We continue our slight departure from usual, diving in to review ALL of the new cards from the third of the Dr. Who preconstructed Commander decks. In the next week or so we will be giving our thoughts on all four of decks being added to our favorite format, mainly weighing in on the cards for their Magic gameplay aspect.
We’re finally at the first of the two more modern-era focused decks, and “Paradox Power” focuses more on the exploits of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors (plus the Fugitive Doctor introduced in The Power of the Doctor). Paradox Power runs red/green/blue and focuses a bit more on the Paradox mechanic, which is the ability name for a triggered ability that happens when you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand. That makes a lot of sense given the color trio, which will have you casting cards from exile and the top of your deck frequently.
The Thirteenth Doctor
TheChirurgeon: This is a really neat Commander, but this may be the worst art treatment for the character. I guess I’m going to have to spring for the Tardis treatment. Anyways Paradox is a really great name for this mechanic and she’s got a solid pair of abilities.
Marcy: This is a really fun and easy to use commander. What I like about this is that you don’t need to have this card in a Dr. Who only deck, and there’s probably a lot of times you can make use of this in counter-based decks. Also I really love the art on this. Probably one of the easiest to use Doctors and a strong general commander.
Loxi: Truthfully, I don’t have anything unique to say about this one. It’s a solid shell: play things that either swing big or tap for value, play a bunch of stuff that casts from exile (anywhere else works too, graveyards or your deck can be good options!) and go crazy. She’s cheap to cast, solid colors, and has a fun and interesting play pattern. I expect her to be one of the more popular commanders from the set, especially since this “cast from exile” type strategy doesn’t really have a ton of traction in Simic+.
FromTheShire: This is simultaneously very well designed to work in this exact shell and also kind of broadly applicable. Generally it’s going to be easiest to cast from not your hand by using red impulse/exile effects which is perfect in the precon, but if you end up going another direction there are things like foretell and adventures that can still get you there. Otherwise there are lots of ways beyond her ability to put counters on things, and then the untap ability is still very good for convoking, conspiring, or otherwise tapping for mana or abilities, or just giving yourself vigilance.
Yasmin Khan
Marcy: So, what I like about this is that this companion feels literally made to work directly well with the Thirteenth Doctor, but even without that, it’s looting on a stick, which is always a great mechanic. 4 Mana is kind of a lot if she just dies immediately for it, though, which is maybe the big downside. Still, gives you the ability to splash red.
Loxi: I would love this card if it was cheaper, but it just doesn’t do enough for the cost. The draw is nice, but unless you’re really vying to get access to red I think you can do better.
FromTheShire: It’s a little pricey but it’s perfect for the deck and gets you where you want to be color wise so I’m completely fine with it.
Dan Lewis
Loxi: Cool actually, very similar vibe to Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith, only he doesn’t make artifacts himself. I think he’s actually really interesting with The Fourth Doctor since you have so much other historic synergy and can weaponize his food.
Marcy: With the amount of mana-rocks and other artifacts that sit around in a game of Commander, I really actually like this ability. He’s also really cheap, so you could get him on the board quite fast.
Graham O’Brien
Loxi: Speaking of weaponizing food, this guy…foodanizes your weapons? Solid, also has good synergy with the Funky Fourth as well as The Third Doctor if you have enough casting from exile/suspend going on.
Marcy: There’s a Rocco, Street Chef deck that abuses food tokens that wants this card so bad.
Memory Worm
Loxi: Intimate Worm Moment™ is an alright, but weird card. I don’t like letting players filter their cards, but I guess it could also be useful in a flexible way if you want to use it on yourself. For 2 mana it can still do quite a bit though, and growing constantly helps keep it relevant on board.
Marcy: Ring ring ring ring ring ring, banana phone– uh, anyway, what I like about this Paradox card is that you can target yourself, essentially pinging yourself for 2 damage, and then getting to loot, plus a +1/+1 counter. Not a bad combo.
FromTheShire: Super useful card, and yeah I can see pinging myself to draw a card frequently. Move over Greed.
Nardole, Resourceful Cyborg
Loxi: This card is seriously bonkers if you can get enough counters on it. If you wanna get that crossover action, try him in Magus Lucea Kane or even something like Falco Spara, Pactweaver as a way to keep him from biting the dust.
Marcy: I like Counter shenanigans, and there are a lot of decks that let you shuffle counters around that can make this card easier to use, although I don’t know if this strikes me as worth being your companion, at least to the Thirteenth.
Sisterhood of Karn
TheChirurgeon: The Sisterhood were introduced way back in the 70s but really got their big introduction to most Who fans in a short called The Night of the Doctor, which acted as both a prelude to the anniversary special The Day of the Doctor and a cool vehicle to bring back Paul McGann’s Doctor. Their whole deal is that they have a special elixir which, when imbibed, will let a Time Lord regenerate into whoever they want to be (in the Doctor’s case into John Hurt, aka The War Doctor). Which is a big prelude to say it has little to do with their particular mechanic but they’re cool nonetheless. The elixir shows up on a different card.
Loxi: I play Ezuri, Claw of Progress quite a bit, and in decks like that these types of cards are no joke. It’s not anything too crazy on it’s own, but once you start to get rolling and some keyword support, these things will run wild. All you need is one turn of Trample for this thing to roll over you at a bad time. Slow, but it’s cheap enough that I think it’s solid.
Marcy: Kind of want to just put this in some stupid Karn based deck. Anyway, doubling the counters here and then finding something to do with what could become huge. It could also die to a Cut Down, so, y’know. At least it’s only 2 CMC.
Thijarian Witness
Loxi: Yo, is this finally more synergy for my Exalted deck? I’ve been waiting for this for ages.
In truth this card is alright, I don’t really feel positive or negative. If it draws nets you at least one or two clues, it’s pretty solid for it’s cost actually.
Marcy: What I really find interesting about this card is the high toughness. 0/4 means you aren’t going to remove it very easily very early with damage alone, meaning that it can just sit around and fade some damage while getting the effect off. And flashing in a 2 CMC 0/4 isn’t such a bad fog, either, early on.
Jenny Flint
Loxi: Distributing counters on top of training can get nasty quick. Human typing also means you can probably jam this in a few human decks that ball out on clues.
Marcy: Oh, this card can be very strong if you can generate a lot of tokens, and currently it is very easy to get Food Tokens on the board, and even easier to find ways to get rid of them without having to expend a lot of mana. The idea of using this card to put counters on other things to then train THIS card with is also really interesting.
TheChirurgeon: Having an alternate set of partners in this deck is cool, and it’s a nice touch that it’s Jenny and Vastra, who are married in the series. The First Strike and Training mechanics are a nice touch here to represent her training as a swordsman.
River Song
TheChirurgeon: Introduced in Silence in the Library in 2008, River Song quickly became one of the most interesting and well-liked characters in the show as the Doctor’s Wife, and was largely part of a multi-season “The Time Traveler’s Wife” style arc where her and the Doctor moved in reverse directions through time as their relationship progressed (hence Meet in Reverse). She’s got a cool card here and I get why she’s not a Companion mechanically but it’d have been cool to see anyways.
Loxi: Hilarious anti-synergy with scry, skip.
Jokes aside, this is a super cool card. I actually feel that for her cost, she’s got a lot of potential if you can use some other cards to juice up her power on the side. I don’t really think she’s that exciting as a commander, but she provides a lot of utility as a punish/stax piece in the right deck.
Marcy: With the amount of how many effects in Commander use all three of those abilities, this card is destined to be a hate magnet. But what a hilariously powerful card it could be.
Ryan Sinclair
Loxi: A lot of potential, and synergizes well with the type of deck you want to build. Usually you’ll probably have a lot of cards that will buff up other creatures (so you can get his power big to hit cards more often, of course). Assuming this, you might hit one of those cards off his trigger, making him even bigger once he gets to actually connect for damage with that attack. It’s a pretty sweet system, I dig it.
Marcy: I like how this works really well with Paradox, and it feels like there are a lot of ways to easily pump this card up to make it suddenly explode something huge onto the field.
Bill Potts
Loxi: Copying spells are solid, this is basically a mini partnered version of Zada, Hedron Grinder but in a much more selfish package. Sadly, this is held back by only getting one trigger per turn, but not the worst overall.
Marcy: 
Danny Pink
Loxi: I think this one might be one of the best companions if you’re really going in on the tokens. Anything that distributes tokens across your board will gain you so much value from this. Seriously, stick this with a Cathar’s Crusade and just draw a bunch of cards every turn for playing the game.
Marcy: There are a lot of ways you can very easily combine this card with counter generators for free, huge card advantage. Even in this deck, there are a lot of cards that manipulate and create counters.
Iraxxa, Empress of Mars
Loxi: Battle cry is neat, but I almost wish the tokens had a keyword. Maybe if they had haste this could be kinda fun as an explosive board presence.
Marcy: This might be the first Paradox card that doesn’t really do anything for me.
Madame Vastra
Loxi: Lure cards are really sweet, and if you go with these two partners you can seriously do some damage. The only thing that makes it tricky is that the deck wants to do a lot of things. Jenny wants to have a pretty big board of creatures for distributing counters. Both want buff/aura/equipment support to, well, not get shwacked. You probably want artifact token support in there as well. Those all can synergize fine together, you’ll just need to find the right balance when deckbuilding.
Marcy: I feel like the thing that prevents this card from being extremely strong is the lack of First Strike. It is still really good, and I like that Jenny benefits from what this card provides, and you can pump this card off of Jenny’s ability.
TheChirurgeon: The other half of the Vastra-Flint duo, I like her synergy with her partner using the clue and food tokens, and those are also a nice touch and a good nod to her working as a detective with Scotland Yard (and potentially being the in-universe inspiration for Sherlock Holmes). Also the combo art here rips.
Osgood, Operation Double
Loxi: Neat flavor, but it’s really just a fancy artifact dork that makes a bunch of clues. That can be really fun and strong, but it doesn’t seem too new and exciting. Seems more like a way to provide solid support to one of the doctors that might be lacking in power, though.
Marcy: I like that you can get double triggers off this from the Paradox ability, but also, you do sort of get a little bit of a refund in the sense that you get 2 power stones to use, but neither have haste.
The Foretold Soldier
Loxi: Interestingly note that he has to deal damage, not combat damage. This might be cool if you have some sort of card that would let him ping for damage. I think he rocks.
Marcy: I initially read this card and thought it was very stupid, but then I remembered that Fortell counts as ‘from exile,’ meaning you get this huge 6/6 beater that is going to likely kill anything it hits, and then constantly keeps triggering Paradox. (Or, you know, eats a removal spell).
Karvanista, Loyal Lupari
Loxi: If you’re in Selesnya humans, this isn’t bad as a support piece, but that adventure being Sorcery speed really is a kick in the shins. It’s still a sweet card since it does quite a bit on one piece of cardboard.
Marcy: I like the joke of a loyal dog that buffs humans, but this feels like a card that belongs in a Human deck, except that it isn’t a Human, and also most Human decks are monowhite.
Me, the Immortal
Loxi: Having built in recursion makes this super cool. I really like it, but man it can get stuffed super hard by a bounce spell.
Marcy: Feels like a great commander in a Cares for Counters deck, especially if you don’t bother putting it back in the Command Zone for as long as possible.
FromTheShire: Kind of a Temur Skullbriar, the Walking Grave which has historically been a very good commander. I like that it has a built in way to give itself abilities as well as get bigger, and you can still do the same kind of shenanigans with putting counters of all types from other sources on it for profit. Plus you’re in blue which is the best proliferate color so this is a strong commander to run on its own right.
Strax, Sontaran Nurse
Loxi: I do not think this card is good, but it’s fun as hell.
Marcy: Is this man a thumb? I like the ability, cause random can be fun, but also this feels like there are a lot of hilarious ways for this to backfire.
The Fugitive Doctor
Loxi: Giving a set cost for the flashback is really neat actually. This could lead to an interesting reanimator/cast from graveyard deck where you spend early turns milling yourself and making clues so you can cheat out big spells. It’s a bunch of effort to do that, but it could have some strong payoffs and be pretty fun to try in some off-brand colors for the archetype.
Marcy: I like the trigger, although the flashback cost is a little pricey; you’re hoping to get this down for 5, and then the following turn, get the trigger off of something for another 4 mana. But, as a 4/4, it isn’t likely do die, and you get a free token just for casting it, so at least it can pay for itself.
FromTheShire: The set cost is a little higher than you absolutely love, but it also means it incentivizes stuffing your deck with big spells to get a huge discount by paying that cost, which is very powerful.
TheChirurgeon: The mysterious additional doctor introduced during Whittaker’s run, it makes sense that this doctor is all about investigations and clues but it’s kind of a miss that nothing here really shows off that she’s more ruthless/callous than you’d expect for The Doctor outside of having a higher P/T.
The Twelfth Doctor
Loxi: Demonstrate is back with a bang. Using a lot of spells that don’t really benefit a specific player could be fun. It’s more of a silly card than anything, but some cards should just be here for the giggles anyway.
Marcy: There are a lot of Izzet decks that want to abuse this card, and I think with some easy set up, it could potentially do a lot of copying shenanigans, but it is a little annoying that the card cannot exile cards itself.
TheChirurgeon: Demonstrate is a good fit for Capaldi’s Doctor, and this is a really fun ability to have on a Commander. I like how it combines with Paradox and related mechanics to make it something you have to build around more heavily.
Clara Oswald
Loxi: 6 is a pricey tag, but this just basically enables you to double down on whatever your Doctor is doing. Since you get a color of your choice, I think Clara might be the go-to companion for most of the Doctors that don’t really need the explicit support of another unique companion.
Marcy: Really like how this gives you universal color fixing, but it comes with an obviously high price tag. The double trigger activation though can be really solid with some of the better Doctors.
TheChirurgeon: Clara’s really here to let you have whatever color commander you want but it makes sense for her to be a sort of “universal companion” for the Doctor given her actions leading to her becoming interspersed throughout the Doctor’s timeline. Her ability to create double triggers on Doctors is great and I love her paired with the Twelfth Doctor to get double copies of Paradox spells.
Lunar Hatchling
Loxi: It’s cool in concept, but it’s a lot of text and extra steps for what leads to a recurring beatstick.
Marcy: I’m a little confused by this card. I assume you cycle it early, and then you pay… literally the same mana cost plus a land AND five cards from your graveyard to… get the card back?
TheChirurgeon: This episode sucked shit. The card is fine.
Flaming Tyrannosaurus
Loxi: You will play this card because are you joking why wouldn’t you? This really should stick around if you’re going the cast from exile route though, it’s a pretty good way to control the board and even close out a game.
Marcy: This card rules.
Frost Fair Lure Fish
Loxi: What…wait. What is that name? What is that effect? Big fish?
Marcy: The foretell cost here is a big tell, but honestly, this is a pretty decent card for what it does. Even at full cost, you get 3 bodies, with haste, some manner of evasion, and you get a refund of 2 mana for your next turn.
Start the TARDIS
Loxi: Sweet cantrip, I always liked Jump-start so I’m happy to see it on a new card.
Marcy: I don’t really find much interest in planeswalking, but for 2 mana this card still does a lot–you get 2 surveil, a card, and then you also get a chance to cast it again by discarding something else.
Surge of Brilliance
Loxi: This is a sweet design, you don’t even really need to wait for a crazy pop-off turn for it: 2 mana draw two or more cards at instant speed flexibility? Sign me up. You can even cantrip it off in a pinch.
Marcy: The thing I like about this is that if you’ve had the ability to cast a lot of cards from exile or graveyards before, paying 2 for card draw is great. If you haven’t, then you get to at least draw a card off of this card itself with Foretell, and you could even wait until later to have it pay off bigger.
Flatline
Loxi: Can combo with some other damage sweepers for great effect. Play in Toxrill, the Corrosive and lose friends.
Marcy: Really nice way to punish blocks when you attack, or to even to mess with an opponent’s attack on their turn, or even just to operate as a fog.
Impending Flux
Loxi: You really might need a lot of spells for this to be better than just having other burn, but being asymmetrical keeps this in a pretty good spot.
Marcy: The problem with this spell is that Delete from the other deck is a better spell, and you have to really plan ahead to make this pay off, which probably also seems obvious. The double red in the Foretell cost is also weird, making it harder to actually cast from Foretell than it is normally.
Wreck and Rebuild
Loxi: Nah, I’d pass on this. Other things do this better, and having all this stapled on to one card feels unnecessary.
Marcy: I just don’t think this is great, frankly, except perhaps in some sort of re-animator deck, where you want to perhaps remove anti-graveyard enchantments or artifacts, and then self-mill yourself? Really can’t tell if that’s worth it.
TheChirurgeon: It’s fine utility, though I wouldn’t consider it if it didn’t have Flashback. That said, it’s a card that I think would be really powerful in standard and is just not up to the power level required for Commander.
Decaying Time Loop
Loxi: A wheel card? With a CLOCK? Who could have thought of that.
Marcy: A personal wheel that you can recast? I love it.
Truth or Consequences
Loxi: You can’t handle the truth! It’s fine, it’s a card to cause fun chaos. People will go nuts over this.
Marcy: Oh, I hate this card. This card is going to make people so mad.
Into the Time Vortex
Loxi: Don’t sleep on how good things that just cascade are. If you’ve ever played against a deck with Shardless Agent, you’ll know you can do some baloney with this type of effect.
Marcy: I mean, what is not to like about this card? 5 mana to Cascade, and then you get to do it again for free next turn? Lot of great stuff you can snag for 5 mana.
TheChirurgeon: The combo of Cascade and Rebound here is great, and if you can live the dream of combining it with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara doing a triple cascade on the Rebound is going to be hilarious.
Last Night Together
Marcy: There are certainly a lot of ways for this card to simply win a game. That is a lot of keywords and counters, and the second combat step is very likely to be impactful; I don’t see you casting this on a random turn for no reason, it certainly seems like being saved to end the game.
Loxi: This is a card that exists for flavor, and even if I say the function of it might be a bit janky, the idea/concept lines up so well with the execution of it that I can’t help but love the card. If you’re in a Voltron deck, it isn’t bad, but you need a buddy to really make the best of it. Isn’t that a great moral lesson?
TheChirurgeon: A cool representation of one of the more touching moments of Capaldi’s run on the show, where River Song finally gets that bit of romantic closure with the Doctor she (and we) had been denied for years. The “Last Night” of the two together actually lasted 12 years (nights last a long time on that planet), and I like that this card buffs a pair of creatures. And yeah, sometimes it’s going to win you a game but it’s mostly janky good fun.
Quantum Misalignment
Loxi: This is one of the better copiers I’ve seen recently. Copying only your stuff limits it a bit, but having duplicates of your commander can really help some decks achieve liftoff.
Marcy: Another non-legendary token creator, with rebound, means you can play around with token shenanigans a bit with this card.
TheChirurgeon: This is a great card for this deck and I love how it works with everything in it. It’s just a good copying card and the nonlengedary rider justifies the extra cost.
Twice Upon a Time
Marcy: I do at least like that this is an adventure card, but since it is so specifically tied to the Doctors, I don’t really think it has much use other than in decks that use them.
Loxi: Alright, this card is pretty sweet, but come on! Stick with the theme and give us two turns!
BPhillipYork: This is solid, if your deck somehow relies on Doctors (or you’re using Doctors that can copy things, like The Twelfth Doctor)
FromTheShire: The tutor is nice, if out of color, and the extra turn keys off of having Doctors so this doesn’t get tossed in to every existing Taking Turns deck, which I appreciate.
Psychic Paper
Loxi: This is funny but the real move is sharpie-ing text onto that space on the card. Now that, my friends, is a psychological victory.
Marcy: I feel like there is some sort of specific combo or strategy for this card, but right now I can’t particularly figure out what it might be.
TARDIS
TheChirurgeon: This is a really solid vehicle and I appreciate that it flies, though the deck has more than enough ways to make it unblockable if you need it to get through. The ability to planeswalk is a very fun touch and I’m here for more cards that interact with Planechase.
FromTheShire: This is actually quite powerful, it’s flying so you can repeatedly get through, it can be tutored for and recurred by The First Doctor, cascade lets you cheat mana costs which is excellent, AND you can choose to planeswalk if you’re on a plane that is bad for your game plan.
Loxi: This is a neat way to actually enable the set mechanic, and you can play it across any of the new Doctors. It’s nothing crazy, but it isn’t meant to be. I dig it.
BPhillipYork: Cascade is fine, planeswalk is whatever, great if you are playing uh, planes.
Marcy: All I really know about Dr. Who is that TARDIS is like a big deal and this card feels kind of underwhelming except that you get a cool flying phonebooth that then gives you cascade? If you’re doing Planeswalking, even better, but otherwise it’s kind of okay.
Confession Dial
Loxi: Wow, this card is actually insanity. There’s a good chance you’ve heard about Underworld Breach. Is this that? Absolutely not, but considering how format warping that card is, even a sliver of its power goes a long way.
Marcy: This is a REALLY solid piece. Surveil is great, and the fact that you can keep using this card is even better, meaning that there’s a good chance this works for a re-animator deck very well.
River Song’s Diary
Loxi: At first, I thought this was another Knowledge Pool and my inner Teferi was excited. While I was sorely mistaken, this is still a pretty fun way to randomly chuck extra spells. It could backfire horribly, but you don’t play a card like this to play like a coward.
Marcy: This is an interesting piece also. You get a chance to steal spells from your opponents, and you also get a chance to influence the game in a lot of ways also.
Sonic Screwdriver
Marcy: Pretty solid mana rock. I like the options that it gives you, and that it helps to stay relevant as you likely end up without requiring it to fix your mana early on and instead says relevant with lots of options to select.
Loxi: I really like this one, it’s one of the better 3-drop rocks we’ve gotten in a while. All of the effects are ones that can do some surprisingly heavy listing, and at the worst it’s still ramp.
BPhillipYork: This is decently utilitarian, 3 mana for a mana rock is close enough to good that with the other abilities it potentially includes.
FromTheShire: 3 drop rocks are continuing to be phased out, with the exception of ones that give a useful effect, and boy does this card offer a bunch of them. Untapping artifacts can lead to game ending shenanigans, the scry isn’t bad if you have extra mana floating around at end of turn, and being able to make someone’s big deadly threat able to get through unblocked can take people out. Totally worth the 1 extra mana.
Heaven Sent
Loxi: This card is very, very good in artifacts. 2 mana to make 2 Clues and ping everyone for one. Then do it again, and again, and again. Until someone bites the dust, in which case it draws you a full new hand. This might be one of the best cards in the deck from my perspective. It’s slow value for sure, but that’s a lot of value across the whole game, and let’s face it, removing this thing feels like a waste so very few people will actually do it.
Marcy: Ok, I like that this card continues to be a threat. At two mana, it’s unlikely you aren’t able to keep recasting this to get the eventual pay off, and without enchantment removal, it’s a pain that just keeps giving you tokens and then pinging people. Might make you a target, but also, not immediately ‘game ending’.
The Flux
Loxi: Red deck wins- the saga. It’s a good saga. It red. It does the red.
Marcy: This deck has some of the better sagas I think. I like that this one has so much flexibility. First, you get a pretty solid removal spell, because 4 damage is usually enough to get rid of most things. Then, you get 4 turns of exile based looting to potentially trigger Paradox, and then you get 6 red mana to toss at some huge spell.
FromTheShire: Very solid if telegraphing a bit. Individually the effects are fine not great, all together though I really like it.
Become the Pilot
Loxi: Noncommander? That’s cool rules text, I like the idea of this since it encourages you to split your fire to other players.
Marcy: There is kind of an interesting side of this card, but I think maybe it is a little expensive. Then again, most ‘take control of’ blue enchantments are costly, so this isn’t that unusual I suppose.
FromTheShire: Paying 1 extra mana for your Control Magic to also give +2/+2 and usually unblockable is totally worth it.
Bigger on the Inside
Loxi: If your meta runs a lot of targeted land destruction, this is a tricky proposition. If you can stick this safely, this is really, really strong in pretty much any deck that can run it. It’s a high cost but a fun, splashy effect.
Marcy: Cascade on a stick is great, even if it is pricey. I think a lot of Jund decks can make this work quickly and efficiently, though.
Fugitive of the Judoon
Loxi: This might be the most convoluted way of tutoring a card to board, even if it’s all there and ready on the card. I love the flavor though, it’s a fun way to nab an extra Doctor from your deck.
Marcy: If you played this with the ability to skip straight to the 3rd step, I think this isn’t bad, but ironically most of the Doctors are cheaper to play than this card is, and the benefits it gives you aren’t very good.
Return the Past
Loxi: This is a great “Don’t let me untap with this” card, which can be great or signing your own death warrant. If you can protect it, it should be able to close out a game. If you can’t confidently win off this, keep it up your sleeve for later.
Marcy: Oh, now this card slaps. This is absolutely a game ender, if it hits the battlefield and sticks.
FromTheShire: Yeah this is absolutely worth the cost, especially if you’re able to slap it down and then flash back a bunch of ritual effects and make a ton of mana and recast your whole graveyard.
Besieged Viking Village
FromTheShire: The boast ability isn’t bad but probably isn’t hugely impactful turn to turn. The chaos however can come in incredibly clutch to protect your most important creature.
Fixed Point in Time
FromTheShire: This is really cool, and the impact of what comes next is going to vary wildly and create interesting game states which I like.
Kerblam! Warehouse
FromTheShire: It doesn’t generate a lot of Treasure but free value is free value, and turning 50% of your noncreature artifacts into Lightning Bolt is both hilarious and very useful depending on the game state.
North Pole Research Base
FromTheShire: Interesting way to force everyone to play the political game for a little while at least. The token isn’t bad to have either, and there’s always a threat someone will be happy to see tapped down for a turn.
Singing Towers of Darillium
FromTheShire: A nice way to get tricky with your spells, with the upside that you may be able to cheat a significant mana cost. Perfect for this deck as well.
Stormcage Containment Facility
FromTheShire: Even without knowing the source material, this seems super flavorful and conveys that vibe perfectly so I feel like I know what the deal is in this place between the abilities and the art, well done. Graveyard recursion is always nice to have, especially for colors that struggle with it, and detaining can have a big impact as well.
Temple of Atropos
FromTheShire: Hilarious and awesome. Getting the extra beginning phase is very unique and useful, and then reversing the turn order is a classic whacky game changing effect that you see incredibly rarely. You love it when you’re the one who triggers it and are so sad when you suddenly have to wait back through the extra turns when you were the next one up.
The Dining Car
FromTheShire: Kind of a mixed bag, I most appreciate the lurking dread of the weakest creatures being slow picked off murder mystery style.
The Doctor’s Childhood Barn
FromTheShire: Massive hoser for hasty decks, and then temporarily removing whole rounds of permanents for each chaos can have unpredictable results, fun again.
The Drum, Mining Facility
FromTheShire: Real risk reward between a massive game winning pump effect and accidentally ending your turn and probably getting killed because everyone saw how threatening you were, excellent.
Next Time: Timey-Wimey
That wraps up our look at the third preconstructed deck. Join us next time as we review the Jeskai Timey-Wimey deck, picking out our favorite cards, and talking about the future build-arounds. In the meantime, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
