For the Health Insurance by Braymingo

Format: Commander

Commander: Bob, Reluctant HYDRA Agent

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 34

Deck overview

This mono-black deck leverages Bob, Reluctant HYDRA Agent as a low-cost, self-bouncing engine that repeatedly drains each opponent for 2 life and gains 2 life whenever he attacks alone. Because Bob returns to hand on every attack, he dodges sorcery-speed removal and battlefield sweepers, repeatedly triggering leaves-the-battlefield, enters-the-battlefield, and Villain mechanics like Baron Strucker, HYDRA Overlord and Doom Reigns Supreme. A redundant suite of group slug and lifegain-punishment permanents—including Polluted Bonds, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Enduring Tenacity, and Great Unclean One—amplifies this steady trickle of life loss into a lethal table-wide clock. Continuous card velocity from Dark Confidant, Darkstar Augur, and Black Market Connections maintains resource parity, while asymmetric board wipes like Toxic Deluge clear blockers for Bob to attack unimpeded. The deck concludes games around Turn 8 through accumulated attrition, a massive Gray Merchant of Asphodel devotion swing, or Repay in Kind.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Amonkhet Raceway
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archenemy's Charm
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Baron Strucker, HYDRA Overlord
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Bob, Reluctant HYDRA Agent
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Cabal Paladin
  • 1 Castle Locthwain
  • 1 Caustic Bronco
  • 1 Crashing Drawbridge
  • 1 Crimson Cowl, Master of Evil
  • 1 Crossbones, Malicious Mercenary
  • 1 Crypt Ghast
  • 1 Dark Confidant
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dark Tutelage
  • 1 Darkstar Augur
  • 1 Decode Transmissions
  • 1 Decorum Dissertation
  • 1 Doom Reigns Supreme
  • 1 Dread Presence
  • 1 Enduring Tenacity
  • 1 Essence Pulse
  • 1 Extinction Event
  • 1 Fatal Push
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Great Unclean One
  • 1 HYDRA Infiltration
  • 1 Jet Medallion
  • 1 Keen Duelist
  • 1 Lavaspur Boots
  • 1 Leech Collector // Bloodletting
  • 1 Leechridden Swamp
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Loyal Subordinate
  • 1 Mai, Scornful Striker
  • 1 Morlun, Devourer of Spiders
  • 1 Muraganda Raceway
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Ninja Teen
  • 1 Parker Luck
  • 1 Polluted Bonds
  • 1 Rat King, Pale Piper
  • 1 Rat King, Verminister
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Repay in Kind
  • 1 Sanguine Bond
  • 1 Scheming Silvertongue // Sign in Blood
  • 1 Sheoldred's Edict
  • 1 Silent Arbiter
  • 1 Skateboard
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 South Wind Avatar
  • 1 Starscape Cleric
  • 26 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 The Darkness Crystal
  • 1 The Frightful Four
  • 1 Tinybones Joins Up
  • 1 Tombstone, Career Criminal
  • 1 Tome of Legends
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Tragic Trajectory
  • 1 Twilight Prophet
  • 1 Villainous Wrath
  • 1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
  • 1 War Room
  • 1 Witch of the Moors
  • 1 Witch's Cottage
  • 1 Withering Curse
  • 1 Withering Torment