There are a lot of different villains that have appeared over the long history of the Doctor Who franchise. While Weeping Angels, Missy or the trademark EXTERMINATEing Daleks may be the ones that stick out to you the most, a few villains that rise above the rest.
Daleks are almost unquestionably the most iconic villains in the Doctor Who franchise, but The Master does not fall too far behind, if they are indeed behind at all. Even though The Master is just one recurring character throughout the series, they have a massive presence in the show’s history. As such, there are a collection of cards representing The Master, and many of them are going to showcase the horror of this character to Commander players.
The Master
The Master is the only other living Time Lord (aside from The Doctor) and serves as a twisted friend but, more so, as an archvillain of The Doctor. Like The Doctor, The Master appears in different variations throughout the show, with Missy being one of them. The morals of these two characters are at deep odds with one another.
The above card showcases The Master in one of his most daunting moments – he kills countless Time Lords, turning them into a Cyberman army after ruining Gallifrey.
As far as this card’s abilities go, The Master, Gallifrey’s End is mediocre – particularily because of one line of text. A good Villainous Choice gives opponents two decisions that are equally difficult to choose. As was the case with the Tribute mechanic (widely considered one of the worst mechanics in the history of Magic), if there is an obvious choice between the two options, that’s going to be the choice your opponents go with, which is worse for you.
This is the case with this particular Master card, at least most of the time. Unless the exiled artifact has very little value, players will almost always choose to lose four life to this particular Villainous Choice, and that’s because this Master forces the opponent with the most life to make the Villainous Choice. There’s no opportunity to hold an opponent hostage with Athreos, god of Passage triggers, forcing them to return your Shadowborn Apostles over and over.
The Master, Formed Anew
This is such a weird card. The Master, Formed Anew is yet another copy effect from the Doctor Who set. As we highlighted previously, there are a lot of those.
This one is a bit odd in the sense that it cannot enter the battlefield as a copy of another card on the battlefield. You must exile the creature you want to copy on cast, basically meaning The Master will replace the creature you exiled. The Master did manage to steal the body of The Doctor for a period of time.
At first glance, the types of creatures you’ll want to exile with the Body Thief trigger of The Master, Formed Anew are creatures with ETB effects. Getting an extra round of Treasures from Dockside Extortionist can make The Master quite worthwhile. The Master, Formed Anew could also become a copy of some much more disastrous creatures like Craterhoof Behemoth.
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The Master, Multiplied
Of all the new Master cards coming out in the MTG Doctor Who crossover, this is the one getting the most hype from the community. For six mana, you get an understatted creature with Myriad, which is not very impressive. That said, The Legend rule is completely turned off for all tokens you control, which makes using Myriad on legendary creatures possible. It can also amplify the potential of other copy effects. The real line of text that has everyone excited, however, is at the bottom of the card.
Triggered abilities you control can’t cause you to sacrifice or exile creature tokens you control translates to your Myriad tokens are permanent. After you swing out with The Master Multiplied the first time, you’ll now have four copies of it. Swing with the four copies, and you now have sixteen. So on and so fourth.
This Master can make an entire Commander deck themed around Myriad and Encore. It’s not just your Master tokens that stick around; it’s every single token creature that features a triggered ability that would sacrifice token copies. Sliver Gravemother might be getting a massive upgrade.
Myriad and Encore are the best ways to implement The Master, Multiplied but there are even more ways to utilize this insane ability. Molten Echoes strikes me as a great way to abuse this card.
The Master, Mesmerist
This iteration of The Master showcases his ability to manipulate others. Turning opponents against each other by Goading and granting creatures Skulk, The Master, Mesmerist can create conflict while growing in the shadows.
This is a rather unique creature that could have some interesting synergies with strategies that want to grant opposing players permanents. Aside from the obvious Goad payoffs though, The Master, Mesmerist’s effectiveness depends a lot on what the opponent is doing.
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A Partner in Black
It’s clear that Wizards of the Coast utilized black in the color pie to represent villainy in the Doctor Who expansion. As a result, we don’t have a ton of Doctor’s Companions to choose from if you’re interested in trying black as a color alongside one of the Doctors. Including one Companion that can represent any color you want, there are only two Doctor’s Companions that grant Doctors access to Black.
Vislor Turlough originally joined The Doctor’s crew as a spy of The Black Guardian who sent him to kill The Doctor. Ultimately, Vislor ended up going back on his deal after befriending The Fifth Doctor. Since he originally was a spy, Vislor is a great way to get some black into Commander identities for players who want to explore the Doctor’s Companion mechanic.
Vislor is an interesting card – functioning as either a group hug creature if you choose to give control of Vislor to an opponent, or as a draw engine with drawback. The versatility of this card, while very effective in group hug decks, can also punish opponents who draw too many cards.
The Master of Masters of Evil
Interested in trying out these Master cards yourself? They are all available in the upcoming Masters of Evil Commander deck, releasing October 13th! Daleks, Masters, Missy, and more await your those who want to stray away from the Doctors and get a taste of evil.
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