Magic: The Gathering — Mutant Menace Fallout Commander Deck Guide

From the hills of Appalachia to the deserts of California, the wastelands of the United States of America following the Great War are inhabited by mutants of all shapes and sizes. While you can find them almost everywhere in Bethesda's Fallout games, in Magic: The Gathering's Fallout set, these mutants are primarily found in the Mutant Menace preconstructed deck.

Magic: The Gathering – What Are Rad Counters?

Uranium fever has done and got me down.

Whether you're benevolent like The Wise Mothman or focused on conquering your playgroup like The Master, this deck offers a variety of options to menace your opponents and conquer the wastelands. So crack an ice-cole Nuka Cola and get ready to learn about your new FEV-orite deck.

Mutant Menace Decklist

Here's the full deck list, organized by card type.

Commander

The Wise Mothman

Creatures (28)

Agent Frank Horrigan

Alpha Deathclaw

Bloatfly Swarm

Cathedral Acolyte

Corpsejack Menace

Feral Ghoul

Glowing One

Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor

Harold and Bob, First Numens

Infesting Radroach

Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet

Lily Bowen, Raging Grandma

Lumbering Megasloth

Marcus, Mutant Mayor

Mirelurk Queen

Nightkin Ambusher

Piper Wright, Publick Reporter

Rampaging Yao Guai

Raul, Trouble Shooter

Screeching Scorchbeast

Strong, the Brutish Thespian

Tato Farmer

The Master, Transcendent

Tireless Tracker

Vexing Radgull

Watchful Radstag

Winding Constrictor

Young Deathclaws

Sorceries (6)

Casualties of War

Cultivate

Farseek

Harmonize

Nuclear Fallout

Rampant Growth

Instants (7)

Atomize

Biomass Mutation

Contaminated Drink

Inspiring Call

Mutational Advantage

Putrefy

Radstorm

Artifacts (10)

Arcane Signet

Contagion Clasp

Nuka-Nuke Launcher

Power Fist

Recon Craft Theta

Sol Ring

Strength Bobblehead

Talisman of Curiosity

Talisman of Dominance

Talisman of Resilience

Enchantments (8)

Branching Evolution

Fraying Sanity

Guardian Project

Hardened Scales

Inexorable Tide

Struggle for Project Purity

Vault 12: The Necropolis

Vault 87: Forced Evolution

Lands (40)

Ash Barrens

Command Tower

Darkwater Catacombs

Drowned Catacomb

Evolving Wilds

Exotic Orchard

Fetid Pools

Forest (6)

Hinterland Harbor

Island (5)

Mariposa Military Base

Mortuary Mire

Nesting Grounds

Opulent Palace

Overflowing Basin

Path of Ancestry

Sunken Hollow

Swamp (5)

Tainted Isle

Tainted Wood

Temple of Deceit

Temple of Malady

Temple of Mystery

Temple of the False God

Terramorphic Expanse

Viridescent Bog

Woodland Cemetery

Mutant Menace Commander Deck Themes

Like most other preconstructed commander decks, Mutant Menace is built around two mechanical themes, allowing you to adjust the decklist to lean into either theme as you customize your deck.

The primary theme of this deck is +1/+1 counters: Mutant Menace includes a plethora of options to add +1/+1 counters to your creatures. If left alone, they'll quickly grow from menacing to overwhelming proportions, much like how super mutants continue to grow as they age.

The secondary theme of the deck is a mechanic new to the Fallout Universes Beyond set: Radiation. Radiation, tracked with rad counters accumulated on players like poison and energy counters, force you to mill cards every turn, wearing off and sapping your life as you mill nonland cards.

While radiation counters can be painful for your opponents, the deck also comes equipped with several ways to benefit from placing rad counters on yourself.

The deck comes packed with two potential commanders, but The Wise Mothman is by far the superior choice. The Wise Mothman forms a bridge between the two themes, distributing rad counters and buffing your creatures as you and your opponents mill through your decks as a result of the rad counters' effects.

The Master, Transcendent, on the other hand, offers the ability to recur creatures from any graveyard onto your battlefield, but only on the turn that creature was milled into the graveyard.

Mutant Menace Commander Deck Analysis

Although the Mutant Menace deck clearly prioritizes the counter theme over the radiation theme, proliferate acts as the glue to bring both themes together. Spells like Inexorable Tide, Radstorm, and Contagion Clasp allow you to grow your Mutant army and further irradiate your opponents all at the same time, and reduce the need to focus on only one theme.

Your options for upgrading this deck are somewhat limited: There are only a couple of additional cards that generate rad counters, and they're outside of this deck's color identity. So you can either reduce the deck's focus on rad counters in favor of more +1/+1 counters, or you can slot in additional proliferate effects in order to boost both themes.

Underperforming Cards

Lumbering Megasloth

Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor

Piper Wright, Publick Reporter

Tireless Tracker

Terramorphic Expanse

Temple of Deceit

Temple of Malady

Temple of Mystery

Temple of the False God

Evolving Wilds

Contaminated Drink

Strength Bobblehead

Vault 87

Casualties of War

One notable idiosyncracy with the Mutant Menace deck is that the deck contains 40 lands, along with six mana rocks and three land-fetching spells, all while maintaining a pretty standard mana curve. This mana base is excessive, but it makes the deck reasonably easy to customize without deviating much from the themes, as you're finally justified removing a land or two in order to fit that cool new card you found.

Lumbering Megasloth doesn't contribute much to the deck, coming in tapped and only fitting the theme by having its casting cost reduced by the number of counters in play. This can easily be replaced with something that will generate enough +1/+1 counters that the Megasloth's 8/8 won't be valuable. Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor acts as a noble for Zombies and Mutants, but his effects don't work well together: in order for undying to be activated, you'll want him to have no +1/+1 counters, but that results in no benefit for your Mutant army.

Piper Wright, Publick Reporter and Tireless Tracker both generate clue tokens and distribute +1/+1 counters when they're sacrificed, but the only time you'll get real value out of them is when both are in play at the same time. Replace Tireless Tracker with Evolution Sage and you'll get to proliferate with each land drop instead of just buffing one creature.

You can cut six lands and only replace two, leaving four extra slots for new cards. Temple of Deceit, Temple of Malady, Temple of Mystery, and Temple of the False God can all go, along with Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds, upgrading one to an Escape Tunnel, and adding a Guildmages' Forum for a little more mana fixing and extra +1/+1 counters.

Contaminated Drink is expensive as far as card draw goes, as is Vault 87, and Strength Bobblehead isn't very good without other bobbleheads in play. Fellwar Stone and Mind Stone are both more efficient mana rocks, but even without it you should still have enough lands and ramp that you won't miss it. Casualties of War is solid removal that can hit practically anything, but for six mana you'll usually find yourself holding it waiting for the opportunity to use each option.

Mutant Menace Commander Deck Budget Upgrades

While most decks benefit from focusing on a single theme, the two themes in Mutant Menace are synergistic enough that we can focus on both.

The trick is going to be leaning into proliferate in order to increase both rad counters and +1/+1 counters, and as mentioned, there's a lot of room to work without changing the deck too much because it comes with a few more lands than you'll ever need.

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Name

Reason

Ripples of Potential

For two mana you get an instant proliferate, along with phasing out any of your permanents with counters. This is an excellent way to dodge a board wipe!

Breach the Multiverse

Thanks to the rad counters you'll be throwing out, there will be plenty of creatures and maybe some planeswalkers in everyone's graveyards, so take advantage of them by resurrecting all of your opponents' best stuff.

Simic Ascendancy

Simic Ascendancy provides a cheap way to add some extra +1/+1 counters, but it also provides an alternate win condition once you get 20 counters out with it in play. You'll be adding a lot of counters, sometimes all at once, so it shouldn't be too hard to fulfil this win condition.

Thrummingbird

Depending on your goal, Thrummingbird is either a slightly better or slightly worse version of Vexing Radgull. It won't put out any initial rad counters, but it will always proliferate.

Evolution Sage

Proliferate each time you get a land in play. That's usually only once per turn, but Cultivate, Farseek, Rampant Growth, and Evolving Wilds can all bump those numbers.

Master Biomancer

If you can get a +1/+1 counter on Master Biomancer before you start proliferating, he'll make every other creature much bigger.

Seedborn Muse

Untap every turn. With Seedborn Muse in play you can use The Master, Transcendent and Tato Farmer every turn to steal creatures and lands from your opponents' graveyards.

Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Most recursion only affects creatures. Muldrotha, the Gravetide will allow you to play every spell from your graveyard, almost turning it into a second hand during your turn.

The Mimeoplasm

With frequent mill effects, you'll have a lot of options to play a powered-up Mimeoplasm. Use it to exile your opponents' important creatures from their graveyards before they can protect them.

In Garruk's Wake

This deck is lacking in mass removal. In Garruk's Wake can destroy every creature and planeswalker outside of your control, leaving you free to swing for the kill.

Zellix, Sanity Flayer

Since everyone will be milling a lot, Zellix, Sanity Flayer will provide free creature tokens as a side effect. And if your opponents manage to start a turn without any rad counters, you can still force them to mill.

Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres

Double proliferate, and card draw on top of every instance of proliferate. Ezuri will help stack up your +1/+1 and rad counters and keep your hand full at the same time.

Solidarity of Heroes

Doubles the counters on at least one creature at instant speed. This is great for buffing your commander for surprise lethal commander damage, keeping something alive through damage, or powering up a blocker that would otherwise get overrun.

Guildmages' Forum

Adds an extra +1/+1 counter to your multicolored creatures when they enter the battlefield, and fixes your mana at the same time.

Escape Tunnel

Direct upgrade for Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse. The first ability is functionally identical to the other two lands, with an added second ability to make one of your smaller creatures unblockable for a turn. You'll primarily use the first ability, but it's good to have options.

Other Upgrade Options

• For a deck with a mill theme and access to black, there are surprisingly few recursion options. Add target recursion like Animate Dead and Necromancy to pick the best options from all graveyards, or add mass reanimation like Rise of the Dark Realms or Grimoire of the Dead.
• Counters matter! Ozolith, the Shattered Spire will increase the number of counters added by each of your effects, and provide the opportunity to add more for only two mana. And The Ozolith will keep your counters around even if your creatures die, adding them to other creatures later.

Order matters for replacement effects like Ozolith, the Shattered Spire and Branching Evolution. If both are in play, put the "twice that many" effect on the stack first and the "that many plus one" effect on the stack second. This will ensure you get the new counter before you double the total counters.

• The Warhammer 40,000 Tyranid Swarm Deck contains a lot of great upgrades for Mutant Menace. Biophagus is a mana-producing creature that gives all your other creatures an extra +1/+1 counter, and Clamavus makes them act like 2/+2 counters. Or give your Mutants Bone Sabres to grow them every time they attack.

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