Welcome back to another precon guide here on EDHREC! Today is the equinox, and we’re summoning The Wise Mothman! So let’s prepare by reviewing the Mutant Menace precon deck, from Universes Beyond: Fallout.

Who Are the Commanders for Mutant Menace?

The Wise One is a 3/3 flying Insect Mutant for four mana that gives each player a Rad counter on entry and attack. Then whenever one or more nonland cards are milled, you can put a +1/+1 counter on up X creatures, where X is the number of nonland cards milled. This triggers whenever any player is milled, and the counters can go on any creature that’s targeted. 

Rad counters are new with this set, and they’re a fun and flavorful addition that matches the Fallout setting beautifully. A player who has Rad counters has to mill that many cards at the beginning of their precombat main phase. Then for each nonland card milled, that player loses a life and a Rad counter. Lands milled have no effect.

Our backup commander is The Master, Transcendent. Not to be confused with this Master. Or this one. Or the other ones. This one is a 2/4 artifact Mutant for four mana that gives a player two Rad counters on entry, and you can tap it to put a creature card onto the battlefield from any graveyard if it was milled this turn. That creature comes in as a Mutant with base power and toughness 3/3.

Judging by these two, we can probably guess that this deck is all about milling and counters. And some graveyard recursion.

Here’s the the full list for Mutant Menace:

What Are the New Legends in Mutant Menace?

Unlike Hail, Caesar, this list of new legends won’t take an hour to read (thank the Mothman).

Both Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor and Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet care about Zombie and Mutant creature types, and both are likely to find a home in the 99 of Zombie decks. Neither is likely to be popular as lead singers.

Raul, Trouble Shooter feels like a mini-Muldrotha, the Gravetide. And I think her decks are exactly where he’ll end up. Phenax, God of Deception might like him too, with his decent toughness.

For something a little stranger, we’ve got Harold and Bob, First Numens. When this Treefolk Mutant dies, return it to the battlefield as an Aura enchanting a Forest you control. That Forest can then be tapped for three mana, and you get two Rad counters. This is some very unique card design, and I have no idea what deck will want it. If any.

Other legends in the deck are interested in counters. Agent Frank Horrigan is a massive Mutant Warrior that Proliferates twice on attacks. He doesn’t give any counters himself, but there are plenty of counters decks out there that will love to get their hands on this guy. Like this criminally underplayed legend that most people haven’t heard of, called Atraxa.

Lily Bowen, Raging Grandma grows and grows until she can’t anymore, then explodes, showering you with life. At least, that’s how I read it. This is a very cool design, and a perfect inclusion in this deck for offsetting the life you lose from Radiation. Outside of this deck, though, I’m not sure she’ll find love. Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn and Dina, Soul Steeper decks might be interested, though.

Strong, the Brutish Thespian is one of only two creatures with Enrage that isn’t a Dinosaur. He’s perfect here for the life gain, and will find a happy home in Golgari self-mill decks. And Marcus, Mutant Mayor will fit right in with any Simic counters deck, because you can never draw too many cards.

Our last legend is Piper Wright, Publick Reporter, the most out-of-place card in this deck. Not only is she not a Mutant or Zombie, she doesn’t do anything with counters. Nope, she’s a Detective that makes Clues. What set are we even in? At first I though I made a mistake and grabbed a card from Karlov Manor. I don’t know why she’s here, or why such a small creature would be expected to do combat damage to players (although, I said the same thing about Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, so...). She’s an easy cut when we do upgrades.

What Are the Themes and Strategies?

In case it wasn’t clear already, I love the Radiation mechanic. I think it’s one of the best mechanics introduced to Commander in a long time, and I hope Wizards will expand on it in future sets. Thematically, it fits best in this set, obviously. But it would be a waste to never revisit such a cool concept.

So let’s talk about some more cards in the deck that give Rad counters. Feral Ghoul was one of the first cards previewed in the set. When it dies it gives each opponent Rad counters equal to its power. It also gains a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature you control dies. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to move into a Magical Christmas Land scenario here, where we raise Feral Ghoul’s power to a ridiculous number, say 50, by adding counters or increasing its power in other ways (hey Exponential Growth!). Then we sacrifice it to give opponents an insurmountable number of Rad counters (maybe even increase them with Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider?) and watch them succumb to Radiation poisoning one by one on their next turns. It’s silly dreams like this that keep me playing this game.

Okay, back to the new cards. Nuclear Fallout functions as a powerful board wipe with Radiation added on. Perfect when our creatures have all gotten swole from +1/+1 counters. Bloatfly Swarm is the Phantom Nantuko this deck deserves, and fun to keep re-growing with more counters.

Remember the “choose X or Y” enchantments from Fate Reforged? We’re bringing them back, with Struggle for Project Purity. With the Brotherhood choice, you get a free Cut a Deal every upkeep. With the Enclave choice, you dish out Rad counters to people who attack you. As with the classic Outpost Siege, one mode is gonna be picked most often. But occasionally you’re gonna be really happy to have that other mode.

We’ve got Rad counters on an Equipment too, with Nuka-Nuke Launcher. The equipped creature gets +3/+0 and intimidate, and when you attack a player with it, that player gets two Rad counters whenever they cast a spell until your next turn. This isn’t a huge deterrent to casting spells, but every little bit helps with the Radiation strategy.

Vault 12: The Necropolis gives each player three Rad counters immediately, then you get a bunch of 2/2 tokens, and then you get to put +1/+1 counters on all of your Zombies and Mutants. I mean, this card kind of does it all. And it might be the best Vault we’ve seen so far. 

Screeching Scorchbeast gives each player two Rad counters when it attacks, and makes you a bunch of tokens when nonland cards are milled. It makes a fun little combo with Wayward Servant and Mindcrank, though far from infinite, unless you get all the lands out of their deck. Nightkin Ambusher gives a player four Rad counters on entry, and can’t be blocked by players with Rad counters. Ward 2 is pretty nice as well, since we’ll definitely be dumping +1/+1 counters all over this guy. 

Mirelurk Queen gives a player two Rad counters on entry, then draws you cards when one or more nonland cards are milled. And for even more card draw, we have Contaminated Drink, which draws you X cards and gives you half of X Rad counters, and Mariposa Military Base. Infesting Radroach spits out Rad counters when it deals damage to opponents, and keeps coming back for more, while Glowing One gives us some more life gain from any player milling nonland cards.

If you’re looking for the Fallout version of Thrummingbird, they’ve got you covered with Vexing Radgull, which gives an opponent two Rad counters on impact if they don’t have any. Otherwise you Proliferate.

Speaking of Proliferate, we can’t not include that mechanic in a deck that’s all about counters, right? We’ve got Atomize knocking out any nonland permanent and dishing out some counters as well. Recon Craft Theta, the only Vehicle in the deck, Proliferates when it attacks. Its low Crew cost of two makes it a solid hitter. Then there’s Radstorm, which gets copied for each spell cast before it (i.e., Storm), and Proliferates. This is a great card, but maybe not so much in this deck. Unless you’re up against an opponent who’s firing off with a cheerios deck. 

Mutational Advantage is our Heroic Intervention for creatures with counters, with a bonus Proliferate effect.

And of course we’ve got good old-fashioned +1/+1 counters, with Power Fist, Rampaging Yao Guai (take that, Treasure decks), Strength Bobblehead, and Cathedral Acolyte.

There’s also Vault 87: Forced Evolution, which will make you lose karma by stealing a creature, then giving you a +1/+1 counter and some card draw. And one of my favorite creatures in the deck, Watchful Radstag. This thing is like Scute Swarm for counters decks, and I freaking love it.

For the last few new cards, we’ve got Alpha Deathclaw, one of the last things you want to see when you play the video game. This destroys a permanent on entry and when you activate its Monstrosity. Young Deathclaws gives creatures in your graveyard Scavenge. Lumbering Megasloth is just a big beater with a very easy cost reduction. Tato Farmer, one of the best named cards in Magic’s history, is a perfect ramp card for the deck, but surprisingly doesn't make Food. And we’ve got two new filter lands: Overflowing Basin and Viridescent Bog.

How Do You Play Mutant Menace?

With an average mana value of 3.56, plenty of ramp, lands, and card advantage, the deck has no trouble burning the whole world down with Radiation. In playtesting the deck, I was able to consistently keep the Rad counters flowing to all players.

The Wise Mothman is an exceptional commander. It has one thing to do, and it does it beautifully. I also appreciate that the designers restrained themselves from making it some kind of ridiculous card draw/value engine like we frequently see with blue/green legends. This commander doesn’t do all the work for you, but it keeps the game moving along quickly.

Surprisingly, the deck is light on removal spells. In fact, there’s only one board wipe, which doesn’t even have to be a full board wipe, and that’s Nuclear Fallout. Precons have been far too heavy-handed with board wipes lately (look no further than Hail, Caesar to see what I mean), so it’s refreshing to see a precon designed to keep games moving forward rather than constantly resetting.

Our backup commander, The Master, Transcendent, isn’t nearly as strong as Mothman, but I can’t imagine taking it out of the 99 here. Stealing powerful creatures that get milled is terribly fun. An interesting scenario is if a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth gets milled. Kozilek’s triggered ability of shuffling the graveyard into the library would go on the stack, at which point you could respond and yoink Kozilek before it gets shuffled. Sadly, this doesn’t work with Blightsteel Colossus, since its shuffle effect is a replacement effect rather than a trigger. Obviously these are rare scenarios, but fun to dissect.

Is Mutant Menace Worth Buying?

Should we gather on the Equinox to honor our Wise Mothman? Here’s my final grade:

A-

This deck is a joy to play. It’s designed to interweave flavor and synergy in a way that’s rarely accomplished. While Radiation is currently proprietary to this set, I see no reason why several of the cards won’t see play in other counter and Proliferate decks. And although Radiation doesn’t reach the power levels of Poison, it’s a hell of a lot more fun.

The reprint value in this deck is pretty solid as well. Our standouts are Guardian Project (with some sweet new gnarly art), Inexorable Tide, and Branching Evolution.

There are only a small number of cards here that are easy cuts, and I know I’ll have a hard time finding room for new cards in the upgrade. So head on over here to my Upgrade Guide to see how I do. And make sure to check back often for more precon guides, here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

Hail, Caesar Fallout Precon Review

Scrappy Survivors Fallout Precon Review

Political Puppets Precon Upgrade