Commander blueprint · Marvel Super Heroes

How to build Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk untaps and attacks again every time he is damaged mid-combat, so this build fills its slots with instants aimed at your own commander, and the smallest of those hits cost him nothing at all.

Art by Tommy Arnold

The flip is the haste The Incredible Hulk does not have

Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk is a modal double-faced card, so the Hulk can come straight out of the command zone for . He has no haste, though, and a creature that arrives this turn cannot attack this turn. Transforming works differently. The Hulk is the same permanent Bruce was, so if Bruce has been under your control since your turn began, the Hulk that replaces him can attack as soon as the flip resolves. The flip can only be activated at sorcery speed, which puts it in your first main phase with combat straight after.

That decides the opening. Cast Bruce on turn one or two, when a one mana creature costs you almost nothing, and flip him in the first main phase of the first turn you have six mana. Twelve ramp cards aim at that turn. The turns in between are what his other ability is for: and a tap draws X, so four mana draws two and six draws three. When the choice is three cards or the Hulk, take the Hulk unless your hand is empty. A turn of drawing is three cards, and a turn of combats can be a player.

Commander tax changes the order after the first death. Tax is paid on casting, and the flip is never cast, so it costs six however many times he has died. Bruce himself goes to three, then five. A recast Bruce is new to the battlefield, so flipping him that same turn makes a Hulk who still has to wait. Casting the Hulk directly for eight makes him wait the same single turn, and then he attacks with every land untapped for the combat instead of six of them spent on the flip. With Swiftfoot Boots already out, the direct cast wins outright: equip them for and he attacks that turn.

One point of damage costs him nothing, and a Lightning Bolt costs him two

Each time the Hulk is dealt damage he gains a +1/+1 counter, so what a card really costs him is its damage minus that counter. A single point is covered completely: he takes 1 and gains 1 toughness. Two damage leaves him one toughness worse off until the turn ends, and three leaves him two worse.

The counter also arrives late. The damage is dealt, the game checks for lethal damage, and only then does the trigger resolve and add the counter, so a hit that would kill him before the counter still kills him. From 8/8 that works out cleanly. One point at a time never kills him, however many land in a turn. Two points at a time is safe six times, and the seventh kills him. A third Lightning Bolt in one turn is fine and a fourth is not. Damage leaves at the end of the turn and the counters stay, so a Hulk who took six hits today starts tomorrow as a 14/14.

That is why the list leans on ones. Spikefield Hazard, Pyrohemia, Starstorm cast with X at 1, Fire // Ice split between him and something else, Inferno Titan dividing its 3 so that 1 lands on him, and the tap ability of Hawkeye, Avenging Archer are six cards that start a combat for free. Lightning Bolt and Abrade are the two threes, and they earn their slots as removal first. A fight hurts him by the power of whatever he fights, which is why Ulvenwald Tracker, Pounce and Tail Swipe point him at the small creature, and a blocker with deathtouch kills him through any number of counters.

Two cards change the sum. Hardened Scales adds a second counter to every trigger, so a two point hit becomes free as well. Strength of Will gives him indestructible until end of turn and puts as many counters on him as the damage he took, on top of his own, so each hit leaves him bigger than it hurt him. Darksteel Plate, Mithril Coat, Heroic Intervention, Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Tyvar's Stand give indestructible too, and with any of them on him the limit stops being his toughness and becomes how much red mana you have left for Pyrohemia.

Panther Habit is the card that looks made for him and switches him off. It prevents the damage and turns it into counters, and damage that is prevented is never dealt, so the Hulk never untaps and no combat follows.

No main phase comes between the extra combats, so every enabler is an instant

The trigger adds a combat phase and nothing else. There is no main phase between one combat and the next, so nothing at sorcery speed can be cast while the Hulk is attacking, and a card that damages him from your main phase only gives him a counter. Every damage card in this list passes that test. Fiery Confluence would be ideal on paper, since three separate points to every creature would be three combats, but it is a sorcery and it is not here. Savage Swipe, the one mana fight, is out for the same reason. Pounce, Tail Swipe and Inscription of Abundance are the fights you can cast in combat, the Stomp half of Bonecrusher Giant is an instant, and Ulvenwald Tracker fights as an ability you can use in any step.

The other half of the rule is mana. It empties at the end of every step and phase, so mana made in a main phase is gone before blockers are declared. Flip in the first main phase with six lands and keep the rest untapped. Each red you hold is a Pyrohemia activation, each is an Ulvenwald Tracker fight, and pays for Neyith at the start of each combat. The best moment to spend the rest is after blockers are declared. He is still attacking, the counter lands before combat damage, and you already know what is in his way. The end of combat step works too, because he stays an attacking creature until it ends.

Your own sweepers are the engine, so the ramp is lands and not elves

Kozilek's Return, Fiery Cannonade, Volcanic Fallout, Starstorm and Pyrohemia all damage creatures across the whole battlefield. Five of them is more than most decks run, and here each one cast while the Hulk attacks is an extra combat that also clears away tokens and small blockers. They hit your side too, so every creature in the list either survives two damage or has already done its job. Bonecrusher Giant, Hawkeye, Neyith, Ohran Frostfang and Inferno Titan all have three toughness or more. Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elves, Eternal Witness and Snapcaster Mage do their work as they enter or as they leave. Ulvenwald Tracker is the one real loss, and sometimes a sweep costs you the fight engine.

The same rule shapes the ramp. Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise would bring the flip a turn sooner and then die to the first sweep, so nine of the twelve ramp cards put a land onto the battlefield instead, and the other three are Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and Talisman of Impulse. Bruce is a 1/1 as well, so none of the sweepers is worth casting before he flips.

Neyith makes every blocked attack the start of another combat

Neyith of the Dire Hunt has a trigger at the beginning of combat on your turn, and every extra combat has a beginning of its own. Pay and the Hulk's power doubles until end of turn, and he must be blocked this combat if anyone is able to. Whatever blocks him deals its damage to him, and if it has any power, that damage is the next combat. Neyith also draws a card whenever your creatures become blocked or fight, so the forced block pays for itself, and so does every Pounce and every Ulvenwald Tracker fight.

The numbers climb fast. The first doubling makes him 16. If the blocker hits him, the counter makes that 17, and the next combat's doubling makes it 34. Ohran Frostfang makes the blocks worse for them. It gives your attacking creatures deathtouch, and a trampler with deathtouch has to assign only 1 damage to each blocker, so almost all of those 34 go through to the player. Ohran also draws a card each time one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player. The defence is a blocker with no power, which deals no damage and so starts no combat. A table that knows the deck keeps its 0/1 tokens for him. If nobody has a creature able to block, the requirement lapses and he connects for the full 16.

His power is also the card draw, and one of those draws is not optional

Four cards in the list draw by the Hulk's size. Return of the Wildspeaker draws cards equal to the greatest power among your non-Human creatures, and the Hulk is a Gamma Berserker rather than a Human, so it draws eight or more at instant speed and can wait for an opponent's end step. Rishkar's Expertise draws the same number at sorcery speed and then casts a spell with mana value 5 or less for free. Momentous Fall turns a removal spell aimed at him into cards: sacrifice him in response, draw his power, gain his toughness in life, and send him to the command zone as you would have anyway.

Hunter's Insight is the one to count before casting. It draws cards equal to the combat damage he deals to a player, every time he deals it that turn, and the draw is not a may. Neyith's doubling also lasts until end of turn, so two connections at 16 and 34 would draw close to fifty cards and can empty your library. Cast it on a turn of one or two plain attacks, where each hit is nine or ten cards.

Swiftfoot Boots, and never Lightning Greaves

Protection on this commander has a job most protection does not: it has to leave him open to your own spells. Swiftfoot Boots give hexproof, which stops only your opponents. Lightning Greaves give shroud, which stops everyone, and under them your own Lightning Bolt, Pounce, Inscription of Abundance, Ulvenwald Tracker, Hawkeye and even Neyith's doubling cannot target him. Only the five sweepers would still reach him, along with whatever decides to block. Snakeskin Veil, Blossoming Defense, Heroic Intervention, Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Tyvar's Stand are all hexproof for the same reason, and Fierce Guardianship costs nothing while Bruce or the Hulk is on the battlefield.

The Boots earn the slot twice. Equipped to Bruce on the turn he lands, they keep a 1/1 alive through the turns before the flip, and they are still on him afterwards, since transforming does not make a new permanent. After a death they are also the haste that lets a Hulk cast straight from the command zone attack on the turn he arrives.

Eight cards fetch the one land that pays for both halves of the flip

The flip asks for out of its six, which is the heaviest colour demand in the deck. Thirty six lands give 24 green sources and 24 red, plus 19 blue for Bruce, and a blue source shows up by turn two 83.1% of the time. Stomping Ground is both colours the flip needs, and eight cards can put it onto the battlefield. Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Skyshroud Claim and Wood Elves find it as a Forest, Farseek finds it as a Mountain, and Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath and Misty Rainforest fetch it outright. Skyshroud Claim takes two Forest cards, so it can bring Stomping Ground and Breeding Pool together, untapped. Ketria Triome and Spikefield Hazard are the only two lands that always enter tapped, and Spikefield Hazard is mostly there as a one point burn spell.

The core list

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Caltrops is the bracket 4 card, and it ends the game by itself

All three lists win the same way. Bruce flips, the Hulk attacks, and damage aimed at him buys the next attack. What changes from rung to rung is how many of those attacks you pay a card for.

Twelve swaps make the budget rung, at $147 against $407 for the core list. Fierce Guardianship and Cyclonic Rift are the two Game Changers in the core list and the only reason its floor is 3, and both leave, so nothing in the cheap list rules out bracket 2. Every card that damages the Hulk stays. So do Neyith, Pyrohemia, Ohran Frostfang, Hardened Scales, Strength of Will and Darksteel Plate, which means the cheap list kills the way the dear one does. The savings come out of the lands and the protection. Three fetch lands, Ketria Triome, Riverpyre Verge and Steam Vents give way to Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and four lands that always enter tapped, so five of the budget list's lands arrive tapped against two in the core list. Mithril Coat becomes Spellskite, Swan Song becomes Negate, Fierce Guardianship becomes Vines of Vastwood, Cyclonic Rift becomes Into the Roil, Sylvan Library becomes Colossal Majesty, and Snapcaster Mage becomes Prodigal Pyromancer, a second pinger in place of a second go with your burn. The flip lands later, and once it has, he is easier to kill.

Ten swaps take the list to bracket 4 and $1,034, and the card that defines that rung is not one of the expensive ones. Caltrops deals 1 damage to every creature that attacks. When the Hulk attacks, that point is his trigger, which untaps him and adds a combat, in which he attacks and takes another point. One point never kills him, so the loop runs until the table is dead or someone removes a piece, and he grows by a counter every lap. That is a two card infinite, and it is why Caltrops waits for this rung. Trophy Mage finds it, since it searches for an artifact with mana value 3, and with Caltrops already out the same search finds Darksteel Plate or Mithril Coat.

The rest of the money buys an earlier flip and a safer Hulk. Mana Vault and Ancient Tomb cover the flip's by themselves, so four coloured sources finish it, and Chrome Mox can be one of those four. Jeska's Will can pay everything in the flip but the . Force of Will and Deflecting Swat guard him, and Swat is free while you control a commander. Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora draw off the rest of the table. Eight Game Changers make bracket 4 the lowest this list can sit in. Ten cards leave to make room: Shock, Tail Swipe, Harmonize, Curiosity, Arcane Denial, Krosan Grip, Kodama's Reach, Cultivate, Rapid Hybridization and Exotic Orchard.

At every rung the Hulk needs damage to keep attacking. The core list spends a card on each extra combat, and bracket 4 spends one card on all of them.

FAQ

Can The Incredible Hulk attack the same turn Bruce Banner transforms?

Yes, if Bruce has been under your control since that turn began. Transforming does not make a new creature, so the Hulk is no more summoning sick than Bruce was. Casting The Incredible Hulk from the command zone is different: he arrives without haste and waits a turn, unless something like Swiftfoot Boots gives him haste.

How do you get extra combats with The Incredible Hulk?

Damage him while he is attacking. Each time he is dealt damage he gets a +1/+1 counter, and if he is attacking he also untaps and an additional combat phase follows the current one. There is no main phase in between, so the damage has to come from instants and abilities: Lightning Bolt, Kozilek's Return, Pounce, Pyrohemia and the pings from Hawkeye, Avenging Archer in this list, plus the blockers Neyith of the Dire Hunt forces in front of him.

Can you Lightning Bolt your own Hulk without killing him?

Yes. The counter from each hit arrives after the game checks for lethal damage, so a hit really costs him its damage minus one. From 8/8 he survives three Lightning Bolts in a turn and dies to the fourth, survives six two point hits and dies to the seventh, and never dies to one point pings however many there are. Indestructible from Darksteel Plate or Heroic Intervention removes the limit.

What bracket is this Bruce Banner deck?

Bracket 3 or higher. Fierce Guardianship and Cyclonic Rift are Game Changers, and bracket 2 allows none. There is no infinite combo in it. The budget rung swaps both out and has no floor, while the bracket 4 rung adds six more Game Changers and Caltrops, which loops with the Hulk for unlimited combats. A floor is about the cards and not the speed, so how fast your copy actually wins still decides what you declare.

Is Caltrops an infinite combo with The Incredible Hulk?

Yes. Caltrops deals 1 damage to each creature that attacks, so every time the Hulk attacks he is dealt damage, untaps and gets another combat, in which he attacks again. A single point never kills him because each one comes with a +1/+1 counter, so the loop runs until the table is dead or a piece is removed. It is a two card combo, so this build keeps it in the bracket 4 rung and out of the core list.

Is this build for Red Hulk or one of the other Hulk legends?

No. It is for Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk, number 49 in Marvel Super Heroes, the blue, red and green card with Bruce on the front. Red Hulk, from the same set, also has enrage, but his trigger shoots damage at another target instead of adding a combat. Hulk, Gamma Goliath is red and green and grows through power-up, and the Hulks in the Marvel Super Heroes Commander decks, Professor Hulk among them, are one colour each. None of them untaps to attack again.

How much does a Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk deck cost?

Bought at each card's cheapest paper printing, the core list costs $407. The budget rung costs $147 and keeps every card that damages the Hulk, and the bracket 4 rung costs $1,034, mostly for Chrome Mox, Ancient Tomb, Mana Vault and Deflecting Swat. The dearest cards in the core list are Fierce Guardianship, Misty Rainforest, Cyclonic Rift, Sylvan Library and Mithril Coat, and the budget rung replaces all five.