---
title: The Missing Magic Cards for any Doctor Who Deck!
content_type: journal
date_pub: 2024-01-26T21:38:26.000-04:00
description: I made some new magic cards based on Doctor Who.
tags: games magic
---

Last year saw the release of the ["Universes Beyond: Doctor Who" set](https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/doctor-who) for [Magic: the Gathering](https://magic.wizards.com/en), which included 188 new (and mechanically unique) cards based on various doctors, companions, villains, and other characters from the long-running TV show(s). As a lifelong Whovian[^1], I thoroughly enjoyed the set and loved how they wrote each cards mechanics to be representative of the characters. Yet I couldn't help but notice that a few characters were missing[^2] (well, one for sure, the second only in a vaguely-related way, but I digress...). At the same time, I stumbled upon the highly-functional (if somewhat overly ad-encumbered) [MTGCardBuilder.com](https://mtgcardbuilder.com/creator/), so I thought - why not make the missing cards myself?

Of course, unlike my usual custom card fair, I wanted something that would still be legally playable (or at least, legal in my weekly Magic game), so I decided to make them as [Skinned Cards](https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Skinned_card) - that is to say, skinned version of other, legal (real) magic cards. This allows me to use them as proxies for other cards I already have in my collection.

In truth, both of these are also in my "15 Doctors / Tribal Timelords" deck (coming soon), and coming up with themed proxies just makes them fit better with the rest of the cards.

### Jack Harkness, Torchwood Captain

First up is everyone's favorite flirtatious immortal, Captain Jack Harkness. His omission was a _grave_ mistake, IMHO, but making a proxy for him almost broke me. After sorting through the [683 legendary humans in the Gatherer](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=578787) (as of writing), I finally found the one that had just the right abilities (and subtypes):

<ul class="clearfix pageMenu pageMenu-gameCards">
  <li class="pageMenu-item">
    <a class="pageMenu-gameCardLink" target="iew_extwin"
      href="/images/magic/doctor-who/jack-harkness-tajic-1.jpg">
      <img class="gameCardImg" alt=""
        src="/images/magic/doctor-who/jack-harkness-tajic-1.jpg" />
    </a>
  </li>
</ul>

### Dr. Who, Eccentric Scientist

The second one came about a bit differently... I started working on (what would become) the 15 doctors deck about a month after the set dropped. It was basically the best cards from the [Blast from the Past](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/magic-the-gathering-doctor-who-commander-decklists#blast-from-the-past) and [Paradox Power](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/magic-the-gathering-doctor-who-commander-decklists#paradox-power) decks, plus a handful of singles for the missing doctors and other Timelords, and next thing I knew, I had a 5-color deck full of Timelords and their companions... That is to say, _legendary_ Timelords and their _legendary_ companions... Hmmm...

So, who do you choose to lead a tribal legendary deck? Only _the_ best commander the job, [Jodah the Unifier](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=574683)[^3]. But he's a human wizard, how can I tie that in the _any_ version of Doctor Who?

And that's when I remembered the strange,
Technicolor-saturated [Peter Cushing "Dr. Who" movies of the 60s](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Who_(Dalek_films)>), wherein the good Doctor is actually a weird, whimsical, _human_ inventor who fights off evil alien robots with his time machine, a description close enough to a "wizard" for me:

<ul class="clearfix pageMenu pageMenu-gameCards">
  <li class="pageMenu-item">
    <a class="pageMenu-gameCardLink" target="iew_extwin"
      href="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-1.jpg">
      <img class="gameCardImg" alt="Dr. Who, Eccentric Scientist (v1)"
        src="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-1.jpg" />
    </a>
  </li>
  <li class="pageMenu-item">
    <a class="pageMenu-gameCardLink" target="iew_extwin"
      href="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-2.jpg">
      <img class="gameCardImg" alt="Dr. Who, Eccentric Scientist  (v2)"
        src="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-2.jpg" />
    </a>
  </li>
  <li class="pageMenu-item">
    <a class="pageMenu-gameCardLink" target="iew_extwin"
      href="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-3.jpg">
      <img class="gameCardImg" alt="Dr. Who, Eccentric Scientist (v3)"
        src="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-3.jpg" />
    </a>
  </li>
  <li class="pageMenu-item">
    <a class="pageMenu-gameCardLink" target="iew_extwin"
      href="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-4.jpg">
      <img class="gameCardImg" alt="Dr. Who, Eccentric Scientist (v4)"
        src="/images/magic/doctor-who/dr-who-jodah-card-4.jpg" />
    </a>
  </li>
</ul>

I hope someone enjoys these and finds them useful. If you do like them, you may also like my [other custom magic cards](/magic-cards/). And a word of advice: if you want to get them printed at your nearest corporate print-shop, you'll probably want to use the "self-service" copiers to avoid any uncomfortable conversations with the staff about copyright and fair use.

Oh, and while I was working on these, I went ahead and did another round of custom (and completely broken) [Saturday Night Planeswalkers](/magic-cards/snm-planeswalkers.html#set-03).

Until next time, share and enjoy!

[^1]: Back in the 80s, PBS used to run classic who episodes in 3-4 hour blocks which I distinctly remember watching with my father and being absolutely terrified of. Needless to say, I've loved the show ever since.
[^2]: Most likely due to rights issues.
[^3]: Really, how hasn't he been banned yet? He's _so_ broken in Commander, but he's too powerful _not_ to use him for certain decks.