Our Top 10 Cards for Fallout
If you’re not into Universes Beyond, you might feel that it’s the end of the world, all over again. If you’re like us, you’re just excited when you get fun new cards to play with. We (Chief, Wandering Dad and Exxaxl, Almost Perfect) aren’t the biggest Universes Beyond fans and we’re definitely not Fallout experts, but we did want to take some time to go over our favorite cards from the four new Commander decks that make up Fallout (PIP) and share our top 10 cards for the Commander format. Let’s do this!
Codsworth, Handy Helper
Chief: I didn’t have a white mana dork on my bingo card for this set, but it doesn’t feel like a stretch to see one that can only help you cast Aura and Equipment spells. Codsworth looks like a pretty valuable utility creature for decks that focus on these types of cards because he also brings multiple other useful abilities outside of tapping for white mana.
If you’ve played a voltron deck before, you’ve probably experienced the pain of having your commander removed in response to an Aura or Equipment that protects them. Codsworth helps out here by providing ward to your commander. He can also tap to attach an Aura or Equipment to one of your creatures. I love cards that offer multiple useful functions like this one.
Power Fist
Exxaxl: A card like this would usually be limited in utility because you need trample for it to work, but they actually put trample on the aura itself which seems wild. I remember when Hydra’s Growth got printed, the lack of trample got mentioned in my LGS during prerelease as being weird, until someone had a Moss Viper with 128 counters on it because their opponent didn’t draw into removal. This card is self-fueling and - in a voltron deck with double strike - could mean you get to beat down your opponents even faster, since it’s going to trigger twice per turn.
Pip-Boy 3000
Chief: I love Equipment and I love modal spells and abilities, so this was a natural pick for me. This card does a bunch of different things for a very reasonable mana investment. The fact that it can give you a rebate on the initial equip cost by untapping two of your lands is huge, and you’ll be able to get plenty of value out of the other modes in most decks that care about attacking.
I can really see this card being a real all-star in a deck like Isshin, Two Heavens as One because you can get two triggers and choose different modes or double up on the same one depending on what you need. I’m personally looking forward to trying this card in my Celestine, the Living Saint deck because it’s not that easy to put cards into the graveyard in mono-white without milling yourself.
Radstorm
Exxaxl: I don’t fully know why I love this card design so much. I rarely play storm or decks where proliferating matters, but I can absolutely imagine this card putting in a lot of work for someone that is used to playing both of those and causing an absolutely overwhelming amount of value at instant speed. Outside of +1/+1 counters, I can see an infect or toxic deck or a very low to the ground Saga deck is going to gain a lot of value out of this. There were a lot of new Saga cards to play around with in this set too!
Inventory Management
Chief: I don’t consider myself a Fallout expert, but I’m well aware of how valuable the ability to open your inventory is during a dangerous situation when playing a video game. Inventory Management does an excellent job of replicating that feeling by allowing you to take a moment to regroup and ready all of your best items.
It’s rare to see split second on cards and I don’t always like it, but this card likely wouldn’t feel complete without it. Fallout definitely looks like it’s going to be one of the best sets in the past few years when it comes to support for Auras and Equipments, which I’m told is pretty fitting given how pivotal your character inventory and loadout are in the series.
Mister Gutsy
Exxaxl: Wow, Orcish Lumberjack looks different from what I remember. This card feels like a ‘bank for later’ type of deal. It triggers on cast, so your spells don’t even have to resolve for them to matter. Generating large amount of impulse draw after a board wipe sounds fantastic, if you’re not shoving Mister Gutsy in a sac outlet yourself. Junk tokens being artifacts will further have its upsides in decks of this archetype that use cards like All That Glitters or Cranial Plating.
Grim Reaper’s Sprint
Chief: It took me a little bit to understand exactly what this card has to offer. If you’re playing a deck that turns creatures sideways, you can almost always enable the cost reduction. That means that Grim Reaper’s Sprint is most likely going to be the cheapest extra combat spell around at just two mana. That’s wild.
Since the extra combat phase comes from an enters-the-battlefield trigger (ETB), you can also abuse this Aura if you can find a way to flicker it. One of the best ways to do that is by pairing it up with Displacer Kitten. If you have a few noncreature spells to cast, you’ll be able to get plenty of extra combats and easily finish off your opponents.
Contaminated Drink
Exxaxl: There are plenty of Dimir decks that will not mind another instant speed draw a card effect that also makes them mill on their turn. Let’s refill that hand at instant speed and put a mill engine in a zone where people don’t usually have means of interacting, just like experience counters prior. While it’s true you’re going down on life, a dedicated mill deck that’s looking to win from the graveyard absolutely would play an effect that said ‘mill a card, if it’s not a land, lose a life’ for as much mana – and in this case, life – as they’re willing to spend.
The Master, Transcendent
It might be a bit confusing to the uninitiated, but there are apparently characters that are referred to as the Master in both Fallout and Doctor Who!
Chief: One of the first things that I noticed about this set is the relatively low power level of the cards. It’s just a really fun set with some quirky cards and interesting set mechanics for casual Commander play. The one big exception was this commander, which definitely feels like he has legs in high power or even cEDH.
The Master looks like he’ll fit in great as a commander focused on self-mill where he can reanimated big creatures or even something like Thassa’s Oracle after you’ve milled it. This has some overlap with Hermit Druid shells in cEDH, but you’ll want to be aware that Hermit Druid doesn’t actually mill you. Make sure to keep that Dread Return in the deck!
Idolized
Exxaxl: When I still played Standard, Angelic Exaltation was one of those cards I wish was better in that environment. Idolized does roughly the same thing, but costs a whole two mana less and counts every nonland permanent you control. Your total nonland permanent count will often be higher than you think it is.
Clues, Food, Treasures, Junk, and incidental 1/1 tokens from other effects are everywhere. I think if we had more cards with the city’s blessing that saw play, the average player would be more aware of how sizable current-day board states get. I feel this can go in most EDH decks that rely on a keyworded commander or big beatsticks turning sideways.
Bonus: Reprints
Chief: It’s no secret that I’m a Ravages of War enjoyer. I figured that it would eventually get reprinted somewhere, but I wasn’t expecting it to show up as a supplementary card in a Commander product. I definitely don’t think that this is going to influence tons people to suddenly want to include it in their casual Commander decks, but it’s a wonderful reprint for accessibility. The cheapest version of the card prior to this reprint was about $150.
Exxaxl: While it's not quite Cyclonic Rift, Ruinous Ultimatum is still a one-sided wipe that doesn't hit anything on your end of the board, which is not easy to come by. With cards like Farewell seeing an increase in play, I hope a reprint like this will make people think whether they truly want to pick the nuclear option and potentially shoot themselves in the foot or if grabbing a more color restricted option that doesn’t backfire is the correct card to put in their 99.
We’re going to keep seeing Universes Beyond sets in the future, which means that we can hopefully see more cool and mechanically unique cards that we can get excited about for Commander even if we’re not always in love with the specific crossovers involved. If you do happen to be a fan of Fallout, make sure to also check out our Commander Spotlight article for Dogmeat, Ever Loyal. We might even have to do an article featuring the best Dogs in Magic in the near future!
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