MTG Fallout has a returning mechanic that hasn’t been seen since it was first introduced in Future Sight. Fortifications are back, in the form of the card C.A.M.P, which depicts the base-building mechanics from Fallout 76.
The C.A.M.P card from the upcoming Fallout set is an artifact that, like all fortifications, can be attached to a land, just as you’d attach an MTG equipment card to a creature. It then places a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control each time you tap it for mana, and if you produce mana of the same color as that creature, you also get a junk token.
Fortifications were introduced in Future Sight in 2007 and have never been seen since. A fan-favorite MTG set, Future Sight is one of the most interesting and experimental releases Magic: The Gathering has ever had. The idea behind it was that Future Sight would include cards from the future, with unreleased mechanics, and cards that reference other cards that don’t exist.
Fortifications were one of the many experimental inclusions in that set, and only one card, Darksteel Garrison, was printed with the mechanic. Since Future Sight, Magic’s head designer Mark Rosewater has stated that they are unlikely to return, placing them at an 8 on the Storm scale. “Fortification’s biggest problem is design space,” he wrote on his blog in 2017, explaining that “there aren’t many things you want to attach to lands.”
Which perhaps explains why we’re seeing the keyword here, in a one-off card on a Commander product, rather than in one of the many Standard sets on this year’s MTG release schedule.
MTG Universes Beyond products are proving themselves a great place to throw in unusual cards, like the Timey-Wimey deck from MTG Doctor Who, or this New Vegas-themed Fallout card which makes you play Poker with your hand.