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

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 everybody has a favourite! So we mapped those onto each other, and each saga card is named after an episode.

So, for example, on The Eleventh Hour card, first you find a new Doctor, then he crash lands and meets Amy Pond and gets fish fingers and custard, and then Prisoner Zero shows up. So you are quite literally reenacting the episode as you play! We ended up with 19 in total, one for each Doctor and some for the villains, and the art is stunning! I’m so happy with these.

Were there any difficulties you faced while making the set? If so, what were they?

It was quite a long process and there were a lot of different challenges to overcome, but none took more time than the initial process of figuring out how to split up the four decks thematically!

Usually, in Magic, we do it by some kind of faction or theme. But in Doctor Who, that didn’t make sense. For example, having a Doctor deck and a companion deck is so strange – you’re splitting up the Doctors and their companions!

Eventually, after a lot of work, we realised we should use the question fans ask each other: who’s your Doctor? We split the decks up by eras of the show, letting people grab the one from the era or Doctor they love the most. And then one for the villains, too – they weren’t going to be left out of the fun!

Should fans be on the look out for Easter eggs? If so, is there anything you want to tease in that regard?

There are so many tiny little Easter eggs and references packed into this product. There is one little touch that I really love. So, each Doctor gets a special TARDIS frame version you can find in the set’s Collector Boosters – Magic cards are rectangles, and the TARDIS is too… so why not put them together? It’s a fun treatment!

Anyway, for the First Doctor in this special version, we did his art entirely in black and white – calling back to how he only ever appeared in black and white episodes. These tiny little touches are all throughout the set. Oh, and don’t miss the card that references Shada! (If that means something to you: that really means this set is going to be for you.)

Do you have a favourite card from the set or anything like that?

There are so many, but one of my favourites is River Song. River is a very unique character in that the first time the Doctor meets her is the last time she meets the Doctor – they essentially travel in opposite directions.

So, we came up with the mechanic of drawing cards from the bottom of your library instead of the top! Something really unique for an incredibly fan favourite character, that tells her story so well.

Was it hard to make Doctor Who fit into the established rules of the game?

For the most part, no! In fact, it actually inspired us to make some really unique cards we wouldn’t have made otherwise. It’s always fun to be given a prompt like making Doctor Who cards – you come up with some unique ideas.

How accessible will the set be to Doctor Who fans who aren't familiar with Magic: The Gathering?

The decks are a real blast to play! I recommend learning the basics of Magic first – ask a friend to teach you, or download Magic: the Gathering Arena for free and take the tutorial.

But after that, grab some friends who know the game, grab one of these decks, sit down and get ready to play. You’re going to have a zany good time worthy of the Doctor themselves.

The MTG Doctor Who range is available now at Amazon and other retailers.

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