The Commander
: Ben-Ben deals damage to target attacking creature equal to the number of untapped Mountains you control.
Guide
Gameplan
Build a mono-red Mountains-matters deck that floods the board with basic and nonbasic Mountains, then uses Ben-Ben as a repeatable removal turret that snipes attacking creatures for huge amounts of damage. You ramp Mountains, untap them or copy Ben-Ben's ability, and either grind opponents out defensively or pivot into a big burn/aggro finish.
Strengths
- Repeatable, mana-free removal that scales with your land count and punishes anyone attacking you
- Mono-red consistency makes basic-Mountain-heavy manabases trivial to assemble and supercharges him
- Excellent political and defensive tool that discourages combat against you at no card cost
- Cheap to cast at 4 mana and immediately impactful on the battlefield
Weaknesses
- Only hits attacking creatures, so it does nothing against non-attackers, planeswalkers, or noncombat strategies
- Taps once per turn unless you invest in untap or copy effects, limiting it to one kill per cycle
- Untapped Mountains requirement means tapping lands for spells weakens the ability that same turn
- Mono-red lacks card advantage and struggles against resolved enchantments and recursive threats
Key Cards
- Caged Sun — Doubles red mana and pumps your Mountain count value while ramping you hard.
- Extraplanar Lens — Each untapped Mountain produces extra mana, accelerating you while keeping lands available for Ben-Ben.
- Thousand-Year Elixir — Lets Ben-Ben tap the turn he enters and gives him an untap to fire twice per turn.
- Sword of the Animist — Repeatedly fetches Mountains to grow Ben-Ben's damage output and ramp simultaneously.
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle — Turns your heavy Mountain count into direct damage as a wincon and rewards the lands theme.
- Kruphix's Insight style ramp like Boundless Realms — Mass-fetches Mountains to make Ben-Ben lethal-on-defense and sets up a big mana payoff.
Upgrade Path
Lean harder into untap and copy effects (Thousand-Year Elixir, Magewright's Stone, Strionic Resonator) so Ben-Ben kills multiple attackers per turn cycle. Add Mountain-doublers and fetch effects (Caged Sun, Extraplanar Lens, Solemn Simulacrum, Sword of the Animist) plus Valakut payoffs to convert lands into reach. Round out with red's best card advantage and protection like Wheel of Fortune, Deflecting Swat, and Heroic Intervention to offset mono-red's weaknesses.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle plus mass Mountain ramp dealing damage to all opponents
- ▸Large red X-burn spells like Comet Storm or Fireball fueled by a giant Mountain manabase
- ▸Equipment-based Voltron beats once Ben-Ben has cleared the path of blockers
- ▸Grinding opponents out defensively then overwhelming with token or big-creature alpha strikes
Archetypes
- Mountains-matters / Lands — His damage scales directly with untapped Mountains, rewarding land ramp and land-count payoffs.
- Control / Pillow Fort — Repeatable combat removal lets you sit back, defend, and dictate who attacks whom.
- Burn — A high Mountain count fuels Valakut and red X-spells to close games after stabilizing.
- Voltron — Ben-Ben clears blockers and attackers while you suit up another creature or himself with equipment.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
