The Mothman Commander Deck, also known as The Wise Mothman, is a unique and powerful addition to the Commander format. Today, let’s explore this deck in a little bit of detail and review how it sits as a precon. I did use a fair bit during and in the lead-up to our recent club Commander event.
The Wise Mothman is a commander that focuses on mill strategies, self-mill, +1/+1 counters, and graveyard interactions. The deck leverages the new Rad Counter mechanic introduced in the Fallout set to create multiple copies of Mothman and abuse its enter-the-battlefield (ETB) and attack triggers to mill both you and your opponents.
Let’s take a look at some strategies and synergies:
- Mothman: The commander itself is a formidable creature with a powerful ETB effect that mills your opponents and proliferates your counters.
- Radiation Counters: Cards like Glowing One and Vexing Radgull help you generate radiation counters, which are crucial for Mothman’s abilities.
- +1/+1 Counters: Cards like Hardened Scales and Mutational Advantage enhance your counters, making Mothman even more threatening.
- Mill Effects: Cards like Fraying Sanity provide incremental mill effects that further interact with the Mothman. This is an angle I’d look to enhance as the deck is upgraded.
- Proliferation: The deck includes powerful proliferation which adds significantly to both the large number of +1/+1 counters on our creatures and, crucially, the rad counters on players. Proliferation would be a big focus in any upgrade I might decide to do on this deck.
Let’s consider the strengths of this deck. First of all, we’ve got consistent milling. The deck is designed to consistently mill your opponents (and yourself, to some extent), powering up your creatures and making it difficult for them to recover. The combination of mill, counters, and radiation mechanics creates a powerful synergy that can overwhelm opponents. I really appreciate that the deck can adapt to different situations, whether you’re going for a quick win or grinding out a longer game.
There are weaknesses, though. Opponents may bring in hate cards specifically designed to counter mill strategies, which can be challenging to overcome. The deck also requires a significant amount of resources to get going, which can be a disadvantage in faster-paced games. You have good stuff, but it’s expensive. There’s also the issue that you may find yourself playing into a graveyard-focused deck, which you’ll just be feeding as the game goes on. I suppose that’s a problem with most mill-heavy decks, though.
The Wise Mothman is a fun commander who feels quite unique. I like the deck that WotC built around him, as it offers a different play experience. It’s also pretty close to being a mutant tribal deck, which is an angle I feel I could explore a bit more. Its mill strategy, combined with the new Fallout mechanics, makes it a formidable presence in the Commander format, when it comes to precons. It’s a deck I’d also be very interested in upgrading in the future. As it is, it’s reasonably focused as a deck, which y’all know I like. Whether you’re a fan of mill strategies or just looking for a new challenge, this deck is worth considering.
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