Mutant Menace precon.
The stock Fallout Commander 2024 precon. A Sultai counters and self-mill deck led by The Wise Mothman that hands out rad counters to force milling, then turns that mill into +1/+1 counters, card advantage, and a wide mutant board.
Mutant Menace is a Sultai +1/+1 counters and self-mill deck built around The Wise Mothman and the Fallout set's rad-counter mechanic. You hand out rad counters that force players to mill, then convert that mill into +1/+1 counters, card advantage, and a wide mutant board. It is a fair, grindy value engine that wins by going taller and wider than the table over a long game.
How it plays.
Core game plan
Ramp into The Wise Mothman early, then spread rad counters with creatures and spells so opponents mill on their upkeeps and you mill yourself when convenient. Every time nonland cards are milled, Mothman drops +1/+1 counters on your team and Mirelurk Queen, Screeching Scorchbeast, and Glowing One turn that mill into card draw, tokens, and life. Counter multipliers like Corpsejack Menace, Branching Evolution, Hardened Scales, and Winding Constrictor make every counter bigger, while proliferate from Inexorable Tide, Contagion Clasp, Recon Craft Theta, and Agent Frank Horrigan stacks even more rad and +1/+1 counters across the board. Reanimation from The Master, Transcendent, Tato Farmer, and Raul, Trouble Shooter recycles the cards your own mill puts in the bin, and you close the game with a counter-pumped attack or a giant Biomass Mutation alpha strike.
Key cards
- The Wise Mothman. The face commander and engine. It seeds rad counters on enter and attack and turns every nonland mill into a spread of +1/+1 counters on up to X creatures, growing your whole board.
- Corpsejack Menace. Doubles every +1/+1 counter put on your creatures, so Mothman's distribution and all your counter effects hit twice as hard.
- Winding Constrictor. Adds an extra counter to anything that gains counters, including the rad counters you and opponents get, which speeds up the entire mill-and-grow plan.
- Mirelurk Queen. Once per turn, the first nonland mill draws you a card and grows the Queen, converting the mill theme directly into card advantage.
- Screeching Scorchbeast. Hands out rad counters when it attacks and makes a 2/2 Zombie Mutant for each nonland card milled once per turn, a strong token and board engine.
- Agent Frank Horrigan. Proliferates twice whenever it enters or attacks, exploding rad counters and +1/+1 counters across the table while being a near-unkillable trampler when attacking.
- The Master, Transcendent. The alternate face commander in the stock list. It seeds rad counters and reanimates creatures milled this turn as 3/3 green Mutants, fueling both your mill payoffs and your board.
- Biomass Mutation. An instant-speed finisher and rescue button that sets your whole team to X/X, letting a wide mutant board swing for lethal out of nowhere.
- Inexorable Tide. Proliferate on every spell cast turns each card you play into more rad counters and bigger creatures, the deck's best repeatable counter accelerator.
- Tireless Tracker. Landfall Clues plus a +1/+1 counter when you crack them give steady card advantage that fits the counters shell and never runs the deck dry.
Combos and synergies
- Rad counters to mill to counters loop (value engine, not infinite): Get The Wise Mothman online, then hand out rad counters with Mothman, Vexing Radgull, Nightkin Ambusher, or Screeching Scorchbeast. On a player's upkeep their rad counters force them to mill and shed a rad counter, and every nonland card milled triggers Mothman to put +1/+1 counters on your creatures while Mirelurk Queen draws and Glowing One gains life. It is a strong repeatable value engine, not an infinite loop.
- Counter doublers plus proliferate: Stack a counter multiplier such as Corpsejack Menace, Branching Evolution, or Hardened Scales, then proliferate with Inexorable Tide, Contagion Clasp, Recon Craft Theta, or Agent Frank Horrigan. Each proliferate adds counters that the multipliers then increase, so your board snowballs quickly. This generates large boards but does not loop infinitely.
- Mill to reanimate: Use Raul, Trouble Shooter or Tato Farmer to mill, then reanimate the best creature or land milled this turn with The Master, Transcendent, Tato Farmer, or by casting it with Raul. This turns your self-mill into free permanents and extra mill payoff triggers.
Mulligan
- Two to four lands plus early ramp like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Cultivate, or Farseek so you can land The Wise Mothman on curve.
- The Wise Mothman or a cheap rad-counter source such as Vexing Radgull, Jason Bright, or Hancock to start the engine.
- A counter multiplier or proliferate enabler like Winding Constrictor, Hardened Scales, or Corpsejack Menace alongside some action.
- A hand with at least one card-advantage outlet such as Tireless Tracker, Mirelurk Queen, or Guardian Project.
- One-land or zero-land hands, or hands with five-plus lands and no early plays.
- All expensive payoffs (Lumbering Megasloth, Agent Frank Horrigan, Casualties of War) with no ramp or early board.
- Hands with no rad-counter source and no way to generate +1/+1 counters, since the deck stalls without its engine.
Lines and sequencing
- Lead with ramp on turns one and two (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, the Talismans, Cultivate, Farseek) so The Wise Mothman lands on turn three or four.
- Resolve a counter multiplier (Hardened Scales, Winding Constrictor, Corpsejack Menace, Branching Evolution) before you start dumping counters so every later trigger is amplified.
- Time proliferate effects after combat or after a big rad-counter swing so you double dip on both rad and +1/+1 counters in the same turn.
- Hold Inspiring Call and Mutational Advantage as protection for your countered-up board through sweepers and targeted removal.
- Aim Casualties of War and Atomize at the most threatening permanents, and remember Atomize also proliferates your own counters.
- When you have a wide board, cast Biomass Mutation at instant speed before the crackback or as a surprise lethal alpha strike.
Pilot difficulty
Intermediate