With Magic: The Gathering celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023 and Doctor Who reaching the epic 60th year anniversary mark too, it seems that the time was right to bring the two properties together.
Following on from the enormous success of the Magic: The Gathering – Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings set, the Doctor Who set is bringing Doctors, assistants, enemies, settings and sagas from the entirety of its rich, six decade history to the biggest CCG in the world.
MTG Doctor Who Cards
What Products Are Being Released For The MTG: Doctor Who Set?
Unlike the Lord of the Rings set – which felt like a ‘normal’ set release in every way except its Middle-Earth setting – the Doctor Who set is much smaller in scale.
As such, there’s just two different types of products that fans will be able to get their hands on: Commander Decks and Collector Booster Packs.
What Cards Feature In The MTG Doctor Who Set?
Though there will be just over 200 different cards in the MTG Doctor Who set, this number drastically increases when adding in alternate art cards – with some cards having full art and ‘showcase’ art variants alongside the standard version.
Cards Revealed so far can be seen below!
What Doctor Who Commander Deck Should I Buy?
In terms of cards, each Doctor Who Commander Deck contains a 100 card, pre-constructed Commander Deck, plus 10 Planechase Cards (which add an extra layer of randomness and special effects to your MTG games, should you choose to use them) and a Collector Booster Sample pack, which contains 2 special alt-frame cards, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare card.
Additionally, each of these Commander Decks contains numerous accessories – so you’ll also get 10 double sided tokens, a life tracker and a deck box.
Though you’ll also definitely want to take a look at our list of the best Commander deck boxes, to make sure your cards are properly safe and secure!
Each deck has a special theme, which will likely inform which of them you decide to buy.
So let’s go through them one by one!
1. Blast From The Past: The First Eight Doctors
Blast From The Past covers what’s thought of as Doctor Who’s classic, original era – which covers the shows starting in 1963, right up to the one-off TV movie from 1996.
It’s a three colour deck, with Green, White and Blue being those represented.
Green tends to favour big creatures, White is generally about working together with other White cards and Blue tends to favour controlling the playfield in your favour.
If you’re new to Magic: The Gathering entirely and you’re a fan of pre-2005 Doctor Who, this will be a great place to start.
Green cards in particular tend to be fairly straightforward and combat-focused, so this will likely be a good entry point to the game.
For more on the different colour combos in Magic: The Gathering, check out our MTG Colour Combo names guide!
2. Timey Wimey: Doctors Nine, Ten and Eleven
Relaunched in 2005, after 9 years away from the small screen, Doctor Who became bigger and more popular than ever – and has remained constantly on our TVs ever since.
The most popular it’s ever been is during the eras of Doctors Nine, Ten and Eleven; played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith respectively.
This era is very likely the one that current, adult players of MTG grew up with – so we can see this being the most popular Commander Deck of them all, based on the theme alone!
Its name – Timey Wimey – is a reference to the Tenth Doctor’s explanation for the non-linearity of time, in classic episode Blink.
With Blue, Red and White represented, it’s worth noting that Red is a mana colour that likes to bypass combat and attack creatures and players directly.
3. Paradox Power: Doctors Twelve and Thirteen
Are you a more recent convert to Doctor Who?
Did you enjoy the series featuring both Peter Capaldi – as the Twelfth Doctor – and Jodie Whittaker (as the Thirteenth)?
Then this is likely the deck for you; based around Green, Blue and Red, it should have some great creatures, with a bit of control and even aggro, a deck strategy that Red is known for!
5. Masters of Evil – The Doctor’s Greatest Villains
Instead of doing your best to save the galaxy, why not take a walk on the dark side and try to rule – or even destroy – it instead?
The Masters of Evil Commander Deck will allow you to take charge of numerous villains from Doctor Who lore, which has built up impressively over the last sixty years.
So here with Blue, Black (typically the colour of stealing life or outright destroying it) and Red, you will see creatures such as Cybermen, Daleks and many more besides.
This should be a fun deck to play, as the only one not based around multiple (or even any) Doctors; though you will have Time Lords – in the form of Missy, The Master and The Valeyard, at least!
What Will The MTG Doctor Who Collector Boosters Contain?
Though you do get a sample Collector Booster pack of two cards in each Commander Deck pack, if you want more then you’ll need to get yourself some Collector Booster packs.
Each MTG Doctor Who Collector Booster contains 15 cards.
These 15 cards will be made up of 7–14 cards of rarity Rare or higher – with lots of different, special card treatments – and this is guaranteed to include 6–7 extended art cards.
So while you may see the standard versions of cards in the Commander Decks, if you want to get your hands on the rarest and most aesthetically diverse cards, it’ll be the Collector Boosters that you need!
If this is your entry point to playing (or collecting!) Magic: The Gathering, you’ll want to take a look at our recommendations for the best MTG accessories too – and get yourself properly kitted out as you head out in your TARDIS!
