Overview

Paradox Power is built around casting spells from anywhere other than your hand. The Thirteenth Doctor doesn't generate that herself — instead, whenever you cast a spell from exile, the graveyard, the library, or anywhere else besides your hand, she puts a +1/+1 counter on any target creature, and at your end step every creature you control with a counter on it untaps. Yasmin Khan is the deck's own enabler for this: tap her to exile the top card of your library, playable until your next end step, turning a tap ability into both an impulse draw and a Doctor trigger. The deck layers more payoffs on top of that same "cast from exile" event throughout its creature and spell suite.

The deck layers exile-cast payoffs throughout the creature and spell suite, creating a game state where attacking with the Thirteenth Doctor is always profitable regardless of whether combat damage is dealt. Companions Yasmin Khan and other Doctor Who-specific cards enhance the exile-cast rewards, and the Temur colour combination provides access to the best impulse draw effects (white and green) alongside blue counterspells to protect the engine.

Key Cards

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Yasmin Khan
Companion · Impulse Draw
A companion for the Thirteenth Doctor that can begin in the command zone. Tap her to exile the top card of your library; you may play it until your next end step. Yasmin Khan is the deck's primary source of the "cast from exile" events the rest of the deck cares about, turning a repeatable tap ability into impulse draw, a Doctor counter, and — if that card is itself a creature or a spell that grows the board — real pressure over time.
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Impending Flux
Paradox Payoff · Burn
A three-mana sorcery with paradox: it deals X damage to each opponent and each creature they control, where X is 1 plus the number of spells you have cast from anywhere other than your hand this turn. It can foretell for {1}{R}{R}, which is itself a cast from exile.
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The Flux
Impulse Draw · Removal
A four-mana Saga. Chapter I deals 4 damage to target creature an opponent controls; chapters II to V exile the top card of your library and let you play it this turn, and chapter VI adds six red mana. Every card played from exile is another cast that triggers the Thirteenth Doctor.
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Karvanista, Loyal Lupari
Beater · Counter Spreader
A five-mana 5/5 with vigilance, trample and haste. Whenever it attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on each Human you control, and its adventure side gives Humans you control indestructible until your next turn. The Thirteenth Doctor then untaps every creature with a counter.

Playing the Deck

Yasmin Khan needs to be online and tapping every turn to generate value, so the early game is about protecting her while developing mana. Mana acceleration arrives through green ramp spells, and a few early creatures provide blocking deterrence. The deck should not be shy about using Yasmin Khan's ability even into an open board — an exiled card is a real card even if you never find a use for the counter it earns from the Doctor.

The mid game is defined by the Paradox payoffs once the Thirteenth Doctor is in play: every spell cast from exile puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature, and Impending Flux deals damage to every opponent and creature they control based on the number of those casts. The Flux adds an impulse draw every turn, and Karvanista, Loyal Lupari adds counters to your Humans every time it attacks.

The late game resolves through a combination of the Thirteenth Doctor's growing, self-untapping board of countered creatures, Impending Flux and The Flux, and whatever card advantage Yasmin Khan and the rest of the deck have generated along the way.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths: The deck's counters-and-untap engine keeps building a board that doesn't need to attack to grow, making it resistant to combat-based answers. The Doctor, Graham O'Brien and Impending Flux all trigger from the same cast-from-anywhere-other-than-hand event that Yasmin Khan generates, stacking value from a single source. The Temur colour combination provides excellent interaction and ramp.

Weaknesses: The deck leans hard on Yasmin Khan to keep the exile-casting engine fed, making it vulnerable to losing her to removal. Exiled cards that cannot be cast within the turn window are lost, making high-mana-value cards exiled at the wrong moment a liability. The deck is slower to establish than more proactive strategies.

Want to improve it? See the Paradox Power upgrade guide: nine swaps with the data behind each one.

Verdict
Paradox Power is a creative and thematically resonant precon that brings a fresh take on counters and casting from exile. Impending Flux and The Flux provide genuinely powerful payoffs within the set, and the combination of Yasmin Khan's impulse draw and the Thirteenth Doctor's own growing, self-untapping board creates a layered value engine that rewards pilots who manage their exile zone carefully. The deck is most enjoyable for players who like reading and tracking multiple simultaneous triggers.

Want to build a fully optimised cast-from-exile deck? Let the Oracle find the best impulse draw synergies.

✦ Build with The Oracle

Frequently Asked Questions

What cards are in the Paradox Power decklist?
The Paradox Power precon is a 100-card Commander deck led by The Thirteenth Doctor. The full Paradox Power decklist, with every card, current prices and a button to copy the list into your deck builder, is on this page.

Who is the commander of Paradox Power?
Paradox Power is led by The Thirteenth Doctor, a green, blue and red commander.

Which set is Paradox Power from?
Paradox Power was released in 2023 as part of Doctor Who Commander.

Full Decklist

All 100 cards from the out-of-the-box Paradox Power precon, enriched with current prices. Click any card to expand it.

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