Set Prospective
Doctor Who
This article is part of our community-sourced Set Prospective series. We survey Cube designers before the set’s official release to document their first impressions of new cards.
Look, I’m not a Whovian. (A Who Down In Whoville? A Whoosier?) I once watched the episode about Van Gogh for Art History class, and that’s about it. If this were a usual Cube set review, I’d have to punt (oops, wrong continent of sports metaphors). However, because our set reviews are based on community opinions, you’re spared any of my baseless speculation on this Magic/BBC crossover.
Results
With 39 total respondents, Doctor Who has markedly lower metrics than most sets we’ve reviewed here, even by the standards of Commander-focused releases and/or Universes Beyond sets. The median responder tested only 3 cards, suggesting that the show’s theme may not have appealed as much as the set’s mechanics. That said, the flavor of WHO does seem to be a home run (a “boundary six”, considering the circumstances?) for those who are familiar with it; one Whoosier even tested 226 new cards for a set cube. You don’t hit that kind of density without really loving the source material.
| Card | Testers▼ | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Astrid Peth | 38.5% | 6.6 |
| Sarah Jane Smith | 28.2% | 6.3 |
| Cyberman Patrol | 25.6% | 6.6 |
| Clockwork Droid | 25.6% | 6.0 |
| Dalek Drone | 25.6% | 6.5 |
| Banish to Another Universe | 15.4% | 4.5 |
| Cybermat | 12.8% | 5.8 |
| Lunar Hatchling | 12.8% | 4.6 |
| Iraxxa, Empress of Mars | 12.8% | 5.8 |
| City of Death | 12.8% | 5.9 |
| Weeping Angel | 12.8% | 6.2 |
| Martha Jones | 12.8% | 5.1 |
| Bessie, the Doctor's Roadster | 10.3% | 6.5 |
| The Flux | 10.3% | 8.0 |
| Jo Grant | 10.3% | 6.8 |
| RMS Titanic | 10.3% | 6.8 |
| Vashta Nerada | 10.3% | 5.9 |
| Wreck and Rebuild | 10.3% | 5.6 |
| Doomsday Confluence | 10.3% | 5.1 |
| Tegan Jovanka | 10.3% | 5.5 |
Single Card Discussion
The Mechanical Unicorns
WHO boasts a duo of cards that are seeing play by a significant portion of the respondents. To reach significant popularity in a non-Magic-IP release, I’ve observed that cards tend to need some unique combination of synergistic hooks as well as an aggressive rate. The appeal of a novel combination of effects, as well as a rate often intended for 40-life multiplayer, might sway curators who aren’t interested in WHO on thematic grounds.
To wit, Astrid Peth, most popular WHO card for Cube, offers a new twist on the Academy Manufactor deck of “bits and bobs”. The sheer amount of synergistic hooks in a relatively sparing text box is incredible: lifegain, token creation, artifact-matters, artifact-sacrifice-matters, land synergy, top-of-library manipulation, graveyard, +1/+1 counters. It’s all bonus on top of the serviceable Glory Seeker stats, but if that’s not enough, Astrid’s art is easy enough to retcon to “some normal wizard” if Doctor Who is immersion-breaking for you. No surprise that some mechanically-minded curators consider Astrid a lucky find.
Sarah Jane Smith is less overt in her synergies, but still pushes the mechanical envelope in new ways. She triggers off of the supremely open-ended category of “historic,” does so at a favorable rate for 1v1 Magic, and creates the universally-well-loved Clue as a payout.
Affinity for Who?
Artifact cards also got a huge boost in WHO. Cyberman Patrol serves as a perfect example of how Commander-focused releases can safely move the goalposts (a sports analogy that this time needs no alteration) on rate. It’s ludicrous to imagine an uncommon artifact buffer of this caliber for 
in a Standard-legal release (even Kaladesh only had Chief of the Foundry), but because Commander has 6x the amount of opposing life total, Afflict 3 makes sense in that context.
Clockwork Droid and Dalek Drone are likewise beneficiaries of these quirks of multiplayer balancing. (It also surely helps that Daleks are among the most recognizable Doctor Who imagery to laypeople like myself.)
Reprint Alert
As always, Commander preconstructed decks are an opportunity to pick up well-loved Cube cards for cheap. In WHO, these reprints are also adorned with all-new, thematically appropriate art, so it’s extra opportunity to add Doctor Who flavor to Cube.
Thanks to all our respondents, even if I don’t know who you are (eh?). May your time travel never be wibbly-wobbly!
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