Polukranos RebornPolukranos Reborn | Art by David Auden Nash

With Mirage's release in 1996, a group of cards was printed that changed the game forever: Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond, Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor, Phyrexian DreadnoughtPhyrexian Dreadnought, and Dark RitualDark Ritual; all cards that are still played in Commander today.

There is one card, however, that captured my attention: Asmira, Holy AvengerAsmira, Holy Avenger.

This card dangled the idea of "Selesnya Aristocrats" in front of me for years, and for years I couldn't crack it.

That was, of course, until March of the Machine introduced a commander that presented a solution to my problem: Polukranos RebornPolukranos Reborn.

The front side of Polukranos is lackluster, but the back side shines. On its face it seems like a Hydra typal deck, but what would happen if we paid into the X for our Hydra spells? Most would enter and immediately die, triggering our commander to create two Hydra tokens.

That seems okay, but what if we had a FecundityFecundity in play? Or a Renewed SolidarityRenewed Solidarity? Or an Enduring RenewalEnduring Renewal?

According to EDHREC, there are only 234 decks that fit the archetype of Selesnya Aristocrats, with the most popular commander being the aforementioned Asmira, Holy AvengerAsmira, Holy Avenger. Polukranos RebornPolukranos Reborn leads a mere 37 of the 234 decks in the database.

Let's get cooking.

Category #1: The Hydras

Even though this deck operates as an Aristocrats deck, it needs the appropriate amount of Hydras to run smoothly.

Here are the Hydras that enter as 0/0s if we don't put mana into their X costs:

• CapricopianCapricopian
• Feral HydraFeral Hydra
• Genesis HydraGenesis Hydra

• Goldvein HydraGoldvein Hydra
• Hooded HydraHooded Hydra
• Hungering HydraHungering Hydra
• Lifeblood HydraLifeblood Hydra
• Mistcutter HydraMistcutter Hydra
• Neverwinter HydraNeverwinter Hydra

• Primordial HydraPrimordial Hydra
• Rampant RejuvenatorRampant Rejuvenator
• Steelbane HydraSteelbane Hydra
• Vastwood HydraVastwood Hydra
• Wildwood ScourgeWildwood Scourge
• Wren's Run HydraWren's Run Hydra

The best thing about these Hydras is that we can use their abilities in the late game if we need to. A couple of examples: Genesis HydraGenesis Hydra is one of the classic "Commander staples" from 2015 that can grant insane value, CapricopianCapricopian is a fun political tool, and Hooded HydraHooded Hydra can come down as a morph creature in the early game and provide 1/1 Snakes later on.

With our commander transformed, we can cast these Hydras for one or two mana, generating two 3/3 Hydra tokens and triggering any other death effects we may have in play.

Category #2: Dies Triggers

Since our many Hydras are meant to die, I loaded this deck up with as many death triggers as possible.

• FecundityFecundity draws cards when any creature dies, and even though it's symmetrical, opponents tend to like the extra value it brings.
• Martyr's BondMartyr's Bond acts as the white version of Dictate of ErebosDictate of Erebos in this deck, as everyone will be forced to sacrifice a creature when one of ours dies.
• Enduring RenewalEnduring Renewal returns creatures to our hand when they die, allowing us to have explosive turns.
• Anafenza, Unyielding LineageAnafenza, Unyielding Lineage either grows by +2/+2 or creates 2/2 Spirit tokens when a nontoken creature dies under our control.
• Luminous BroodmothLuminous Broodmoth brings our Hydras right back to trigger our "death effects" all over again.
• Spinner of SoulsSpinner of Souls spins us into a new creature when one dies (pun intended).
• The MasamuneThe Masamune doubles up all of our death triggers if it's equipped.

SkullclampSkullclamp is this deck as well, and while it's not as useful for our Hydras that enter and immediately die, it's too good of a card to exclude in this strategy (especially when we're creating expendable Hydra tokens every turn).

Category #3: Recursion

Our creatures will die often, and that means we need a solid recursion package to ensure we can keep the engine running. This deck's package is pretty sweet:

• Valkyrie's CallValkyrie's Call will immediately return our Hydras when they die as flying Angels.
• Smile at DeathSmile at Death can recur two Hydras per turn with +1/+1 counters on them.
• Abiding GraceAbiding Grace returns a one-mana Hydra to play on our end step.
• Hourglass of the LostHourglass of the Lost can return a huge number of creatures in one go.
• Sun TitanSun Titan recurs one permanent of our choice when it enters and attacks.
• Raise the PastRaise the Past can reanimate a full graveyard of Hydras, as can Storm of SoulsStorm of Souls.
• Creeping RenaissanceCreeping Renaissance returns all of our creatures from our graveyard to our hand, allowing them to be cast again.

Okay, so we can reanimate our Hydras, but how do we win?

Category #4: The "Secret Spice"

Outside of our "combat damage with a bunch of Hydras" plan, we have a couple of ways to go infinite in this deck.

First, we have Nim DeathmantleNim Deathmantle and Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar.

These two cards are notorious for their combo potential, but with our commander being transformed, we receive two 3/3 Hydra tokens whenever a nontoken Hydra dies. This means we can sacrifice both tokens to Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar to generate the mana needed to return a creature with Nim DeathmantleNim Deathmantle. This process will grant us a net gain of one 3/3 token each time, allowing us to generate an infinite number of 3/3 tokens.

This might seem like a boring way to win, but with all of our death triggers in play, it'll make the turn feel more like a finely tuned Rube Goldberg Machine than anything else.

Our second combo involves Enduring RenewalEnduring Renewal and TanglerootTangleroot.

All we need for this to work is a one-mana Hydra in hand; let's say it's CapricopianCapricopian. We cast CapricopianCapricopian for one green mana, and immediately gain one green back from TanglerootTangleroot. CapricopianCapricopian will die, creating two 3/3 Hydra tokens and returning to our hand thanks to Enduring RenewalEnduring Renewal. Rinse, repeat.

This combo will also grant us an infinite number of 3/3 tokens, but in a more interesting way (in my opinion).

Closing Thoughts

That brings us to the end of this week's edition of Bottom of the Barrel! I hope you have enjoyed exploring this lesser-played commander/theme pairing with me! This was a super fun build, and while it seems extremely fragile, it's definitely something I'm looking forward to trying in paper.

Check out my deck list below!

Polukranos Reborn Commander Deck List