Commander blueprint · Lorwyn Eclipsed

How to build Doran, Besieged by Time

Doran, Besieged by Time never lets a wall deal damage with its toughness. It does something odder: every creature you attack with grows until its power matches the toughness it started with, so this build counts toughness as power and treats +0/+5 as a pump.

Art by Carl Critchlow

The power on the card stops mattering the moment it attacks

Take Wall of Omens, a 0/4. The gap is four, so it attacks as a 4/8. Now hang a +2/+0 equipment on it. It is a 2/4, the gap is two, and it attacks as a 4/6. The power came out exactly where it was and the toughness went down by two. For any creature tougher than it is strong, the printed power has no say in how hard it hits under Doran. Only the toughness does.

Every creature and every pump in this list had to pass that test. A +1/+1 anthem still works, but only the way it works in any other deck, because it leaves the gap where it was. A square body gets nothing from Doran at all, whether it is a 3/3 token or a 5/5 Craterhoof Behemoth. And a boost to power alone is worse than neutral on these creatures, it is a cost. That is why the two pieces of equipment in the core list are Bark of Doran and Captain America's Shield, and neither has anything but a zero in the first slot.

The gap is measured whichever way round it goes, so a 5/3 attacking under Doran gets +2/+2 as well. The discount only reads one way, though, and that settled where the creatures came from. A list that wanted both halves of the commander working on every body had one side of the card pool to draw on.

Tower Defense is a pump spell here, and it costs two

Run the arithmetic the other way. An effect that adds only toughness widens the gap, and Doran turns the wider gap into power. Tower Defense gives every creature you control +0/+5 for . Cast it after attackers are declared and before Doran's triggers resolve, and every one of those triggers counts the wider gap, because X is worked out as the trigger resolves rather than when it goes on the stack. A 0/4 that was going to swing as a 4/8 swings as a 9/18 instead. Across five attackers that is twenty-five extra damage from a green instant that reads like a fog.

Solidarity is the same +0/+5 for four mana in white. Spidersilk Armor is a permanent +0/+1, which works out to a permanent extra point of power on every attacker. Assault Formation carries the version you can keep paying for. Its gives the team +0/+1, and activated while the triggers are waiting it is +1/+2 on every attacker per activation. That is where the deck's big mana goes. Arbor Adherent taps for as much mana as the greatest toughness among your other creatures, so with a Tree of Redemption out it makes thirteen, and thirteen mana through Assault Formation is four more points of power on everything that is swinging.

None of this is one-way. The block clause fires on every creature that blocks, so a Wall of Omens standing in front of an attacker is a 4/8 before anyone has cast a spell, and a Tower Defense cast while those block triggers are waiting puts five more power on every one of your blockers.

Toughness as damage reads the toughness Doran added

Eight cards in this list make a creature deal combat damage equal to its toughness instead of its power: Doran, the Siege Tower, Felothar the Steadfast, Ghalta the Immovable, Ancient Lumberknot, Bedrock Tortoise, Assault Formation, Huatli, the Sun's Heart, and Bark of Doran on whatever is wearing it. Without this commander they make a 0/5 deal 5. With it they make that 0/5 deal 10, because the toughness they read is the one after the attack trigger has resolved. The wider the gap, the bigger the jump. A Tree of Redemption that attacks under one of them assigns 26.

The eight are not interchangeable. Doran, the Siege Tower applies to every creature on the table, so an opponent with Wall of Roots out gets the same rule, and it is the copy of the effect a reader could most reasonably leave out. Ancient Lumberknot, Bedrock Tortoise and Ghalta the Immovable only cover creatures with more toughness than power, which in this deck is every creature and in most opponents' decks is very few. Bedrock Tortoise also gives your creatures hexproof during your own turn, which is the turn this deck puts everything in front of a removal spell.

The same arithmetic points the commander itself at a commander damage kill. Bark of Doran makes Doran a 0/6 that deals damage by toughness, so it swings as a 6/12, deals 12, and two hits finish a player. Captain America's Shield is +0/+8 and vigilance, which turns Doran into a 0/13 that attacks as a 13/26 and taps a blocker on the way in. With any one of the eight above on the battlefield, that is 26 commander damage from one swing. Both pieces of equipment look like single-creature cards in a deck that goes wide, and both are here for that one creature.

Ten creatures with defender, and four cards that let them swing

Doran says nothing about defender. A Wall of Roots still cannot attack, so a pile of walls under this commander is a very good blocking deck and nothing else. That is not worthless, because the table learns fast that a 0/4 blocks as a 4/8. It is just not a way to win a game.

Four cards fix it. Felothar the Steadfast and Ghalta the Immovable let every creature you control attack as though it had no defender, and both also carry the toughness as damage rule, so either one on its own turns the wall half of the deck into the attacking half. Wakestone Gargoyle does the same for a turn at a time at , and Assault Formation does it for one creature per . Ghalta the Immovable is also cheaper than it looks. It costs less where X is the greatest toughness among your creatures, so with Doran out it costs , and with a Tree out it costs .

Ten creatures in the core list have defender, and the three that matter for winning are the biggest. Tree of Redemption and Tree of Perdition are 0/13s for four mana, three once Doran is out. The Walls of Ba Sing Se is a 0/30 for eight, seven with Doran, and every other permanent you control has indestructible while it stands. Let through by Felothar the Steadfast, the Walls attacks as a 30/60 and assigns all 60.

Tree of Perdition has a second plan. Its tap ability exchanges an opponent's life total with its toughness. Once the Tree has been yours since the start of your last turn, fire it in the end step of the opponent seated before you, aimed at a player still sitting on 40, and that player drops to the Tree's toughness, which is 13 on a bare Tree, while the Tree becomes a 0/40. On your turn it attacks as a 40/80. Garruk's Uprising gives your team trample so a chump block does not end the story, and Ohran Frostfang gives every attacker deathtouch, which with trample means one point of damage is lethal to the blocker and the rest goes through to the player.

The discount comes off generic mana, so the color pips arrive sooner

The ruling on Doran is specific: the discount applies only to the generic part of a cost. Courser of Kruphix goes from to , Indomitable Ancients from to , and Silverback Elder from to . Each of them costs less and each of them now asks for all of its colored mana a turn earlier.

That is the frame for the mana numbers. The list carries 31 green sources, 25 white and 23 black across 36 lands, and double green by turn three arrives 84% of the time against a 90% target. The cards asking for it are Beast Whisperer, Courser of Kruphix, Last March of the Ents, Ohran Frostfang, Seedborn Muse and Silverback Elder. Double white by turn four arrives 78% of the time, for Angel of Destiny and Indomitable Ancients. Black reads worst, at 73% for two pips by turn four, but exactly one card asks for that, Pestilence, and it is not a card anyone casts on turn four.

The mana creatures carry the rest. Wall of Roots, Overgrown Battlement, Sylvan Caryatid and Great Forest Druid each cost once Doran is out, and two of those four make any color. Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian both count the creatures with defender you control, and in this list that count tops out at ten.

Both sweepers stop where the walls start

Toxic Deluge lets you choose the size of the wipe, and in this deck the right size is three. Every creature gets -3/-3, and 27 of the 31 creatures in the ninety-nine have toughness four or more, so they walk out of it along with Doran. The four that do not are Axebane Guardian, Sylvan Caryatid, Beast Whisperer and Welcoming Vampire.

Pestilence is the older form of the same trade, and it is the reason the list carries one card with two black pips. Each deals 1 damage to every creature and every player. Two activations clear a board of 1/1 and 2/2 tokens while the 0/5s and 0/13s on your side barely notice, and the enchantment only leaves at an end step with no creatures on the battlefield at all, which a deck of walls makes very hard to arrange. It drains every player as well, you included, so once the other boards are empty it is also a slow way to end the game.

Both cards stop at the same line, and the line is toughness three. Nothing in the ninety-nine has less, so Toxic Deluge for two, or two Pestilence activations, costs you no creature at all. At three, the four named above are the whole bill, two mana creatures and two that draw cards. At four the bill grows by thirteen, Seedborn Muse and three more mana creatures among them, so three is as high as the wipe ever goes.

The core list

Ninety-nine cards and Doran, on a bracket 3 floor with two Game Changers, at $352 for the lot. Hover any card name to see the card.

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Oathsworn Giant does the budget version of the Seedborn Muse job

The core list sits on a bracket 3 floor with two Game Changers in it, Seedborn Muse and Teferi's Protection, and costs $352 with every card priced.

The budget rung takes both out, lands with no Game Changers at all, and costs $151. Seedborn Muse was doing a specific job in this deck. It untaps everything you control during every other player's untap step, so a board that attacked on your turn is standing up again on everyone else's, and the block clause makes those blocks lethal. Oathsworn Giant comes at the same problem from the other side. It gives your other creatures vigilance, so they never tap to attack in the first place, and it gives them +0/+2, which on every attacker is +2/+4. The rung also swaps the two fetch lands and the triome for gain lands, which takes the lands that always enter tapped from three to five, and it replaces The Walls of Ba Sing Se with Baldin, Century Herdmaster. Baldin's attack trigger gives up to a hundred creatures +0/+X, where X is the number of cards in your hand. Let it resolve first and Doran's triggers count it, so each card in your hand is one more power and two more toughness on every attacker.

The bracket 4 rung buys consistency before it buys power, which is the right purchase for a deck whose engine is spread over three different kinds of card. Demonic Tutor, Enlightened Tutor and Worldly Tutor go in, and their targets are the pieces this page keeps returning to. Enlightened Tutor finds Assault Formation or Captain America's Shield, and Worldly Tutor finds Felothar the Steadfast or a Tree. Drannith Magistrate is a 1/3 that costs with Doran out. Craterhoof Behemoth goes in as well, and it is worth being exact about why. Its +X/+X is square, so it leaves every gap where it was and Doran adds nothing extra on top of it. The trample is what it brings, because it carries a Tree's damage through whatever was put in front of it. That rung costs $586, runs seven Game Changers, and is a deck for a table that expects tutors.

FAQ

Does Doran, Besieged by Time make creatures deal damage equal to their toughness?

No. That is Doran, the Siege Tower. Doran, Besieged by Time gives a creature that attacks or blocks +X/+X, where X is the gap between its power and toughness, so a 0/5 attacks as a real 5/10. The two stack: with both on the battlefield, that 0/5 deals 10 damage.

When is X worked out for Doran, Besieged by Time's attack trigger?

As the trigger resolves. Anything that raises a creature's toughness while the trigger is still on the stack, such as Tower Defense, widens the gap before it is counted, so every point of toughness added that way also becomes a point of power.

Does Doran, Besieged by Time reduce colored mana costs?

No. The discount comes off generic mana only, so a creature with no generic mana in its cost, like Doran, the Siege Tower, costs exactly what it says. The spell's mana value does not change either.

Do creatures with more power than toughness get Doran, Besieged by Time's bonus?

Yes. The gap is measured whichever way round it goes, so a 5/3 attacks as a 7/5. Those creatures do not get the discount, which only applies when toughness is the larger number.

Can walls attack with Doran, Besieged by Time?

Not because of Doran. A creature with defender still needs another card to let it attack, and this list runs four: Felothar the Steadfast, Ghalta the Immovable, Wakestone Gargoyle and Assault Formation. The bonus applies to a wall that blocks either way.

What equipment is best with Doran, Besieged by Time?

Equipment that adds toughness and nothing else. Captain America's Shield gives +0/+8, so Doran attacks as a 13/26, and Bark of Doran makes its wearer deal damage equal to its toughness. Equipment that adds power is worse than nothing here, because it shrinks the gap the attack trigger reads.

What bracket is this Doran, Besieged by Time deck?

Bracket 3 at the least, because the core list runs two Game Changers, Seedborn Muse and Teferi's Protection. The budget rung runs none, and the bracket 4 rung runs seven.

How much does a Doran, Besieged by Time deck cost?

$352 for the core list, $151 for the budget rung and $586 for the bracket 4 rung, with each card counted at the least a legal paper copy of it sells for.