Magic: The Gathering’s Doctor Who-themed Commander decks, revealed

Doctor WhoThis year marks the 60th anniversary of this popular show. Magic: The GatheringWizards of the Coast has created a special collection of cards to celebrate the anniversary. The cards are part of the Universes Beyond collection. Doctor Who-themed card collection includes four Commander decks, collector boosters, and Secret Lair versions of certain cards — these are limited-time, print-on-demand cards with alternate art.

Polygon received an early look at cards included in MTG’s Doctor WhoPre-orders for all the titles are open until Oct. 13th.

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Gavin Verhey serves as principal The Magic of the WordA designer for Wizards of the Coast who is also a Whovian. In a video call with press in late September, he described his excitement at the crossover: “When I was told we were doing this project, my first reaction was actually to laugh, because I thought it was a prank. I’m like, Well, they couldn’t have just picked my favorite show in the world to do a Universe Beyond of. What’m I going to be working on, exactly? And they were like, ‘Oh, no, no, really — we really are doing Doctor Who.’ And I was ecstatic.”

Verhey went on to explain the team’s decision to release four different Commander decks, each with its own theme — separated according to “the way the fans identify themselves, which is to ask each other the question: ‘Who’s your Doctor? When did you start watching?’”

Four decks representing different periods of history Doctor WhoStarting with The Blast of the Past, which contains “the first eight Doctors, so kinda the classic run of the show,” as Verhey put it. Then there’s Timey-WimeyThis set contains the Ninth Doctors and the Tenth Doctors. They represent the television show’s relaunch from 2005. The third set. Paradox Power, focuses on the “newest bits” of the show, featuring the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors. The fourth deck would contain what? That one’s called Masters of Evil, and it’s chock-full of iconic Doctor Who baddies.

In a number of ways, the design of Commander’s sets pays tribute to the show structure. The set design of the show is reflected in a few key ways. Doctor Who Commander decks introduce a mechanic called “Doctor’s Companion,” which — as you’d expect — allows you to play both a Time Lord and a companion, with both serving in the “Commander” role as a duo.

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Saga Cards are available in a variety of different designs. Doctor WhoEach collection honors an episode from the series. “The title of the Saga [card] is the name of an episode,” explained Verhey. “And then the Saga effects kind of play out the story of the episode, or represent it in some fashion.” There are 19 Saga cards in the set: There’s one for each Doctor (including the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor), and the rest are for villains. As for the decision on which episodes to include, that involved “a lot of discussion and arguing,” Verhey said. “It’s like every fan discussion, but taken up to 10, because we have to make cards for them.”

Fans may create the most memorable episodes by using these cards. “Our whole tagline for working on the product became ‘Build your own episode,’” said Verhey. “Every time you play a game of these Commander decks, it’s like you have your own wild episode of Doctor Who that no one’s ever seen before, or will ever experience again.”

These cards contain a treasure trove for references. Doctor Who fans. Take, for example, all of the thought that Verhey put into designing Donna Noble’s card: “We see her with Soulbond here — it’s fitting, because the first time we see her is during a wedding episode, so Soulbond makes sense there. But also, she’s a very fierce protector of people that she cares about, and so whenever Donna or the person she’s Soulbound to takes damage, she lashes back out. She’s like, ‘Hey, don’t hit my friends! Don’t mess with my mates!’”

Verhey goes on to explain the deal with the Doctor Who Collector Boosters, since Wizards of the Coast has “never done Collector Boosters with a Commander release before.” That’s why it’s so special, Verhey explained: “A lot of times, Commander players are like, ‘Hey, where can I find a foil version of this Commander?’ Normally the answer is, it just doesn’t exist because it was in a Commander deck, and it wasn’t in foil. But here, you actually can — through these packs — get these cards in foil, and extended art, and all the other treatments that people love.”

Verhey also hopes for the best. Doctor Who fans who aren’t as into The Magic of the Word will take this opportunity to try it, or to get back into it again — and that The Magic of the Word players might get interested in Doctor Who“As well. “As a huge Doctor Who fan, I’m already seeing fans of The Magic of the Word be like, ‘What the heck does this card do, and why does it do this?’ And having Doctor Who Fans explain this. This kind of merging of worlds is what I like. You can also contact us by clicking here. Fans The Magic of the Word players come together to have a fun discussion.”