Precon Primer - Blast From the Past

by
Beth Queen of Cardboard
Beth Queen of Cardboard
Precon Primer - Blast From the Past
( The Fourth DoctorThe Fourth Doctor | Art by David Auden Nash | Sarah Jane Smith | Art by Fajareka Setiawan | The Third Doctor | Art by Ekaterina Burmak)

Hey friends. Beth, Queen of Cardboard, here with another Precon Primer. Today we'll be taking a look at the final preconstructed deck from Universes Beyond: Doctor Who, Blast From the Past. This deck features a whopping eights Doctors and is headed by The Fourth DoctorThe Fourth Doctor, partnered with Sarah Jane SmithSarah Jane Smith as a companion.

Just like the other Doctor Who decks, this one features 50 new cards and 10 planes, with this one focusing on historic spells (artifacts, Sagas, and legendary spells). Let's get into it!


Blast From The Past

View on Archidekt

Commander (2)

Creatures (25)

Artifacts (13)

Enchantments (11)

Lands (36)

Sorceries (7)

Instants (6)

Sarah Jane Smith

History Won't Wait Forever

The Fourth Doctor
Sarah Jane Smith

With the current pairing, it's fairly obvious that you're looking to cast historic spells, and this deck is chock full of them, with eight Sagas, 13 artifacts, and 33 legendary spells. With that ratio, the biggest benefit is going to come from your legendary spells, but there's a lot of support here for casting any type of historic spell.

Alistair, the Brigadier
Displaced Dinosaurs
Jamie McCrimmon

One of my favorite cards from the entire set is in this deck, Displaced DinosaursDisplaced Dinosaurs. Previously, I said that these decks have a Food and Clue sub-theme, creating a bunch of those little artifact tokens for seemingly no reason. But what if those tokens were also 7/7 Dinosaurs? Being a non-Whovian, I'm not quite understanding the Dinosaur sub-theme here, but as a Magic player, I'm loving it. You don't have to have a token deck for this card to work though; Displaced DinosaursDisplaced Dinosaurs will turn any historic spell into a Dinosaur, which means all your Sagas, legends, and artifacts will be Dinos!

You also have some benefits from Jo GrantJo Grant, who gives each historic spell in your hand Cycling, and Tegan JovankaTegan Jovanka who gives an attacking historic creature +1/+1 and indestructible. Making it a little easier to cast historic spells is Peri BrownPeri Brown, who gives the first historic spell you cast each turn Convoke.

Jo Grant
The Eighth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor

The most powerful historic support in this deck comes from The Eighth DoctorThe Eighth Doctor and The Sixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor. The Eighth Doctor allows you to cast a permanent historic spell or play a historic land from your graveyard once a turn, with the minor downside that once it leaves the battlefield it gets exiled. Coming in at my second favorite card in this deck is The Sixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor. He says "legendary who?" or rather allows you to copy a historic spell once a turn, making a nonlegendary copy. This is a ridiculous ability that I'm already thinking of multiple ways to break. If you see this card on your opponent's board, get rid of it, because it's going to be a problem.

No Saga Left Behind

Barbara Wright

While Sagas have been around for a while, they've been popping up more and more in the last few sets. Barbara adds the mechanic Read Ahead to any Saga you control. Read Ahead was introduced in Dominaria United and allows you to start a Saga on the chapter you want, not necessarily the first chapter. This is a powerful mechanic, and not one to be ignored. My only complaint is that, because there are so few Sagas in the deck compared to the other cards, Barabara doesn't get her moment to shine.

City of DeathCity of Death can be Read Ahead, taking advantage of The Sixth Doctor's ability. Just had a board wipe? Read Ahead on The Night of the DoctorThe Night of the Doctor to get a key legendary creature back. For the other Sagas in this deck, you'll likely want to have them come in at chapter one, but it gets really fun if you copy the Saga, have chapter one trigger first, and then Read Ahead on the second ETB, to have everything happen at once.

The War Games
Trial of a Time Lord
The Curse of Fenric

In addition to Barbara, you have Ian ChestertonIan Chesterton giving each Saga Replicate, turning eight sagas into as many as you can afford. Copying and reading ahead The Caves of AndrozaniThe Caves of Androzani could have you stun your opponents' key creatures not once, but twice.

Legendaries Matter

This deck is definitely a heroes deck, and the win condition Gallifrey StandsGallifrey Stands proves it. With the most Doctors of all four decks, this one has loads of legendary support and generic good stuff. The reprints support a legendary theme as well, including both Heroes' PodiumHeroes' Podium and Hero's BladeHero's Blade. While your legendary creatures don't all exactly support each other, most of them do great things all on their own.

Ace, Fearless Rebel
Duggan, Private Detective
Vrestin, Menoptra Leader

In addition to just good legendaries, you've got some support for them as well in the form of the goodest robot doggo, K-9, Mark IK-9, Mark I, as well as Bessie, the Doctor's RoadsterBessie, the Doctor's Roadster.

There's also a bit of group hug to this deck. Both The Second DoctorThe Second Doctor and Sergeant John BentonSergeant John Benton give your opponents card draw with only a slight disadvantage. Taking advantage of this is Leela, Sevateem WarriorLeela, Sevateem Warrior, who gets a little bit bigger when your opponents draw a card other than the first in their draw step. Nyssa of TrakenNyssa of Traken gives you no maximum hand size and more card draw on her attack based on the number of artifacts you're willing to sacrifice.

If you're not interested in attacking, The Fifth DoctorThe Fifth Doctor will untap your creatures that didn't enter or attack this turn, and give them a +1/+1 counter. The Gruul player in me struggles with this concept, but you can see the advantage of waiting for the perfect time to strike. Even with a growing board state, your opponents may be willing to leave you alone if they're receiving gifts (card draw), or can't get through your creatures. If you need even more things on the battlefield before you take an action, Romana IIRomana II will make a copy of any token that entered this turn.

Gallifrey Stands
Time Lord Regeneration
The Five Doctors

At this point you're more likely to face a board wipe, or two, or three - but you're in luck. This deck wants you to have your Doctors on the field, alive and well. While technically there aren't enough Doctors in the deck for Gallifrey StandsGallifrey Stands to work, you'll be able to get your Doctors into your hand or battlefield with Time Lord RegenerationTime Lord Regeneration, The Five DoctorsThe Five Doctors, andTwice Upon a TimeTwice Upon a Time.

Control the Moment

This deck is Bant (blue, white, and green), and takes all the advantages of the blue and white colors with some great control spells.

Crisis of Conscience
Time Wipe
Reverse the Polarity

In addition to the removal reprints, including Time WipeTime Wipe, there's a new board wipe, Crisis of ConscienceCrisis of Conscience, which attempts to protect your board while destroying your opponents'. There's also a new counterspell, Reverse the PolarityReverse the Polarity, which, in addition to being able to wipe out a stack of spells, can be used to swing through unimpeded or switch each creature's power and toughness until the end of turn.

Leaving on a TARDIS Plane

This deck, like the other Doctor Who decks, comes with 10 Planes. This is for the multiplayer format Planeschase. Should you wish to add this deck to your game, it's encouraged to add additional planes from the other decks, or even the Magic universe. Check out the Planes from this deck below:

In Conclusion

As a non-Whovian, I had to rely on my friends to help me truly appreciate these decks in their current format, especially this one. To have all 13 doctors in a set and a win con that required 13 doctors on the board gave me the impression that these decks are best pulled apart and put together in a way that suits you and your play style. All in all, there are 200 new cards and 40 new planes in these four precons, which is almost unheard of.

Though I wasn't as appreciative of the lore behind the decisions in these different decks, I can tell you that it was done extremely well, and if you are a Whovian, I'm sure you can appreciate the love that the designers put into each of these separate decks.

However, Blast From the Past, as much as I love playing "good cards matter," was a miss. But that doesn't mean the cards in it were bad, and I'm looking forward to upgrading it to feel more synergistic and smooth.

If you enjoyed reading this be sure to check out:

Beth Queen of Cardboard

Beth is an casual Commander player who's passionate about silly decks, creating safe community spaces, and crowns. She loves to travel and play magic with friends. When not playing Magic, she's probably snuggling her dogs or playing some video games.

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