The Incredible Hulk Commander Deck Tech

The Incredible Hulk | Art by Tommy Arnold

I know Bruce Banner is technically the front side of this double-sided card, but for me "The Incredible Hulk" is the main event and the "face" of this Commander deck tech. My Gruul heart wants what it wants, and what it wants is for Hulk to smash!

Marvel Super Heroes releases the end of June, but we're scheduled to start previews before you know it. Luckily, we've gotten a handful of sneak peeks leading up to that, including this very cool double-sided card!

What Does Bruce Banner Do?

I'll start off with the front side, little puny Banner. A 1/1 Human Scientist Hero for one blue mana, he's got two activated abilities. One is a mana-intensive card draw engine, if you're into that sort of thing. The other transforms puny Banner into the Big Guy. To me, Bruce is here to help split up commander tax if the Hulk side dies and ends up back in the command zone.

The back side is the star attraction. Hulk is an 8/8 Gamma Berserker Hero with reach and trample and a pretty incredible enrage trigger: whenever The Incredible Hulk is dealt damage, put a +1/+1 counter on him. If he's attacking, untap him and there is an additional combat phase after this phase. Opponents will be less than enthusiastic about blocking him when he's attacking and provoking additional attack steps, so I'm including a lot of ways to poke the bear and get to smash more.

It's worth noting that growing a +1/+1 counter at a time is not nothing given the Hulk's significant starting size.

Key Cards for Bruce Banner

It's worth having a copy of Moonmist in the deck since Bruce Banner starts as a Human so you have an instant-speed way to transform into the Hulk when your opponents least expect it for just two mana.

Giving Hulk haste so you can potentially get the attacking party started a turn earlier is also a great idea. Rhythm of the Wild gives nontoken creatures you control riot, and what will sometimes be relevant is that creature spells you control can't be countered. Temur Ascendancy has nice card draw attached to the haste ability.

Gimli's Reckless Might provides a bonus fight ability to the haste, and in a flavor win Hulk alone can trigger the formidable fight trigger, which should trigger his enrage ability for an extra attack. Xenagos, God of Revels makes our big guy even bigger paired with haste.

I've got a ton of ways to trigger enrage, so buckle up. Desert sits in a land slot, letting you ping Hulk at the end of combat step. Caltrops pings any attacking creature, so once it's on the battlefield you can launch a bunch of extra attack steps with Hulk. Damage-based mass removal, like Brotherhood's End, is useful for clearing away future blockers after your first combat, untap, and attack again.

Pyrohemia lets you turn each one red mana into an extra attack step while mowing down small creatures lurking about. Speaking of little creatures, I'm also running a bunch of them that tap to deal a damage to a creature, like Gelectrode, so I won't deploy the enchantment if I've got these little bugs to ping.

In the pinger lineup I'm also running Razorfin Hunter, Cunning Sparkmage (with haste!), and the classic Prodigal Sorcerer.

The Last Agni Kai and Decisive Denial are fight spells with added utility, while Ulvenwald Tracker arranges fights for Hulk each turn.

Brash Taunter is a favorite of mine and is a brutal way to "ping" Hulk while smashing an opponent's life total. Neyith of the Dire Hunt adds a little card draw benefit when one of your creatures fight or becomes blocked, and it has an excellent triggered ability to double target creature's power until end of turn and forcing opponents to block it. If Hulk has been enraged a few times this could quickly kill with commander damage.

With all the enrage-enablers I've sprinkled in a few other creatures with enrage triggers. Ripjaw Raptor is awesome for drawing cards, while Ranging Raptors is an excellent land ramp engine.

Cacophodon's enrage trigger can squeeze an extra mana by untapping a land, or if you're forcing a block you could untap a defending creature you want to smash with Hulk. Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients makes 5/4 Dragon Spirit tokens with its enrage trigger for more smashing.

Since attacking is so important to our Hulk smash strategy, I've added in cards that revolve around combat. Azure Beastbinder is an excellent way to shrink down what might otherwise be a problematic blocker for Hulk smashing, and since it has vigilance it can join in however many extra attacks Hulk manifests. Beastmaster Ascension can quickly be turned on, making little critters big and Hulk even bigger. Bident of Thassa is an excellent card draw engine tied to attacking, and its activated ability can even be useful if you want help clearing a path for Hulk.

Toski, Bearer of Secrets provides more card draw, and being indestructible helps recover from a battlefield-sweeper, or your own efforts to deal damage to all creatures. Ohran Frostfang gives even more card draw, and the deathtouch it gives attackers makes it extremely difficult to stop the trampling, growing Hulk.

Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy and Elder Gargaroth are both excellent creatures, but having vigilance gives them the ability to join Hulk's extra attack steps.

Hulk's starting size had me pepper in cards that appreciate having a high power creature on the battlefield. Fanatic of Rhonas and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds can generate a ton of extra mana, while Greater Good can cash in Hulk if it's dying for a bunch of extra cards.

I keep looking for a place for The Earth King, and I think this is a good one since it brings a big Bear token with it and helps land ramp. Since the Hulk side is not Human, Return of the Wildspeaker can either provide an infusion of cards or a +3/+3 boost to your team to push through that last bit of damage. Spry and Mighty is a new favorite card of mine to play when playing a large number of creatures with a variety of sizes.

Rishkar's Expertise is prime card draw for big creature decks. When you have a large commander with trample, Ram Through can push through a surprising amount of damage to an opponent's life total. Witch's Clinic is a great way to offset reciprocal damage from opponents if you end up in a racing situation.

How Does This Bruce Banner Commander Deck Win?

Extra combat steps don't take much with a commander as large as The Incredible Hulk, but I do have more cards to help close things out. Both sides of You Look Upon the Tarrasque can prove to be backbreaking with an attacking Hulk depending on what defenses are arrayed against you. Irresistible Prey is a simple card, but forcing blocks on Hulk can be devastating when it keeps Hulk attacking.

Heroic Intervention is incredible at saving your battlefield from removal, but it can be game-breaking if an opponent tries to sweep the battlefield, and when it resolves you still have Hulk ready to go.

If you can't leverage victory with attacking, this deck can ramp enough lands that Doppelgang becomes another way to break open a game.

Bruce Banner Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I usually build my Commander decks for Core (Bracket 2) games, but Archidekt has evaluated this list as Bracket 4! I clicked the link to see the reasoning.

You have 2 two-card infinite combo pieces in your deck:
Bruce Banner
Caltrops
**If this is a late-game combo, your deck may be a Bracket: Upgraded (3)

I suppose this qualifies, but it's definitely fragile and involves two on-board permanents that are pretty easy to interact with.

You have 2 potential two-card infinite combo pieces in your deck (does not influence estimated bracket placement):
Doppelgang
Eternal Witness
**These are cards that can create 2-card infinite combos when specific conditions are met (usually other cards).

This is certainly a powerful late game move, but I don't think I have ways to loop this multiple times in a single turn. That said, I'm not a big combo guy, so I might be underestimating the power of Doppelgang. I think I would set this deck at Upgraded (Bracket 3), but would be open to further discussion.

If you like attacking, if you like having Hulk smash, this might be the deck for you. If you're more into combos and increasing the power of your deck, be sure to check out this cEDH approach by Harvey McGuinness:

Building Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk for cEDH

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