Doctor Who Commander Decks: Are They Worth It?

Last updated on June 28, 2024

Crisis of Conscience | Illustration by Borja Pindado

Four Lord of the Rings precons, four Commander Masters precons, four more coming up in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, two alongside Wilds of Eldraine, and now another four as a standalone Doctor Who crossover, all within a 6-month period? Commander players really are eating good these days. Well, they’re not really eating at all since they spent all their money on Commander precons, but you get it.

Doctor Who’s the latest Universes Beyond crossover to reach Magic, this time in the form of a set of Commander precons. I’ll admit, I know virtually nothing about the Doctor Who IP except that it’s convoluted and nebulous at times and has a rabid fanbase, so these decks are bound to please many players. And they’re complicated.

Let’s see what they’ve got going on!

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck Bundle – Includes All 4 Decks (1 Masters of Evil, 1 Blast from The Past, 1 Timey-Wimey, and 1 Paradox Power Deck Set)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Get all 4 Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Decks, with 1 Masters of Evil deck, 1 Blast from the Past deck, 1 Timey-Wimey deck, and 1 Paradox Power deck; each 100-card deck contains 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• DOCTOR WHO-INSPIRED ART & GAME MECHANICS—Whether you join your favorite Doctor and their companions or side with the Doctor’s greatest foes, each of these decks introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards featuring art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—These ready-to-play decks let you jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!

$229.94

Buy on Amazon

What Are the Doctor Who Commander Decks?

Twice Upon a Time | Illustration by Elizabeth Peiró

Best Value

Best for Fun

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Best for CEDH

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

Magic The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Blast from The Past (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Price not available

$88.97

$41.95

$37.95

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-

-

-

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Best Value

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Price not available

-

Buy on Amazon

Best for Fun

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

$88.97

-

Buy on Amazon

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Magic The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Blast from The Past (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

$41.95

-

Buy on Amazon

Best for CEDH

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

$37.95

-

Buy on Amazon

The Doctor Who Commander decks are a set of four Commander precons flavorfully set in the world of the Doctor Who IP. It’s a full Universes Beyond product in the same vein as the 2022 Warhammer 40k precons. There’s no accompanying Standard set release, though there are various supplementary products with the same Doctor Who branding.

The product introduces a number of new mechanics, one of which is the Doctor’s companion ability, a riff on partner that allows you to have two commanders as long as one has “doctor’s companion” and the other has the Doctor creature type. These pairings are spread across the decks, leaving some interchangeability between different doctors and companions. I’ll be evaluating each deck’s strategy based on the intended face commanders.

The decks also feature an astounding 50 new cards each. That’s almost 200 new cards (there are some repeats across decks), and around 200 reprints total, making this a bit of an exhausting review compared to previous precons. And they didn’t hold back on these card designs. Nearly all the new cards are wordy, rules-intensive, and/or combine mechanics together in interesting but complex ways. This is not a beginner’s product.

There’s also a Planechase tie-in here. It’s not a pronounced part of the decks, but you’ll see Planechase-specific text on a few cards here and there, and each precon comes with 10 new planes to add to your planar deck. I’ll be ignoring this aspect of the decks altogether, since I imagine most players aren’t going to be engaging with it. If you are, awesome! It’s just not a selling point for me, and not going to sway my or many others’ decision to buy these decks.

Finally, every reprint in each deck has new art in line with the Doctor Who universe. That adds just a little bit of extra flair to every card in the set, as it did with the Lord of the Rings precons.

To summarize, each Doctor Who Commander precon includes:

• 100 total cards, 50 of which are new-to-Magic, and 50 reprints with new art.
• 2 Traditional foils (the Doctor + Companion face commanders).
• A 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack (sealed product only).
• 10 unique Planechase cards and a Planar Die.
• 10 Double-sided tokens.
• A deck box and life counter to add to that pile of junk you keep accumulating.

Timey-Wimey

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Timey-Wimey's all about—you guessed it—time travel! It’s a Jeskai EDH deck that combines “time counter” mechanics like suspend and vanishing with the new time travel mechanic, which lets you either add or remove time counters from permanents or suspended cards you control. That’s already on the complex side for a Commander precon, but add a dash of phasing, some legendary-matters subthemes, and… what’s that? Soulbond and horsemanship? Yeah, they’re not playing around with these decks.

Rose Tyler and The Tenth Doctor partner up as the commanders. The Tenth Doctor freerolls cards into exile with suspend, and Rose Tyler beats down harder for every time counter you have represented somewhere. The cards are complex, but the gameplan’s simple: Get as many time counters as you can on your cards, keep your vanishing cards in play longer, and use the suspend effects to cast big spells for a small upfront mana investment.

As the name suggests, this deck takes time to do its thing, and it has a lot of moving pieces, but the individual power level of the cards is quite high, so it seems fun if you can get over the learning curve with all the new cards.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

As always, I’ll be mostly ignoring the price of new cards in the set and focusing on reprint value, since the set hasn’t released at the time of writing and pre-sale prices tend to be outrageously expensive. Just to demonstrate this point, Everybody Lives! is preordering for an ungodly $40.

Of course, with 50 new cards per deck, that leaves only half of each deck to talk about in terms of reprint value. Timey-Wimey definitely delivers in this department. This precon contains two reprints in the $2-$5 range, three cards in the $5-$10 range, and a whopping four cards currently selling for $10+. A lot of that value is tied up in lands like Sunbaked Canyon and Stormcarved Coast, which contribute to some of the best precon mana bases we’ve ever seen. However, many of the “big-ticket” lands here are also featured in the other decks, which hurts their chances of maintaining a high price point.

Punch the numbers quickly and you can see you’re already getting your $50’s worth in reprint value alone, then add in whatever estimated value you want to give the other 50 new cards, some of which are bound to remain valuable. We’re looking at a potential $100+ value deck here.

I usually like to highlight some of the best new cards in each precon, but with half of each deck being new to Magic, I’ll have to pick a few highlights and move along. Standouts include:

• The Ninth Doctor, a commander that gives you extra upkeep steps.
• The Face of Boe, a legend that cheats powerful suspend cards onto the stack.
• Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, a strong dino-typal payoff that might spike in price with the upcoming The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set.
• Everybody Lives!, a mass protection spell for everybody. Everybody!
• Gallifrey Falls / No More, a new protection spell in a similar vein as Teferi's Protection, though more color-restricted.
• Four Knocks, basically a white Phyrexian Arena with an expiration date.
• Ominous Cemetery, colorless removal on a land, similar to Underdark Rift, but usable at instant-speed. Featured in a few of these precons.

The Verdict

I have to imagine this deck’s a bit of a headache for anyone new to Magic or players who just want to attack with creatures instead of fiddling with time counters and suspend cards. Personally, it seems awesome, and I bet most enfranchised players will be delighted to play with such a unique theme, backed up by powerful (though complicated) cards. The value is phenomenal, the theme is fresh and exciting, and the cards are strong. Not much to dislike, though I’ll give it a strike for being hostile towards newbies.

We've also got a sweet upgrade guide for this one!

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring Doctor Who characters, villains, and memorable episodes to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• WIBBLY-WOBBLY TIMEY-WIMEY— The Timey-Wimey MTG Commander Deck lets you team up with the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors and their fearless companions with a 100-card deck featuring 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!

Buy on Amazon

Masters of Evil

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

The Grixis Masters of Evil deck switches up the formula; instead of focusing on the Doctors and their companions, this deck puts the villains of the Doctor Who universe front and center. It features The Master in multiple forms, who I’m assuming is a returning villain in the series, as well as monsters and antagonists from across the entire franchise. It introduces the new “villainous choice” ability, a punisher mechanic that makes opponents choose between two options in a lose-lose situation.

Davros, Dalek Creator is the face commander, though there are several other legends you can sub in instead, including Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, Cult of Skaro, The Rani, and The Valeyard. Some play into the villainous choice side of the deck, with others highlighting an overarching artifact/Dalek theme.

It plays out like a controlling aggressive deck, if you’ll forgive the oxymoron. It wants to apply consistent pressure to all opponents but uses removal and goad effects to keep your opponents’ threats out of the way. It also heavily features the myriad mechanic, which lets you spread out damage equally. You’ll likely end up being the archenemy of the table with this deck, which is appropriate given its villainous flavor.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Is that a Snuff Out reprint?! That card alone sells for just over $10 at the time of writing, but Masters of Evil includes another eight cards in the $2-$5 range, and five cards in the $5-$10 range. There’s a few great staples here (Propaganda, Talisman of Indulgence), though most of the value is wrapped up in the mana base. Overall, not bad value when you add in the expected value of everything new here. Here's some of the spicy new cards to keep an eye out for:

• The Master, Multiplied, a new legend that circumvents sacrificing from effects like myriad or Splinter Twin. I expect this to be a popular commander.
• Cybermen Squadron, a new artifact deck finisher in the same vein as Legion Loyalty.
• Cyber Conversion, a new take on Reality Shift, and probably a blue staple removal spell moving forward.
• Don't Blink, an effective tool for countering blink decks.
• This Is How It Ends, a new form removal for black.
• Blink, the first saga where the chapter numbers are out of order.

The Verdict

Masters of Evil feels like the most distinct deck among the bunch. Some of the others can run up against one another with their themes and multiple Doctors/companions per deck, but this precon drops all that to make you the bad guy in the pod, literally. The reprint value is great, even providing a much-needed Snuff Out reprint. The themes are cool and the villainous choice mechanic gives your opponents more player agency, which I always find fun. Pick it up if there’s a control player inside of you, but leave it alone if you’re more interested in playing with your favorite Doctors and protagonists.

And of course, you can upgrade the deck following our guide!

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring your favorite Doctor Who characters, villains, and adventures to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• EXTERMINATE YOUR OPPONENTS—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• BATTLE AS THE BADDIES—The Masters of Evil MTG Commander Deck allows you to team up with the Doctor’s greatest foes with a 100-card deck featuring fan-favorite Doctor Who villains
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!

$88.97

Buy on Amazon

Blast from the Past

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Blast from the Past is a Bant deck featuring most of The Doctors and a larger number of companions than the other decks, which means it has to most customization in terms of who you run as the commander(s). The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith team up as the face commanders, though I’d recommend experimenting with other combinations. These two are both card advantage legends that are great at bringing your synergies together but don’t put much pressure on your opponents.

If you like what you see, check out our upgrade guide!

There’s a heavy “historic matters” theme throughout this deck, which means an emphasis on sagas, artifacts, and legendary cards. I find that the deck does an exceptionally good job at creating tokens, especially Clues and Food, but it feels short on meaningful things to do with those tokens aside from sacrifice them for their normal effects. There are some powerful payoffs like Displaced Dinosaurs and Nyssa of Traken, but they’re sparse otherwise.

I could also see this deck being a little too smart for its own good, even for veteran players. It’s got a lot of fiddly pieces, cast triggers, and interactions like creating token copies of sagas and tracking tons of different game pieces. A challenge for some, an annoyance for others.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Blast from the Past is lagging behind in the reprint department. There’s five cards in the $2-$5 range, four cards in the $5-$10 range, and Horizon Canopy at just over $10. That’s a decent chunk of cards, but it’s entirely tied to the mana base, save for a copy of Heroic Intervention (why won’t this card drop in price!). The reprint value’s not bad, but it’s disappointing for the only non-land reprint of note to be a card that sees print in most waves of Commander precons. It’s a rock-solid manabase though, so no real complaints.

“Historic” is a pretty wide-reaching theme, so I expect plenty of these new cards to make their way into players’ other already-established decks. Here are some of the highlights:

• Barbara Wright, currently the only way to give all sagas read ahead.
• Vrestin, Menoptra Leader, a random insect typal legend (someone fill me in), but people got excited for Zask, Skittering Swarmlord, so….
• Displaced Dinosaurs, because people love dinos, and the ability’s actually amazing. There's a bit of a frenzy over this one, expect it to have a high pricetag for a while.
• Twice Upon a Time, the first adventure that isn’t a permanent. Also featured in the Paradox Power deck.
• Five Hundred Year Diary, the first legendary clue.
• Gallifrey Stands, an alternate wincon that requires all 13 Doctors in play, or, you know, changelings.

The Verdict

This is the precon I’m least in love with. I could see a huge fan of the series preferring this one since it jams so many of the Doctors in, but as someone who isn’t keen on Doctor Who lore, that doesn’t sway me much. It has the least interesting themes of the bunch; why choose a historic-matters deck when I can mess around with suspend, paradox, or be a literal villain? It’s not bad, and the reprint value is acceptable, but it’s just not interesting to me. People with legends-matter decks or saga decks will find plenty to use here, and the cards slot into different decks well enough, but it just doesn’t spark my excitement the same way the other decks do.

Magic The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Blast from The Past (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring your favorite Doctor Who characters, villains, and adventures to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES and STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• TIME LORD NOSTALGIA—The Blast from the Past MTG Commander deck showcase the first Eight Doctors and their companions with a 100-card deck featuring 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME and SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect.

$41.95

Buy on Amazon

Paradox Power

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Paradox Power is a Temur deck focused on the new paradox mechanic, which rewards you for casting spells from zones other than your hand. We’ve seen similar abilities on popular commanders like Prosper, Tome-Bound and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, and now with the new Yasmin Khan + The Thirteenth Doctor duo.

Wizards pulled out just about every mechanic in the book that works with paradox, including but not limited to: foretell, adventure, flashback, escape, retrace, cascade, suspend… the list continues. Point is, the whole strategy revolves around casting spells from exile, from your graveyard, from your library, and so on, and bolstering paradox payoffs like Flaming Tyrannosaurus and Impending Flux.

There also appears to be a small artifact theme with plenty of investigate and Food-making cards, with payoffs like Dan Lewis and Strax, Sontaran Nurse. I wouldn’t focus too much on this aspect of the deck, and I might even consider starting with the artifact-themed cards as cuts for potential upgrades.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

This deck fares a little worse than Timey-Wimey in the reprint department, though it’s still not a bad showing. Paradox Power includes six cards in the $2-$5 range, three cards in the $5-$10 range, and a single Carpet of Flowers peeking in at just above $10. It’s worth noting that most of the value reprints are cantrips like Preordain and Ponder, or the same lands in the other precons.

Same caveat here: Add to the reprint value the expected value of all 50 new cards plus the 10 Planechase cards, and expect at least two or three cards to maintain a high price or even spike over time. You’re almost certainly getting your value here, though the reprint value is somewhat middling.

This deck is full of new designs that stood out to me as just universally playable. Although the entire deck is pretty much designed around working with The Thirteenth Doctor, there are so many cards that should generically fit into already-existing decks. Standouts include:

• River Song, a unique legend that makes you draw from the bottom of your library.
• Karvanista, Loyal Lupari, a strong human-typal payoff, despite not being a human itself.
• Quantum Misalignment, an expensive clone effect, but worth mentioning due to how popular Irenicus's Vile Duplication is.

The Verdict

Paradox Power just looks silly and fun, and it’s clear that the designers really pulled out the stops on the new card designs. It’s full of cards that could easily become new format staples, and it showcases a lot of Magic’s catalog of mechanics and abilities. Sure, maybe a bit too much for a new player, but to beat the dead horse one more time, this isn’t a beginner product. The reprint value is a knock against it, especially since most of the value is tied to lands that’ll likely decrease in value over time.

Make sure to check out our upgrade guide to the deck!

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring Doctor Who characters, villains, and memorable episodes to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES and STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• EMBRACE THE POWER OF PARADOX—The Paradox Power MTG Commander deck showcases the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors and their companions with a 100-card deck featuring 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME and SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect.

$37.95

Buy on Amazon

The Best Doctor Who Commander Deck

For Value

Timey-Wimey's killing it in the value department. Wedding Ring, Farewell, and Sunbaked Canyon are outstanding reprints, and those are just the ones that break the $10 mark. The mana base is great by precon standards and features a number of other $5+ cards, though some of those are repeated in other decks and likely to slip in price over time. There’s also Everybody Lives! and Gallifrey Falls // No More as cards that are preordering at absurdly high prices but seem like powerful Commander cards.

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring Doctor Who characters, villains, and memorable episodes to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• WIBBLY-WOBBLY TIMEY-WIMEY— The Timey-Wimey MTG Commander Deck lets you team up with the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors and their fearless companions with a 100-card deck featuring 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!

Buy on Amazon

For Competitive EDH

Paradox Power is my pick as the strongest of the cycle, though I want to put a disclaimer that none of these decks are cEDH-viable straight out of the box, even at this power level. They’d all need significant upgrades to compete at the most competitive tables, but in a competitive-casual crowd, Paradox Power sticks out. Its intended commanders give you card draw and board presence, there’s plenty of customization with different Doctors/companions, and the cards are individually quite strong, even the ones that aren’t on-theme (Last Night Together). There’s also a random Carpet of Flowers here for some reason? Probably on account of each of these decks featuring blue, but still, it’s a card that makes rounds in competitive settings.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring Doctor Who characters, villains, and memorable episodes to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES and STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• COMPANIONS WELCOME—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• EMBRACE THE POWER OF PARADOX—The Paradox Power MTG Commander deck showcases the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors and their companions with a 100-card deck featuring 2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME and SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect.

$37.95

Buy on Amazon

For Fun

This is a tough category, but I’m going to land on Masters of Evil as the fun pick, though Timey-Wimey and Paradox Power are both exciting decks in my opinion. Masters of Evil is just as fun and exciting without being overly complex, which is a knock against the other two. Sure, there’ll be players who actively seek out that complexity, but I believe Masters of Evil will provide the best out-of-the-box experience for the average casual player. All I really know is that it’s not Blast from the Past, which feels like a clear last place compared to the other three top-tier choices.

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

• BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring your favorite Doctor Who characters, villains, and adventures to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
• TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
• EXTERMINATE YOUR OPPONENTS—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
• BATTLE AS THE BADDIES—The Masters of Evil MTG Commander Deck allows you to team up with the Doctor’s greatest foes with a 100-card deck featuring fan-favorite Doctor Who villains
• TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!

$88.97

Buy on Amazon

Commanding Conclusion

Everybody Lives! | Illustration by Alice Xia Zhang

Doctor Whew, am I right? Anyone have a glass of water, I’m sweating here! These are the most complex Commander precons I’ve ever seen, which I feel like I said about the Commander Masters precons not so long ago. Ah well, enfranchised players and Doctor Who fans rejoice! Though I can’t help but pour one out for the new Magic players or Doctor Who enthusiasts trying out Magic who might be left blind-sided by the learning curve of these decks. Again, this is not a beginner’s product.

These decks are complex, but exciting, and it feels like so much love and care went into crafting them for Magic and Doctor Who fans alike. Is it enough to make me backlog 800+ episodes of Doctor Who dating back to the 1960s? Yeah no, I won’t be doing that. But I still think it’s a strength of the Universes Beyond marketing to give players like me insight into other worlds that people have fallen in love with.

Best Value

Best for Fun

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Best for CEDH

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

Magic The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Blast from The Past (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Price not available

$88.97

$41.95

$37.95

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Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Best Value

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Timey-Wimey (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

Price not available

-

Buy on Amazon

Best for Fun

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck - Masters of Evil (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Commander - Masters of Evil

$88.97

-

Buy on Amazon

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Magic The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Blast from The Past (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

$41.95

-

Buy on Amazon

Best for CEDH

Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who Commander Deck – Paradox Power (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories)

$37.95

-

Buy on Amazon

But now it’s timey-wimey to wrap things up. Final verdict: These are standout decks in an ever-growing lineup of endless Commander precons, and well worth your money. But how are you feeling about them? Does Doctor Who feel like a good fit for Magic? Are these precons up to snuff? Can you tell me what the heck a Vashta Nerada is? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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