GruulLegendary Creature — Spider Human HeroScarlet Spider, Ben Reilly
Mana value3Rank#8,884
The Commander
Web-slinging (You may cast this spell for if you also return a tapped creature you control to its owner's hand.)
Trample
Sensational Save — If Scarlet Spider was cast using web-slinging, he enters with X +1/+1 counters on him, where X is the mana value of the returned creature.
Guide
Gameplan
Ben Reilly is a Gruul beater that snowballs through his web-slinging discount: tap-and-return a fat creature to recast him for and he arrives with +1/+1 counters equal to that creature's mana value. You curve out into a high-mana ETB threat, attack with it, then bounce it on your following turn to make Ben enormous and beat in with trample. Recast loops also let you abuse the bounced creature's enter-the-battlefield value over and over.
Strengths
- Cheap, repeatable access to a large trampling commander that dodges most spot removal by returning to hand
- Bounce-to-recast naturally recycles powerful ETB creatures for extra value each turn
- Counters stick around and scale fast with counter doublers and anthems
- Gruul's premium ramp lets you deploy big creatures early to fuel huge Sensational Save counts
Weaknesses
- Needs a tapped creature in play to web-sling, so empty boards or board wipes shut him off
- Commander damage plan is fragile to edicts, -X/-X, and chump blockers without evasion support
- Returning your own creatures loses board presence and tempo if the recast gets answered
- No card advantage or interaction baked into the command zone—relies entirely on the 99
Key Cards
- Doubling Season — Doubles the Sensational Save counters so a single bounce can make Ben lethal commander damage in one swing.
- Hardened Scales — Cheaply pumps every counter Ben enters with and stacks with other proliferate/doubler effects.
- Branchwalker — Cheap creatures still fuel web-slinging, but you generally want high-MV bodies; include this only as filler—prioritize big ETB bombs instead.
- Craterhoof Behemoth — A massive-MV creature that's perfect to bounce for a giant counter count and devastating when re-cast for a finisher.
- Rampaging Baloths — High mana value to bounce while pumping out tokens, and its landfall keeps value flowing on recast.
- Temur Sabertooth — Lets you bounce your own creatures at instant speed to dodge removal and re-trigger ETBs alongside Ben's loops.
- Rishkar's Expertise — Turns a swollen Ben into a huge card-draw payoff to refill after committing creatures to the board.
Upgrade Path
Add counter multipliers (Doubling Season, Branching Evolution, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider) and proliferate to make each web-slinging cast lethal faster. Lean into high-MV creatures with strong ETBs plus self-bounce engines (Temur Sabertooth, Equilibrium) so you loop value while protecting your investment. Finish the curve with consistent ramp (Cultivate, Three Visits, mana dorks) and evasion/trample enablers like Rancor and Nylea to ensure Ben's damage connects.
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
- ▸Trampling commander damage from a counter-loaded Ben Reilly
- ▸Recurring ETB bombs (Craterhoof-style overrun) to alpha strike the table
- ▸Wide boards from token producers pumped by anthems and Ben's beats
Archetypes
- Voltron — Sensational Save stacks counters directly on Ben so trample-driven commander damage is the core kill.
- +1/+1 Counters — Counter doublers, proliferate, and anthems amplify every web-slinging cast into snowballing power.
- Blink/ETB Value — Bouncing big creatures to recast Ben effectively reuses their enter-the-battlefield abilities for ongoing advantage.
- Big-Mana Stompy — Gruul ramp deploys high-MV bombs that double as both threats and fuel for Ben's discount and counters.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GR), by popularity.
