Doctor Who Commander Precons - Here's What You Need To Know

Magic: The Gathering's "Universes Beyond" series has brought several beloved franchises into the world of MTG. We've crossed over with The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Street Fighter, Warhammer 40k, and more - There's also a Lord of the Rings collaboration set just on the horizon. After that, we're visiting the insane world of Doctor Who, and that is the topic of today's article—specifically, the Doctor Who Commander Precons.

I'll cover what we know so far about each deck - Including the names and color identities. As well as the clever way the design team represented the iconic series in four separate, unique decks. I'll also discuss some new mechanics and give you all available general information. Without further ado, who's your doctor?

Updated 10/05/2023 - 2 of 4 decklists spolied: Doctor Who Commander Precon Decklists Complete

Doctor's Companion

Before we get into the actual decks, I want to mention the new mechanic, "Doctor's Companion." Three of the four decks will have not one but two Commanders. One will be "The Doctor," which can be paired with a companion. Each doctor is two colors, and each companion is a single color. So, when paired together, they create a three-color deck.

For the record, this has nothing to do with the companion mechanic from Ikoria. It references the doctor's companions, which play a key role in the show. Functionally, it works like the partner mechanic, where you can have two commanders, so long as they both have partner; it's just styled for the Doctor Who theme - Just like "Friends Forever" was for the Stranger Things secret lair cards.

Each of the precons is said to have multiple doctors companions, allowing you to customize how the deck plays and make every game feel like an episode of the show. If you've watched the show, you know just how wacky things can get, so this is a nice nod to the chaos of the series.

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The Doctor Who Commander Precons

There are four precons in total for this set, each representing a different era of the show. Each one will contain 50 new cards, and each card in the deck will have new Doctor Who-themed art. They will release on October 13th, 2023. Let's start with the classic doctor deck and move on to the more recent ones.

Blast From The Past

• Colors - Green, White, Blue
• Theme - Unknown
• Commanders - The Fourth Doctor & Sarah Jane Smith

This deck contains the series' earliest doctors. While the fourth doctor is the face commander, doctors 1-8 will all be in this first deck.

Timey-Wimey

• Colors - Blue, Red, White
• Theme - Unknown
• Commanders - The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) & Rose Tyler

This second deck encompasses the 2005 relaunch of the show and contains doctors 9-11. The name is a reference to a quote from head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat in which he said, "People assume time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff."

Paradox Power

• Colors - Green, Blue, Red
• Theme - Unknown
• Commanders - Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan

This precon will can contain the two newest doctors from the show, doctors 12 & 13 and will cover thier stories. If you're a fan of the show, you may know there are talks of a new doctor on the horizon. While it won't be in these decks, WOTC has said they have plans for future doctors. So, that's exciting.

Masters of Evil

• Colors - Blue, Black, Red
• Theme - Unknown (Villans)
• Commander - Davros, Dalek Creator

We came to the end of the 13 doctors with the first three decks. So, the fourth deck revolves around the show's villans. The deck is said to contain many of the doctor's most notable nemesis and a few "you wouldn't expect." As you can see, Missy, a Cyberman, and a Dalek can all be found on the box, and the Dalek creator, Davros is at the helm.

Masters of Evil is the only deck to feature a single commander. Given that all of the other decks have two, I expect Davros will pack a serious punch to make up for the fact that he's riding solo.

Basic Lands Featuring The TARDIS

Here we have the first basic land cycle for the precons. Each one features the TARDIS in the art itself and is taken from specific show episodes. If you can guess any of the episodes, comment and let me know. And yes, I said, "first" basic land cycle. There is another that Wizards will be previewing sometime in the future.

I have to say that these lands are pretty stunning. Each one was done by Svetlin Velinov, who did a phenomenal job. I've already heard many players praising the island, and I can see why. However, my favorite is the mountain, with the plains being a close second.

It's also nicethat these really capture the feeling of the TARDIS landing right in the middle of the given locations. I'm looking forward to seeing the second cycle in the future.

"Episode Storyline" Sagas

Each doctor from the show had a special or iconic episode from their run chosen to be represented and told on a saga. So, there are 13 sagas for the doctors and one for the war and fugitive doctors. Then four villains were chosen to receive sagas too. This means there are a total of 19 sagas throughout the precons that tell the story of a particular episode.

As of now, we only have the art for a single saga to look at, and it comes from "The Parting of the Ways," which was the final episode in the run of the ninth doctor. Here is a look:

Planechase Cards

Doctor Who is all about jumping around throughout space and time. So, planechase is a naturally perfect fit for the set. After all, it represents jumping from one plane to another in the blink of an eye. Each of the commander precons will contain 10 brand-new planechase cards. As of now, we have one new planechase card to look at.

"The Library" was a near planet-sized library that contained every book ever written with its data core. From a gameplay point of view, it relieves you of your maximum hand size and gives you the ability to draw cards, which is, of course, a great combination. However, if you roll chaos, a creature will get a shadow counter, which is also pretty flavorful.