In March 2024, Wizards of the Coast and Betshesda worked together on an epic crossover. The result were some amazing Magic the Gathering cards set in the Fallout world. Players could open them in Collector boosters and four different Fallout Commander decks. In this article, we’re going to focus on the latter and reveal everything we know about them so far.
Below, you’ll discover full decklists, along with the commentary about each decks’ game plan and main commanders. Of course, there’s also info about spoilers, alternate art cards, as well as links to the upgrade guides. There’s a lot to talk about, but if you’re looking for something specific, you can also use the following table of contents to jump ahead.
Table of Contents
What is Fallout?
Fallout is a video role-playing game, set in a post-apocalyptic world. A player explores the Wasteland, battles enemies, and makes decisions, which in turn impact the game play.
Four main games were released (1997, 1998, 2008, 2015), with the fifth one also being planned for the future. Besides, Fallout also got many spinoffs, both in the form of tabletop and video games. During the years, the franchise acquired a large fan base, and most of their games were highly critically acclaimed.
Fallout’s lore is extremely deep, so Wizards were able to create really fun and flavorful cards. Naturally, there’s a lot of dark humor present among them, as it befits a Fallout game.
Fallout Commander Decks
There are four different Fallout Commander decks, and you can find a quick overview in the following table. If you click on the deck’s name or image, the link will take you to the corresponding Amazon page, where you’ll be able to buy your favorite precon.
| Deck name | Colors | |
|---|---|---|
 | Scrappy Survivors | |
 | Science! | |
 | Hail, Caesar | |
 | Mutant Menace |
Each of the four decks comes with 100-cards, which means the decks are ready-to-play right out of the box. All cards use brand-new artwork, as well as flavor text. This way, even the reprints fit perfectly into the Fallout setting.
Are you unsure on which precon to pick? You could just purchase all four. They can be used as an amazing self-contained board game. No need to worry which player brought too strong of a deck, just let everyone pick one of the four Fallout decks.
With that said, let’s explore them into more detail.
Scrappy Survivors Deck
- Theme: Auras and Equipment
- Colors: White, Red, Green
- Main Commander: Dogmeat, Ever Loyal
- Scrappy Survivors Precon Guide (includes upgrade ideas)
The first deck focuses on two popular Magic subtypes, Auras and Equipment. This theme was featured before, on legendary creatures such Wyleth, Soul of Steel or more recently Kellan, the Fae-Blooded. However, if there ever was a time for the Auras and Equipment theme to shine, it would be the Fallout set.
There are just so many modifications available to you in every Fallout game. Two players could end up with completely different characters by the time they finish the game. It would all depend on what skills each player values. In Magic, these modifications can be perfectly represented by Auras.
On the other hand, you’re also using a wide array of weapons. And wouldn’t you know it, the Equipment type already represents weapons in Magic. Thus, it’s not a big surprise that these two card subtypes are featured here.
It’ll be fascinating to see how this theme will play out, given that we’ve seen it before. On thing is certain — if you like those two card subtypes, you’re going to enjoy playing with the Scrappy Survivors precon. As if all of that wasn’t good enough, your main commander is a dog!
Dogmeat, Ever Loyal Review
Dogmeat is likely one of the most popular sidekicks ever. Not just in Fallout, but in the video game genre as a whole. He’s obviously a good boy, but is his card also good? Let’s see.
Three mana for a 3/3 is perfectly fine. Not too exciting, but we’re mainly interested in the text box anyway. In it, we find two abilities. While both are somewhat wordy, they essentially provide card advantage, which is always welcome.
The first ability triggers when Dogmeat comes into play. You mill five cards (you put the top cards of your library into your graveyard), then return an Aura or Equipment from your graveyard to your hand. It doesn’t need to be among the milled cards, which is a great upside. This ability isn’t just card draw, you actually get some options with it. Such an effect is incredibly useful.
With its second ability, Dogmeat creates a Junk token, whenever one of your enchanted or equipped creatures attack. If you attack with multiple creatures that fit the criteria, you’re getting that many tokens. Here’s what a Junk token looks like:
You can sacrifice this token, in order to play the top card of your library. So, it’s another form of card advantage. It looks like you won’t run out of things to do when playing with Dogmeat as your main commander.
All of these abilities combined make for a spectacular commander, and that’s even without considering other synergies that Dogmeat enables. Junk tokens play well with various artifact-matter stuff. Self-mill is also useful for various graveyard synergies. If you decide to further upgrade the deck, this good boy offers you a lot of directions in which to take the deck.
Preston Garvey, Minuteman
Preston is here to let you know that yet another settlement needs your help. He doesn’t offer any particular synergies with Equipment, but is mostly focused on Auras.
Scrappy Survivors Decklist
Science!
- Theme: Energy, artifacts
- Colors: White, Blue, Red
- Main Commander: Dr. Madison Li
- Science! Precon Guide & Upgrades
Energy counters were introduced with Kaladesh back in the 2016, and also appeared in the very next set, Aether Revolt. Surprisingly, they never returned, not even on a single odd card. That’s about to change, since Energy counters are making a big return with the Science! Commander deck.
Similar to the previous theme, Energy also makes a ton of sense for a Fallout set, both mechanically, and art-wise. You might’ve noticed that the Energy counter symbol in MTG looks quite similar to the letter “O” in the Fallout title.
There were design issues with this mechanic when it first appeared. (You can find more information about that in this article from Mark Rosewater.) Thus, it’s going to be interesting how they decided to fix them eight years later.
Additionally, there’s also a secondary theme. This precon will also care about artifacts. Once again, that’s a nice fit for the Fallout world.
Dr. Madison Li Review
Dr. Madison Li appears in multiple Fallout games (both in 3 and 4). As far as her card goes, it meets the first requirement for a good Energy card. She both makes and spends Energy tokens.
You’ll get an Energy counter whenever you cast an artifact spell. This can be abused by various combos. For example, the white-blue-red color combinations allows you to play Jeskai Ascendancy and Emry, Lurker of the Loch. You add a zero mana artifact like Tormod’s Crypt or Mishra’s Bauble to the mix, and you can play an infinite amount of artifacts, gaining infinite Energy counters in the process.
However, this combo almost certainly won’t be included in a precon. Nevertheless, if you do decide to upgrade it, you can go for it. If you’re playing this card fairly, it’ll net you some Energy slowly. Other cards in the deck will hopefully help you make even more.
How well can you spend it? For one Energy, you can give a creature +1 power, trample, and haste. Three counters allow you to draw a card. The big reward is at five mana, where you get to reanimate an expensive artifact, such as Portal to Phyrexia.
All things considered, Dr. Madison Li allows you to do some powerful stuff. The card isn’t broken by itself, but can become quite spectacular with the right supporting cast. So, a lot of its power depends on the other 99 cards in the deck.
Liberty Prime, Recharged Review
A five mana 8/8 with vigilance, trample, and haste – What’s going on here?! Even with the recent power creep, this would still be a too strong card. Thus, you need tp sacrifice this Robot, when it blocks or attack. Unless you pay two energy counters.
Thankfully, it comes with a way to get that energy. But you will need to tap it an sacrifice an artifact. Neverthless, it might still be worth it for the body you’re getting. Plus, you do get to draw a card for your troubles.
This is not the most exciting commander, unless you’re a fan of Voltron strategies, and plan to win with Commander damage.
Science! Decklist
Hail, Caesar
- Theme: Sacrifice, creature tokens
- Colors: White, Black, Red
- Main Commander: Caesar, Legion’s Emperor
- Hail, Caesar Precon Guide
Caesar, also known as Edward Sallow, is the leader, dictator, and co-founder of Caesar’s Legion. So, what does he and white-black-red MTG color combination have in common? Both will sacrifice just about anything, as long as it benefits them.
Sacrifice is one of the most popular themes in Magic, and it makes perfect sense to use it here. There are cards that allow you to sacrifice stuff, cards that reward you for doing so, and of course, a card that you want to sacrifice. You can expect all of these to be included in the Hail, Caesar precon.
While it hasn’t been confirmed, it’s quite likely that there’s a secondary theme. That would be creature tokens, another extremely liked theme in Magic. Controlling plenty of creature tokens is already powerful, but there might be additional rewards for doing so.
As you’re about to see, Caesar’s card certainly play well with both themes.
Caesar, Legion’s Emperor Review
Four mana for a 4/4 is okay, but what about Caesar’s abilities? Well, there’s just one, but it does offer you multiple choices. It triggers whenever you attack, and it doesn’t need to be with Caesar. That’s neat, as you can get the effect on the turn you play Caesar.
So, when you attack, you can sacrifice a creature. If you do so, you can pick two out of three effects:
- Get two 1/1 tapped and attacking Soldiers.
- Draw a card and lose a life.
- Deal damage to an opponent equal to the number of creature tokens you control.
That’s quite a lot of versatility. While Caesar isn’t the most powerful card out there, it does give you so many options, that it’s still going to shine in a sacrifice deck. When you have a large army of tokens, you could potentially take out one of your opponents with a single attack, thanks to the last effect.
Certainly, this will be a fun card to play with for all players who like the sacrifice theme.
Mr. House, President and CEO Review
Hail, Caesar is the only one among Fallout Commander decks that already previewed its secondary commander. That’s Mr. House, which give you a whole other direction with dice rolling and Treasure tokens. This makes perfect sense, as Mr. House is a successful businessman, owning multiple companies including casinos. However, let’s leave the flavor to the Fallout Wiki, and examine the card itself.
A 0/4 legendary creature for three mana is quite unusual. Its first ability triggers whenever you roll a 4 or a higher. In such a scenario, you create a 3/3 Robot. If you roll a 6 or higher, you also get a Treasure token. But wait, how are you rolling the dice? Well, there might be other cards that let you do so, like Vexing Puzzlebox, but its second ability also does the trick.
For four mana, you can roll a six-sided die. If you pay for this ability with Treasures, you can roll that many additional dice. That’s all that this ability does, so you’re relying on the first ability to trigger.
Mr. House is certainly a fun card, albeit a somewhat weak one. In order to maximize its playability, you’re going to need to heavily build around it. Thankfully, there are ways to do so. So, if you want a nice deckbuilding challenge, Mr. House certainly offers you one.
Hail, Caesar Decklist
Mutant Menace
- Theme: Mill, rad counters
- Colors: Blue, Black, Green
- Main Commander: The Wise Mothman
- Mutant Menace Precon Upgrade Guide
The fourth and final deck certainly features the most unusual theme of the bunch. It cares about mill and rad counters. Wait, what do the rad counters do? While you might be familiar with them in the Fallout game, they are a brand-new addition to Magic.
A rad counter is a type of counter that a player can get (similar to poison, experience counters). At the beginning of your first main phase, if you have any rad counters, you mill that many cards. For each nonland card that you mill this way, you lose 1 life and a rad counter. As you can see, these counters will deal damage to players eventually, but then they go away. Now, if they keep milling lands, they will stick around.
It’s fascinating to see how such a Fallout-based mechanic is being ported to the game of Magic. The implementation is interesting, as one you are under the radiation’s effects you’re just waiting for the eventual damage.
Let’s take a look at the main commander, which also uses these counters.
The Wise Mothman Review
When Mothman comes into play or attacks, it gives rad counters to everyone, including you. Thanks to flying, it’ll probably be able to attack safely. But why would you want to get a rad counter? And is it really that beneficial to give them to others?
Well, at least its second ability works with it. Whenever anyone mills a nonland card, you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature. You can target multiple creatures, if multiple nonland cards were milled. This ability can be triggered with rad counters, or by your other mill cards too.
This is probably the hardest commander to evaluate. It’s not the most in-your-face powerful, but if you build around Mothman, it can reward you. Perhaps you’ll want to use a proliferate theme, to multiply the amount of rad and +1/+1 counters? Maybe you want to go-wide in order to put counters on as many creatures as possible?
As you can see, Mothman can take your deckbuilding into a whole new direction. It really makes you think on how to select 99 cards to play alongside it, which is always welcome.
So, that’s all about the deck-specific stuff. Now it’s time to discover more cards that you’ll open in these decks.
The Master, Transcendent
Mutant Menace Decklist
Best Fallout Spoilers
In the following gallery you can find some of the more exciting MTG Fallout spoilers. These cards are among the most popular ones from the set, and include a mix of reprints and new cards.
If you want to check complete spoilers, you can find them in their dedicated articles for each deck. This way everything is more neatly organized.
Fallout Collector Booster
This release might remind you of Warhammer 40k Commander decks. However, this time around, there won’t be the special Collector versions of the decks. Instead, you’ll be able to open alternate art cards in accompanying Collector boosters.
An entire Collector booster box comes with 12 boosters, each with 15 cards. Among them, you’ll find foils, cards with alternate art, and more! Let’s take a look at some of the cards that you might open.
Borderless Vault Boy Cards
There are 9 different borderless Vault Boy cards in the set. Naturally, they all feature Vault Boy, hence the name. Which cards are featured? Some of the most iconic Commander cards.
Showcase Pip-Boy Cards
The other alternate-art card show the world through the Pip-Boy screen. They really knocked this style out of the park, as you can see on the images below.
Note that, as we’ve mentioned before, this alternate arts won’t appear in Commander decks. (Unless in the two possible slots of the Collector Sample pack.) You can, however, open them in Fallout Collector boosters.
You can find more information about these boosters in our Fallout Collector Booster Guide.
Fallout Commander Decks: FAQ
Here are some commonly asked questions about these decks and their answers.
There will be four different Fallout Commander decks.
These cards will be legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage. The commons will also be legal in Pauper.
They will be released on March 8, 2024.
Yes, there is a 2-card Sample Collector booster included in each Fallout Commander deck.
There are two cards, with at least one of them being rare or mythic. One card will use extended-art, while the other will use alternate art or alternate frame. The cards can be foil or non-foil, and are from the Fallout set.
Conclusion
That’s all about Fallout Commander precons. If you’ve got any questions or comments about these precons, let us know in the comments below.
Perhaps these Commander decks aren’t to your liking. If so, check the Commander Precon List, where you’ll find over a hundred released decks. There’s bound to be one that you’ll enjoy. Want to know more about the future of Magic? Read everything about Upcoming MTG Sets, we already know things about sets releasing in 2026.
Until next time, have fun, and may the Fallout set bring you a lot of joy!