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There’s an incredible amount of lore inMagic: The Gatheringand most of that lore can be seen in its most historic cards. Legendary spells, artifacts, and Sagas tell the story of Magic from its inception to the modern day, which now has a Doctor Who crossover to contend with.
Universes Beyond: Doctor Who’s Blast from the Past commander deck is all about getting a little extra from playing those historic cards, whether that be Food or Clue tokens, or a copy of the card you may have just played. Playing this deck proves without a doubt that history is never boring.
Blast From The Past Commander Deck List
Here’s the fullBlast from the Past deck listbroken down by card type.
UNIT Headquarters
Blast From The Past Commander Deck Key Themes
Blast From The Past has a lot of sagas, a lot of artifacts, and a lot of legendary creatures. It’s clearthis deck is running a historic theme, and cards like Alistair, the Brigadier, Peri Brown, and The Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Doctors just drive that theme home.
However, Blast From The Past also has a fewcards that don’t really fit into this theme.The First Doctor, for example, would prefer to be in a deck with a lot of cascadespells.Ace, Fearless Rebelwould prefer to be in a more dedicated artifact deck.The Fifth Doctorwould prefer to be in a deck that doesn’t attack at all – something this deck definitely needs to do in order to achieve victory.
WhatBlast From The Past needs is to focus on that historic theme, which is what we’ll deal with in the following sections.
The standard commanders areThe Fourth DoctorandSarah Jane Smith, who make a fine pairing. Jane hits the board first to generate a few Clue tokens, and then Doctor Four arrives to begin playing more historic spells and create Food tokens. You get card advantage, life gain, and access to a bunch of artifact tokens.
There are a few other options to consider. Keeping the Bant colors,The Sixth Doctorcould be paired withRomana IIto triple every historic spell cast.The Eighth Doctorcould be paired withJamie McCrimmonto have a potent recursion theme centered around historic cards, but it might benefit from having a few ways to play cards from exile.
Other possible combinations certainly existwithin Blast From The Past, but they’d generally prefer to be in decks that are dedicated to their respective themes.For this deck,stick with the historic theme.
There areten Plane cardsin the deck, something that isn’t too common in casual Commander games. Be sure toask your group if you’re playing Planechase, and if not, consider replacing TARDIS and Start the TARDIS, as they’ll have less of an effect without any Planes to jump to.
Blast From The Past Commander Deck Analysis
Abouthalf of Blast From The Past will trigger a historic effect, which is an excellent place to start. We’ve gotthree decent boardwipes inCrisis of Conscience,Time Wipe, andThe Night of the Doctor, a decent number of mana rocks and ramp spells, and a few good instant-speed answers to ensure that a few crucial combat steps go your way.
What the deck needs is toclean up some of the spellsin this deck that aren’t quite up to snuff. There area lot of Doctorswith fun effects, but they reallydon’t fit the theme. There are alsocards of questionable value and efficiency, as well as cards that just seem to have little benefit.
Hero’s Blade
TARDIS
BarbaraandIanboth really like sagas, but with eight in the deck, they’reunlikely to provide much benefit.Ace,Leela, andSergeant John Bentondon’t fit the historic themeand would benefit from being in another deck. Ditto toThe First,Fifth, andSeventh Doctors.
With so many Doctors cut,The Five DoctorsandGallifrey Stands lose much of their utility(although it should be noted that Gallifrey Stands' alternate win condition is impossible without The Sixth Doctor copying a lot of Doctors).Bessie,Alistair, andBanish to Another Universeare ofquestionable value for their effects, so they get the cut too.
That leaves us with a number of Sagas that are beautifully thematic of Doctor Who lore, but aren’t very good outside of triggering historic effects.The Sea Devils,Curse of Fenric, andWar Gamesall create a bunch of creature tokens thatdon’t do much to swing the game in your favor.The Caves of Androzaniwould prefer a deck with more counters on permanents than this deck has.
Finally,there are just better cards than Hero’s Blade and TARDISthat we could easily substitute for.
Blast From The Past Commander Deck Budget Upgrades
It’s important tokeep (or even improve) the ratio of historic cardsin Blast From The Past, so while we’re getting rid of Doctors and Sagas, we’ve got to replace them with legendary cards, artifacts, or more Sagas. Good thing there are plenty of better historic cards to add for everything that was cut.
Reason
Astrid Peth
You’ll have a lot of Food and Clue tokens, and Astrid representsa growing threat that occasionally finds a land. She’s a great addition to Blast From The Past.
Battle at the Helvault
Forget all these human, mutant, and lizard tokens. What we want is an8/8 angel with flying, vigilance, and indestructible. This card also temporarily removes a few cards until Avacyn arrives. A great saga.
Battle for Bretagard
You’re going to have a lot of tokens already, and thismakes a lot more tokensfor a very reasonable price.
Better than Hero’s Bladeby a country mile.
Elanor Gardner
You don’t have a lot of basic lands in this deck just due to the color requirements, but you have enough that Elanor can reallyhelp grow your mana base with all those Food tokensyou’ll be getting from The Fourth Doctor.
Elspeth Conquers Death
Removal and reanimationwith a little bit of delay in the middle. A great saga to add to Blast From The Past.
Gandalf the White
You’ve got a lot of legendary critters in this deck, andcasting them at instant speedis strictly better than playing them on your turn like a chump. You’ll also just get more tokens.
Gold-Forged Thopteryx
Cheap protection forall yourlegendary creatures. Plus, as an artifact, it still gets hit by Doctor Four’s ability.
Lonis, Cryptozoologist
With the number of Clue tokens you’ll be getting, you’re likely to be able to fire off Lonis' ability tostart playing your enemies' cards for them.
Martha Jones
Martha actually comes from a different Doctor Who deck where she really doesn’t belong. Snag her toimprove your Clue tokens.
Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth
A new legendary God from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan thatramps out critters of lands perpetuallyand is way stronger than most of the Doctors being replaced.
Peregrin Took
Create more Foodevery time you create any token at all, and thenstart drawing cards from themtoo. A great new addition.
Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage
Much like Gandalf the White, Raff helpsget your legendary critters out at instant speed.
Relic of Legends
Ramp that also turns all your legendary creatures into ramp. Combine with Raff or Gandalf to ensure you’re able to tap for mana while still being able to block.
Rosie Cotton of South Lane
Rosie helpscreate Food tokensand is also anescalating threat. Nothing wrong with either.
Time of Need
Sisay would be great, but she’s $20 and way out of our budget. Time of Need is a decent alternative that can stillfind the legendary critter you need when you need it.
Urza’s Ruinous Blast
Threeboard wipesare great, but four is better. Plus,this card is a Legendary spellthat can be played with The Fourth Doctor.
War of the Last Alliance
Morelegendary tutoring and a double strike finish. A far more effective saga than the ones being cut.
Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
This deck could use at least one big beat stick other than Avacyn via a saga. Zetalpa might not do anything with Food or Clue tokens, butit’s a giant dinosaur with double strike and indestructible. That’s all you really need.
Other Budget Upgrades To Consider
Return To Dust isn’t the most efficient way to remove an artifact or enchantment.Beast Withinhits more permanents, and is cheaper. You could also considerPongifyandRapid Hybridizationover Time Lord Regeneration since there aren’t as many Doctors in the deck anymore.
Explore isn’t the greatest ramp spell, so perhaps consider replacing that withFelwar Stone.
And finally, you could increase the number of legendary permanents in the deck with a few legendary lands.Minas Tirith,Rivndell, andThe Shireare all great additions and could replace Ash Barrens or any of the Thriving lands.
