Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance
Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance
Legendary Creature — Bear Spirit · {2}{W/B}{W/B} · Black/White commander
Whenever Hei Bai enters or attacks, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Hei Bai.
When Hei Bai leaves the battlefield, put its counters on target creature you control.
Build a Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance deck →
What Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · attackWhenever Hei Bai enters or attacks, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Hei Bai.
- Triggered ability · otherWhen Hei Bai leaves the battlefield, put its counters on target creature you control.
What a Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance deck needs
Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and tokens to sacrifice (the commander is a sacrifice outlet)
- blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
- counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
- haste, evasion and protection for the commander, and extra combats (its own attack is the engine)
The Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 6× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 16× Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 4× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- 6× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
Best cards for Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Lavaspur Boots1 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Haunted Cloak3 mana
- Sword of Vengeance3 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd2 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Flickerwisp3 mana
- Touch the Spirit Realm3 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Distinguished Conjurer2 mana
- Felidar Guardian4 mana
Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- Nurgle's Rot1 mana
- Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization6 mana
- Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead5 mana
- Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
- Hildibrand Manderville // Gentleman's Rise2 mana
- Edgar, Charmed Groom // Edgar Markov's Coffin4 mana
- Exquisite Huntmaster4 mana
- Grixis Slavedriver6 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Knight of the White Orchid2 mana
- Spirited Companion2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
- Loran of the Third Path3 mana
Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion6 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- On Wings of Gold4 mana
- Ninja Teen3 mana
- Shadowspear1 mana
- Bilbo's Ring3 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion3 mana
- Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion3 mana
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Grateful Apparition2 mana
- Metastatic Evangel2 mana
- Scheming Aspirant2 mana
- Generous Pup2 mana
- Martyr for the Cause2 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Damn2 mana
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Kaya's Wrath4 mana
Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →
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