Arcane Foundry › Commanders › The First Doctor
The First Doctor
Legendary Creature — Time Lord Doctor · {1}{W}{U} · Blue/White commander
When The First Doctor enters, search your library and/or graveyard for a card named TARDIS, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle.
Whenever you cast a spell with cascade, put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact or creature.
Build a The First Doctor deck →
What The First Doctor actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · etbWhen The First Doctor enters, search your library and/or graveyard for a card named TARDIS, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle.
- Triggered ability · cast_spellWhenever you cast a spell with cascade, put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact or creature.
What a The First Doctor deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 32× Mana value at or above the floor — for a cascade commander a cheap card is a DEFECT, not a bargain
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 16× A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- 18× A cheap spell of any kind — casts per turn are the engine for an unrestricted cast trigger
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 14× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
Best cards for The First Doctor
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Mana value at or above the floor — for a cascade commander a cheap card is a DEFECT, not a bargain
- Excalibur, Sword of Eden12 mana
- Ancient Stone Idol10 mana
- Blightsteel Colossus12 mana
- Darksteel Colossus11 mana
- Emrakul, the Promised End13 mana
- Emrakul, the World Anew12 mana
- Flayer of Loyalties10 mana
- It That Betrays12 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Soulherder3 mana
- Eternal Acrobat Toast0 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Distinguished Conjurer2 mana
- Brago, King Eternal4 mana
A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- Heralds of Tzeentch5 mana
- Maelstrom Colossus8 mana
- Sakashima's Protege6 mana
- Ethersworn Sphinx9 mana
A cheap spell of any kind — casts per turn are the engine for an unrestricted cast trigger
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Walking Ballista0 mana
- Hangarback Walker0 mana
- Mishra's Bauble0 mana
- Sol Talisman0 mana
- Tormod's Crypt0 mana
- Urza's Bauble0 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Mystic Sanctuary0 mana
- Azorius Chancery0 mana
- Cabaretti Courtyard0 mana
- Lotus Field0 mana
- Meticulous Archive0 mana
- Riveteers Overlook0 mana
- Talon Gates of Madara0 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Karn's Bastion0 mana
- Ripples of Potential2 mana
- Thrummingbird2 mana
- Contagion Clasp2 mana
- Contentious Plan2 mana
- Experimental Augury2 mana
- Grateful Apparition2 mana
- Metastatic Evangel2 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Suspend1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Final Showdown1 mana
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Martyr's Cry2 mana
- Split Up3 mana
- Cathedral Membrane2 mana
- Citywide Bust3 mana
- Displacement Wave2 mana
- Harsh Mercy3 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- Counterspell2 mana
- Three Steps Ahead1 mana
- Long River's Pull2 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Abjure1 mana
- Archmage's Charm3 mana
- Cancel3 mana
Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →
Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables.
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