Deck Tech: The Second Doctor & Susan Foreman

On this week’s Commander Corner we’re covering a duo that will let you politic your way out of danger using only a little bit of bribery and extortion. You’ve read the title, you know why we’re here, so let’s get into it! Welcome back to the Commander Corner, and today we’re building a deck around…

A Game-plan Reborn

Longtime fans of the Commander Corner might remember how much I love commanders that cost four mana. A high concentration of two-mana ramp spells makes it trivial to routinely cast your commander on turn three across most games. Taking up that many slots is a pretty big cost when it comes to deck construction. That changes things, and it certainly changes them for the better!

Thanks to Susan Foreman, we have a persistent mana accelerant across every single game. While it might be more prone to removal or disruption than a card like Arcane Signet, it also frees up a ton of deck building options, and thanks to the colors of The Second Doctor we’ve got some pretty sweet colors to work with.

Doctor Two

While you do get to draw an extra card every turn, you’re also letting your opponents do the same thing. They do have to pinky-promise not to swing at you, but that can often be a negligible nerf to their game-plan. That’s okay, though. There’s a battery of interactive creatures and taxing spells that you can play to halt the advances of your opponents while bolstering your own resources.

While admittedly the idea of your entire command zone being dedicated to ramping into slow card draw for the entire table might not sound too appealing at first glance, the color identity of your commanders is what really pushes this over the top. Let’s jump into some ways to maximize the benefits of this deck.

Stax vs Group Hug

Since The Second Doctor already vaguely gestures towards a group-hug strategy, you might be inclined to play cards like Kami of the Crescent Moon, Heartwood Storyteller, or Gluntch, the Bestower. This is a perfectly valid strategy, and that’s what I’m going with as well. However, it’s also important to interact with your opponents on some level if your game plan involves giving them advantages.

If you do decide to run some disruption, I can’t speak highly enough about cards like Rule of Law, Archon of Emeria, and Deafening Silence. While each of these cards does affect you, you’ll have the advantage of knowing when you’re going to play those cards and constructing your deck around them. Also, Enlightened Tutor, although a bit expensive, is a great include.

It’s probably not enough just to inhibit how many spells your opponents can cast, especially not with only five or six table-wide ways to do it. On the rare opportunity that an opponent refuses an extra card from your commander, you know there’s about to be some trouble. Cards like Silent Arbiter and Crawlspace can keep aggression at bay pretty well if you don’t want more traditional cards like Propaganda or Ghostly Prison. You can also play cards like Collector Ouphe and Stony Silence for free if you’re willing to give up a few neat inclusions in the deck-list I’m going to provide.

Lording Time

Now that you’ve established some ways to lock down the board, there’s the question of what to do with all this time you’ve lorded over. Cards that get better when the game goes long are not hard to come by, but I’ve taken the liberty of listing some of my favorites: Tendershoot Dryad, Mirari’s Wake, Extravagant Replication, and my favorite non-Saheeli planeswalker, Tamiyo, Field Researcher!

Speaking of planeswalkers, even though some are expensive, let’s talk about the ones that are best for a deck like this. After all, we’re looking to accrue advantage over time. Oko, Thief of Crowns, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and The Eternal Wanderer are the heavy hitters that come to mind out of this color combination. If you end up with a critical mass of them, you can even try to slot in Oath of Teferi or Deepglow Skate.

If you’re wondering how this deck wins the game, I think it’s perfectly fine to just accrue insurmountable advantage until your opponents are so demoralized that they concede. Of course, you might have qualms about that, so I’d recommend a fun finisher like Helix Pinnacle. Jokes aside, I’ve included Flickerwisp, which allows you to blink a lock piece long enough to either cast a ton of spells or attack with a huge army of creatures. With all that in mind, let’s get into the final decklist!

Commanders

Creature – 36

Enchantment – 9

Artifact – 3

Instant – 6

Sorcery – 3

Planeswalker – 8

Land – 33

That’s All, Folks

I may have included a few more staples and high-power cards than usual in this deck, but as I intend to build it this way in paper, I chose to put that exact list here. Although I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of Doctor Who, I’m certainly a fan of some of the cards. I’ve had a blast putting this deck together, but for now I’ve got to go. I’ve been Luka “Robot” Sharaska, and this has been the Commander Corner.

[Luka V. Sharaska (they/them) earned the nickname “Robot” by having a monotone voice, a talent for calculating odds, and a perfect poker face. Robot has been playing Magic for more than a decade, starting during the days of New Phyrexia in 2011.]

Commander Corner