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Strong, the Brutish Thespian

Legendary Creature — Mutant Berserker

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.

CMC
6
Mana cost
{4}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
rare
Set
Fallout
Price
$0.37
EDHREC rank
#5847
Buy on TCGplayer
Strong, the Brutish Thespian card art
Strong, the Brutish Thespian turns every +1/+1 counter into a free pump trigger — the power floor is high the moment he hits the board. The cost is real: he wants a dedicated counters shell to fire consistently, and Agatha's Soul Cauldron or The Wise Mothman are doing most of the heavy lifting to make that happen.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
The Wise Mothman

The Wise Mothman

55.0% of decks · synergy 0.49

The Wise Mothman spreads rad counters to every player, and Strong, the Brutish Thespian converts each of those counters placed on your own creatures into a free pump — the two cards form an engine that generates enormous stats advantage with almost no additional investment.

02
The Master, Transcendent

The Master, Transcendent

39.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

The Master, Transcendent makes Dalek tokens and proliferates aggressively, giving Strong, the Brutish Thespian a constant stream of +1/+1 counters to trigger off and turning what would be incremental value into a runaway board state.

03
Agent Frank Horrigan

Agent Frank Horrigan

15.1% of decks · synergy 0.15

Agent Frank Horrigan rewards going wide with big creatures, and Strong, the Brutish Thespian slots in as a force multiplier — every counter placed anywhere on your board becomes a stat boost that compounds Frank's already-threatening combat math.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the only format where Strong, the Brutish Thespian is doing real work — the counters synergies he rewards are a Commander-native archetype with deep support, and 100-card singleton means the decks that want him can reliably find the pieces. Legacy and Vintage are both legal but irrelevant; no competitive shell there is spending resources on a five-mana Fallout creature when faster, more consistent threats exist. Oathbreaker is legal and theoretically functional in a counters build, though the smaller deck size and faster pace of that format squeeze his value.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.37 bulk tier

At $0.37, Strong, the Brutish Thespian is deep bulk — a near-zero barrier to entry for any counters build that wants him. Bulk rares tied to a single parasitic theme rarely climb unless a pushed new commander drives demand, so treat this as a cheap pickup now rather than a spec.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.