Legendary mutant spews Rad counters through new MTG mechanic in Fallout Commander set

A new Magic: The Gathering mechanic called Rad counters will be added to the trading card game’s Eternal-legal formats through the Mutant Menace Fallout Commander Precon, featuring The Wise Mothman as the face commander and support through zombies like Feral Ghoul. 

The MTG Fallout Commander set, scheduled to drop on March 8, 2024, features four Precon decks and collector boosters. The Mutant Menace preconstructed deck is in the colors BGU (Black, Green, and Blue), showcasing mutants within the franchise that use Rad counters to benefit the deck’s controller while also hurting opponents. Leading the MTG Fallout Precon is The Wise Mothman as the face commander, who is supported by other mutants like Feral Ghoul. 

The Wise Mothman MTG Fallout spoiler

The Wise Mothman is an iconic mutant insect from Fallout 76. Worshipped by The Enlightened, the insect mutant is a legendary four-drop commander that grants Rad counters to all players any time it enters the battlefield or attacks while having mill synergies, too. 

• Casting cost: 1BGU
• Type: Legendary Creature—Insect Mutant
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Stats: 3/3
• Keyword: Flying
• Ability: Whenever The Wise Mothman enters the battlefield or attacks, each player gets a Rad counter.
• Second ability: Whenever one or more nonland cards are milled, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to “X” target creatures, where “X” is the number of nonland cards milled this way.

The Wise Mothman has a sleeper ability that can scale out of control quickly through its mill synergies. The insect mutant can put a counter on a target creature any time a card is milled, from any player. The Wise Mothman also has Flying as an added bonus, allowing it to attack more often and rack up those Rad counters.

A Rad counter is a new MTG mechanic designed for the Universes Beyond Fallout Commander set that, at the beginning of your pre-combat main phase, mills cards equal to the number of Rad counters you have. For each non-land card milled, you lose one life and a Rad counter. 

• Radiation: At the beginning of your pre-combat main phase, if you have any Rad counters, mill that many cards. For each nonland card Milled this way, you lose one life and a Rad counter.

The Rad counter strategy can benefit its controller when The Wise Mothman is on the battlefield, buffing up the team through +1/+1 counters. But the Rad counters can also work against a player, especially when an opponent has accumulated an abundance of them. 

Feral Ghoul

Feral Ghoul is an example of several cards contained within the MTG Fallout Mutant Menace Commander Precon that use Rad counters against opponents. 

• Casting cost: 2B
• Type: Creature—Zombie Mutant
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 2/2
• Keyword: Menace
• Ability: Whenever another creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Feral Ghoul.
• Rad ability: When Feral Ghoul dies, each opponent gets a number of Rad counters equal to its power.

It’s unknown at time of writing how much sacrifice synergy is worked into the Mutant Menace Fallout Precon, but it shouldn’t take much to get stacks of +1/+1 counters on Feral Ghoul, which could then potentially end the game for multiple opponents.

Players can check out Rad counters and the Mutant Menace MTG Fallout Commander Precon deck when the set releases on March 8.