On the other hand, we feel as though it’s time to let Protean Hulk off the leash. A number of factors led to this decision. Support within the community has been tilting toward Protean Hulk for quite some time. Inside the Rules Committee, we have been leaning in that direction for a while as well, but didn’t have enough of a consensus. Now we do. We acknowledge that the card will be strong, but are of the opinion that it won’t be the centralizing factor it once would have been. Back when Protean Hulk was banned, both creatures and graveyard control were nowhere near as strong as they are today. We know combo possibilities exist with the card, but they need to be specifically built around, so to us it becomes a great value card instead of a dangerous combo piece in casual environments. We suspect that Protean Hulk will be much like Kokusho, the Evening Star when it was unbanned: powerful but not broken in the current Commander landscape.

The real question is why Hulk (and for that matter, Metalworker) got unbanned before Painter's Servant.

To be fair there are a few cards that need to go away before Painter's Servant gets unbanned.

Though on a selfish side, PS will BREAK my Teysa Exile deck.

It is inconceivable to me that Hulk isn't a problem in a format where Lark, Karmic Guide, Body Double, Dark Mike, Kiki-Jiki, and Phyrexian Delver are all staples, yet Servant would be a problem in a format where Iona is hated out on arrival and every other problematic card is unplayable.

Also, I want it legal for my 8.5 Tails deck, even though it makes some of my swords of dogs and cats useless. It'll also be nice if/when I finally get around to building my Circu, and Treva decks.

these are all fantastic things you guys are telling me. Now my next thing is what do I do about it since my entire play group switched to building around the flash hulk combo.

Oh I'm not saying Hulk isn't a problem at all... Just that there are quite a few cards that PS breaks fairly easily and what may seem innocently, but still is horrible. Teysa, Orzhov Scion plys any 3 white creatures (PS naming black) is one of them.

Servant in teysa is hardly a problem.

You can achieve similar results already with Darkest Hour. I like pairing it with Phyrexian Plaguelord

4/15/2013: Affected creatures lose all other colors and are mono-black.

5/1/2008: This ability doesn't overwrite any previous colors. Rather, it adds another color.

these are all fantastic things you guys are telling me. Now my next thing is what do I do about it since my entire play group switched to building around the flash hulk combo.

No, you can't do the same with Darkest Hour. Darkest Hour turns the creatures black and removes all other colors. Painter's Servant ADDS black to the colors. Very key difference, especially with Teysa, Orzhov Scion.

From the Gatherer rulings on Darkest Hour:


For comparison, Painter's Servant has:

yes you can
Teysa says to create a white token whenever your black creatures die.
Darkest hour makes these tokens black
You can then sac them to any available ability without end.
So, you can't sac 3 white creatures to Teysa's ability, but I can sac to Phyrexian Plaguelord as much as I want to clear the board of any creatures I can target.