Hello Everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at some of the strongest commanders in the format, how they work, their strengths, weaknesses, and ultimately, how to beat them. Today, we are examining a commander who initially had a lot of momentum, but it has since settled in. But those who have played against it know exactly how devastating this Raccoon can be. That's right! We are talking about Bello, Bard of the Brambles. But what does this Gruul trash panda actually do that makes it so powerful? Let's take a look.

The Commander

Bello is a three total mana 3/3 that turns every non-equipment artifact and non-aura enchantment with a mana value of 4 or greater into a 4/4 elemental with indestructible and haste. That's not the worst of it. Whenever any of these 4/4 elementals hit for combat damage, Bello gets to draw a card for each one that connects for combat damage. This can generate a ton of value, which turns into more enchantments, which turn into even more value. Before you know it, the board is overwhelmed with effects from all these artifacts and enchantments, and the game is completely out of hand. Even if Bello is removed, there is still a good chance that it can be recast right away since the initial mana value is as low as it is.

The Deck

These decks typically pick one of three lanes. They will either go with an enchantress build and ignore artifacts, an artifact/vehicle build and avoid some of the enchantments, or the good stuff strategy of taking the best from both, sacrificing synergy for raw individual power. The strategy I will focus on today combines elements of both. There are some synergy pieces for one or the other, but ultimately it wants to play the best artifacts and enchantments it can for value and use their attacking effect to refill its hand and dish out damage. With the 4/4 elementals being indestructible, there is no risk of losing them in combat. From value plays and copy effects to the more menacing damage doublers, this deck can pack a lot of punch. Here is an example of a Bello, Bard of the Brambles deck one might see in their local game store.

Bello, Bard of the Brambles | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Bello, Bard of the Brambles

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Eidolon of Blossoms
• 1 Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1 Kodama of the East Tree
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1 Pyreswipe Hawk
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sanctum Weaver
• 1 Trailtracker Scout
• 1 Wandertale Mentor
• 1 Wildsear, Scouring Maw

• Instants (6)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Starstorm

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Decimate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth

• Enchantments (18)
• 1 Asceticism
• 1 Berserkers' Onslaught
• 1 Case of the Locked Hothouse
• 1 Fiery Emancipation
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Glorious Sunrise
• 1 Gratuitous Violence
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Gruul War Chant
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Molten Echoes
• 1 Nature's Will
• 1 Path of Discovery
• 1 Primeval Bounty
• 1 Sunbird's Invocation
• 1 Thickest in the Thicket
• 1 Unnatural Growth
• 1 Warstorm Surge

• Artifacts (15)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bootleggers' Stash
• 1 Chimil, the Inner Sun
• 1 Esika's Chariot
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Rolling Hamsphere
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Impulse
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Thran Dynamo

• Lands (36)
• 11 Forest
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Copperline Gorge
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Game Trail
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Mossfire Valley
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Wooded Ridgeline

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Strengths

The strength of this deck is in its momentum. Once Bello gets enough mana to get their attackers on the board, the amount of draw and potential ramp can be enough to take on all three players at once in a lot of situations. There are a lot of enchantments like Fiery Emancipation that can multiply the damage output to the point that it won't take a lot of attacks to start removing players from the game. The 4/4 elementals also have haste, so it can be difficult for opponents to calculate how much protection they will actually need.

Weaknesses

There are a couple of weaknesses with this commander, but the biggest one is in how Bello's ability functions. If we look at another animating commander, Vihaan, Goldwaker, we can see that his ability is a triggered ability at the beginning of Combat. This means once we get into combat, the treasure tokens are going to be 3/3 creatures for the rest of the turn. That means if a player wants to stop this, it would have me in main phase one, where the Vihaan player would have priority and the ability to recast Vihaan again to keep the pressure on. Bello's ability is a static effect while it's on the field. Once Bello is removed, all animated artifacts and enchantments revert to creatures. This effectively turns every removal spell into a fog spell at the same time. The second weakness is in the mana curve. All the animated artifacts and enchantments have to be 4 mana or more. This means there will be fewer opportunities for early game plays and turns in which multiple spells are cast. It also means that the Bello deck is likely going to need to allocate more slots in their deck to lands and ramp spells to compensate for the higher mana curve, which gives the rest of the table time to get ready and brace for an attack.

Cards to Look Out For

1. The Earth King - This is a newer addition that may not have quite caught on yet, but The Earth King makes its own 4/4 creatures and tutors a basic land into play for every creature with power four or greater that attacks, not damages. Bello's Elementals are 4/4 creatures, so every elemental will trigger this. It would only take a couple of turns to empty out the deck of basic lands. This, in turn, would make the draws from the elementals that much stronger by significantly lowering the odds of drawing excess lands. It's a nasty combination.
2. Sunbird's Invocation - This might be the strongest card in this entire deck. The best way to get around the mana curve weakness is to simply get more bang for your buck. Every time Bello casts a spell from their hand, they can look at the top few cards of their library and cast one of those spells for free if its mana value is equal to or less than the original spell. If Bello can cast two spells in one turn, that would equate to four total new attackers with haste and sixteen damage on the board. That's a lot of value.
3. Asceticism - This is Bello's best answer to the whack-a-mole game that Bello players experience with their commander. Since opponents don't want to be attacked, it's logical that players will do what they can to remove Bello during combat to stop all attackers. Asceticism gives our creatures Hexproof to prevent spot removal, and we can pay to regenerate our commander if a boardwipe happens. This is the type of enchantment that we have to be on the lookout for immediately as the game starts.

How to Trash Bello

When playing against Bello, the first thing we need to determine is whether the Bello player is firmly in the lead or if there is parity. If Bello is in the lead, consistently taking Bello off the board and forcing the Bello player to waste turns burning through all of their mana to recast Bello is the way to go. If there is Parity, we have a little wiggle room. If there isn't anything particularly scary from Bello yet, like their elements in play are Solemn Simulacrum and Bootleggers' Stash, more set-up type of plays, then let our opponent attack as long as it isn't coming in our direction. This will create one of two scenarios. Either our opponents decide to not block and Bello draws a bunch of cards, or they keep things up to block and Bello is held in check at the expense of our opponents' resources.

If it is the former, then we will inevitably revert to scenario one, in which everyone works together to keep Bello off the board and returns attacks on their own turns when Bello's elementals aren't in play. The only difference is that by the time the Bello player is dealt with, our opponents will be at life totals like 22, 20, or 15 instead of near full, meaning we can keep them on the defensive. If they are blocking, they will work together to take Bello down and will have higher life totals, but they will be without as many resources. Any of these situations works in our favor as long as we can keep the attacks pointed in the right direction.

Commander Kryptonite

If you are still having difficulty bouncing Bello, consider adding these cards to the 99 of our deck.

1. Gaddock Teeg - This one might earn you some hate for the rest of the table, but it will do the trick. Until Bello can draw into their Chaos Warp or Lightning Bolt, they aren't going to be doing much to us at all, as they won't be able to cast anything that can become an elemental outside of artifact or enchantment creatures, which are not super common in the deck.
2. Bane of Progress - On other players' turns, Bello's elementals are not creatures, so a spell like Wrath of God is way less useful. Bane of Progress, however, will clear out all the artifacts and enchantments and leave Bello wide open for an attack from the rest of the table.
3. Aura Shards - It's less effective in one go than Bane of Progress would be, but it is a fantastic negotiating tool to make sure that Bello does not attack you. Later in the game, if anything crazy like Sunbird's Invocation or Chimil, the Inner Sun enters play, we have the ability to intervene and remove it on our turn.

And there you have it! That is how you take down Bello. Is there a commander giving you fits in your local playgroup? Are you not sure how to take it down? Send me an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail, and we'll try to get it on Commander Kryptonite. Until next time, happy gaming.