Live Play Data

Mossborn Hydra

· Creature — Elemental Hydra · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

690

Decks Running

324

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

69%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

69% of drawn Mossborn Hydras are cast before the game ends, and the card appears in 324 of 8985 tracked Commander decks, concentrated among landfall and +1/+1 counter strategies.

Mossborn Hydra sits in a clear niche: landfall and counter-doubling commanders dominate its top-deck list, and nearly three in four drawn copies reach the battlefield. Across 670 tracked multiplayer Commander games, 324 of 8985 distinct decks have brought it to the table, an inclusion rate of 4%.

The draw-to-play rate of 69% is one of the more reliable signals in the data. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, later than its 3-mana cost might suggest. That reflects a pattern common to Hydras: players often hold the card until they have land-drop acceleration online, maximising the Landfall counter-doubling before committing to the battlefield. The on-curve rate of 25% confirms this: most casts arrive well past turn 3.

The data is well-distributed. 288 distinct players have brought Mossborn Hydra to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 6% of all instances. That spread makes the directional signals here more credible than a card dominated by one or two repeat pilots.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Mossborn Hydra
69% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn, later than its 3-mana cost
25% on-curve cast rate, reflecting deliberate timing around landfall
52% battlefield stickiness once cast
288 distinct players have piloted it in tracked games

First-cast turn

n=138

10%

14%

12%

38%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 3 · P75 7 · max 13

On curve 25% (20 / 138 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 34%

The "good card" funnel

690 brought · 288 players

Brought to game

690

Ever drawn

200

Reached battlefield

138

Still on board at game end

69%

Of 690 Mossborn Hydras brought to games, 200 were drawn, 138 of those were cast, and 52% of cast copies survived to the final game state on the battlefield.

≥ -3.2pp

Players who cast this card win 31% of the time (n=125) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=404).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 24% (n=55) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +5.1pp; 95% confidence interval -3.2pp to +13.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

227 instances

1.8%

Library

31.7%

Battlefield

33.0%

Graveyard

9.7%

Exile

Most Mossborn Hydras never leave the library, a structural baseline for any singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the copies that did move, the battlefield and graveyard are the most common end states, with graveyard reflecting combat and removal pressure on a creature that demands an answer.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list clusters around landfall and counter-doubling strategies, with Toph, Aesi, and Bristly Bill leading by deck count. No single commander dominates, suggesting broad appeal across any green deck that plays extra lands.

Card text

Mossborn Hydra

Creature — Elemental Hydra

Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.) This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it. Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the number of +1/+1 counters on this creature.

0 / 0

Foundations (FDN) · Rare · Illustrated by Monztre

Frequently Asked

How often is Mossborn Hydra drawn in a Commander game?

In 670 tracked multiplayer Commander games where Mossborn Hydra was in the deck, it was drawn 29% of the time. That figure is consistent with what you would expect for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 200 instances that entered a player's hand, 69% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Mossborn Hydra usually get cast?

Median first cast is turn 5.0, with a mean around 5.6 and a 75th percentile at turn 7. Only 25% of casts land exactly on curve at turn 3. Most players hold the card past the earliest opportunity, likely waiting for land-drop payoffs to come online before committing the Hydra to the battlefield. Check 34%: that is the share cast on the same turn they were drawn, confirming players are frequently choosing to wait a turn or more after drawing it.

Which commanders use Mossborn Hydra most?

The top-deck list skews heavily toward landfall and +1/+1 counter strategies. Toph, the First Metalbender, Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower lead the multiplayer list by raw deck count. Landfall commanders that play extra land-drop effects let Mossborn Hydra's counter-doubling trigger multiple times a turn, which explains the concentration among those archetypes.

Does casting Mossborn Hydra actually correlate with winning?

The win rate when cast is 31%, versus 26% when the card stays in the library (404 participations). The raw delta is +5.1 percentage points. Both buckets have enough observations to be directional, but the standard error on the delta is close to its magnitude, so treat this as an early positive signal rather than a firm conclusion. Winning Commander games involves many variables beyond any one card.

Is Mossborn Hydra legal in Commander?

Yes. Mossborn Hydra is legal in Commander and in every major constructed format tracked by Scryfall, including Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander, as it is a rare. The card was printed in Foundations (set code: fdn).

How sticky is Mossborn Hydra once it resolves?

52% of cast copies end the game on the battlefield. That is a mid-range figure. Hydras that grow very large can attract targeted removal or become trade targets in combat, which accounts for the graveyard-zone finishes in the data. The trample ability means opponents often must deal with it rather than ignore it, which likely contributes to that removal pressure.