MTG Universes Beyond Doctor Who: Every Doctor revealed and explained
BBC/WOTCThe MTG Doctor Who set brings the renegade Time Lord to life, with cards depicting each and every one of their regenerations.
It’s fair to say that Doctor Who would be nothing without its central character. The Revival era especially has done work to establish companions’ stories as an equal part of the show – and Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures proved that the wider universe is ripe for exploring – but there’s no Doctor Who without The Doctor.
Each and every show-canon Doctor is represented in MTG Universes Beyond: Doctor Who, from Hartnell to Whittaker. The Doctors in this set have a wide and weird variety of abilities, ranging from boosts to Historic cards to granting additional upkeep steps. We’ll walk you through every Doctor card appearing in MTG Universes Beyond: Doctor Who, and get you ready for this upcoming adventure in space and time.
MTG Universes Beyond Doctor Who: The Doctors explained
Classic Era Doctors
The First Doctor
As the Doctor that started it all, the First’s ability to find the TARDIS ensures that you’ll always be ready to take off and find adventure. Fittingly for his number and namesake, +1/+1 counters provide a small but reliable boost to your deck’s survivability and damage output.
The Second Doctor
The Second Doctor’s abilities are remarkably civil and fit the Doctor’s often pacifistic nature well, boosting the whole table’s draw power while ensuring that you still come out ahead. This Doctor shows up in the Blast from the Past Commander deck, and its color identity will lead to some excellent card draws. Removing your hand size limit allows you to always stay well-stocked with options.
The Third Doctor
Sprucing up in his dandiest form, the third doctor eschews the peacability of the past and springs into action. Trample is a combat-focused ability and this Doctor can pack a real punch. Generating tokens and boosting his own power, the Third Doctor brings both value and power to the table.
The Fourth Doctor
One of the Doctor’s most beloved incarnations, the Fourth Doctor allows you to expand your access to Historic spells, inviting you into stories across time and space. His iconic catchphrase ‘Would you like a Jelly Baby?’ is represented here by putting Food tokens onto the field, allowing you to stock up and regain life when it’s needed most.
The Fifth Doctor
Bringing out the best of the Doctor’s outlook on life, the Fifth Doctor rewards long-term peace and cooperation. Shoring up each of your creatures when they haven’t attacked rewards using their abilities for other purposes, and the untap effect allows them to be ready to block an otherwise killer blow if needed.
The Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor’s tenure in the TARDIS has often somewhat been unfairly maligned, this incarnation is afforded a much better showing here. Copy effects can be exceedingly strong, more than justifying the Sixth Doctor’s steep but appropriate six mana cost. Whether used as a Commander or in the 99, the Sixth Doctor is set to be an absolute powerhouse.
The Seventh Doctor
With trickier effects befitting the Seventh Doctor’s manipulative nature, the abilities here can lead to mind games with a potentially huge payoff. Even if the guess doesn’t work out, the Seventh Doctor builds up your access to Clues, furthering a draw-heavy strategy.
The Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor had far less screentime than many fans would like, but his appearance and effectiveness here is a real balm to that sore. Graveyard recursion can be a huge boost when used at the right time, and the Eight Doctor can empower you to build back your board and snatch victory from defeat.
Revival Era Doctors
The War Doctor
A haunted figure with one final shot at redemption, this Doctor’s chosen warrior nature makes them a force to be feared on the battlefield. Stacking up time counters and exiling opposing figures, the War Doctor can inspire real dread in your opponents.
The Ninth Doctor
Though still haunted by the Time War, the Ninth Doctor in many ways is a fresh start. It’s perfect then that that chance at new beginnings is represented through an additional upkeep. While a seemingly niche ability at first glance, there are so many powerful effects that trigger during the upkeep. The Ninth Doctor will let you double up on them on each of your turns.
The Tenth Doctor
Striking out in search of adventure, the fan-favorite Tenth Doctor gets a good showing here. Burning through your deck and time traveling over and over again befits this Doctor’s madcap energy and all-too-brief lifespan. With Time Travel as a key mechanic in the new Doctor Who Commander decks, The Tenth Doctor’s mastery of the ability will see him used as a lynchpin in many strategies,
The Eleventh Doctor
Another dynamic Doctor with a combat focus, the Eleventh Doctor works with Suspend to exile your cards and cast them on a later turn. Granting Suspend to cards that wouldn’t normally have access to the ability will let you bring out many of your most powerful and costly options completely for free.
The Twelfth Doctor
The Twelfth Doctor is a rebel and an educator in equal measure, and both sides of this regeneration’s persona are well-realized here. Demonstrate is a fantastic but under-utilized mechanic, and the Twelfth Doctor applying it once per turn will lead to any number of fascinating, copy-based plays. Don’t count the Twelfth Doctor out in combat either, as they will slowly boost themselves each turn as you copy more and more effects.
The Thirteenth Doctor
Paradox is one of the most potent abilities in the MTG Universes Beyond: Doctor Who set. The Thirteenth Doctor not only incentivizes Paradox strategies by providing buffs to creatures, but they also untap and keep their companions close at hand.
The Fugitive Doctor
Investigating to generate clues and then sacrificing them to fuel recursion, the Fugitive Doctor makes use of gameplay elements not usually seen in red and green, turning her contradictory nature into an unexpected strength.
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