(Strong, the Brutish Thespian | Art by Jason Rainville)

The Bigger They Are...

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that

It's been a long time since I've felt like making a mono-green deck, but I must admit, Strong, the Brutish Thespian has got my cauldron bubbling.

Six mana for a 7/7 with Ward 2 that gets bigger every time you hurt it, mills you cards, and gains you life? It stands not within the prospect of belief how pushed this card is!

Aye, but there's the rub: Green isn't really good at enabling Enrage or utilizing mill. So what's a Strong deck to do? Things bad begun make Strong themselves by ill, so we must find a good starting point from which to build!

So what is green good at that Strong can do?

Top 10 Green Fight Cards That Put Counters On Creatures

What! Can the devil speak true? Green is good at +1/+1 counters and fight spells?

Criteria: Cards in the green color identity that have a creature you control fight, but put a +1/+1 counter on it before it does. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair. I'll make assurance double sure, that I'm done with Shakespeare whether battle's lost or won; for now, the hurlyburly's done.

10. Malamet Battle Glyph

(1,439 Inclusions, 0% of 442,833 Decks)

The new card is in town, and it's slowly climbing the ranks. With one mana being the going rate for a fight effect, decks that want them will always be happy to see Malamet Battle Glyph, even if they don't pull the +1/+1 counter. With that said, there's going to be a ton of circumstances where you do, given that we're only talking about a single extra mana.

9. Hunt the Weak

(1,823 Inclusions, 0% of 1,700,780 Decks)

If you've ever played in a limited event, chances are you're familiar with Hunt the Weak or something similar. Which is really the reason that it's here: There's a strictly better version in Struggle for Skemfar that got pushed off this list because this had the better name recognition, and even that probably is too expensive to put in any serious decklist. Let's see if we can't find some strictly better versions ahead of us as well, shall we?

8. Outmuscle

(3,049 Inclusions, 0% of 1,700,780 Decks)

Well that didn't take long. I'm still not crazy about four mana for a fight effect and a +1/+1 counter, and indestructible doesn't really sweeten the deal for me, either. If this was an instant, I think we'd be on board, but as it is, I think I'd pass and rely on more simple, efficient fight spells instead.

So, with that in mind, what did we leave off our list by focusing on +1/+1 counters?

Top 10 Green Fight Effects That Don't Care About Counters

1. Ezuri's Predation
2. Khalni Ambush
3. Ulvenwald Tracker
4. Bushwhack
5. Prizefight
6. Frontier Siege
7. Tail Swipe
8. Primal Might
9. Prey Upon
10. Boxing Ring

While I'm not in love with most of the bottom half of this list, there's no question that these options are cheaper. The more flexible one-mana versions like Bushwhack, Tail Swipe, and Primal Might are worth consideration, Ezuri's Predation is one of the finest green board wipes ever created, and Ulvenwald Tracker would be wonderful to see in an opening hand. My favorite card on the list for Strong, however? Boxing Ring will provide ETB fights that will have our large creatures removing half the board by the time it's all said and done, all while it provides us with steady ramp.

7. Ent's Fury

(3,346 Inclusions, 0% of 835,513 Decks)

While I'm sure there will be some circumstances where we lack the creature big enough to get bigger, there's no question that Strong himself meets the requirement. In general, however, fight decks will have creatures that either are large or can easily become so, not to mention that the creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn in either case. With all that in mind, I'm more than happy to give the nod to Ent's Fury over some of the more basic one-mana options.

6. Duel for Dominance

(3,493 Inclusions, 0% of 1,700,780 Decks)

Coven is actually harder to turn on than you would think, putting it firmly in the category of Batallion for me (i.e., not good). With that said, while I'd probably include Ent's Fury over Duel for Dominance in most cases, the instant speed here helps a lot, and Coven is easier to turn on in a +1/+1 counter deck specifically.

5. Fall of Gil-galad

(5,598 Inclusions, 1% of 1,700,780 Decks)

Your first few times playing Fall of Gil-galad, you'll be tempted to make the rookie mistake of playing it down early with nothing else on the board. This does, however, negate its chapter II ability, so be careful that you're not missing one of the biggest reasons to play this card. That caveat aside, +2/+2 and a fight that will either remove a creature, draw two cards, or both is a great deal for two mana, even with having to wait three turns for it all to happen. Scry 2? That's just gravy.

4. Ancient Animus

(15,904 Inclusions, 1% of 1,700,780 Decks)

As we move along, the caveats are getting simpler and simpler, as things should be. Ancient Animus will put a counter on your commander, no ifs, ands, or buts, and fight a creature. In short, it's exactly what we're looking for, and at instant speed to boot.

3. Smell Fear

(23,173 Inclusions, 1% of 1,700,780 Decks)

But why settle for one counter when you could have one counter on everything? Okay, proliferate doesn't always work out that cleanly, and there will be circumstances where you need to play this, and don't have a single counter on the board. That said, there will also be circumstances where you don't need to play this, but can stack eight +1/+1 and a rad counter on your stuff if you do. That's some upside worth having.

2. Vorinclex

(Helms 848 Decks, Rank #922; 23,347 Inclusions, 2% of 1,017,275 Decks)

Can I be honest? I get why the new "no last name" Praetors from March of the Machine are popular, but I don't think they should be, outside of the Urabrask they finally gave his due. The reason? They're just way too expensive to flip, with Vorinclex coming in as the worst offender. Paying five mana to then pay four mana to flip a Jin-Gitaxias is bad enough, but paying five to then pay eight for Vorinclex? Unthinkable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm entirely aware of how great the backside of Vorinclex is. Mill ten, throw two creatures on the battlefield, put seven +1/+1 counters on things, then give a fight ability to every creature you control. It's all precisely what this deck wants to do. I even think we'll have ludicrous amounts of mana fairly often, given that we'll be milling a lot of cards and there are now several variations of Splendid Reclamation. But five mana for two lands to hand isn't enough on its own, and there are too many instances where we'll just be trying to get to eight for the sake of doing it, when we could be doing something else to actually win the game.

1. Inscription of Abundance

(30,590 Inclusions, 2% of 1,700,780 Decks)

While the life gain isn't always terribly relevant, I like every other mode of Inscription of Abundance. Two mana for two +1/+1 counters is something you'll never really be unhappy with, and an extra mana to fight is a small price to pay for the added flexibility of a charm. Five mana to do it all at once doesn't actually feel great, but if you've got mana to spare, you're not really going to be unhappy with +2/+2, removing the table's biggest threat, and gaining a ton of life, especially if you end up being able to do it all as a combat trick.

Honorable Mentions

While the temptation of both Grothama and Foe-Razer Regent do exist, I think they're honestly both trap cards in their own way, at least when it comes to a Strong deck. Outside of that, though, we've more or less covered all the fight cards we'd really think about playing, which means that there's just one subject left: How do we start dumping cards in the graveyard before we play and fight with our six-mana commander?

Top 10 Green Mill Cards

1. Life from the Loam
2. World Shaper
3. Monster Manual
4. The Mending of Dominaria
5. Golgari Grave-Troll
6. Vorinclex
7. Wrenn and Realmbreaker
8. Vivien on the Hunt
9. Grapple with the Past
10. Splinterfright

While we will be playing a ton of the various Splendid Reclamations, to include World Shaper and The Mending of Dominaria, I don't think we're really going to get to the point of being a lands deck that we need to mess with Life from the Loam. With that said, the middle ground of cards that mill and then return a land card to your hand will do just fine, Grapple with the Past being chief among them. The rest of this list feels rather underwhelming, however, with the exception of Splinterfright, which feels like it was made for this deck specifically.

Speaking of, let's take a look at the list!

Strong Mad

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Commander (1) 1 Strong, the Brutish Thespian Ramp (11) 1 Aftermath Analyst 1 Deeproot Wayfinder 1 Enter the Unknown 1 Erinis, Gloom Stalker 1 Far Wanderings 1 Harold and Bob, First Numens 1 Nissa's Pilgrimage 1 Tato Farmer 1 The Great Henge 1 Undergrowth Recon 1 World Shaper Recursion (14) 1 Bygone Marvels 1 Centaur Vinecrasher 1 Creeping Renaissance 1 Dragon Fangs 1 Druidic Ritual 1 Grapple with the Past 1 Storm the Festival 1 Tapping at the Window 1 The Mending of Dominaria 1 Timeless Witness 1 Unnatural Restoration 1 Vengevine 1 Wasteful Harvest 1 Wondrous Crucible Mill (8) 1 Blanchwood Prowler 1 Blossoming Tortoise 1 Crawling Sensation 1 Crop Sigil 1 Deathbonnet Sprout 1 Genesis Wave 1 Splinterfright 1 Teachings of the Kirin Removal (14) 1 Ancient Animus 1 Boxing Ring 1 Bushwhack 1 Cankerbloom 1 Duel for Dominance 1 Ent's Fury 1 Inscription of Abundance 1 Malamet Battle Glyph 1 Masked Vandal 1 Mutant's Prey 1 Primal Might 1 Smell Fear 1 Titanic Brawl 1 Ulvenwald Tracker Land (35) 1 Centaur Garden 1 Crystal Vein 1 Demolition Field 1 Drownyard Temple 1 Fabled Passage 1 Field of Ruin 16 Forest 1 Gallifrey Council Chamber 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Haunted Fengraf 1 Karn's Bastion 1 Khalni Ambush 1 Mariposa Military Base 1 Mosswort Bridge 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood 1 Reliquary Tower 1 Rogue's Passage 1 Tangled Florahedron 1 Turntimber Symbiosis Counters (14) 1 Bloated Contaminator 1 Dodgy Jalopy 1 Evolution Sage 1 Fall of Gil-galad 1 Increasing Savagery 1 Obsessive Skinner 1 Park Heights Maverick 1 Pollenbright Druid 1 Simian Simulacrum 1 Staff of Compleation 1 Thirsting Roots 1 Urban Daggertooth 1 Visions of Dominance 1 Willow Geist Tokens (3) 1 Old One Eye 1 Viral Spawning 1 Wurmquake

While this is definitely one of those decks where you have to mentally make sure you change gears to stop doing nonsense and instead try to win the game at a certain point, that's a simple enough thing to identify. Overall, however, the deck is good at getting cards in the graveyard, grabbing the lands back out to ramp, and putting down tons of counters on huge creatures while fighting away potential blockers. In other words, it's a solid, mid-powered-mid-range deck that is a simple kind of blast to play.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

We talked a lot about fight and +1/+1 counters today, but kind of neglected the other huge feature of Strong, the Brutish Thespian: Rad Counters. I'm completely in love with pretty much every new and returning mechanic in the Fallout Commander decks, but Rad Counters are my favorite of the bunch. How about you?

And finally, what is your favorite fight card? Does it put counters out on the board? Are you brewing or playing with Strong?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the table full of welcome to make scarce one dainty dish.

DougY

Doug has been an avid Magic player since Fallen Empires, when his older brother traded him some epic blue Homarids for all of his Islands. As for Commander, he's been playing since 2010, when he started off by making a two-player oriented G/R Land Destruction deck. Nailed it. In his spare time when he's not playing Magic, writing about Magic or doing his day job, he runs a YouTube channel or two, keeps up a College Football Computer Poll, and is attempting to gif every scene of the Star Wars prequels.