Magic: The Gathering's Doctor Who Commander decks offer new Doctor-themed win condition

Magic: The Gathering’s Doctor Who Commander decks bring some incredible new cards to the game alongside some amazing reprints. One of my favorite new cards gives players a brand new win condition that doesn’t involve taking part in combat in any way. Those are my favorite types of win conditions, so it has me very curious to see what players will put together going forward in their MTG games. However, this is more than just Doctor-flavored.

Thanks to how Magic: The Gathering works, there’s a much easier way to trigger this brand-new win condition through the Doctor Who commander decks. This all comes together thanks to a new legendary enchantment, Gallifrey Stands. If you have this, you can win games without having to stress about combat.

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Magic: The Gathering’s Doctor Who enchantment ‘Gallifrey Stands’ is a new way to win the game

Gallifrey Stands in MTG (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

I’m a sucker for alternate ways to win games - it’s my favorite thing about Magic: The Gathering. Thanks to Gallifrey Stands, players can win the game simply by having 13 Commanders in play. There are a few really great ways to get this card going, but here’s what you need to know about its details.

Gallifrey Stands

• Mana Value: 4WU
• Type: Legendary Enchantment
• Rarity: Rare
• First Ability: When Gallifrey Stands enters the battlefield, return all Doctor cards from your graveyard to your hand.
• Second Ability: At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a Doctor creature card from your hand to the battlefield. Then, if you control thirteen or more Doctors, you win the game.

Since it’s a Legendary Enchantment, you need a legendary card in play before you even cast it. Given that the Doctor Who Magic: The Gathering Commander decks are filled with these, that’s not going to be a problem.

My immediate thought was to combine the power of the Sixth and Ninth Doctors. The Sixth Doctor is already one of the most powerful Doctors in the Magic: The Gathering Doctor Who decks.

The Sixth Doctor and The Ninth Doctor (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

The Sixth Doctor lets you cast a Historic spell and copy it - so target The Ninth Doctor. Now you have two copies of him, and when either untaps during your Upkeep phase, you get another Upkeep phase. As a result, it totals out to four Upkeep steps due to how triggers work.

This gives you three upkeeps a turn if you can get both Ninth Doctors tapped during your Magic: The Gathering games. You can potentially play three Doctors a turn from your hand to make winning a breeze. However, you don’t have to rely on Doctor Who characters to do this.

“Doctor” is a creature type. That means Changelings also count as Doctors. Changelings count as all creature types at the same time. So you can, instead, simply run this card with a ton of Changelings and win the game on one of your upkeeps. You can also do this with Rukarumarel, Biologist, and Slivers.

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However, once this card is in play, your opponents are undoubtedly going to try and clear your field or destroy the Doctors you’re bringing into play every turn. Be aware that it’s going to be annoying to keep it in play, so if you’re going the Changeling route, you may want to play this card last.

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Magic: The Gathering’s Doctor Who Commander decks will be released on October 13, 2023. You can learn more about the Commander decks and their color identities here.