Rankings for All 52 Fallout Commanders

Last updated on April 29, 2024

Liberty Prime, Recharged | Illustration by Pascal Quidault

The time for another Universes Beyond set has arrived, taking us on a Commander-centric journey to the dystopic wastelands of Bethesda’s Fallout video game series. Set in the irradiated ruins of civilization plagued by swarms of mutants, ghouls, and people with dubious motivations, these role-playing games have gained plenty of renown.

Uniting them with Magic provides another interesting entry in the Universes Beyond series. How will the MTG designers capture the flavor of radiation and mutants? And more importantly, what kind of commanders will we get from the crossover?

Let’s explore this new terrain together!

How Many Commanders Are There in Fallout?

Agent Frank Horrigan | Illustration by Wisnu Tan

The Fallout Commander precon decks have 52 legal commanders–that is, 52 legendary creatures. This nearly doubles the 34 commanders from Murders At Karlov Manor (which includes the legends in the MKM Commander decks). Interestingly, it’s far less than the number of commanders in the previous Doctor Who crossover, which had 76 commanders; the lower numbers are likely due to Fallout not needing to juggle a partner-esque mechanic.

As always when forming ranked lists, I’m judging these cards on power and efficiency, looking to get the most impact for the least mana. I’m also going to consider the vibe. Commanders shouldn’t just be strong; they should excite you, inspiring interesting builds. I’m mostly correlating “exciting” with “mechanically unique,” so commanders that open new archetypes or invite us to play familiar cards with new patterns get a nod. Any commanders looking to insert themselves into established archetypes, like typal decks or +1/+1 counters, will get judged against their peers to see if they add any novelty or power to the archetype. Color restrictions also come into consideration.

#52. ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot

I hate to leave ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot in the dust, but this is the set's worst commander; not in a “worst of the best” fashion but an “I would rank this #52 if that wasn't logically impossible” kind of way. It just does so little and restricts your colors to the max.

#51. The Motherlode, Excavator

Mono-red just lacks the energy production to fuel The Motherlode, Excavator, and it’s a pretty weak payoff anyway.

#50. Sierra, Nuka’s Biggest Fan

Sierra, Nuka's Biggest Fan has an interesting design. The main problem comes from Food. Food is an incredibly weak mechanic to build around without access to green. Absent green, it's just unplayable. 

#49. Red Death, Shipwrecker

I love goading creatures as much as the next person—perhaps more—but Red Death, Shipwrecker isn’t worth it. Giving your opponent a card to make them attack somebody is too great a disadvantage, even if you get some mana.

#48. Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake

Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake lacks power. Spreading menace counters across subtypes is a pretty mediocre mana investment without a meaningful payoff.

#47. Agent Frank Horrigan

A double proliferate trigger is quite strong and having an indestructible beater can close games. I just think Agent Frank Horrigan costs too much for the command zone, though it would be fine top-end in the 99.

#46. Curie, Emergent Intelligence

I deeply dislike creatures that open you up to 2-for-1s like Curie, Emergent Intelligence. Permanently exiling a creature you control asks for trouble, though I’m opening to being too low on this out of fear.

#45. Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet

Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet could be a top 10 commander on this list if it was Dimir so you could make use of Death Baron, Lord of the Accursed, and all the other zombie lords. Mono-blue is too restrictive a color for this to feel impactful.

#44. Veronica, Dissident Scribe

While Veronica, Dissident Scribe seems distinctly worse than Inti, Seneschal of the Sun as a mono-red discard commander, I think it’s one of the stronger cards in the set that we'll see lots of in the 99.

#43. Lily Bowen, Raging Grandma

I don’t see the vision of Lily Bowen, Raging Grandma. It could be a powerful Voltron commander, except for that power cap. Green doesn’t interact with life gain much, so it seems lackluster in that archetype. I’m not sure where this goes.

#42. Paladin Danse, Steel Maverick

By no means is Paladin Danse, Steel Maverick a bad card; but a restrictive Selfless Spirit in the commander zone pales in comparison to other mono-white human commanders like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.

#41. Strong, the Brutish Thespian

Get your Tail Swipes ready for Strong, the Brutish Thespian! Look, it’s not a terrible card, but lacking any evasive abilities makes it just a big body in the command zone. Modern-day Magic has moved beyond big bodies being enough.

#40. Overseer of Vault 76

The biggest drawback to Overseer of Vault 76 is that quest counters aren’t well supported. The precons added new cards, but the prospect of building around the mechanic still seems unexciting. This limits the sources you can draw counters from for the ability, making it weaker.

#39. Marcus, Mutant Mayor

Marcus, Mutant Mayor isn’t bad; card advantage in the command zone rarely is. It’s just another Simic +1/+1 counter commander, so it’s not exciting.

#38. James, Wandering Dad

James, Wandering Dad could be an interesting investigative commander if you wanted to make it mono-blue, but I’m just not sure this card is worth running outside of the 99.

#37. Harold and Bob, First Numens

Harold and Bob, First Numens provides an incredible mana boost. It takes some setup; you can’t count on your opponents trading with this in combat, so you need to kill this yourself, and mono-green isn’t exactly known for its aristocratic strategies.

#36. Codsworth, Handy Helper

Codsworth, Handy Helper has a place in equipment decks. The combination of mana to accelerate big equipment like Argentum Armor and Kaldra Compleat plus the ability to equip them for “free” sounds like a winning combination, especially with ward. I’m not sure this card beats out established commanders like Sram, Senior Edificer, but you can make a firm argument for it.

#35. Commander Sofia Daguerre

Commander Sofia Daguerre comes much closer to Ravenous Chupacabra than it might seem. The focus on Commander has led WotC to print loads of legendary permanents over the past couple of years. At the very least, this + Teleportation Circle handles opposing commanders pretty well.

#34. Arcade Gannon

Arcade Gannon has a powerful recursive ability, but I fear it lacks the speed demanded by modern Commander. A small 4-mana creature that eventually lets you cast extra spells doesn’t seem impressive or exciting, though casual tables might leverage it well.

#33. Cass, Hand of Vengeance

I’m not sure what this does. It doesn’t help you attach equipment or auras and also doesn’t help you rebound after a board wipe. I’m probably missing some crazy combos with cards like Goblin Bombardment, but overall? I don’t care much for Cass, Hand of Vengeance.

#32. MacCready, Lamplight Mayor

MacCready, Lamplight Mayor does some neat stuff. It pairs well with cards encouraging you to attack or deal combat damage like Sword of the Animist and Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor; the second ability seems like a fine way to turn close games.

#31. Piper Wright, Publick Reporter

Piper Wright, Publick Reporter probably won’t win a Pulitzer from the command zone, though some artifact-centric decks might use it; this will win awards in the 99 of commanders like Lonis, Cryptozoologist and Morska, Undersea Sleuth.

#30. Nick Valentine, Private Eye

Nick Valentine, Private Eye’s gonna play great with Thopter producers and Skullclamp, but seems like a pretty narrow commander that won’t work with much else.

#29. Legate Lanius, Caesar’s Ace

I love the historical accuracy of the decimate ability on Legate Lanius, Caesar's Ace’s, though it looks annoying to calculate. This commander pairs best with Fleshbag Marauder variants and other edicts.

#28. Craig Boone, Novac Guard

I don’t know how I feel about Craig Boone, Novac Guard. Not needing to be the one attacking  does a lot to endear me, though giving your opponent choices rarely works well. I assume this pokes a lot early since your opponents won’t let you kill cheap creatures while they’re at 40, but it might drop off. It feels like a weaker version of The War Doctor, though I might not be giving this card the respect it deserves.

#27. Moira Brown, Guide Author

Of all the quest counter commanders, Moira Brown, Guide Author looks the strongest because it provides a quest counter build-around rather than hoarding the achievements for itself. Using this to buff your creatures and complete Pyromancer's Ascension (Dragon's Approach anyone?) and Luminarch Ascension looks powerful, though building around quest counters seems more niche than good.

#26. Liberty Prime, Recharged

Liberty Prime, Recharged provides a heck of a body and one of our first real energy commanders. An 8/8 for 5 with lots of keywords is impressive, but I’m not sure this tank is worth the electrical bill (I’m going to get slaughtered by Liberty Prime now that I’ve said this, aren’t I?).

#25. Ian the Reckless

Ian the Reckless exemplifies storytelling through design; I like it. It’s also a pretty neat Voltron commander. Remember your Basilisk Collar and Loxodon Warhammer to offset the damage dealt to you!

#24. Duchess, Wayward Tavernkeep

I might have Duchess, Wayward Tavernkeep a little high, but getting to “draw” a card for whenever you deal combat damage to a player seems like a good enough deal to speculate on.

#23. Elder Owyn Lyons

Ward is more of an annoyance than meaningful protection but Elder Owyn Lyons still seems respectable. It’s easy enough for a deck to flicker it for repeated ETB triggers and the death trigger helps rebuild post-board wipe.

#22. Cait, Cage Brawler

A mostly indestructible commander that grows provides lots of interesting Voltron potential. Needing to discard the biggest card can be irritating since it means you need to pitch spells (rather than lands) to grow Cait, Cage Brawler, but this is interesting.

#21. Desdemona, Freedom’s Edge

The biggest drawback I see Desdemona, Freedom's Edge is Boros’s general inability to fill its graveyard to fuel escape. You do have access to some colorless self-mill like Mesmeric Orb and Perpetual Timepiece. Overall, this commander has a solid ability, though I worry about using it repeatedly.

#20. Aradesh, the Founder

Aradesh, the Founder is a fine Voltron commander. Look to draw cards and give this double strike; enlist lacks the necessary depth to function as a mechanical build-around.

#19. Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor

Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor isn’t the flashiest card but it’s effective. Hancock isn’t the only mono-black zombie commander in EDH, but it is the only zombie lord that starts in the command zone, and it takes relatively little effort for this creature to outpace the standard +1/+1 buff.

#18. Yes Man, Personal Securitron

Yes Man, Personal Securitron is a weird group-hug commander that interests me. The ideal scenario looks to be passing this around the pod, drawing cards, and then flinging a wrath at the table to reap the rewards of quest counters on this happy robot.

#17. Preston Garvey, Minuteman

Preston Garvey, Minuteman provides enchantress players with an interesting ramp source. Stack enough Wild Growth variants on your lands, and you have Bear Umbra doubling your mana. This might not be better than an enchantress commander that draws cards but it’s certainly intriguing.

#16. Rose, Cutthroat Raider

Red’s primary means of card draw these days involves exiling cards to cast, so it’s got lots of payoffs to enable that: Passionate Archaeologist and Laelia, the Blade Reforged are two excellent examples. Rose, Cutthroat Raider looks like an appealing commander for such a strategy given the combination of card draw and mana acceleration.

#15. Raul, Trouble Shooter

Raul, Trouble Shooter isn’t flashy but provides good, solid value. Dimir mills itself pretty well, giving Raul a steady stream of cards to cast, plus some synergies with Secrets of the Dead and Prized Amalgam.

#14. Sentinel Sarah Lyons

Triggering battalion abilities can be a big ask but Sentinel Sarah Lyons looks like a great enabler and payoff. Giving your team +2/+2 often buffs creatures enough to attack profitably, and it’s easy to spew artifacts across the board so the trigger deals lots of damage (which you can multiply with Furnace of Rath and Dictate of the Twin Gods), making Sentinel Sarah Lyons look like a powerful aggressive commander.

#13. Rex, Cyber-Hound

Rex, Cyber-Hound screams combo-machine. It’s practically Necrotic Ooze. Maybe a little too far compared to that combo enabler, but having it in the command zone seems like a reasonable trade-off.

#12. Shaun, Father of Synths

Shaun, Father of Synths, feels more like a Simic card than Izzet, but that adds to the intrigue. You’ll want to copy creatures with powerful ETBs for guaranteed value; some excellent options include Barrin, Tolarian Archmage and Urza, Lord High Artificer.

#11. Colonel Autumn

Firstly, I commend Daniel Romanovsky on this art; I don’t know what stands out so much, but I love the imposing figure. This will be a fine aristocratic commander. The flavor of legendary creatures exploiting weaker, less memorable ones is on point and powerful; sacrificing creatures is among the best things you can do in the game, and +1/+1 counters are a fine payoff.

#10. The Wise Mothman

Infinitely flickering The Wise Mothman enables an alternative wincon since your opponents will mill out and it provides an interesting intersection of mill and combat damage to let decks pursue two win conditions. Overall, pretty cool. The Wise Mothman will likely be the face of any rad counter decks going forward as well.

#9. Dogmeat, Ever Loyal

One key aspect of aggressive EDH decks is card advantage to keep applying pressure; Dogmeat, Ever Loyal provides that in spades. Not only does it replace itself on ETB (most of the time), but you effectively draw a card whenever you attack! You can even argue that producing Junk works better than drawing cards since you never need to worry about discarding them.

#8. Dr. Madison Li

Dr. Madison Li stands out as the best energy commander, not that we have many options. The versatility does it for me over Liberty Prime, Recharged. There’s also some sick combo potential; it’s pretty easy to loop two 0-cost artifacts for infinite energy to feed into Whirler Virtuoso or other payoffs.

#7. Elder Arthur Maxson

Elder Arthur Maxson will lead many an Orzhov token deck well. Training looks particularly powerful on flying tokens, like those from Battle Screech and Lingering Souls. Having a free sacrifice outlet in the command zone enables Blood Artist kills and about a million infinite combos.

#6. Kellogg, Dangerous Mind

Kellogg, Dangerous Mind is grrreat! It’s just a cheap commander that produces Treasure in a color pair well-positioned to maximize it. First strike and haste make it easy to ensure at least one trigger. The Mind Control ability is a fine payoff, though I’m less excited about it. Kellogg, Dangerous Mind won’t warp the format or anything; it’s just a generally strong card.

#5. Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy

I’m a big fan of cheating creatures into play. Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy looks like a more casual version of Winota, Joiner of Forces, which is quite welcome! It’s pretty easy to buff Elizabeth with Flowering of the White Tree and the like. Chandra, Acolyte of Flame and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance help enable battalion; a few potential targets to drop into play include the on-color Titans, Combustible Gearhulk, and creatures that benefit from combat like Professional Face-Breaker.

#4. Caesar, Legion’s Emperor

Fallout has a lot of powerful aristocratic commanders, with Caesar, Legion’s Emperor topping them all. This card has a lot of text and all of it’s good. The best part is that you can attack with the creature you plan to sacrifice, triggering Caeser without risking your resources.

#3. Mr. House, President and CEO

When building Mr. House, President and CEO, I imagine the first step is ignoring the activated ability. Focus instead on rolling d20s via cards like Ancient Copper Dragon, Ancient Gold Dragon, and Delina, Wild Mage to greatly increase the odds of getting multiple tokens a roll.

#2. Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ

Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ offers the most unique and intriguing design among the Fallout commanders. This will be great alongside auras with powerful ETBs like Etali's Favor and Cartouche of Solidarity, or to copy impactful auras like On Serra's Wings. Hats off to Wizards: This is innovative and interesting.

#1. The Master, Transcendent

Do I spy a free reanimation ability? Sure, The Master, Transcendent can only reanimate creatures as 3/3s but that doesn’t matter much if your intended targets have powerful abilities like Toxrill, the Corrosive and Consecrated Sphinx. Since you get to steal creatures from other players, mill effects like Mesmeric Orb and Court of Cunning will be fantastic. This hits the sweet spot of interesting and powerful I’m looking for out of a commander.

Commanding Conclusion

Caesar, Legion's Emperor | Illustration by Alexander Gering

The Fallout Commander decks had a couple of duds so far as generals go but even more sparkling diamonds. The introduction of new mechanics and the return of older ones promises lots of interesting gameplay, especially with some of the more unique designs on a few of these commanders.

What commander from Fallout do you want to build? Do you like how the game adapted your favorite characters? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!