Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Mookie]

Following up with more spoilers.... Everybody Lives!, The Night of the Doctor, and Trial of a Time Lord all look like they may see play.

The Ninth Doctor looks particularly interesting - other than Paradox Haze, I can't think of many cards that give an extra upkeep (and certainly not in the command zone), which makes him a somewhat unique enabler. I think upkeep triggers are generally a bit too slow to be worth playing, but the ability to double them (or triple/more with clone effects) seems strong. Alternatively, just run a bunch of suspend cards (although The Tenth Doctor may be better for that build).

[Dunadain]

I've seen a few people excited for Decaying Time Loop, but I'm not seeing it--you want wheels to restock your hand, but recasting this is always putting you down 1 to begin with, and then you need something else to fill you up enough to be worth looping this.

Using wheels as a way to restock your hand is not great, they're so many better options. Most decks running wheels have synergies with them.

Though if you do want to run it as an engine, it's yet another way to turn Life from the Loam into a draw engine.

Edit: Everybody lives! is insane. That's going in so many decks.

[TheGildedGoose]

The power level of these commanders is somewhat low, which is very surprising considering 40k and LOTR. I have mixed feelings about this. These are very clearly aimed at a more casual crowd which is fine and all but I like to think that 40k was a great mix of interesting design and power level (and I can't believe I said this) that makes these cards blush.

EDIT: Just noticed The Ninth Doctor and Clara Oswald could be a lot of fun. What color is Clara going to be? What's the best color for upkeep triggers?

Probably white, but Tegan Jovanka is a better, more consistent enabler, where Clara is probably winmore. Hmmm...

[Hawk]

Trying to figure out how to brew The Twelfth Doctor. That second payoff is bleh, but the first ability is very strong if you can jump through the hoops. Clara Oswald is a fine companion for him to choose any color for help and get double the counters for copies, but we'll see if Bill or Nardol are better companions. If I'm willing to go off-flavour and stay in pure Izzet, I could see K-9, Mark I and Yasmin Khan being fine companions to him as well since Izzet probably has everything you need for shenanigans.

I know this problem was inevitable for a non-booster release, but I also want to voice my annoyance that Gallifrey Stands can't be achieved without resorting to Rukarumel, Biologist or Morophon, the Boundless shenanigans as your commander, or changeling/clone shenanigans in play. The Doctors are spread across Azorious (1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 11th doctors), Simic (3rd, 4th, 6th, 13th), and Izzet (9th, 10th, and 12th) plus Boros for The War Doctor and Gruul for The Fugitive Doctor, and your deck can never be more than 3 colors with a companion. Temur would get you the most doctors at 11, but you need white for Stands and Jeskai or Bant only get to 10 doctors on their own power.

[Hermes_]

RMS Titanic is a thing,

Also where's Jack?

[Cyberium]

I know this problem was inevitable for a non-booster release, but I also want to voice my annoyance that Gallifrey Stands can't be achieved without resorting to Rukarumel, Biologist or Morophon, the Boundless shenanigans as your commander, or changeling/clone shenanigans in play. The Doctors are spread across Azorious (1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 11th doctors), Simic (3rd, 4th, 6th, 13th), and Izzet (9th, 10th, and 12th) plus Boros for The War Doctor and Gruul for The Fugitive Doctor, and your deck can never be more than 3 colors with a companion. Temur would get you the most doctors at 11, but you need white for Stands and Jeskai or Bant only get to 10 doctors on their own power.

Ironically, it might mean we need a WURG commander or two partners with that color combination, if we don't want to use any tribal shenanigans.

[Dunadain]

Meh, alt win conditions are lame, I'm not going to complain about the card because it's pretty weak, but I'm certainly not going to complain about it being too weak.

[Robobro72]

The First Doctor is surprisingly interesting to me since TARDIS seems like a good card. Having a CZ-accesible way to give things cascade (potentially K-9, Mark I into Ancestral Vision or Inevitable Betrayal memes) seems strong.

Alternatively, the idea of The First Doctor + Amy Pond, letting you play effectively 4 cards out of your CZ is silly. And sickening.

[Dunadain]

Alternatively, the idea of The First Doctor + Amy Pond, letting you play effectively 4 cards out of your CZ is silly. And sickening.

That's hilarious, and... maybe good? partners are pseudo banned in french edh, partners are everywhere in cEDH, and companions range from good to banned in most formats even after adding a whopping 3 to them after release day.

none of the four cards seem super good of course, I'm just saying that starting up +3 cards from your opponents is VERY good, even if those cards aren't the best cards ever printed.

[DirkGently]

quantum misalignment looks like one of the most versatile and powerful cards from the set.

[Cyberium]

quantum misalignment looks like one of the most versatile and powerful cards from the set.

My Cirdan is quivering, ho ho ho.

[Hawk]

quantum misalignment looks like one of the most versatile and powerful cards from the set.

I have been super impressed with Irenicus's Vile Duplication in a lot of decks; for 1 more this doesn't grant flying, but has Rebound. Huge card is huge for sure, going to go in a ton of decks. This is going to be a rockstar in its deck (an extra copy of The Twelfth Doctor or The Thirteenth Doctor is hot, and once you copy 12 the rebound can get double-demonstrated for a pile more copies). I'm also already looking forward to quantumly misaligning Volo, Guide to Monsters.

[Hermes_]

My johria deck is making happy noises

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

Huh! Twice Upon a Time certainly had me looking twice!

Seems like an attempt at a fixed Alrund's Epiphany.

[folding_music]

the first doctor + amy pond is interesting, but have you considered dr robotnik + amy rose

[NZB2323]

Certainly considering adding Wilfred Mott and Nonogene Conversion to my Éowyn, Shieldmaiden deck. Wilfred is a nice way of getting my card advantage and playing creatures for free in white, and it can act as an Eowyn trigger, although the chances of it triggering Eowryn turn 5 is very low. Nanogene Conversion seems powerful. If I have 6 creatures in play and make them all Eowyn until end of turn then I get 12 2/2s, draw 6 cards, and have 6 5/4s, for 54 total power. However, it's not a human and doesn't help me get to 6 humans, which is the whole point of the deck.

In the end, I think Nanogene Conversion competes with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, and Wilfred Mott competes with Boromir, Gondor's Hope. In the end, neither card may be worth it.

[Dunadain]

Me, the Immortal is a new Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. As someone with a LOT of Skullbriar, the Walking Grave experience, i think Me is quite a bit worse, 5 mana is so much more than 2 and haste is huge on a voltron commander.

Losing black is also big, no Entomb/Unmarked Grave for Scavenged Brawler/Daring Fiendbonder, so even though she has more colors, her color identity is worse overall. Actually, scratch that, black is bad for voltron strategies, right @DirkGently? (I kid, I kid)

Having some built-in ability counters is nice, but they are aren't very good abilities. Vigilance is pretty good, menace is just okay, and first strike is mostly useless.

Having said that, the built in recursion, the vigilance, and the ability to grow even when she isn't dealing damage makes her more resilient. So she'll probably still be fun to brew/pilot.

Edit: looking over available ability counters, you do get Spectacular Showdown which is pretty sweet. Doesn't change my analysis, but it is cool.

[Hermes_]

Me, the Immortal

I like the art and i think all of them are now spoiled which means no card for my boy

[5colorsrainbow]

I really like Doctor's companion as a partner variation. It has more variety than "Partner with" but more narrow then partner can be and limits the commanders to being three colors or less (with the doctors being two colors and the companions being mono-colored), so imo its a really interesting design space and way to build a commander. Would be cool to see a version of this for a commander legends set that leans more three color, maybe flavored as a superhero world where you can have sidekicks/minions as mono colored companions and the main heroes/villains being the "doctors" and two colored.

[yeti1069]

Certainly considering adding Wilfred Mott and Nonogene Conversion to my Éowyn, Shieldmaiden deck. Wilfred is a nice way of getting my card advantage and playing creatures for free in white, and it can act as an Eowyn trigger, although the chances of it triggering Eowryn turn 5 is very low. Nanogene Conversion seems powerful. If I have 6 creatures in play and make them all Eowyn until end of turn then I get 12 2/2s, draw 6 cards, and have 6 5/4s, for 54 total power. However, it's not a human and doesn't help me get to 6 humans, which is the whole point of the deck.

In the end, I think Nanogene Conversion competes with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, and Wilfred Mott competes with Boromir, Gondor's Hope. In the end, neither card may be worth it.

Wilfred seems slightly better than Boromir--less likely to hit a valid target immediately, but also if it finds something, it goes to play instead of hand, which as you noted COULD trigger Eowyn for the turn. That said, the art looks awful, and I don't think I can put an old dude with a beanie in my Eowyn deck.

[Dunadain]

@yeti1069, you take that back RIGHT NOW! Wilfred is a treasure.

It is really weird that Captain Jack Harkness didn't get a card, but I can't really complain, because I at least we didn't get 5 versions of each character (besides the Doctor himself, which doesn't really count, each doctor is basically a new character).

[TheGildedGoose]

@yeti1069, you take that back RIGHT NOW! Wilfred is a treasure.

It is really weird that Captain Jack Harkness didn't get a card, but I can't really complain, because I at least we didn't get 5 versions of each character (besides the Doctor himself, which doesn't really count, each doctor is basically a new character).

We did.

I suspect it's because the actor has a tendency to expose himself to people and putting his likeness on a Magic card isn't a good look.

[Hermes_]

@yeti1069, you take that back RIGHT NOW! Wilfred is a treasure.

It is really weird that Captain Jack Harkness didn't get a card, but I can't really complain, because I at least we didn't get 5 versions of each character (besides the Doctor himself, which doesn't really count, each doctor is basically a new character).

We did.

That's still up for debate

[TheGildedGoose]

@yeti1069, you take that back RIGHT NOW! Wilfred is a treasure.

It is really weird that Captain Jack Harkness didn't get a card, but I can't really complain, because I at least we didn't get 5 versions of each character (besides the Doctor himself, which doesn't really count, each doctor is basically a new character).

We did.

That's still up for debate

From a writing standpoint, there's no reason to include his comment other than to strongly imply it's the case. But that's neither here nor there.

[Serenade]

Iraxxa, Empress of Mars
The perfect curve into Lovisa!

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival does this archetype better.