Protean Hydra card art

Protean Hydra

Creature — Hydra MV 1

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

Buy on TCGplayer Track your own decks
Jump to section ▾
What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.

If damage would be dealt to this creature, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it.

Whenever a +1/+1 counter is removed from this creature, put two +1/+1 counters on it at the beginning of the next end step.

Combos with Protean Hydra

The lines this card is part of, what it needs alongside it, and what the cards do together. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

6 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2009-10-01

    Protean Hydra’s last ability triggers whenever a +1/+1 counter is removed from it for any reason, not just when a +1/+1 counter is removed by its second ability.

  • 2009-10-01

    All damage that would be dealt to Protean Hydra is prevented, even if it doesn’t have that many +1/+1 counters on it. This is true even if Protean Hydra has no +1/+1 counters on it at all (and is able to remain on the battlefield because some other effect is boosting its toughness). If the amount of damage that would be dealt to Protean Hydra is greater than the number of +1/+1 counters on it, all the +1/+1 counters on Protean Hydra are removed from it.

  • 2009-10-01

    If any +1/+1 counters are removed from Protean Hydra during the end step, its last ability will trigger and set up a delayed triggered ability that will trigger at the beginning of the next end step (which is near the end of the following turn).

  • 2009-10-01

    If multiple +1/+1 counters are removed from Protean Hydra at once, its last ability will trigger that many times.

  • 2009-10-01

    If unpreventable damage is dealt to Protean Hydra, the Hydra’s second ability will try to prevent it and fail (meaning that damage has its normal results), and it will also remove that many +1/+1 counters from Protean Hydra.

  • 2009-10-01

    If a -1/-1 counter is put on Protean Hydra while it has +1/+1 counters on it, that -1/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter will be removed from it as a state-based action. This will cause Protean Hydra’s last ability to trigger.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Protean Hydra, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 1
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Zaxara, the Exemplary 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Sultai 1 deck

Every version of Protean Hydra

2 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Protean Hydra. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.