MTG's Doctor Who designer promises 'so many Easter eggs and references'

19.10.2023 - 17:15 / radiotimes.com / David Tennant / Many

You may have heard that Doctor Who is coming to Magic: The Gathering (MTG), with the popular trading card game launching a Who-themed set called The Commander. It has already gathered a lot of attention online.

The lead designer on the set, which is available to order now from the game-makers Wizards of the Coast, was a chap named Gavin Verhey, who has been kind enough to answer a few of our questions over email.

«I’m a huge Whovian,» Verhey declared at the start of our correspondence, going on to promise "so many tiny little Easter eggs and references" for Doctor Who fans to discover if they pick up the cards.

We also asked him whether non-experts in MTG will be able to enjoy the set (asking for a friend, honest), and who his personal favourite Doctor is. Read on for all that and more in the full interview below!

How closely did you work with the BBC and did any talent from the show get involved in your process?

We worked very closely with the BBC and they were fantastic partners. They reviewed everything, and I’d even run design directions by them. Everything down to the creature types you see were approved by them!

As far as other talent goes, many, many actors had likeness approval – so they got to see the art to make sure they liked it! It was pretty awesome to know that many of my favourite actors on the show got to see the art in advance and leave any notes. (Mostly, it was a pretty smooth process!)

Who's your favourite Doctor and why?

I know it’s a bit of a typical answer, but it’s the Tenth Doctor – played by David Tennant. Simply put, he’s who I started with and who made me absolutely fall in love with the show.

I’ve gone on to cosplay him at events, and I think I even borrowed a few elements of his personality! This show has had a huge impact on my life, and it all started with him.

Which episodes or moments did you really want to pay tribute to?

One of the wild things about Doctor Who is that it’s been around for 60 years – and there’s so much to cover! There are far more episodes than cards in these decks, so it was literally impossible to hit everything.

So my strategy was this: go pretty wide and try to hit as much as possible, and then zoom in on a few specific beloved episodes. That way, by taking a wide approach, you have a higher chance of hitting someone’s favourite episode, with a little more of a few iconic episodes just to make sure you see those cards often – and because there are so many characters to choose!

One piece of the design we found that I was really personally excited by, perhaps my favourite part of the whole set, are these sagas. In Magic, sagas tell a story, doing effects in a sequential order turn after turn. And in Doctor Who, episodes are stories – and