Nuclear Fallout
Sorcery
Each creature gets twice -X/-X until end of turn. Each player gets X rad counters.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Fallout
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #2841
Nuclear Fallout wipes the board of small creatures and loads every surviving permanent with -1/-1 counters, all for four mana — a rate that punishes go-wide strategies while feeding counter-based engines. The Wise Mothman turns every one of those counters into a card and a Rad counter for each opponent, making Nuclear Fallout less a reset button and more a draw engine stapled to a board wipe.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Wise Mothman
The Wise Mothman's triggered ability fires for each -1/-1 counter Nuclear Fallout distributes, which on a crowded board can draw you four or five cards in a single cast. It's the primary reason Nuclear Fallout shows up in over 80% of Mothman lists.
The Master, Transcendent
The Master, Transcendent wants bodies on the field cleared so his Dalek tokens and theft effects can operate unopposed, and Nuclear Fallout delivers that while leaving counters behind that synergize with his proliferate-adjacent gameplan. It shows up in well over half of his decks for exactly that reason.
Massacre Girl, Known Killer
Massacre Girl, Known Killer triggers off every creature death, and Nuclear Fallout can chain kills when the weakened survivors trade or get pinged — turning a sweeper into a cascade of Massacre Girl triggers. It's a natural include in decks that want to convert a board wipe into sustained advantage.
Agent Frank Horrigan
Agent Frank Horrigan scales on opponents' creatures dying, so Nuclear Fallout clearing out small utility creatures feeds his counters while leaving him alive through his own toughness. Nuclear Fallout does double duty as both a threat answer and a power-up for Horrigan.
Valgavoth, Terror Eater
Valgavoth, Terror Eater wants opponents losing life and resources, and Nuclear Fallout's sweeper effect clears blockers and taxes opponents' boards in one shot. The -1/-1 counters that linger can finish off creatures that survived, generating additional life-loss triggers for Valgavoth.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Nuclear Fallout lives — the multiplayer board state means those -1/-1 counters spread across more permanents, and counter-synergy commanders like The Wise Mothman extract obscene value from a single casting. In Legacy and Vintage, it's technically legal but competes with far more efficient sweepers like Toxic Deluge and Massacre, so it never sees serious play there. Oathbreaker gives it a niche home in the same counter-based builds that love it in Commander, just at a smaller table. Outside those formats, Nuclear Fallout simply isn't legal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Nuclear Fallout isn't currently available here — check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market listings. Given its narrow but extremely high inclusion rate in The Wise Mothman decks, demand is real and concentrated, so price tends to reflect that specialty appeal rather than broad format staple status.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.