(Dogmeat, Ever Loyal | Art by Mark Poole)

Atom Bomb Baby!

Magic… Magic never changes. Alright, it totally does and ever since Universes Beyond came to Magic: The Gathering there’s been non-stop change! Since the advent of Universes Beyond we’ve seen Optimus Prime, Gimli, Abbadon the Despoiler and Jeff Goldblum all join the battle. Universes Beyond has brought a ton of new interest and flavor to game night, and this next set is going to be totally rad! Get it? 

Welcome to the first part of our coverage of Universes Beyond: Fallout. My name is Joshua and I’ll be your guide to the wasteland. Wizards of the Coast are treating us to four preconstructed decks: Scrappy Survivors, Mutant Menace, Hail Caesar and Science! There’s also going to be collector boosters which will be printing these commander cards in stylised treatments. 

In this article, I’m going to be introducing you to the world of Fallout starting with the Survivors. After all, where better to start with than with the people who survived the apocalypse and are clawing back the wasteland.

In future articles we’ll be looking at some of the things that make Fallout so unique, but there’s a lot to get into, so before we look at Perks, Bobbleheads and the other wonders of the wasteland, let’s give you a picture of where our story takes place.

On the Fallout Setting

First of all, the setting. The world of Fallout is one that exists in a slightly alternate timeline to our own following World War 2. In this timeline, humanity began a period of retrofuturism stylised after the atomic age of the 1950s, which characterizes the unique charm and art style of Fallout. Power armor, the Pip Boy and vaults are all strong themes in Fallout. Wizards of the Coast has used these themes for the stylised treatments we see in the collector boosters.

The Golden age of science fiction mixed with a corrupted American Dream gives way to a wondrous setting of technological advancement, cut short by a great war occuring in 2077 which decimated the world in nuclear fire. 

The Fallout series of video games takes place in the 21st, 22nd and 23rd centuries in which little of humanity remains. Some survived on the surface, becoming hardy and bitter. Some were critically harmed by the radiation, becoming malformed ghouls. Some slept in vaults, secret science projects to shepherd a select few into a new age after the fire. It’s in this age we find ourselves. 

The setting is one that is beset by vicious monsters, malfunctioning machines and radiation-addled animals. It’s also one of hope; hope that mankind can survive given all that has besieged it. It’s here that we turn to our first Commander deck, Scrappy Survivors, to give you a picture of what life in the 23rd century is like. 

This deck is all about scavenging for tools. There’s lots of forgotten treasures in the wasteland and we aren’t letting it go to waste. The deck represents this through Auras and Equipment; it wants to utilize Auras and Equipment from the graveyard to suit up your survivors and go to town. It also introduces the newest in our ever-growing suite of artifact tokens, Junk. A token that allows us to exile the top card of our library and play that card this turn, admittedly at sorcery speed. 

This deck evokes the plucky nature of the survivors making the best out of what’s around them. But that’s enough about the deck, who’s the Commander? Let's introduce the goodest boy in Fallout.

Man’s Best Friend

In Fallout, the player typically assumes the role of a sole survivor, wanderer or vagrant of some kind, but the wasteland can be a lonely place. Fallout is characterized, like many role playing games, with a colorful cast of companions that can accompany you on your journey. Some companions have appeared in one of the games, but there’s one companion that’s appeared in each of the mainline titles, Fallout 1, 2, 3 and 4… Dogmeat.

Dogmeat is the name given to several canine characters, referring to the loyal companion of the player character. An iconic NPC who aids the character by sniffing out danger, digging for items and of course attacking any enemy that might cross your path! Wonderfully characterized with a legendary creature card of their own and depicted in the character’s Fallout 4 rendition, Dogmeat’s Mill ability is representative of their tendency to dig through the piles of dirt and scrap to return useful gadgets to the player. Dogmeat’s second ability triggers after we’ve attacked and what’s the next action in any RPG after attacking? Looting! Dogmeat is a fun flavourful adaptation of one of the most famous RPG companions this side of Baldur’s Gate, perfectly represented in Naya and sure to always bring you back what you need.

Another Settlement Needs Your Help! 

Alright, if you’re a Fallout fan this guy needs no introduction. Hell, he’ll basically introduce himself. It’s Preston Garvey, Minuteman. Let’s take a minute to break him down.

Preston Garvey is a faction leader for the Minutemen in Fallout 4, a faction focused on the good of the common people of the commonwealth. Known for taking back raider outposts and turning them into settlements for the scrappy survivors of the setting. Great idea in theory. Turns out, there were a LOT of settlements that needed our help. Preston was known for approaching the player character when you least expected it before corralling you into going to help another settlement that was being attacked. Over, and over and over, you get my drift.

As the backup Commander of the Scrappy Survivors deck, Preston is all about action. His card is designed very thematically, as a man of action Preston would lead the minutemen into battle in defense of these settlements, thus when he attacks your settlements untap to represent them being ready at a minute’s notice.

Girl Guides 

Moira Brown, Author of the Wasteland Survival Guide. Friend of the Vault Dweller, merchant by trade and researcher by nature. Fans will be happy to see Moira represented within the Fallout Commander product, if only to be reminded of the pain she put us all through. Moira’s Wasteland Survival Guide was meant to be a book that any traveler could purchase to help them survive all the dos and don'ts of the wild wasteland.

How she figured out what you could and couldn’t do was another story, and it involved the player character intensively! How much radiation can someone take before experiencing delirium? Well, go get irradiated and find out! How dangerous are Mirelurks and Feral Ghouls up close? Only way to find out is to get up close to them! Moira would put the player in dangerous situation after dangerous situation with the goal of arming the common wasteland traveler with the knowledge they needed not to end up as Mirelurk feed. While our time with her was short in Fallout 3, it was certainly eventful and seeing the Wasteland Survival Guide as an artifact token in this set somehow makes the pain all worth it.

AWOOOOOOOO

That’s right, it's Three Dog! Your host with the most from Galaxy News Radio, arming you with the truth. No Matter how bad it hurts!

Three Dog comes armed with the truth, and interspaced with period appropriate music is keen to share it with any who will listen to Galaxy News Radio. 

Radio plays an important role in the Fallout games. In a desolate wasteland, outside of your companions there aren’t many people to talk to so having the radio on certainly does pass the time. Fallout’s soundtrack is experienced through stations like Galaxy News Radio and they all lean heavily into the game’s 1950s inspiration. This really adds to the charm of the series. When music isn’t playing Three Dog will step in and keep the survivors abreast of news in taking place in the Capital Wasteland, the setting of Fallout 3. 

As the player character completes key missions and reaches milestones in the story, Three Dog will share your stories with the people making sure that your deeds or misdeeds are known far and wide. This is represented brilliantly through his iteration as a legendary creature. Attaching an Aura spell to Three Dog represents his knowledge. Sacrificing that Aura and paying two generic mana enables us to create token copies of the Aura which can be spread amongst each creature we’ll control. This is a wonderful way to represent a radio host delivering needed knowledge to those folks who are alone and isolated in the harsh Fallout setting. Aside from being a novel new direction for an Aura deck, Three Dog is as faithful as the other legends we’ll see in this set.

Conclusion

The Scrappy Survivors deck is the lens through which we see the world of Fallout, even if the lens is slightly cracked. I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the world of Fallout through the people who are fighting so hard to survive. Once again Wizards has shown impeccable care when representing this latest Universes Beyond setting with decks that will be sure to bring a little radioactive flavor to game night.

What do you think of this deck? Do you like the look of it? We know you can’t say no to Dogmeat! Let us know what you’re most excited about in the comments, and how you feel about Universes Beyond. In the next article we’ll be continuing our tour of the Fallout setting, so be sure to keep reading to make sure your wasteland survival guide is complete!

Joshua Clough

Joshua is a Medical Researcher from the UK. He's played Magic since Dragons of Tarkir and loves all things Commander, the more colours the better! When not playing Commander, he can be found insisting Jund is still a viable deck in Modern and painting tiny plastic miniatures on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan