Bruce Banner / The Incredible Hulk is a modal double-faced card that plays two very different games at once. The Banner front is a one-mana commander that draws cards, while the Hulk back is a Gruul beater that keeps taking extra combat steps. Fold blue’s card draw into a Gruul stompy shell and you get a Temur deck that ramps hard, protects its threat, and closes the game through commander damage.
Quick answer: Cast Bruce Banner early, ramp toward six mana, flip to The Incredible Hulk at sorcery speed, then attack while pinging your own Hulk with Caltrops so its enrage trigger grants a +1/+1 counter and an extra combat. Make the Hulk indestructible while it keeps taking damage and the combats chain until the table is dead.
How the commander flips and why the colors are Temur
Bruce Banner comes down for a single mana and turns your excess mana into cards at a 2:1 ratio. That draw engine is the reason blue joins the Gruul back half, giving you a Temur mana base with counterspells and card advantage layered on top of a beatdown plan.
You transform Banner into The Incredible Hulk at sorcery speed. The flip works even if Banner still has summoning sickness, and you can transform on the same turn you activated the draw ability. The Hulk back costs six mana on its own, so you need a real ramp package to reach it reliably. Because this is an MDFC, you can also just cast The Incredible Hulk outright without ever playing Banner. Commander tax applies to the whole card, not to each face separately.
Moonmist is the exception that lets you flip on the cheap. Without it, plan your mana around paying full price to get the 8/8 onto the board.
The win condition: enrage and infinite combats
The Incredible Hulk is the deck’s primary kill. Its extra combat ability keys off damage. Every separate source of damage that hits the Hulk is an enrage trigger, and each trigger adds a +1/+1 counter and a new combat step.
That interaction is why chump blocking barely slows you down. A blocker that deals combat damage to the Hulk simply hands you another counter and another combat. As an 8/8 that only grows, it threatens lethal commander damage in a couple of swings.
The loop goes infinite when the Hulk is indestructible but still takes damage while attacking. Give it indestructibility, guarantee it receives a point of damage each combat, and the combat steps repeat with no natural end. That is the fastest path to wiping the table in one turn.
Extra-combat and enrage enablers
Caltrops is the standout piece. It pings the Hulk as it attacks, which forces the enrage trigger without needing an opponent to block. The +1/+1 counter from that trigger offsets the point of damage, so the net life total on your Hulk stays neutral and your only concern is getting through blockers.
| Enabler | Role |
|---|---|
| Caltrops | Pings the attacking Hulk to force an enrage trigger; the +1/+1 counter cancels the damage. |
| Pyrohemia | Backup pinger, but it costs mana per activation, damages everything, and cannot be tutored here. |
| Anzrag, the Quake-Mole | Backup commander that chains combats when opponents block it, with a built-in lure to keep combats coming. |
Anzrag doubles as a second threat. Even when it is not the loop, it pressures opponents’ removal and gives you another extra-combat engine if the Hulk gets answered.
Image credit: Wizards of the Coast
Protection and damage doublers
Your threat is only as good as your ability to keep it alive through a swing. Standard Gruul combat tricks cover most of that job, and a few artifacts and creatures supply the indestructibility half of the loop.
- Heroic Intervention, Tyvar’s Stand, and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping protect the Hulk during combat.
- Strength of Will adds another instant-speed layer of defense.
- Darksteel Plate, Anara, Wolvid Familiar, and Guardian Augmenter supply indestructibility to keep combats chaining.
- Blue’s suite of counters, from Counterspell to Swan Song to An Offer You Can’t Refuse, guards your turn.
Ramp and the mana base
Reaching six mana quickly matters because the Hulk back is a six-drop, and every extra mana past that fuels Banner’s draw. Load up on early accelerants and green ramp spells so you can flip on curve.
- Mana dorks: Birds of Paradise, Bloom Tender, Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fanatic of Rhonas.
- Rocks: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Thought Vessel.
- Ramp spells: Cultivate, Farseek, Nature’s Lore, Rampant Growth, Three Visits.
- Cost reducers: Goblin Anarchomancer supports the Gruul side of your curve.
The land base leans on shocks, checklands, and Triomes to hit all three colors, with fixing like Command Tower and Exotic Orchard smoothing awkward hands. Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel let you keep the extra cards Banner draws.
How to know the loop worked
You have the loop when each combat produces a fresh combat step and a growing counter total with no life loss on your side. If it stalls, the usual culprits are a missing indestructibility source, no damage reaching the Hulk that turn, or a removal spell that answered the creature before the trigger resolved.
Where the deck lands on the power scale
This build sits comfortably in Bracket 3 territory, but the right opening hand can win as early as turns three or four, which pushes it toward Bracket 4 tables. Think of it as a tweener that can overperform against slower pods and feel a touch behind against fully tuned ones.
The through-line is simple. Banner buys the cards and the mana, the Hulk provides the engine, and pingers plus indestructibility turn a single big attacker into a repeatable finisher. Build around protecting that creature and feeding it damage, and the rest of the Temur package falls into place.
