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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, inMagic: The Gathering’s Fallout set, these mutants are primarily found in the Mutant Menace preconstructed deck.
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.
Harold and Bob, First Numens
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, butThe 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 graveyardonto 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 caneither reduce the deck’s focus on rad countersin favor of more +1/+1 counters,or you can slot in additional proliferate effectsin order to boost both themes.
Vault 87
Casualties of War
One notable idiosyncracy with the Mutant Menace deck is thatthe 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 Megaslothdoesn’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 Mayoracts 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 ReporterandTireless Trackerboth 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 Sageand you’ll get to proliferate with each land drop instead of just buffing one creature.
you’re able to cut six lands and only replace two, leaving four extra slots for new cards.Temple of Deceit,Temple of Malady,Temple of Mystery, andTemple of the False Godcan all go, along withTerramorphic ExpanseandEvolving Wilds, upgrading one to anEscape Tunnel, and adding a Guildmages' Forum for a little more mana fixing and extra +1/+1 counters.
Contaminated Drinkis expensive as far as card draw goes, as isVault 87, andStrength Bobbleheadisn’t very good without other bobbleheads in play.Fellwar StoneandMind Stoneare 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 Waris 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 muchbecause it comes with a few more lands than you’ll ever need.
Reason
Ripples of Potential
For two mana you get aninstant proliferate, along with phasingout 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 byresurrecting all of your opponents' best stuff.
Simic Ascendancy
Simic Ascendancy providesa cheap way to add some extra +1/+1 counters, but it also providesan alternate win conditiononce 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, butit 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’re able to 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 canuse The Master, Transcendent and Tato Farmer every turnto steal creatures and lands from your opponents' graveyards.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Most recursion only affects creatures. Muldrotha, the Gravetide will allow you toplay 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 toexile your opponents' important creaturesfrom their graveyards before they can protect them.
In Garruk’s Wake
This deck is lacking in mass removal. In Garruk’s Wake candestroy 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 creatureswhen 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, butit’s good to have options.
Other Upgrade Options
Order matters for replacement effects likeOzolith, the Shattered SpireandBranching 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.
