“He’s past the Rainbow Bridge.”
Art:The Wise Mothman
by Sergei Leoluch Panin
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
The Wise Mothman has come all the way from Point Pleasant to a CEDH table near you; from the release and spoiler season of Fallout, most CEDH players have seen Mothman as the premier CEDH card from the fallout decks, and I would have to agree, after jamming a few games this card is fun! While it follows the same linear game plan as most food chain decks, it’s still a blast to play, and since we are in Sultai, we can easily compete with some of the best decks in the format. I am very excited to showcase this deck for you all today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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The Wise Mothman Food Chain!
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Why The Wise Mothman?
The Wise Mothman is in a unique position, and while they are a big part of our deck, they honestly don’t really do anything until we are combo-ing off with Food Chain
. This differs from some of the other food chain commanders in the format, who are a little more proactive; having our payoff always available is very nice, but they don’t add anything to the game outside of that.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
To start off we have some pretty strong mana dorks in Birds of Paradise
, Elves of Deep Shadow
, and Deathrite Shaman
, which are strong pieces of supplemental mana for the deck and allow us to cast more and more spells on the early turns, being explosive in the early turns is very strong for this deck. Destiny Spinner
exists for one reason and one reason only to protect the food chain combo and allow it to not be countered. Some lists don’t run this, but I love Talion, the Kindly Lord
. They are pretty easy for us to cast in the deck, and the card draw-off can be extremely strong. Talion also works perfectly with Orcish Bowmasters
which is a great way to deal some additional damage. Dauthi Voidwalker
is an absolute bomb against any type of graveyard-based strategy and is pretty much a game-ender for them.
Instants:
Force of Vigor
and Force of Negation
are both very cheap and almost always free and are able to respond to opponents when they try to make big mana plays go off and can be very strong. The same reason I love both Veil of Summer
and Autumn's Veil
in the deck because they effectively act as Silence
effects and being able to combo off with protection always feels good. We have a ton of counterspells, and many of them are all very strong, but they all serve the same purpose of allowing us to combo off while we stop our opponents from going off. If one of our combo pieces gets discarded or put into the graveyard for any reason Noxious Revival
is a great way to recover that card, especially for free in response to graveyard hate or any kind of exile effect.
Sorceries:
Praetor's Grasp
is a great way to remove an opponent’s combo piece; this effect is extremely strong and also the reason that we run Extract
, which is a great similar effect having both of these can invalidate many strategies and slow them down a ton. Demonic Tutor
and Vampiric Tutor
are both very strong cards for the deck and allow us to grab our combo pieces with relative ease. They are also quite cheap, and these allow us to go off very quickly. We have some strong removal; I really like Nuclear Fallout
, which has a similar effect to Toxic Deluge
, which are both strong ways to deal with creature-based combos or threats from our opponents. Culling Ritual
can be absolutely devastating against a variety of strategies and is a great way to produce some mana. With all of the mana rocks floating around the format, it is very easy to get all of our mana and then some back.
Artifacts:
Wishclaw Talisman
is quite the strong tutor for the deck and allows us to grab a combo piece. It does have the unfortunate downside of gifting one to our opponents, but if we are grabbing the last combo piece we need it is not a problem. Beyond that, we have a ton of mana rocks; most of these are pretty self-explanatory. One question many ask me is why all three on-color talismans, and that is mostly for explosive early game turns easily cast off of a Sol Ring
or Mana Crypt
as well as getting all of our colors established early can be quite strong.
Enchantments:
You know we had to include the namesake Food Chain because the deck absolutely would not work without it! In addition, we have format staples Rhystic Study
and Mystic Remora
, which are absolutely great sources of card draw for the deck and can certainly be game-changing on their own. Dress Down
is a great way to shut down an opponent’s value plays and is also a great way to shut off creature-based combos for a turn, just an overall W of a card, but since it is the only effect like that in the deck, we do need to be careful on how we use it. I also love Sylvan Library
, which, at its best, draws us three cards in turn, and, at its worst, allows us to have additional knowledge and we can know if we need to fetch. Carpet of Flowers
is a strong mana producer for the deck. This is naturally meta-dependent, but in my testing meta, it is extremely strong.
Land Base:
We have a pretty typical CEDH landbase full of a ton of speed in getting all of our colors established with the OG duals, matching shocks, and matching fetches. This allows us to get ahead of the curve very early and have all of our colors established quite early in the game. The flexibility with the fetches allows us to grab any colors we need as we need them. There is not a ton to say about the landbase, the reason we are playing both a basic island and swamp is because of the prevalence of Assassin's Trophy
and Path to Exile
in the format. I have had no issues with this landbase, especially since a lot of our mana production is added on too by our mana rocks.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We can combo off quite early with protection.
- We have a high density of low-cost counterspells, allowing us to stop opponents’ combos and protect our own.
- We are able to compete with some of the best decks and quickest decks in the format, being in Sultai certainly helps as we have a ton of the format staples at our disposal.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Outside of being a Food Chain
outlet, our commander doesn’t do that much. - Very weak to Praetor's Grasp especially when targeting Food Chain
- We can be pretty weak to Stax effects because a majority of our mana acceleration comes from our artifacts so we can be pretty weak to cards like Collector Ouphe or Null Rod.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
This is CEDH; we have quite a few combo-based ways to end the game. We are primarily a food chain deck, but since we are in Sultai, we have classic CEDH combos like Thoracle as additional ways to end the game. For our food chain combos, the damage/mana outlet is Mothman himself since we can give our opponents infinite rad counters. Below are all of the combos in the deck fully explained:
Requires:
Eternal Scourge must be on the battlefield. Food Chain must be on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Food Chain by exiling Eternal Scourge, adding four mana of any one color that can only be spent to cast creature spells.
- Cast Eternal Scourge from exile by paying 3.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite colored mana that can only be spent to cast creature spells. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite storm count.
Misthollow Griffin
+ Food Chain
Requires:
Food Chain must be on the battlefield. Misthollow Griffin must be on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Food Chain by exiling Misthollow Griffin, adding UUUUU that can only be spent to cast creature spells.
- Cast Misthollow Griffin from exile by paying 2UU.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite colored mana that can only be spent to cast creature spells. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite storm count.
Demonic Consultation
+ Thassa's Oracle
Requires:
Demonic Consultation must be in hand. Thassa’s Oracle must be in hand. Mana needed: UUB
Steps:
- Cast Demonic Consultation by paying B, naming Thassa’s Oracle and thus exiling your library due to you not having a card named Thassa’s Oracle in your library.
- Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU.
- Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, causing you to win the game.
Results:
Exile your library. Win the game.
Tainted Pact
+ Thassa's Oracle
Requires:
Tainted Pact must be in hand. Thassa’s Oracle must be in hand. No two cards in library share a name. Mana needed: 1UUB
Steps:
- Cast Tainted Pact by paying 1B, exiling your library.
- Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU.
- Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, causing you to win the game.
Results:
Win the game.
Conclusion:
The Wise Mothman is a very sweet commander who is the perfect outlet for one of my favorite combos in the game, the good old-fashioned food chain. I have been having a blast with this list and have been exhaustively testing it against some of the best decks in the format. I have found the performance to be pretty good. While a lot of performance revolves around player skill as well as matchups I find that it can compete with some of the quickest decks in the format as well. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did and have been enjoying fallout week thus far! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!