Rad Counters in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on February 29, 2024

Harmonize (Fallout) | art by Javier Charro

In the post-nuclear apocalypse world of the Fallout universe, one of the many dangers you’re going to have to face as you venture out of your nice, safe vault is Radiation. In the videogame it’s measured as Rads, and if you accumulate too many Rads, your stats begin to drop and eventually your character dies. As it was such a big part of the world in Fallout, the designers clearly wanted to introduce it into MTG’s version of Fallout, and they did so with rad counters! But what are rad counters? And do you need to keep some RadAway on hand just in case?

How Do Rad Counters Work?

Acquired Mutation | Illustration by Xavier Ribeiro

Rad counters (or Radiation) are a type of counter that apply to a player rather than a permanent (just like experience and poison counters). The ruling for rad counters is: “At the beginning of your precombat main phase, if you have any rad counters, mill that many cards. For each non-land permanent milled this way, you lose 1 life and a rad counter.”

This is quite interesting from a gameplay point of view. The rad counters are going to make you lose the game if you have enough of them, but you’re not exactly sure how they’re going to make you lose. It might be through milling, or it might be through the life loss, depending on what you mill. It leaves it up to chance, even if just a little.

The History of Rad Counters in MTG

So far we’ve only seen rad counters in the Fallout Commander preconstructed decks, which released in March 2024. 21 cards across all four decks in that set can create rad counters, plus Survivor's Med Kit that can take them away. There are no white cards that make rad counters.

Rad counters probably aren’t likely to show up again soon, and are definitely not evergreen. There is a chance they could get reskinned into something else in Magic at some point, or show up very occasionally for flavour reasons, though.

What if You Have Less Cards in Your Library Than Rad Counters?

If you have fewer cards in your library than rad counters, you will need to mill all of the cards in your library instead. The next time you need to draw a card, you’ll lose the game. Note that you mill in your precombat main phase, which is after your draw for the turn, so you don’t lose like you would if the mill triggered in your upkeep before the draw step.

Can You Proliferate Rad Counters?

Yes, just like poison or experience counters, rad counters can be proliferated.

Do Counter Doublers Work With Rad Counters?

Yes. Rad counters are doubled as long as the counter doubler applies to players (unlike Doubling Season). A good example of this is Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider. Note that counters may be affected differently depending on who controls the effect placing those counters. For example, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider doubles and rad counters you create, but halves any created by an opponent.

Can You Stifle the Rad Counters?

Yes, as the precombat main phase trigger is a triggered ability, you can counter it with a card like Stifle.

Gallery and List of Rad Counter Cards

• Acquired Mutation
• Bloatfly Swarm
• Contaminated Drink
• Feral Ghoul
• Glowing One
• Harold and Bob, First Numens
• Infesting Radroach
• Mariposa Military Base
• Megaton's Fate
• Mirelurk Queen
• Nightkin Ambusher
• Nuclear Fallout
• Nuka-Nuke Launcher
• Screeching Scorchbeast
• Strong, the Brutish Thespian
• Struggle for Project Purity
• Survivor's Med Kit
• Tato Farmer
• The Master, Transcendent
• The Wise Mothman
• Vault 12: The Necropolis
• Vexing Radgull

Best Rad CountersCards

Nuclear Fallout is just a solid board wipe for black that can get around indestructible. Honestly, it would be more than playable without the rad counter rider on it.

I also like Feral Ghoul for its ability to give your opponents a lot of rad counters without giving any to yourself, if you manage to put enough +1/+1 counters on the Ghoul. Imagine you have a board full of tokens, plus a sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar. Your opponents will be practically glowing they’re so irradiated!

Decklist: Rad Counters in Commander

Right now the best place to get a feel for how to use rad counters in Commander is the Mutant Menace Fallout precon. It already includes all of the best rad counter cards printed in this set, as well as plenty of proliferate effects to stack up even more radiation. Unfortunately there aren’t any additional rad counter cards to dig up, and might not be for a long time, but a few tweaks to the precon could shape the deck up into something truly radiant.

Final Thoughts

Feral Ghoul | Illustration by Sergio Cosmai

Rad counters are pretty… rad. Sorry, I had to make the joke somewhere in the article. But they are cool, and an interesting dynamic to track in a game. You’re not going to get a lot out of something like this if you’re just including a card or two that gives an opponent a small number, but if you can find a way to keep the rad count high your opponents are on multiple clocks at once.

Do you like rad counters? How well do you think the designers hit the flavour with this one? Do you love or hate the non-deterministic way they play out, where it matters what you mill? Let me know all your thoughts and hot takes in the comments here or over at the Draftsim Discord, and until next time, I hope you packed a RadAway!