Unleashing Infinite Planeswalkers: A Doctor Who and Romana II Commander Deck Tech

The allure of cloning planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering has always captivated deck builders, presenting a unique and challenging puzzle. Circumventing the legendary rule while amassing planeswalker copies has historically been a difficult task. However, the introduction of The Sixth Doctor has revolutionized this strategy, directly enabling planeswalker duplication and effectively sidestepping the legendary rule. Coupled with Romana II, the potential to generate multiple copies of planeswalker tokens escalates dramatically.

Initially, the concept revolved around a value-oriented “good stuff” planeswalker deck, leveraging duplication for incremental advantage. However, deeper exploration revealed a potent synergy: numerous planeswalkers possess abilities that untap creatures and lands. When these abilities are combined with Romana II, the deck unlocks the potential for infinite planeswalker loops. While the “tapped token” clause might seem designed to prevent infinite combos, planeswalkers, crucially, operate independently of being tapped, rendering this limitation irrelevant in this context.

Several planeswalkers emerge as key enablers of these infinite loops due to their untapping capabilities. Kiora, Master of the Depths, Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, and Nissa, Genesis Mage all share the crucial ability to untap Romana II alongside a land. This interaction is pivotal, allowing for the repeated activation of Romana II’s ability by utilizing the mana generated from the untapped land. The mana cost of 1 to activate Romana II is easily covered by the land, creating a self-sustaining loop.

Beyond land-untapping planeswalkers, creatures can also play a vital role in generating infinite loops. Gideon, Martial Paragon and Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage, with their creature-untapping abilities, offer alternative pathways to infinite planeswalker generation. By incorporating a simple mana dork, these planeswalkers can untap the dork and Romana II, effectively circumventing mana constraints and generating infinite copies. The inclusion of Dryad Arbor in the decklist further facilitates this strategy, as any Forest-fetching land can be utilized to establish this mana dork engine.

Land-focused untapping planeswalkers like Garruk Wildspeaker and Nissa, Worldwaker present a slightly different approach. While they only untap lands, the strategic inclusion of Minamo, School at Water’s Edge bridges this gap. Minamo’s ability to untap Romana II becomes crucial. However, as Minamo itself requires blue mana to activate, a land capable of producing two or more mana is necessary to achieve infinite mana generation alongside infinite planeswalker copies. Furthermore, Nissa, Worldwaker’s forest-specific untapping ability necessitates the presence of Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to ensure Minamo can be untapped, highlighting the synergistic land base required for this variant.

Estrid, the Masked introduces yet another dimension to infinite combos. By enchanting Romana II with an Aura, and utilizing a land enchanted with mana-boosting Auras such as Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, Fertile Ground, or Wolfwillow Haven, infinite loops become readily achievable. Estrid’s ability to untap enchanted permanents in conjunction with these mana-generating land auras creates a potent engine for both mana and planeswalker duplication.

For artifact-centric infinite combos, Tezzeret the Seeker and its token copies offer a powerful strategy. Repeatedly activating Tezzeret’s ability allows for the tutoring of mana-generating artifacts like Mana Vault and Grim Monolith, alongside Patriar’s Seal to untap Tezzeret. Once infinite Tezzeret activations are achieved, the deck can transition to card draw dominance on the subsequent turn by utilizing Sensei’s Divining Top, drawing through the deck and assembling any necessary win conditions.

Given the importance of specific lands like Minamo, School at Water’s Edge and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, and lands that tap for multiple mana, incorporating land search and ramp strategies becomes crucial for deck consistency and combo reliability.

Finally, Shalai, Voice of Plenty emerges as an exceptional creature to copy. Duplicating Shalai provides redundant sources of hexproof, bolstering the deck’s resilience against targeted removal and enhancing the protection of the growing planeswalker army.

This deck, helmed by The Sixth Doctor and Romana II, offers a unique and potent approach to Commander, capitalizing on planeswalker duplication and infinite combos. It provides a rewarding and intricate gameplay experience for those seeking to unleash the full potential of planeswalker synergies in Magic: The Gathering.