Strong, the Brutish Thespian is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
WardEnrage — 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.
How it works : Strong, the Brutish Thespian
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If multiple sources deal damage to Strong at the same time, most likely because multiple creatures blocked it, its enrage ability will trigger only once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If lethal damage is dealt to Strong, its enrage ability triggers. Strong leaves the battlefield before that ability resolves, so you won’t put three +1/+1 counters on it. In this or any other case where Strong is no longer on the battlefield when its enrage ability resolves, you’ll still get three rad counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Strong’s last ability changes what happens when the inherent triggered ability associated with having rad counters resolves. You’ll still mill cards equal to the number of rad counters you have, and you’ll still remove a rad counter from yourself for each nonland card you milled, but instead of losing life, you’ll gain 1 life for each nonland card you milled.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Rad counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They’re not associated with any specific permanents.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Keep track of how many rad counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing them down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
Rad counters don’t go away as steps, phases, or turns end. They only go away when an effect instructs a player to remove rad counters from themselves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
There is an inherent triggered ability associated with having rad counters. This triggered ability has no source and is controlled by the active player. The full text of this ability is “At the beginning of the precombat main phase of a player with rad counters, that player mills cards equal to the number of rad counters they have. For each nonland card milled this way, that player loses 1 life and removes one rad counter from themselves.”
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
In a game using the shared team turns option, such as an Archenemy or Two-Headed Giant game, the inherent triggered ability associated with rad counters triggers once for each player on the active team that has rad counters. Each instance of that ability is controlled by one of those players.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
Any effects (such as proliferate) that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with rad counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
The cards are milled all at once, which means abilities that trigger “whenever one or more nonland cards are milled” will trigger exactly once as long as at least one nonland card was milled.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
If a player has fewer cards remaining in their library than the number of rad counters they have when the triggered ability resolves, they’ll mill as many cards as they can.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Walking Ballista
- 1Activate Strong using Walking Ballista's second ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to Strong.
- 2Strong triggers, putting three +1/+1 counters on it and causing you to get three rad counters.
- 3Repeat an arbitrarily large number of times.
- 4Activate Strong using Walking Ballista's second ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target.
- 5Repeat step 4 as desired.
Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Triskelion
- 1Activate Strong using Triskelion's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to Strong.
- 2Strong triggers, putting three +1/+1 counters on it and causing you to get three rad counters.
- 3Repeat an arbitrarily large number of times.
- 4Activate Strong using Triskelion's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target.
- 5Repeat step 4 as desired.
Strong, the Brutish Thespian + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Deathbringer Thoctar
- 1Activate Strong using Deathbringer Thoctar's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to Strong.
- 2Strong triggers, putting three +1/+1 counters on it and causing you to get three rad counters.
- 3Repeat an arbitrarily large number of times.
- 4Activate Strong using Deathbringer Thoctar's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target.
- 5Repeat step 4 as desired.
Related cards and tokens
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Strong, the Brutish Thespian
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.