Of all the decks inMagic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond: Fallout series, Mutant Menace is the one that leans into the weird, wonderful side of the series the hardest. Dedicated to the bizarre creatures and Mutants that wander the Wasteland, the deck puts the effects of the titular nuclear Fallout on full display.
You’ll find cards that push the envelope both visually and mechanically in here, with the brand-new rad counter mechanic facilitating some serious graveyard shenanigans. But which of these cards are likely to put in the most work, both in the deck and beyond? Join us as we sift through the nuclear waste to bring you the cream of the Mutant Menace crop.
10Agent Frank Horrigan
Proliferate! Storm The Gate!
You needn’t look any further than the continued popularity of Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice in Commander to see how powerful the proliferate mechanic is in the format. Stacking up extra counters has a wide range of uses, from buffing your creatures to killing your opponents with poison. Agent Frank Horrigan, in theory, lets you do so twice each turn.
This does require Frank to attack each turn, which isn’t always ideal, but his indestructible trigger helps a lot with this. He may be nearly twice the price of Atraxa, but green/black decks can easily ramp or reanimate him out early on.
9Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor
The Lord Mayor Of Zombie Town
Zombies as a creature typehave a seriously stacked list of Lords to work with, but none have quite as high a ceiling as Hancock here. Most Lords cap out at a +1/+1 boost, maybe +2/+1 at a push, but this Ghoulish Mayor can go as high as your counters take him.
This ability doesn’t just count +1/+1 counters, either. Keyword counters and Shield counters work too, as well as any other hyper-specific counters you can shuffle onto Hancock via The Ozolith et al. And even with no other synergies, Hancock’s undying ensures he’s a perfectly serviceable bit of Zombie support on his own.
8Harold And Bob, First Numens
Two’s Company, Tree’s A Crowd
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the rich flavor of Harold and Bob and write the card off as a fun piece of Commander nonsense, but to do so would be to ignore the terrifying implications of a solid three drop that essentially grants you a Black Lotus on death. Of course, the card is great in the mana-hungry Commander format, but it also has potential in the likes of Legacy and Vintage too.
It’s comically easy to drop the Numens quickly in said formats, and proceed to sacrifice them for an explosive early game mana boost. From there, you can start dropping Tron staples like Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon without compromising your mana base.
7Mutational Advantage
A Board Wipe Counter For Counter Decks
Board Wipes are so prevalentin Commander that pretty much every deck needs a plan for dealing with them, whether it’s Heroic Intervention or Teferi’s Protection. Mutational Advantage offers a similar effect, but with some interesting pros and cons.
To get the bad news out of the way, this card only protects becountered creatures, unlike its aforementioned peers. On the plus side, it also lets you proliferate: an effect that can be worth a few mana in itself depending on the board state. Given how common counter synergies are in blue/green decks, this card is a shoe-in for staple status.
6Nuclear Fallout
Chillin’, Millin’, And Killin’
In addition to having some of the most evocative art in the whole Universes Beyond: Fallout set, Nuclear Fallout is also one of the best cards mechanically as well. The lack of text makes it look simple, but this is actually a board wipe, a Mill tool, and a mass Burn spell all in one.
Rad counters are a bit tricky to understand at first, but ultimately it comes down to this: for each rad counter your opponent gets, they’ll take that much damage and Mill at least that many cards. Eventually. Pair this up with the -X/-X board wipe effect, which gets around indestructible, and you have a great addition for all kinds of black decks.
5Raul, Trouble Shooter
Turn That Self-Mill Into Card Draw
Self-Mill effects have long been used tosupport Reanimator strategiesin various Magic formats, but it’s rare that the mechanic sees much love beyond that. Well, with the advent of Universes Beyond: Fallout there’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s got a hankerin’ for changing all that.
Raul lets you cast one self-Milled card from your graveyard each turn, turning the likes of The Ancient One and Millstone into efficient card advantage generators. He can also tap to enable his own ability, and he packs the Zombie creature type for some nice incidental graveyard synergies to boot.
4Struggle For Project Purity
Diplomacy, Or Destruction?
Cards that give you multiple options tend to perform very well in Commander, and Struggle for Project Purity gives you two serious contenders to choose from. Either it can function as a politically-charged card draw engine, or a major deterrent to opposing hordes.
The beauty of the card comes in choosing the right mode for the current game state. Things fairly quiet creature-wise? Pick Brotherhood and start building up some card advantage. Got some Aggro opponents breathing down your neck? Pick Enclave and see how many cards they’re willing to Mill. In either case, four mana is a killer deal for this kind of ongoing advantage.
3Strong, The Brutish Thespian
To Combo Or Not To Combo?
Strong, as his name suggests, works perfectly well as a beefy green creature. Growing from damage makes him very big very fast, and ward two makes him tough to remove efficiently. More exciting than this, however, is the possibility of using Strong as a combo piece in a dedicated Self-Mill strategy.
Since he essentially gains +3/+3 each time he takes damage, and gives you three rad counters at the same time, any repeatable ping effect can grow Strong to obscene proportions and Mill your entire deck, opening the doors for aThassa’s Oracle winthe next turn. Alternatively, you’re able to just Fling your massive Strong at an opponent for a different flavor of instant win.
2Vault 12: The Necropolis
An Army In A Can… Or Vault
While it does cost a sizable six mana, Vault 12 is the kind of card that can build you a board almost single handedly. If you get lucky with your rad counter results, it can generate 12 4/4s over three turns, putting you in a dominant position on the battlefield. This is a Christmas Land scenario, of course, but it also doesn’t factor in external synergies.
Any other rad counter cards can work wonders with Vault 12, as can any other Zombie token generators, which will benefit from the counters provided by the final chapter. Whether you’re playing Zombie Kindred or a Fallout theme deck, Vault 12 has a lot to offer.
1The Wise Mothman
An Urban Legend Made Frightfully Real
As the face card of the Mutant Menace deck, The Wise Mothman was always going to need to be a little bit special to live up to fan expectations. We’re happy to report that he certainly is, presenting one of the very best rad counter generators, and rad counter synergies, in the whole set.
Spreading rad counters with each evasive attack, Mothman can get a lot of Mill going real fast, at which point his other ability will buff up your board to impressive proportions. You may not think ofgo-wide Aggrowhen you think of the Sultai (black/green/blue) color combination, but spend some time with Mothman and he may just change your mind.
