Hydras have always been mildly interesting to me. I mean, they’re usually green, so that’s a plus in my book. But most of the time, they’re just big dumb creatures and I prefer my creatures to do cool things other than just have power and toughness. Thankfully, over the years Wizards of the Coast has made Hydras that rise above being just big and dumb, enough that building a tribal deck around Hydras has become a consideration, especially once they printed Unbound Flourishing.

This “X-spell tribal” enchantment is tailor-made for a Hydra deck, but the trick is figuring out what sort of legend we should have at the helm of our Commander deck. Do we go five colors with Morophon, the Boundless or Progenitus? Do we go three colors with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, even though its trigger is very much not a combo with most Hydras with X in their casting cost? For two colors we have Ulasht, the Hate Seed, which actually seems better as a token- or Saproling-themed commander.

For mono-green we could run Polukranos, World Eater, whose special ability wants a ton of extra mana, and that’s certainly something we’d want to be doing in our Hydra decks.

Unfortunately, none of these options really cries out for us to build a Hydra tribal deck. Thankfully, Wizards has decided to fill that need with this awesome new legend from Core Set 2020—Gargos, Vicious Watcher!

I really love how Wizards R&D designed this card from top to bottom. First, let’s start with the Hydra support. While many tribal lords provide a +1/+1 boost to their respective creature types, Gargos effectively provides four times that boost for many of our Hydra cards with X in their casting cost. Assuming six mana at hand that you used to cast Gargos, that’s a floor of ten mana available to cast your Hydras. And the Hydras that don’t have a variable casting cost, you’re getting a huge mana discount with Gargos. It’s a very clever new spin on the traditional tribal “lord” ability.

Next, I love the card’s fight trigger, which could have been so much less potent. It could have just triggered when an opponent targets Gargos. It could have just triggered when an opponent targets any of your Hydra creatures. But no, it triggers when any of your creatures is targeted, and not just by your opponents, but your own spells too. This turns Gargos’s ability from just a defensive measure that discourages opponents from targeting your creatures to something proactive you can do yourself with instants and Auras that target your own creatures. I could easily see running Gargos in any heavy green deck that’s interested in playing Auras, or just generally having big creatures that opponents will want to kill with pinpoint removal. I’m definitely going to find a spot for Gargos in the 99 of my Grothama, All-Devouring deck.

Giving Gargos vigilance is a beautiful way to finish the card. Since its triggered ability can be both defensive and proactive, it’s awesome that Gargos can also attack and still be able to defend against multiple opponents. And with its size it can easily tangle with most threats you’ll see on the battlefield either in combat or from the fight trigger.

All of this combines to make Gargos a very cool and potent mono-green commander to build a deck around. Let’s get brewing!

Targeting Spells for Free

First up, I wanted a few spells I could target Gargos with for zero mana so that my opponents couldn’t assume the coast was clear if I was tapped out and had no mana available. Gather Courage, Mutagenic Growth, and Invigorate serve that purpose well. Sure, it’s only three spells, but so long as I have a card in hand, they have to worry about it. I also added Bear Umbra and Seedborn Muse as ways to untap my lands so that I’d have open mana. Bear Umbra also serves as a good way to trigger Gargos too.

Targeting Spells for One Mana

I also want one-mana spells I can target Gargos with, since there could be a chance of having one mana available the same turn I cast Gargos. I’ll also want to cast Hydras in subsequent turns, so I’ll want to be using most of my mana too. I really like Withstand Death here, since it can also double as a way to protect Gargos from mass removal. Seedling Charm is a nice way to set off the trigger, since you can either set up a regeneration shield or give Gargos trample.