A BUG (Sultai) counters-matters build that turns radiation, self-mill, and proliferate into an army of oversized mutants.

Overview

The Wise Mothman is one of the most quietly terrifying commanders to come out of the Fallout universe. A three-mana BUG (Sultai) flyer, he hands every player a rad counter each time he enters or attacks — and rad counters force their controller to mill and shrink as they grind down. But here’s the twist Mana Riot loves: whenever nonland cards are milled, the Mothman drops a pile of +1/+1 counters on your creatures. What looks like a symmetrical downside becomes a one-sided engine the moment you build around it.

This deck weaponizes that loop three ways. First, self-mill and rad payoffs turn your own graveyard into fuel. Second, proliferate multiplies every rad and +1/+1 counter on the board. Third, a stack of counter doublers (Corpsejack Menace, Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution) makes each trigger snowball out of control. The result is a midrange value machine that plays great politics, grinds the table down, and can close games out of nowhere.

The Full 100 — Commander + 99

Commander: The Wise Mothman

Lands (36)

  • Command Tower
  • Exotic Orchard
  • Path of Ancestry
  • Opulent Palace
  • Sunken Hollow
  • Hinterland Harbor
  • Woodland Cemetery
  • Drowned Catacomb
  • Tainted Wood
  • Breeding Pool
  • Watery Grave
  • Overgrown Tomb
  • Bojuka Bog
  • Mortuary Mire
  • Nesting Grounds
  • Karn’s Bastion
  • Reliquary Tower
  • Boseiju, Who Endures
  • Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
  • Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • Ash Barrens
  • Fabled Passage
  • 5x Island
  • 5x Swamp
  • 4x Forest

Ramp & Mana Rocks (9)

  • Sol Ring
  • Arcane Signet
  • Fellwar Stone
  • Chromatic Lantern
  • Farseek
  • Nature’s Lore
  • Rampant Growth
  • Three Visits
  • Cultivate

Proliferate Engines (6)

  • Evolution Sage
  • Flux Channeler
  • Inexorable Tide
  • Contagion Clasp
  • Tezzeret’s Gambit
  • Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus

+1/+1 Counter Payoffs (7)

  • Corpsejack Menace
  • Hardened Scales
  • Branching Evolution
  • Winding Constrictor
  • Evolution Witness
  • The Ozolith
  • Innkeeper’s Talent

Mill & Rad Synergy (8)

  • Ruin Crab
  • Altar of the Brood
  • Fraying Sanity
  • Psychic Corrosion
  • Maddening Cacophony
  • Mesmeric Orb
  • Mindcrank
  • Syr Konrad, the Grim

Graveyard & Reanimation (4)

  • Reanimate
  • Animate Dead
  • Muldrotha, the Gravetide
  • Breach the Multiverse

Threats & Finishers (13)

  • Feral Ghoul
  • Bloatfly Swarm
  • Struggle for Project Purity
  • Vault 87: Forced Evolution
  • Vault 12: The Necropolis
  • Bloodchief Ascension
  • Memory Erosion
  • Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting
  • Ashiok, Dream Render
  • Rise of the Dark Realms
  • Conduit of Worlds
  • Swiftfoot Boots
  • Lightning Greaves

Removal & Interaction (10)

  • Putrefy
  • Assassin’s Trophy
  • Beast Within
  • Counterspell
  • Drown in the Loch
  • An Offer You Can’t Refuse
  • Swan Song
  • Toxic Deluge
  • Casualties of War
  • Cyclonic Rift

Card Advantage (6)

  • Rhystic Study
  • Mystic Remora
  • Harmonize
  • Inspiring Call
  • Guardian Project
  • Fact or Fiction

Paste-Ready Import List

1 The Wise Mothman
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Opulent Palace
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Tainted Wood
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mortuary Mire
1 Nesting Grounds
1 Karn's Bastion
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Ash Barrens
1 Fabled Passage
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Forest
1 Sol Ring
1 Arcane Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Farseek
1 Nature's Lore
1 Rampant Growth
1 Three Visits
1 Cultivate
1 Evolution Sage
1 Flux Channeler
1 Inexorable Tide
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Tezzeret's Gambit
1 Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
1 Corpsejack Menace
1 Hardened Scales
1 Branching Evolution
1 Winding Constrictor
1 Evolution Witness
1 The Ozolith
1 Innkeeper's Talent
1 Ruin Crab
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Fraying Sanity
1 Psychic Corrosion
1 Maddening Cacophony
1 Mesmeric Orb
1 Mindcrank
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Reanimate
1 Animate Dead
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
1 Breach the Multiverse
1 Feral Ghoul
1 Bloatfly Swarm
1 Struggle for Project Purity
1 Vault 87: Forced Evolution
1 Vault 12: The Necropolis
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Memory Erosion
1 Vraska, Betrayal's Sting
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Conduit of Worlds
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Putrefy
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Beast Within
1 Counterspell
1 Drown in the Loch
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Swan Song
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Casualties of War
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Harmonize
1 Inspiring Call
1 Guardian Project
1 Fact or Fiction

Strategy Guide

Early game (turns 1–3): Prioritize ramp and a clean mana base. Farseek, Nature’s Lore, and the Talismans get you to five mana fast so the Mothman lands ahead of curve. Ruin Crab and cheap card advantage (Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study) set up the engine. Don’t rush the commander into open removal — you want him to stick.

Mid game (turns 4–7): Resolve The Wise Mothman and start attacking. Every combat pings the table with rad counters while your self-mill converts into +1/+1 counters. Layer in a doubler (Corpsejack Menace, Hardened Scales) and a proliferate engine (Evolution Sage, Flux Channeler, Inexorable Tide) so each trigger compounds. Tekuthal doubles your proliferate outright.

Late game (turns 8+): This is where the loop breaks open. Proliferate a table full of rad counters and watch opponents mill themselves out while your mutants tower over the board. Reanimation (Reanimate, Breach the Multiverse, Rise of the Dark Realms) buys back your best bodies, and a well-timed Cyclonic Rift or Toxic Deluge clears the way for lethal counters.

Win Conditions & Combos

  • Counter beatdown: Doublers + proliferate stack absurd +1/+1 counters. A single Branching Evolution or Corpsejack Menace turns each mill trigger into a game-ending swing.
  • Rad-counter mill-out: Inexorable Tide and Evolution Sage proliferate rad counters across the table; with Fraying Sanity, Psychic Corrosion, and Altar of the Brood, opponents deck themselves.
  • Mesmeric Orb + counter payoffs: Orb + Corpsejack Menace/Hardened Scales converts every untap into fuel while your creatures balloon.
  • Syr Konrad, the Grim: All that milling and dying pings the table for direct damage — a sneaky secondary kill.

Budget Notes

As listed, the premium build runs roughly $300–$400 depending on the fetchlands, dual lands, and Game Changers like Cyclonic Rift and The One Ring you choose to include. The engine itself is cheap — most of the cost sits in the mana base and a handful of staples. Functional budget swaps:

  • Cyclonic Rift → Evacuation (a near-one-sided reset for a fraction of the price).
  • Breeding Pool / Watery Grave / Overgrown Tomb → checklands and Temples (keep the mana honest for far less).
  • Mesmeric Orb → Vessel of Nascency / Grisly Salvage (cheaper self-mill that also digs).
  • Toxic Deluge → Crux of Fate or Ondu Inversion (budget sweepers).
  • Reanimate → Unearth / Corpse Cur (lower-cost recursion for your value creatures).

Watch It in Action

Want the 60-second version? We break down the Mothman engine — rad counters, proliferate, and the counter doublers that make it all spiral — over on our socials.

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