Is It Worth It To Buy A Doctor Who Commander Deck? | A Magic: The Gathering Product Review 

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Wizards honestly needs to reintroduce msrp. The prices that we the consumer get charged are honestly ridiculous

A great and well thought out review, and it means so much that you liked the decks! Looking forward to seeing what wild decks people build ❤

Dang, I never truly realised the scope of these decks until you compared them to entire sets. Its pretty mind blowing that they put a whole sets worth of new cards in only 4 decks.

Oh wow, I actually hadn’t considered Everybody Lives + Isochron scepter. My playgroup is going to thank you for sure!

I'm honestly a little blown away at how well they managed to theme these. Potentially 7 new decks in the works...I may have a problem 😅Edit: Seeing current prices, glad I snagged these at presale.

It blows my mind that David Tennant's face makes Timey-Wimey 25 dollars more expensive for no reason. Salt aside, my biggest hope is that this will encourage non-MTG players to try out commander just because they are Whovians. I am the inverse. I'm getting into Doctor Who because of my dad being a lifelong fan since he was 7, my love of MTG and the chance to share his passion as a result. Thanks for the highlights in your SUP game. And thank you to Gavin and the team for doing something so cool.

I think, as someone who really really likes preconstructed decks, this is one of my favorite releases. Right out of the box, the mana bases and variety of spells and power levels feel balanced. We played a game with two DW decks, an Ikoria upgraded precon and a D&D themed dungeon deck and it felt like everyone was on solid ground.

I feel like it's really important to point out that the Battlebond lands are NOT in these decks. The Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow slow lands are here, which are still great.

I haven't bought a commander product in AGES and I'm so happy that they made a suspend deck with my Favorite Doctor(s). I'm very excited to play this deck and the cards that it comes with

i think this should be the way full UB sets should go; a smaller, and concise cardpool with a higher quality mechanical feel and more original designs which are all available with the commander decks. dont get me wrong, the lotr set was fine, but it felt very watered down in terms of mechanical aptness with the theme of the deck.

Bizarrely, I wanted to get back into MTG (haven't played in 20 years, had cards in primary school), wanted to try commander, and I'm a big fan of doctor who. I get migraines so I dont go out much, but walked into a shop yesterday, bought one on impulse, went down to a card shop for sleeves and encountered an entire group of people playing it. Ended up buying all four for the collection and I think that single handedly got me back into it. I really liked the way the effects made sense in relation to their themes. Missy turning things into cybermen, Silence phasing in and out, time lock stealing cards so they can't be used for several turns, two step cards using concepts like Doctor Falls - No More is genius. (I live in Australia, everything is a mark up 😂)

I can’t wait to get my hand on that Captain Jack Harkness card! … wait, what did you say? It’s not?!

I will say, coming from someone who loves Doctor Who and never actually played magic - I’m looking forward to these. Not only can I learn a new game, which I’m looking forward to, but I can play Doctor Who as a trading card game in physical product which has been a dream for me for years. I’m so happy that this is happening and I can’t wait to play.

I love hearing the joy in your voice as you talk about all the upsides of this products!

Much obliged, Prof! I was on the fence because of how bloated the prices on these tend to get, but the evaluation really helped me decide that these decks were for me.

I just want to say thank you for all of the years of content. I know you are big enough noe that you need to start treating your channel like a business, but you love and affection for this game always shows. It is a pleasure watching your videos!

Pre-ordered the Timey-Wimey deck months ago for $50.29 plus tax from Amazon, and I'm very pleased with that given current prices!! This is going to be for my wife, to try and get her to play - she loved the 9th / 10th / 11th Doctor era, so I figure this is my best bet to get her into Commander :) Picked up a nice color of Dragon Shield Dual Matte sleeves too.

I'm not a fan of the series, but I can say the cards are super cool. And it's really fun watching fans (like you prof) nerd out over the cards and everything built into the set,

Heyyyy, look at that. An honest, passionate, balanced review, exactly as expected. Literally ordered Timey Wimey halfway through this and am planning to pick up the rest here and there. So stoked for this set.

This whole series of videos on the Doctor Who products has been so fun to watch. Thanks prof! Great content!

Great video Prof! I’ve particularly enjoyed your recent Doctor Who related content. Your passion for both mtg and Doctor Who has been infectious! I got all 4 commander decks in a bundle from Card Kingdom for $220, so $55 each, which I felt was a fair price for what I would be getting. As always, your insight is appreciated! Thanks for all you do.

Well, they finally got me. I didn't feel the need to buy any of the universe beyond stuff until the doctor who sent him out. I bought all four of the precons for $220 from my local game store, I was okay with paying a little bit of a markup. Now I have to decide if I'm going to leave them unopened, or play with them. I totally want to do both but I didn't want to buy two sets LOL

I was able to pick up all four Precons at CommandFest Portland doing the Precon Events. Meaning I got to play each one in full pods with other Dr. Who decks! It was a ton of fun. The decks play well in themselves and they play well with each other! Thank you for the great video!

14:17-15:18 Don't get too excited, the Universes Beyond sets like this tend to get the better reprints over normal precons. We'll be going back to precons that don't include decent land bases/talismans right after this set. Although, to be fair, Heroic Intervention did get reprinted in the Galea precon, which wasn't Universes Beyond.

My only disappointment with these is that they didn’t make a Companion that was two Colours that could pair with a Doctor to make a Four Colour Deck so we could have a Four Coloured Doctors Deck with all the Doctors.

Prof you are deciding which deck I buy and you did not disappoint

For me, it was a no brainer in buying these purely for the Doctor Who collab and the Planechase cards! :D

Masters of evil is awesome, just got back from my LGS and it was so fun to have an army of daleks and cybermen.

The one obvious flaw in these is that they are missing one of the most popular Companions, Captain Jack.

I think the collector thing is weird but when you have the context of them only being cards that are already in the commander decks it’s helps a bit just cause you know you’re not missing anything really, still really weird- But I do like that they did Planchase in this set for this UB, I really hope that they do that for the other crossover decks after this especially fallout. I’m really excited for fallout especially cause that’s the one that I actually know anything about before they came out lol. I’m really excited to see how they do that, I really hope that set gets that much care as Dr Who got because this was just so well made. I can totally see VATS or S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Being a keyword for that set, just really excited to see how they do this

Thanks so much. I haven’t played magic gathering in many years the video is very informative. I can’t wait to pick up a set.

Before the video even starts, I wanna say I think these decks are a slam dunk. Definitely worth it to me. I picked up Blast from the Past on release day.

I just went to watch the 2020 precon video and honestly? Dude, you're looking better than ever. You look more handsome now than in 2020. Keep it up, you're gorgeous man!

When I get a pre-con, I usually don’t look threw it, I just play and read the cards as I go, but when I got one of these deck, I sat down and spent like 2 hours looking threw the cards and enjoying the art and the amazing incorporating of the lore into the cards! I had a big smile on my face the whole time!😊

While I still feel a little weird about Doctor Who in M:TG because of the theme (as it isn't fantasy), this is one of my favorite sets ever made. It really shows the love and care the designers made for the show and giving us fun and flavorful cards in the process.

Played these tonight - absolutely fantastic fun. The villains deck seems pretty nuts, but I had a lot of fun with Blast from the Past - The Sixth Doctor plus Romana II as your commander combo is hilarious, creating three copies of stuff like Sol Ring, other Doctors etc., even some of the Sagas can be gamewinning to copy. I very nearly managed to win with Gallifrey Stands, but didn't quite manage it. Much fun!

This set got me into magic. I now made a really fun deck that uses the Prismatic Bridge with all 15 Doctors with Gallifrey Stands. The best compliment I had with it was "wait that was all in your upkeep?" during a game.

Serendipitous that was, just as you were rhyming with "dial", I was admiring your style, and in particular your tie in tile. You're always so well-dressed. I admire that.

Great review as always! For precons like these with so many card designs, I would find it helpful to list the price for the reprints separately from the price for the newly designed cards, as those pre-release prices seem to be rather meaningless since they change so drastically shortly after release.

I ended up playing a lot with the Masters of Evil deck and just running down the list and seeing what all I can do has me excited. You can split that one deck into several sub-decks and fill them out with their own flair and flavor. One deck for Daleks as artifact aggro, one for the Cybermen and their proclivity for making face-down 2/2s that can then be turned face-up later

I'm waiting for Ixalan. But UB wise, I can see myself getting Final Fantasy.

I pre-ordered these decks for $171 before the majority of the cards were spoiled... I want to buy a second set to leave these 4 original, then deconstruct to make 15 new decks, 1 for each Doctor... then buy 1 of each doctor to make a Jodah Doctor deck... I LOVE THESE DECKS!!!

Say what you will about whether Magic should have crossover sets or not and all the other issues with the commander precons over the years but the amount of care and detail put into them will always impress me. I do wish they would just do a damn regular msrp already for them though.

Regardless about how you feel about the incorporation of Doctor Who. How they handled the collector boosters is perfect. No exclusive cards like in set boosters or higher just different Art treatments and foiling. Sure you could argue the Serialized cards are exclusive but they are are just functionally the same card without serialization

Doing some research for a friend who loves and grew up on Dr. Who. This is super helpful thank you this makes my “homework” easier.

I really appreciate the thought and analysis that goes into these videos. I am a little curious whether much happened to the “All singles” price of the other pre-cons over time, since as you point out a lot of the valuation here is based on list prices of cards that haven’t been released, as well as a few reprints that could drop in price now that they have a new printing.

Wouldn’t be surprised shock land and fetches in precons someday…good job professor advocating for good mana based in precons!

Did I instantly grab the Tenth Doctor set bc I recognized Actual Things from when I was paying attention to DW? Yes. Am I still gonna watch this video--but have no regrets about the purchase, because I bought it for Me and not for Value? Also yes.

Amazon's Magic prices are always overpriced unless there is a dump. I was able to preorder all 4 Doctor Who Commander decks out the door for $195.00 tax and shipping included. I appreciate you giving the breakdown of all 4 decks. The decks looks like a lot of fun to play with. I have been a Doctor Who fan since 1970. Thank you for the video Professor.

wish this video would’ve been posted before my lgs sold out 😅

We played a game with all 4 unaltered this weekend, and I absolutely loved the flavor & balance of gameplay. Each felt unique & distinct and well-matched. Loved Planechase with this too. The diversity in each deck made it feel like replayability is going to be fun & new after multiple games, and brought the power level down a little, but the lines of play way more engaging.

I was playing a couple of games earlier on with the masters of evil deck I managed to win in both games, partially with the help of some plainchase cards Absolutely worth the price I spent on it

I pre-ordered my 4 decks from Amazon asap, and got them for $200 total. So thankfully I got them for $50 each.

Just like the warhammer set, this is the one exception to my rule of not buying recent precons. The amount of original and flavourful designs is amazing. Ive already got all but paradox

I think the fact that people will be cracking the collector boosters of this to search for the serialized dr cards, is going to mean that the supply of singles for these decks is going to be much larger, and the single prices will plummet much faster compared to WH40k.

I’m still pretty iffy on the UB stuff outside of fantasy franchises. DnD and LotR felt like they got into MtG’s identity well enough, particularly DnD. The Warhammer decks were fun to play with, most of the other UB stuff just feels out of place, though. As for the DW decks, I got to use the Timy-Wimy deck last night and I really enjoyed the mechanics and design. I’m a big fan of the RTD and Moffit runs of the show, so I went ahead and but the bullet on that deck. Manipulating time counters is a mechanical space I haven’t ever messed around with. I have to admit, the design is solid on this set despite the reservations I have about UB. The flavor was freaking on point.

I pre-ordered the set for $180 and got them this morning (Saturday 14th of October)! And couldn't be happier with this! Just holding and looking at the cards the value leaps out of them! Very impressed and am happy to give my money for a great product! Please, please, keep it up, WoTC!!

Ya know what, now that you've framed it like a set sold in 4 separate chunks, I think I actually prefer that over normal set releases. The idea of being able to directly buy every single card in the set and just have them without any duplicates or gambling is really appealing to the collector in me. Plus it's made the collector boosters feel better to open because I'm not chasing game pieces, just skins for my game pieces. I've been really down on Wotc lately but this product is a 10/10. Also, planechase should just become a standard commander precon thing. It makes commander way more fun and I bet Wotc could market collecting universes.

While I'm not a big Doctor Who guy I respect that this set works so well together and fits the theme of the characters and episodes they're from. The average set sometimes has a hard time meshing well enough to build an entire deck around. I really hope future sets are designs like this.

Wow, I just noticed the Death Gate Cycle books on the bookshelf. The Prof has great tastes in fantasy series!

My buddy got the Timey Wimey deck, and it was a blast to see it in action.

I have been playing MTG for almost 30 years now and I have to say that this is enthusiastically my absolute favorite MTG product of any kind they've ever done and it's not even close ❤

I LOVE that I had no idea Wedding Ring was in this set and so I go and look up the cost of the single: In this set? $3, innistrad's is still S11. Nice get if you're still looking for one!

The value in these precons are nuts. I am interested to see what I like and don’t like about the decks and I am really excited to play them.

im a massive whovian and i often play card games i have only just gotten round to Magic but im loving the game and these cards are obviously made with love and care for the show and it has really helped me pull in my interest theyve smashed it out the bag and god damn i can see the possibilities of decks doctor who has opened up

Finally, the video I've been waiting for!

Great video!! Again, love your "is it worth it?" series!!

I'm SO excited about this product and already drooling about the Final Fantasy collaboration if it's gonna be hald as good as this

You guys r lucky. It costs $100 per commander deck at all retailers in my country(Aus). I only ended up getting Timey Wimey and Masters of Evil. Been an avid Whovian since I was 7(Voyage of the Damned was a vivid memory of mine/was the 1st episode I watched) so this was a MUST BUY for me.

I remember when I found this channel years ago I got a heart from the professor for comparing him to the doctor from doctor who (not an exact one but the vibe and joyful nature of same of them) But yea it feels like it came full circle lol

Other then the price this is a masterwork in Universes Beyond, a Dr. Who cross over and a commander set. I want to get two of each to basically just use as a pool of cards to mix and match with various Dr. Who themed commanders.

I picked up Timey Wimey and Paradox Power for 5500 yen each and it's a great deal imo. Very excited to get a precon game in and honestly the decks are so well built I don't think they'll require many upgrades at all

As someone who just got into magic just because of these decks. I have currently spent + $70 Timey wimey + $35 paradox power + $35 Blast from the past + $40 Masters of evil + $223 booster box I really love everything I got in total and yes, it was a bit of money, but the showcase cards are to die for imo

Well, I was able to buy Timey-wimey deck (last one in stock) for about 55 dollars, so I am pretty happy.

I’m so glad I found these for under $50 presale because these look absolutely amazing. I think they did really well with this set overall, and, as Whovian, I’m happy that this was the love letter I was hoping it would be and not the soulless shill it could’ve been

Wholeheartedly agree. These decks are awesome, flavorful and, dare I say “Fantastic!” to play. I personally picked up and slightly modified (mainly the mana base and a few cards) the Timey Wimey deck, swapping out a few cards I got from Collector Boosters (Had Clara Oswald as the partner commander with 10th) and found neat and interesting combos as the game progressed. I also will attune that Everybody Lives! is a hilarious card and it didn’t even occur to me that Isochron Scepter with it could be some of the weirdest yet annoying things to do lol The sad thing is that we are seeing some of the best Magic Commander decks coming out of not the reprint decks like Commander Masters (seriously, what a nightmare those were) and March of the Machine (not nearly as bad but not up to the quality we come to expect) but out of non MTG IP like Warhammer, LOTR and Doctor Who. Which is fine, but mainline MTG purists won’t touch this product unless they happen to like Doctor Who which is a mistake. There is great value in these decks. I mean, Horizon Lands, for goodness sake! And don’t be afraid to mix the IP. My Doctor Who deck uses a LOTR card and some mainline MTG cards (lots of upgraded mana base) but these decks simply shine, hold their own and even prevail. Picking these up are a great choice in every way that matters. We may never get back to the heyday of C16 where all the mainline Commander decks were as bonkers as these decks or the Warhammer decks, but at least we are still getting them. Sadly they are getting marked up hard. Timey Wimey is a particular offender here, would not recommend paying higher than 70 for it. Great video, Prof. From one Whovian to another. Allons-y!

Thanks for the video Prof! It’s super helpful

1:08 ;-; Y-Yes, I know what a dial is on a TV. I also remember putting it to channel 4 when I played my NES on a Magnavox console TV.

I have watched Dr. Who since 1982. its a dream come true mtg and dr who. the reprint value for these decks are amazing too

Great upload prof, doctor who was an IP I was surprised to see in Magic🤙🏻

I’d truly appreciate these videos mentioning shipping costs from card kingdom. I saw the paradox power deck at 45.99 and thought great, I’ll get it! Shipping for that deck was around 16 at its cheapest, which brought it over some tcgplayer listings.

Great video as always, but I have to shout out the delivery of Gremlins 2 as the scariest movie ever made.

I bought all four for 160€ in Germany. The prices have gone up though,but not that much.

I know tv shows used to say "don't touch that dial" but I have no idea what a dial is

Toney Wimey is an absolute beast to pilot, but Gahdamn is it satisfying when it pays off. My plan now is to buy the other 2 doctor precons and make a deck with all of them. Would have loved to Ncuti Gatwas doctor as well, hopefully they add him in the future.

I'm so hyped for Everybody Lives! Running it in my Angus Mackenzie deck with Isochron Scepter, where my goal is to cast Divine Intervention. My friends like me, I swear...

I loooove collector boosters, love the art and foils I get from them.

If we’re going to get BBC sci fi shows in MTG, can we get some Red Dwarf? ;)

Preordered all 4 at a local gamestore for $185. Best deal I could find. I love Doctor Who and I figured if these were handled with even half the care of Warhammer and LOTR I would have been happy. I have been more than satisfied with the spoilers and officially picked mine up today, to leave as unaltered precons to play with my friends or enjoy magic or the show. I cannot wait to get games in with these

Woah, those amazon prices... my LGS sold them for $55 CAD ea

Often when buying a Commander precon I like to buy the corresponding Ultra Pro Sleeves and Deck Box and sometimes even playmat to theme it all out, but sadly, at least for now, I cannot find any Dr. who product on Ultra Pro's online shop :/ ah well

Thank you for making an excellent and informative video. This looks like a really excellent set. The only thematic disconnect for me is that Magic is a game about attacking and harming each other, and the Doctor and company generally try not to do that. Otherwise I give this expansion an enormous ❤.

Fantastic decks! I'm glad they did the series justice👍

Due to these decks, I finally had the chance to try Planechase in some games at my LGS, and it makes the games A LOT more fun! Some breakup from the boring control players sitting that you can't interact with, or just adding some fun chaos to the proceedings, and I'll definitely try and ask folks whenever I play if they wanna try it some more. Only one person wasn't into it, but he literally sat and played a deck where he'd control coin flips to draw tens of cards, then smash his commander in on people for lethal unblockable. Folks like that can't handle that there's some chaos added in. I for one, want more of this though, and hope that they start printing more, so there's more to play with. Only a shame the cards can be a hassle to all have stored and sleeves. But thankfully there's apps to display them too, so that's a plus.

I think there’s a reason for these being so well crafted: Dr. Who is such a beloved IP, if these were treated extremely poorly, it would reflect on the BBC and potential for defamation on both brands

The only grievance I have is that with the card kingdom pricing there is also a steep 13 dollar shipping cost which amazons price already has included, as a result for myself in California I would actually end up paying more for the card kingdom pricing and it would arrive later than Amazon

Normally the professor talks me out of spending money on precons but now I’ve bought all 4, I wish they would do this with more commander sets.

I played 2 Decks yesterday against Decks that were higher power level in the higher mid ranges for our group and the 2 Deck i played (Masters of Evil & Blast from the Past with Susan and the 5th as Commander) did farly well, even if the themes went in all directions. Especially Blast from the Past went in several direction in that one game, but did have enough synergy to stand againstz the other decks and be frequently targeted for being a threat. MoE seems a bit more focust to play, but still comes with multible personalities and counters to the 3 doctor decks. We had a blast playing while playing, but i lost bost games but i had a shot at winning with both. My LGS offers them for 45€ each with other universe beyond going for 50 and normal precons at 40.

WotC improving mana bases in precons? I thought I'd never see that day!