Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Strong, the Brutish Thespian
Strong, the Brutish Thespian
Legendary Creature — Mutant Berserker · {4}{G}{G} · Green commander
Ward {2}
Enrage — Whenever Strong is dealt damage, you get three rad counters and put three +1/+1 counters on Strong.
You gain life rather than lose life from radiation.
Build a Strong, the Brutish Thespian deck →
What Strong, the Brutish Thespian 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 · otherWhenever Strong is dealt damage, you get three rad counters and put three +1/+1 counters on Strong.
- Keyword · wardward
- AbilityYou gain life rather than lose life from radiation.
What a Strong, the Brutish Thespian deck needs
Plays as voltron. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- ways to damage it — fight, pingers and blockers (each damage event grows it)
- rad counter payoffs (radiation gains you life)
The Strong, the Brutish Thespian deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 10× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 12× Refill your hand
- 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 10× A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
Best cards for Strong, the Brutish Thespian
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.
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Inquisitorial Rosette2 mana
- Kodama of the West Tree3 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma4 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Dragon Throne of Tarkir4 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Branching Evolution3 mana
- Hardened Scales1 mana
- Ozolith, the Shattered Spire2 mana
- Kami of Whispered Hopes3 mana
- Benevolent Hydra2 mana
- Michelangelo, Weirdness to 112 mana
- The Earth Crystal4 mana
- High Score3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Beast Within3 mana
- Nature's Claim1 mana
- Emerald Charm1 mana
- Naturalize2 mana
- Origin of Metalbending2 mana
- Natural State1 mana
- Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
- Archdruid's Charm3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
- Worldly Tutor1 mana
- March of Burgeoning Life1 mana
- Archdruid's Charm3 mana
- Chord of Calling3 mana
- Eldritch Evolution3 mana
- Summoner's Pact0 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Needle Storm3 mana
- Hurricane1 mana
- Nevinyrral's Disk4 mana
- Season of Gathering6 mana
- Gale Force5 mana
- Corrosive Gale1 mana
- Tropical Storm1 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Beast Whisperer4 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Elemental Bond3 mana
- Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Guardian Augmenter3 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Asceticism5 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Incubation Druid2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Ilysian Caryatid2 mana
- Heritage Druid1 mana
- Llanowar Tribe3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
- Crashing Drawbridge2 mana
- Ozolith, the Shattered Spire2 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
- Enduring Vitality3 mana
- Kami of Whispered Hopes3 mana
- Oketra's Monument3 mana
- Assault Formation2 mana
- Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse2 mana
Combos with Strong, the Brutish Thespian
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Strong, the Brutish Thespian is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Walking Ballista108 decks
- Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Triskelion16 decks
- Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Deathbringer Thoctar