The War Doctor

The War Doctor card image

The War Doctor: Legendary Creature - Time Lord Doctor, Doctor Who. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{2}{R}{W}
Mana value
4
Type
Legendary Creature - Time Lord Doctor
Colour identity
White and red (WR)
Power / toughness
3/5
Rarity
Rare
Set
Doctor Who (WHO)
Released
2023-10-13
Collector number
167
Artist
Lixin Yin
Commander rank
8,141 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Commander
Can be your commander

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About The War Doctor

The War Doctor is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare white and red legendary creature from Doctor Who (WHO), a Commander product released in October 2023. It is collector number 167 in that set, with art by Lixin Yin. It costs {2}{R}{W} (two generic, one white and one red mana) to cast, for a mana value of 4. It is a 3/5 creature. Its colour identity is white and red. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. Doctor Who is its only printing so far. It can be your commander. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.31 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Whenever one or more other permanents phase out and whenever one or more other cards are put into exile from anywhere, put a time counter on The War Doctor.

Whenever The War Doctor attacks, it deals damage equal to the number of time counters on it to any target. If a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.31 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of The War Doctor by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal

Other printings of The War Doctor

The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Doctor Who (WHO) #1043Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #1139Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #452Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #548Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #772Rare2023

Official rulings

Five official rulings apply to The War Doctor, newest first.

  • Unlike other creature types in Magic that are each only one word, the two words "Time Lord" represent a single creature subtype. Time Lord is the only two-word creature type.
  • If The War Doctor phases out at the same time as any other permanents, its first ability won't trigger.
  • If an effect instructs you to choose a creature type, you may choose Time Lord.
  • Neither "Time" nor "Lord" are creature types. Some older cards were printed with the subtype "Lord," but all of those cards have updated Oracle card text that removed that type.
  • You choose the target of the second ability as it attacks. The number of time counters is checked at the time the ability resolves. If The War Doctor has left the battlefield by that time, use the number of time counters it had on it the last time it was on the battlefield to determine how much damage it deals to that target.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a white and red colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

The War Doctor is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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