Your Cosmic Joyride Awaits
Commander Cube up to 8 players, 1 or 2 pods. Non-WHO cards added to enhance gameplay.
40 commanders available!
Also playable with Kingdoms Roles (optional)
Table of Contents
1: Draft Procedure
2: Kingdoms Format
3: Draft Guide for each Commander
4: Cuts, Optional Errata, Watchlist and Future Changes
Fans of the show and non-fans alike can enjoy this cube! Compelling card designs, flexibility to pair Doctors with various companions makes for a dynamic draft and gameplay experience. Regular updates. Beyond the Doctors are many other viable commanders, tons of archetypes. Allons-y!
Draft Procedure
Practice Drafts are live! (If error, click start draft again. Might take a couple clicks.)
- Set aside Amy Pond, Jenny Flint and one copy of TARDIS for whoever drafts Rory Williams, Madame Vastra and The First Doctor respectively. Give those cards at the end of the draft.
Commander Cube enthusiasts like @SamBlack, @DankTrainTom and I recommend (to varying degree) giving staple commander cards to each player in addition to drafted cards. In this cube each player gets a Command Tower before drafting.
- Make a 6 card commander pack for each player, made of 5 Doctor Who multicolor legendary creatures and 1 Doctor's Companion. Cards in this pack are drafted 1 at a time. You can pause after this pack to look at the guide below if drafting with players new to the cube.
- Make 3 normal draft packs of 20 cards. This uses every card in an 8 player draft. Drafters take 2 cards per pick (like Commander Legends, speeds up the draft, sends clearer signals). The only cards eligible to be in both types of packs are Doctor's Companions.
Optional: For 4-6 drafters 1 Doctor's Companion can be seeded in all boosters.
- Draft.
Decide on your Commander(s) during deck construction and build following commander identity rules (59+1 Commander or 58+2 Partner Commanders). Other cards from the 6 card pack can go in your deck.
If doing sealed: Set aside cards from conspiracy and give each player an extra pack. Max 6 players. It can be easier to deal out normal packs and have players swap out their conspiracy cards with random spare cube cards if they get any. Optional: Give each player a Sol Ring if you're doing sealed and not doing the Kingdoms format.
The Kingdoms format
What is Kingdoms? A way to give direction in multiplayer games, to help navigate complex boardstates caused by larger games. Having a role adds a layer to gameplay and even the draft, influencing the decisions you make. Players get assigned a random role, each with their own win conditions.
Here is a ready-to-print pdf of the roles
*Fair use only. Copyright BBC, Wizards
• Roles are randomly assigned prior to drafting (you can look at yours). The King is revealed after drafting. Your role doesn't limit what deck you can build.
• Two of these roles have triggered abilities that trigger when that player would be eliminated; Assassin (Weeping Angel) and Bandit (The Master).
-- Two roles stop these abilities: Cultist/Acolyte (Cybermen) and Imposter (Zygon).
A clear way to communicate is when priority passes and a player would lose, they ask if the person eliminating them is the Cultist or Imposter. If they're not, reveal the role of the eliminated player.
• All other players are technically your opponents regardless of roles. This matters for things like Fact or Fiction.
The King (The Doctor, Time Lord Victorious) - The King starts at 50 life instead of 40 and goes first. Win condition: All non-knight players are eliminated. Role starts revealed. If there's no King, the game is over.
The Knight (Captain Jack Harkness) - The Knight loses when there is no King. Win Condition: The King wins. If The King eliminates you, The King discards their hand. If The Imposter kills The King your victory becomes dependent on the new King.
The Bandit (Dalek) - Win Condition: The King is eliminated. Exterminate! - Reveal: Destroy target creature. Its controller lose 3 life. Flip only as a sorcery. At least one Bandit needs to be alive at the end of the game for them to win. Once a role is revealed, it can't be revealed a second time and stays revealed. (Reference to Exterminate!)
The Bandit (Sontaran) - Win Condition: The King is eliminated. Sontar-Ha! - Reveal: Target creature gains Haste and Trample until end of turn. For each opponent, goad up to one target creature that player controls. Those creatures can't block this turn. Flip only as a sorcery. Goaded creatures can attack other Bandits. (Reference to Sontaran General)
The Bandit (The Master) - Win Condition: The King is eliminated. Regenerate - The first time you would be eliminated, instead reveal this role. Your life total becomes 20. (Don't flip if the person eliminating you is The Imposter, Cultist or Acolyte) If your role is still face down, prevent the damage you'd take. You'll be at 20 life after and your role will be face up. Since The Master is a Time Lord it makes sense they can regenerate like The Doctor does!
Cultist/Acolyte (Cybermen) - Win Condition: All remaining players are Cybermen. When you delete another player, their role is discarded face up without triggering any abilities it might have. The first time you do this, turn your role face up. You can delete multiple players. Players can't be deleted multiple times. Acolytes can’t turn the Cultist into an Acolyte. If a Cyberman kills the King, the King doesn't win with them. Cybermen only win if the King is the last player deleted (ie don't accidentally give the Bandits or Assassin the win). The PDF includes 3 Acolytes though technically 6 is possible, feel free to print more.
Imposter (Zygon) - Win Condition: You can't win. Invade! - When you eliminate another player, steal their role and discard this one. Don't change the hidden/revealed status of the role you steal. Stealing their role prevents their abilities from triggering. If you kill The King, you become The King!
The Assassin (Weeping Angel) - Win Condition: The Bandits and The King are eliminated. Don't Blink! - If your role is face down and you'd be eliminated, instead flip the role face up and prevent the damage. Create three 2/2 blue and black Alien Angel artifact creature tokens with first strike, vigilance and "Whenever an opponent casts a creature spell, this permanent isn't a creature until end of turn." Give one a Platinum Angel counter (it gains flying* and "you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game"). *It may seem weird to give flying, but they did steal a TARDIS that one time I suppose.
• Copying the token with the counter doesn't give you a token with a new counter, no real way to cheese it except to steal it.
Which roles to give based on number of players in the game:
4 - The King, The Knight, 1 Dalek or Sontaran Bandit, The Assassin
5 - The King, The Knight, 2 Bandits (Dalek & Sontaran), The Assassin
6 - The King, The Knight, 2 Bandits (Dalek & Sontaran), The Assassin, 1 of Imposter or Cultist
7 - The King, The Knight, 3 Bandits, The Assassin, 1 of Imposter or Cultist
8 - The King, The Knight, 3 Bandits, The Cultist, The Assassin, The Imposter.
Click here to pick a random role for practice drafts
Draft Guide for each Commander
Doctors first, then the remaining commanders as listed in the cube.
The First Doctor: An aggressive Azorius commander. Automatically getting a TARDIS can net you a lot of value. Look for cards like Skyclave Apparition, Stoneforge Mystic/swords to help push damage through. For companions Susan Foreman is a great option for going green, lots of opportunity to ramp out your threats. If you pick up The Thirteenth Doctor too you can spread lots of +1/+1 counters around when you cast spells from cascading off TARDIS. Going with a red companion like Donna Noble can also help push damage. An artifact theme with Chief of the Foundry, Animation Module can make the TARDIS better. Consider Traxos, Scourge of Kroog given you have so many guaranteed historic spells between The Doctor, the TARDIS and your companion! Example Deck
The Second Doctor: A flexible option that changes how the rest of the table will direct their attacks. Be aggressive and punish players who try to retaliate by denying them a card, or be controlling and political to play the long game. This naturally makes your opponents more likely to attack each other, which means you can afford to draft more expensive cards like Cityscape Leveler, Angel of Serenity and Star Whale. Really punish players who want to attack you by adding Propaganda too! Example Deck
The Third Doctor: He beefy. Combine him with Bootleggers' Stash to give your opponents nightmares. Combine with red for Dan Lewis, Ragavan and Stom-Kiln Artist, go blue to get K-9 or Martha to make 3 unblockable, or use white with Sarah Jane Smith or Romana II for extra clues. Nyssa of Traken will let you get the Doctor through pesky blockers and draw you cards to boot! Example Deck
The Fourth Doctor: Historic to the max! Esix, Fractal Bloom turns the extra food token you get from 4’s ability into a copy of any creature on the battlefield! This can get really out of hand by adding Academy Manufactor! There are many historic matters cards in white, though Jo Grant’s cycling stands out to improve your chances of using 4’s ability. Bring the beats with Traxos, Scourge of Kroog! Sonic Screwdriver is particularly good here to untap Traxos and scry you closer to cards you can cast with 4's ability. Example Deck
The Fifth Doctor: A very controlling commander option. Extra attention was given to some of these commanders to help balance out available support and 5 is one of them. Combine tap effects like Pentarch Paladin, Loran of the Third Path and Intrepid Hero to double up the value. Draw tons of cards with Danny Pink! Notably, you can still attack with other creatures that you’re willing to skip the untap on. Using a black companion gives you The Master, Mesmerist - giving him extra counters makes his goading ability better! Synergy with Rassilon, the War President too! Example Deck
The Sixth Doctor: Double up on your historic spells for value, then make an extra token if you go white with Romana II! With Sonic Screwdriver, The Fifth Doctor or Sphinx of the Second Sun you can use Romania a second time. Peri Brown is a reasonable pairing too, both to get 6 out sooner and the things he copies. Going red gives you double value on red sagas like The Parting of the Ways and The Flux, which on their own are already a lot of value so imagine getting two! Note - Clara Oswald and Roaming Throne won't give extra triggers, but Strionic Resonator will! 6 can even copy it so you could use resonator on future 6 triggers for 3 total! Example Deck
The Seventh Doctor: Simplest way to look at this card: guaranteed value. Either you get a clue or you get to choose between the clue vs cast a spell for free. Flexible partner options like Sarah Jane Smith, Ace Fearless Rebel, even with Dan Lewis to turn your clues into bonking sticks! Sneaking any of Cityscape Leveler, Angel of Serenity, End-Raze Forerunners (if you’re green) can put you far ahead. With 7 and Cybermen Squadron or Auton Soldier you can stack the myriad trigger with 7 in either order to make the opponent’s guess as difficult as possible. Example Deck
The Eighth Doctor: A control commander with graveyard shenanigans. Look to make the game go longer so you can recur as much as you can. Look for discard outlets like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Ephemerate and Conjurer's Closet are really good here as the target can come back even if it had a finality counter on it, and to boot it will lose the finality counter allowing you to reanimate it again later! Example Deck
The Ninth Doctor: Draft a vehicle to safely tap 9 without risking him in combat! He’s at his best if you either add a black companion for upkeep effects like Twilight Prophet, Bitterblossom, Rassilion, the War President or adding a white companion for Judoon Enforcers, Regenerations Restored, Gallifrey Stands and Atraxi Warden. Tegan Jovanka will help keep 9 alive through combat to give you those extra upkeep steps. Delney, Streetwise Lookout and Clara Oswald will double 9’s ability. Note, Four Knocks draws you the card in your main phase, so extra upkeeps doesn't give extra cards - just depletes the enchantment faster. Steal two creatures a turn with Dominus of Fealty! Example Deck
The Tenth Doctor: Maximize the usefulness of cards you put on suspend while attacking - instead of Counterspell, look at modal spells like Cryptic Command or Reverse the Polarity. This helps prevent putting something in suspend that won’t do anything. Suspend can be used defensively to save a creature in a pinch! 10 can sneak in some expensive cards quick and Jhoira of the Ghitu can help. Go green such as with Susan Foreman to get access to Alaundo the Seer, secretly an instance of time travel in magic from before MTGxWHO! Double (or triple) the cards you get with 10's attack trigger by using Clara Oswald and Roaming Throne! Example Deck
The Eleventh Doctor: An aggressive Azorius commander. 11 does a great job of forcing creatures through like Time Beetle, Blinding Angel, Prophetic Flamespeaker. Dip into Black with Clara Oswald or Vislor Turlough and you could live the dream of making your creatures unblockable with 11, then sac something large like Gorex, the Tombshell or Shadow of Mortality to The Meep! 11 has synergy with other suspend cards but doesn't rely on them. Example Deck
The Twelfth Doctor: Note, Clara Oswald and Roaming Throne don’t double the demonstrate ability. They do double the +1/+1 counter trigger. (Reason is 12 modifies the attributes of the spell able to be demonstrated, is not a trigger). Romana II as a companion can give you even more copies of permanents you copy. Ian Chesterton as a partner could be a fun build; Jeskai replicating sagas. Silverquill Lecturer will trigger 12's +1/+1 counter ability when you demonstrate your creatures. Also look for cards with Escape, Flashback, Cascade and cards that allow you to cast spells from exile. Logan/Seraph Six noted The 12th doc literally demonstrates a loop with Decaying Time Loop, can churn through your deck quick! Example Deck
The Thirteenth Doctor: Keep an eye out for other ways to get +1/+1 counters too! Natural Unity can give you a surprise untap. Pair with a red companion and get a large board with Iraxxa, Empress of Mars! Augur of Autumn, Future Sight effects will help you add +1/+1 counters FAST. Pair with a white companion to double-up on utility creatures like Intrepid Hero or Pentarch Paladin. Use Nardole, Resourceful Cyborg to get extra mana for all those counters, twice! Example Deck
The Fourteenth Doctor: Even if you don’t get too many other doctors in your deck, 14 still is a large body for cheap. If you are able to trigger him, don’t forget he gets haste! Note he can only copy doctors put into your graveyard when you play 14, not any from before, and only put there from your library. Prioritize lands as this is a 4-color (or 5-color) deck you don’t have to worry about being short on playable cards. Pick up Gallifrey Stands, Eternal Witness and Timeless Witness to get those Doctors you copy back! Naturally, 14 is the commander best suited to benefit from Rose Noble as a companion since you're more likely to be able to play any late-pick Doctors. Example Deck
The Fifteenth Doctor: If you’re not careful, you could mill yourself out! Echo of Eons and Midnight Clock are perfect pairings with 15! Trenzalore Clocktower is another option for this effect. There are tons of great 2-3 cost artifacts you can grab like the swords, Strionic Resonator, Inspiring Statuary and multiple artifact creatures. Keep an eye out for colored artifacts too like Breya's apprentice, Master of Etherium and Spellskite! Churn out tons of clues that can be used as mana rocks when you pair 15 with Sarah Jane Smith! With a black companion you can take reanimate any good creatures milled with Incarnation Technique or Geth, Lord of the Vault, or even double the artifact value with Ashad, the Lone Cyberman! Example Deck
The War Doctor: Please don’t build with Ryan Sinclair and only lands in your deck, kinda cheesy for a quick kill. There are other great ways to get counters on the Doctor too; cascade, The Parting of the Ways, Showdown of the Skalds, delve. Another great pairing is K-9, Mark I or Martha Jones to help keep the Doctor around and to push him through. Adric, Mathematical Genius can be a great pairing too by doubling the Doctor's attack trigger and having a reusable way to stop abilities. Pair with black to use Death in Heaven and Author of Shadows, though those will only give you one counter per ability. Cascade spells will give you one counter per card revealed though, so be sure to pick up the TARDIS, Throes of Chaos, Into the Time Vortex, even Apex Devastator or Bigger on the Inside if you add a green companion! Example Deck
The Fugitive Doctor: A Spells Matter commander. Pairs great with K-9 and Martha Jones to make sure the Doctor connects safely, make an extra clue for Martha. Get a lot of value out of big spells like Magma Opus! To put those expensive spells in your graveyard easier look for cards like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Decaying Time Loop and Conspiracy Theorist. Other companion options include Graham O'Brien for tokens, Bill Potts for doubling up on heroic-like spells Contest of Claws, Increasing Savagery, Invigorate, strike a historic balance with Sarah Jane Smith to keep flashing back spells. This can even flashback Inevitable Betrayal. Example Deck
Rory Williams & Amy Pond: While Amy can instead pair with a Doctor, choosing Rory gives you a reliable way to pad your life total. Note if you cast Rory from the Command Zone he will get suspended with time counters. Amy has synergy with suspend cards like Inevitable Betrayal, The Parting of the Ways, Star Whale, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, The Wedding of River Song. Rory is naturally good with swords or other ways to make him bigger. Example Deck
Sally Sparrow: It'll be hard for your opponents to attack into you if you can keep your mana up! Novice Inspector is a flavorful addition. Get a ton of value with Sword of Hearth and Home, Astrid Peth and Future Sight. Make combat awkward for your opponents with Master of Etherium, clones, Atraxi Warden, Walking Ballista. Get a steady stream of clues from Chronozoa! Conjurer's Closet and Teleportation Circle net you extra clues too. Get extra mana per clue with Five Hundred Year Diary! Example Deck
The Cyber-Controller: Don’t overlook this commander! Packs a ton of value even with X = 1 or 2 in larger games. Quickly go from no board to a huge board. You could go the mill plan too, though that will send a lot of heat your way. Make your artifact creatures better with Chief of the Foundry or Master of Etherium. You can also play an aristocrats style deck with Marionette Apprentice and sacrifice outlets like Yahenni, Undying Partisan or Woe Strider. Example Deck
The Master, Mesmerist: Make your opponents attack each other! Make those attacks connect smoother with kill spells, make yourself a less enticing attack target with cards like Vindictive Lich, Sinister Concierge and Basilisk Collar. Make The Master's power bigger such as with swords or Hero's Blade so you can goad larger creatures! Example Deck
Rassilon, the War President: Look for powerful spells like Hunted by the Family, Cryptic Command, Sublime Epiphany, Incarnation Technique, Make an Example. Also look for Dimir creatures that make it easier to conspire like Baleful Strix and the tokens from Blink. You'll be interested in padding your life total with cards like Basilisk Collar and Time Reaper. Set up for conspiring spells by manipulating the top of your deck with Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Ponder. Rogue Class is another way to get cards you can conspire! Or consider Rassilon in your Twelfth Doctor deck if you have Vislor or Clara. Example Deck
The Beast, Deathless Prince: You’re going to want powerful Act of Treason effects like Captivating Crew and Midnight Crusader Shuttle. You can also use Reanimate effects like Geth, Lord of the Vault, or take cards from your opponent’s decks with Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Hurl Through Hell or Grenzo, Havoc Raiser! To fend off opponents trying to get you down before your engine is going you can use cards like Bitterblossom, deflecting swat, Coward // Killer and other removal spells. Example Deck
The Master, Gallifrey's End: A commander all about artifact creatures, good thing there’s plenty here! In Kingdoms this could have neat play patterns to get tokens when the “opponent” with the highest life happens to be someone you believe to be an ally. Use a sacrifice outlet like Yahenni, Undying Partisan or Woe Strider, get extra value out of Cybermen Squadron's myriad tokens before they get exiled! Make those triggers hurt more with Marionette Apprentice! Don’t forget to consider the conspiracy artifact creatures. Example Deck
The Master, Multiplied: Get an explosive start and this commander can run away with the game! Prioritize ramp and haste effects like Reckless Charge, Lightning Greaves, or even surprise your opponents with Incendiary Dissent! Example Deck
The Dalek Emperor: If you want to be like Josh Lee Kwai and maniacally say "Exterminate!" throughout the game, bring the beats with The Dalek Emperor! With only two Daleks outside of the commander pack, this commander will often cost the full retail. Taurean Mauler is a Dalek too at least. You'll get a lot of heat from the table, as this commander can run away with the game if left alone long enough. Consider this one if you’re politically inclined or are up for a challenge! Example Deck
Strax, Sontaran Nurse: If Ruhan of the Fomori were a space clone army potato. Note - he can make you kill your own creatures. Look for ways to make grenade fodder. Bootleggers' Stash, Tireless Provisioner, Tireless Tracker, Graham O'Brien, Thijarian Witness, Academy Manufactor, City of Death. Get an extra combat and activation with Last Night Together! Heroic Intervention if things get messy, though if you've chosen a player with his ability then it is too late. Example Deck
Vrestin, Menoptra Leader: Own the sky with minimal competition! White has more fliers than other colors in this cube by far, and playing such a commander will make getting attacks through a lot easier. Attack, buff your tokens, THEN use Sanctum of Eternity to make even more fliers! Nab Mirari's Wake and your board can quickly get out of hand. Simplify the board a lot with all these tokens when you use Aura Shards too! Example Deck
River Song: Turn your opponent's scry, surveil and search into draw with Danny Pink! Deal tons of damage per trigger with Incendiary Dissent! Jace, The Mind Sculptor goes from being a 0:Brainstorm to a 0:Ancestral Recall! Let your opponents draft the scry lands, surveil lands, Gallifrey Council Chamber, Confession Dial etc. River’s ability cares about her total power, not just improving it by her ability. Look for ways to boost her! There are 58 cards in the cube that trigger her. You'll even get multiple triggers at once with Field of Ruin! Draw what you want by putting cards from your graveyard back on the bottom of your deck with Canal Dredger! Timestream Navigator needs work if you're going to go for the combo kill - 6 mana + Lightning Greaves or 7 with Swiftfoot Boots, plus another way to draw cards or do damage. Example Deck
Jenny, Generated Anomaly: Your Voltron-style commander. Do lots of damage quickly and keep the gas going! Double Strike works with The Sound of Drums for massive damage! Protect her with cards live Everybody Lives! and Clever Concealment! Other great picks for her include Basilisk Collar, Shadowspear, Reckless Charge and removal to help clear the way! Use Rogue's Passage, Sonic Screwdriver, Bessie, the Doctor's Roadster or Psychic Paper to make her unblockable! Example Deck
Madame Vastra & Jenny Flint: Get Madame Vastra big to help keep the tokens flowing. Protect Madame Vastra with Counterspells and cards like Heroic Intervention, Deflecting Swat to help her continue to snipe creatures. Often you’ll play Vastra first on turn 3 after a ramp effect turn 2, then the turn after play Jenny while holding up for interaction or to crack the clue or food Vastra makes if you have a safe attack. Example Deck
Alistair, the Brigadier: Commander with a built-in Overrun! Make sure you have enough cheap historic cards to get a large board. Finale of Devastation and End-Raze Forerunners are alternative game enders. Displaced Dinosaurs will turn all of your historic permanents into 7/7 dinosaurs, even your sagas and mana rocks! Example Deck
The Celestial Toymaker: A game with Neil Patrick Harris as your commander will be Legen-dary! Fight or Flight will quickly do lots of damage AND slow down opponents’ attacks, making all of your opponents lose 2 life every single combat step! Master of Predicaments, The Seventh Doctor, Fact or Fiction, Make an Example and the commander’s own ability all contribute to doing massive widespread damage! Multiply your commander's ability with The Eleventh Hour or Quantum Misalignment to make copies, or even just for a turn with Nanogene Conversion! Example Deck
Ashad, the Lone Cyberman: A powerful artifacts-matter aristocrats commander! He gets bigger the more you use him! Look for Marionette Apprentice, Woe Strider, Yahenni, Undying Partisan and a lot of artifact creatures like Master of Etherium! Also note he allows you to copy all nonlegendary artifacts, not just creatures; Conjurer's Closet, Midnight Crusader Shuttle, swords. Example Deck
Cult of Skaro: Looking for value and you don’t care what kind? Add some chaos to the game with the ‘Cult! Be mindful his ability is at random. Prioritize some amount of artifact creatures to get more out of Thay. Example Deck
Davros, Dalek Creator: Pick up Loyal Subordinate to ensure Davros triggers every turn! Neheb, the Eternal helps ensure damage gets through too. A Foretold Impending Flux and one more spell will trigger Davros for all your opponents (Even if Davros is the third spell himself). Look for ways to protect him so he triggers more consistently. Example Deck
The Rani: Conjurer's Closet, Quantum Misalignment and The Eleventh Hour will net you extra Mark of the Rani tokens to goad even more creatures! Other goad effects include Bothersome Quasit, Day of the Moon, Renegade Silent, Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Sontaran General, The Sound of Drums. Nyssa of Traken is a payoff for all the investigating you'll be doing. You can play defense and force your opponents to all go after each other with regenerating creatures, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Vindictive Lich, or join in the fray against their weakened board states! Example Deck
Missy: Just like in the show, she'll steal creatures that die - even if they aren't yours! Bitterblossom will buy you time. Convert all your opponents’ non-artifact creatures into Cybermen when you use a sweeper like Blasphemous Act or Damnation, even if Missy dies at the same time, though giving her a Sword of Fire and Ice will let her survive the former. A well-timed Impending Flux can nab quite a few creatures. Get extra value out of your morph creatures like Stratus Dancer, Grim Haruspex and Kadena's Silencer! Example Deck
Me, the Immortal: Get her out early to start getting those counters on her. There aren’t many ways of getting rid of the counters, mostly just bounce effects like Cryptic Command – so draft that card yourself! Get a ton of counters at once with Scavenged Brawler or Increasing Savagery! Extra combats net you extra triggers like Last Night Together, give it flashback with The Fugitive Doctor or Return the Past! Force her through with Rogue's Passage or Sonic Screwdriver. Example Deck
Kate Stewart: Like her father Alistair, Kate has a built-in overrun! Time counters on permanents matter. Live the dream and grab The Millennium Calendar to make your creatures lethal threats! Also look for Wilfred Mott, Dreamtide Whale, The War Doctor, Four Knocks, Out of Time, Clockspinning, Jhoira's Timebug, Rose Tyler, Chronozoa and Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey! Prioritize some ramp so your overrun is ready when you go for the kill. Example Deck
Explanations for all WHO cards cut
The first 6 cuts are legendary creatures. Balancing the commanders naturally meant cards that didn't fit well enough had to be cut so full drafts wouldn't have leftover cards. Adding those to the normal pool instead is an option, though I prefer keeping things simple - have legendary multicolored WHO cards only in that first pack.
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The Master, Formed Anew: It is difficult to interact with once The Master exiles a preferred creature. Difficult to draft around.
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Sergeant John Benton: Provides a lot of card draw but giving cards to the defending player too is awkward. Character not familiar to modern era viewers (though he is great)
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Idris, Soul of the TARDIS: Trying to do time travel things just to keep your commander alive doesn't feel great.
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The Face of Boe: 70 cards exist with suspend (as of Duskmorn, none since), of which 21 are on color / are any good, of which 9 made the cut. That's unfortunately not enough. Jack Harkness is at least depicted on The Knight role for the Kingdoms variant.
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Duggan, Private Detective: Unfamiliar to most viewers, is in only one story: City of Death. Sally Sparrow appeared in one (main) story but it was a popular, more recent one: Blink. Duggan makes a lot of value.
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The Valeyard: With 6 grixis commanders printed one clearly had to go. This one has the least support and fan familiarity. Many existing villainous choice effects like Davros, Dalek Creator are already back-breaking; this one would be likely to be put in the deck rather than be a commander.
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Wedding Ring: Not thematic enough for any particular commander. Additionally the Kingdoms variant already modifies how players direct their attacks, making this redundant.
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All of History, All at Once: Too narrow. You need to play a suspend deck that isn't 10, which is likely 11. Although it also helps Kate Stewart ... still probably not good enough. Maybe someday.
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As Foretold: Takes too long to be impactful
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Flatline: At its best it is an unfun blowout for the one player affected while the rest of the table keeps playing.
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Wound Reflection: Hard to interact with, ends games too quickly.
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Past in Flames: Redundant with Return the Past. Storm isn't a featured strategy.
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Heroes' Podium: Generically good, too much value.
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Sol Ring: Some commander cubes include it, some give a copy to each player. Having a player get significantly further ahead of the rest of the table can lead to negative game experiences. Sol Ring can be reasonable if you're doing a 4-player sealed with no roles.
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Other lands: Simply too many to justify inclusion. The important ones for balance are there.
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Planechase cards: You can use them if you'd like, I only recommend them for sealed if you do.
Errata
Watch List
- Fractured Identity: Has potential to derail games. In a 6 player game it hit The Celestial Toymaker, caused everyone to lose tons of life every turn since every Toymaker copy would trigger.
- Timestream Navigator: Infinite combo potential, not necessarily a bad thing. Usually there's interaction available and this ends up being used just once rather than looping.
Future Changes
- One Aetherdrift card was added. Once we know more about the new season of Disney+ Doctor Who I'll look through the archives for any new references the cube can make.
- It's possible to increase the available commanders by 1, making Amy Pond the drafted card instead of Rory Williams, as she could then be in either type of booster. That'd mean cutting a multicolored card for one of the 6 above, most likely to least: Sergeant John Benton, Duggan, Private Detective, The Face of Boe.
- I've opened up to using Sol Ring in sealed. I don't think it pairs well with drafting &/or with roles, don't want people to feel they got blown out without having a chance to do their thing.
This was a lot of work to put together. I hope you enjoy this cube! Geronimo!
About this cube's curator: Alex Lloyd has played competitively for over 15 years with 3 pro tour appearances, multiple top GP finishes including a win in 2017. He learned about Doctor Who while working at a game store after hearing coworkers refer to a small storage closet as a "TARDIS" and talking about a then-recent episode where the TARDIS explodes, causing a second Big Bang. He can be found in the US Northeast judging RCQs, cubing or playing cEDH with The Fourteenth Doctor and K-9, Mark I
Art by Chris Ostrowski