.

Of course the absolute rock star of any heavy X-spell deck is going to be Unbound Flourishing, which makes all your X-spells super-powered in a way that makes you do a double-take on this card's casting cost. Is it really only three mana? If you cast this on Turn 3, and then Zaxara on Turn 4, prepare for fireworks the following turn!

Hydras

Hydras are the name of the game here, with many of them having some extra game text in addition to just being an X-spell creature. These would definitely be at the top of my list for a Zaxara deck.

Other X-Spells

Exsanguinate can be a game-ender with enough mana, especially if you've got Unbound Flourishing on the battlefield! Profane Command is like a mini-Exsanguinate with some other options to choose from depending on the game state. Stonecoil Serpent is an excellent X-spell creature with reach to protect against aerial attacks, and occasionally will just stonewall a multicolor creature that might otherwise eat your lunch. 

At instant speed, Tyvar's Stand and Repulsive Mutation provide helpful interaction while also letting Zaxara spit out a Hydra as a bonus.

Removal/Card Draw/Interaction

Beast Within provides a flexible removal option, and the 3/3 Beast it leaves behind is likely getting outclassed by your army of Hydras. Garruk's Uprising gives card draw for your larger creatures, and giving your creatures trample will be very helpful if you haven't run across your Herald of Secret Streams yet. Giving a creature haste for the turn with Lightning Greaves is going to be backbreaking when you cast a huge X-spell, letting you crash in with a huge monster you make that turn, and if you don't need the haste it can always just protect Zaxara from removal. Just be careful that the shroud ability doesn't screw up your plans for moving counters around with like The Ozolith.

Mana Ramp

These are definitely the ramp spells I'd expect in a green deck, though I might replace one of the two-mana ramp spells with a Kodama's Reach since you want to keep hitting your land drops each turn, powering up your X-spells. 

Lands

In Allie's Deck, Not Average Deck

When looking over Allie's deck more closely, it looks like she leaned more heavily on non-Hydra X-spells, relying on Zaxara's triggered ability to fill the battlefield with creatures while taking advantage of a wider variety of X-spells that do cool stuff.

Spice!

These three cards stood out as spicy choices from Allie's deck. Kruphix, God of Horizons can let you float mana from one turn to the next, building up to a bigger X-spell than you might otherwise have access to. Mutated Cultist is a wild card that I've rarely seen played; you can use it aggressively to remove counters from an opponent's creature -- or the opponent themself -- and potentially net a bump of mana. Or you could use it to drain counters from a big X-spell creature of your own that you cast earlier to make for an even larger X-spell this turn. And then there's Strionic Resonator, which can copy Zaxara's triggered ability to make an extra Hydra, or the triggered ability of any other creature that you might find useful... even Mutated Cultist!

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

Allie had a lot of +1/+1 counter synergy cards in her deck, and I especially like Kodama of the West Tree since it can bestow trample and potentially let you ramp your lands faster and make for larger and larger X-spells.

X-Spells

More nifty X-spells, the coolest of which has got to be Doppelgang, though there will be X-spell creatures of your own you won't effectively be able to target, but in a multiplayer game there should be plenty of awesome targets. Just don't forget to target at least one land for more ramp!

Interaction

Allie's got some nifty interaction choices here, with Champion of Lambholt quickly making your creatures unblockable but most smaller creatures, and Mithril Coat providing a surprise counter to a destroy effect for one legendary creature. I bet Zaxara would look mighty fine with a shiny chain coat!

Card Draw

The inclusion of Rhystic Study and Notion Thief made me think that Allie was metagaming just a smidge, knowing the hosts of Game Knights love drawing cards and playing multiple spells in a turn. Or maybe her playgroup does, too!

Mana Ramp

Allie branches out of land ramp into a fair amount of creature-based ramp as well. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds has the potential of making a bunch of mana the bigger your X-spell creatures are, and she'll draw an extra card here or there as well. Seedborn Muse is just a busted card, effectively giving you access to all your mana on each other player's turn. Allie's got a fair amount of instant-speed X-spells to take advantage of that.

Lands

In Average Deck, Not Allie's Deck

Picking a more Hydra-focused average deck makes this section much more creature-focused, though there are some cool noncreature choices too.

Spice!

Turning Zaxara into a Morphling with Pemmin's Aura can do a lot of work: you can turn each blue mana you have into two colorless mana from Zaxara for an even bigger X-spell. It can also protect enchanted creature from targeted removal. Freed from the Real can do the same sort of mana shenanigans without the protection.

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

Doubling those +1/+1 counters is always nice, so Hydra's Growth seems a solid consideration. Ozolith, the Shattered Spire provides the benefit of Hardened Scales, while also letting you activate it to add a +1/+1 counter on an artifact or creature you control, or just cycling it away if you need to dig for an answer.

Simic Ascendancy is a cheeky card, providing a ticking time bomb of a win condition that can tick off twenty counters in no time with Zaxara on the battlefield. 

Hydras

Look at all these glorious Hydras! It cracks me up that there's all these different creature types paired with Hydra: we've got a Bird (goose) Hydra, and a Goat Hydra, and even a Jellyfish Hydra! And if you're going to lean hard into that creature type, Gargos, Vicious Watcher makes perfect sense, effectively providing you an extra four mana for your X-spell Hydras, and giving you the value of a fight effect if someone targets a creature you control with a spell.

Other X-Spells

The average deck is not playing around: in addition to Exsanguinate, it's running friggin' Torment of Hailfire? Ouchie! Does anyone else pronounce that card with a Southern accent? Torment of hay-el fur. No, just me?

Of course I love to see one of my favorite X-spells of all-time, Villainous Wealth! Just make sure you're not playing that card if you don't play in-person Magic: resolving one of those over webcam is a bit of a nightmare.

It's nifty having a planeswalker as an X-spell with Nissa, Steward of Elements, and while it is notoriously difficult to defend itself outside of just having a large loyalty, the fact that Zaxara will make a Hydra when you cast Nissa covers that base nicely. 

Interaction & Mana Ramp

It's wild that the average deck runs both Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots to help out with protection and haste. I'm not really a fan of Arcane Signet in green decks, but I love seeing that Kodama's Reach. 

Lands

And there you have it! If you'd like to see the episode where Allie takes her Zaxara deck to Game Knights and throws down, you can check it out below.

Tempering The Steel

Which are your favorite cards to include in a Zaxara, the Exemplary Commander deck? Are there any other spicy tech cards you'd run that don't show up in Allie's or the example deck?

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