Blast from the Past precon upgrade guide

Thirteen of the 25 creatures in this deck's library are Human, and the only card that notices is a land that scries. Forty-seven of its 62 nonland cards are historic, and both commanders pay for them.

The Fourth Doctor lets you play with the top card of your library revealed. Once each turn you may play a historic land or cast a historic spell from there, and doing so makes a Food token. Sarah Jane Smith investigates the first time each turn you cast a historic spell. Historic means legendary, artifact or Saga, and the box is built around it: every creature except Displaced Dinosaurs is legendary, there are eight Sagas, and 47 of the 62 nonland cards qualify.

The leak is on the other side. Fifteen nonland cards aren't historic, and 34 of the 36 lands aren't either, because only Gallifrey Council Chamber and Trenzalore Clocktower are legendary. So 49 of the 98 cards in the library can come off the top, and the other 49 can only be drawn.

Ten swaps make it 52 of 98 and cost $13.00. One add is a second top-of-library permission, two find historic cards, two pay out when you cast them, one makes them cheaper, and four fix the mana: a rock and three lands. Going out are four spells that don't feed the plan, two creatures whose ability rarely fires, a colourless rock and three tapped lands.

What are the best Blast from the Past upgrades?

In buying order. The ten cards cost $13.00 at the cheapest released printing of each. The box's own singles total at least $103.68, which is a floor because two cards have no price.

1. Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass ($2.57). A legendary artifact for {2}{U}{U} that lets you play historic lands and cast historic spells from the top of your library with no limit per turn, and taps for {U}. It makes no Food, which is the one thing the Doctor's version adds.
2. Ballad of the Black Flag ($0.31) and Board the Weatherlight ($0.27). The Saga is {1}{U}{U} and mills three cards on each of its first three chapters, letting you take a historic card from among them. Its fourth chapter makes historic spells cost {2} less that turn. Board the Weatherlight is {1}{W}: look at the top five, take a historic card. With 52 historic cards in 98 it finds one about 98 times in 100 at the start of a game.
3. Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle ($0.18) and Elena, Turk Recruit ($0.23). Teshar is a 2/2 flier for {3}{W} that returns a creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield whenever you cast a historic spell. Elena is a 1/4 for {2}{W} that returns a non-Assassin historic card from your graveyard to your hand when she enters, and gets a +1/+1 counter for each historic spell you cast.
4. Jhoira's Familiar ($1.46). A 2/2 flier for {4} that makes historic spells cost {1} less, which covers the other 49 historic cards among the 62 nonland cards once the swaps are made. It doesn't discount itself.
5. Chromatic Lantern ($0.51). {3} for a rock that taps for any colour and gives every land you control the same ability. It replaces Thought Vessel, which makes only colourless mana.
6. Hallowed Fountain ($6.90), Hinterland Harbor ($0.27) and Sunpetal Grove ($0.30). Three lands that enter untapped when their condition is met (2 life for the Fountain, a Forest, Island or Plains for the others), in place of the three Thriving lands, which always enter tapped.

One draw engine I'd have liked and can't have: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain draws a card on every historic spell, and she's blue and red, so she's outside the identity. The ten cards that go out are argued in their own section below.

Half the library, then a bit more

A card cast from the top of the library is a card you didn't draw, so each one is an extra card. The Fourth Doctor allows one a turn. In the box the top card is eligible 49 times in 98, which is exactly half, and in the upgraded list it's 52 times in 98, or 53 percent.

Crystal Skull is what lifts the cap. On a turn the Doctor's permission is spent and the next card down is historic as well, the Skull lets you cast that too. Each cast is a chance for the deck's historic payoffs to fire: Alistair, the Brigadier makes a Soldier, Jamie McCrimmon grows by the spell's mana value, Teshar and Elena do their jobs, and Sarah Jane investigates once. The Third Doctor gets +1/+1 for each noncreature token you control, so the Food and Clues that come with all this feed him as well.

A legendary land played off the top is different. It makes a Food, and nothing else, because lands are never cast and Sarah Jane watches for casts. The list has two legendary lands, which is why I didn't build around the idea.

The price is blue. Crystal Skull and Ballad of the Black Flag both want {U}{U}, and Reverse the Polarity is the only double-blue spell going out, so two come in against one leaving. Blue goes from four double-pip cards to five, on 28 sources instead of 27. White has five double-pip cards on 29 sources and green has two on 26. Chromatic Lantern helps all three colours, and Skull is itself a blue source.

The graveyard has to be stocked before the payoffs work

Teshar and Elena both need something in the graveyard to pay out. Eleven creatures in the list have mana value 3 or less, and ten of them are worth returning. Vrestin, Menoptra Leader returns as a 0/0, because X is 0 when it isn't cast. Teshar puts the creature onto the battlefield without casting it, so cast triggers stay quiet but enter triggers don't. The First Doctor fetches the TARDIS when he enters this way, and Elena returns a historic card.

The deck has three ways to fill the graveyard on purpose. Ballad of the Black Flag mills nine across its three chapters, and anything unchosen goes to the graveyard. The Eighth Doctor mills three when he enters, then lets you play a historic land or cast a historic permanent spell from the graveyard once during each of your turns. Jo Grant gives every historic card in your hand cycling {2}{W}, so a card that's stuck in hand can be discarded for a fresh one, and Jo gets a +1/+1 counter each time you cycle. None of that is guaranteed, so I stopped at two graveyard payoffs and spent the rest on finding and casting historic cards.

Barbara Wright is already in the box and has a trick worth knowing about. She gives your Sagas read ahead, so a Saga can enter with a chosen number of lore counters, and skipped chapters don't trigger. The Night of the Doctor has two chapters. Entering it at chapter II skips the destroy-all and goes straight to returning a legendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Ten leave, and the Doctors stay

Four spells go because they fight the plan. Crisis of Conscience is six mana for a choice between destroying all tokens, which includes your own Foods, Clues and Soldiers, or destroying all nonland, nontoken permanents, which is most of the historic permanents the deck is built from. The Night of the Doctor and Time Wipe are the box's other two board wipes, and they destroy creatures only, so your noncreature artifacts, Sagas and lands stay. Reverse the Polarity does three things, and the useful one, making every creature unblockable for a turn, is a single alpha strike. K-9, Bessie and Sonic Screwdriver already make one creature unblockable, turn after turn. The Five Doctors costs six to find up to five Doctors, and the cheapest Doctor in the library costs three while the dearest two cost six. Time Lord Regeneration protects only a Time Lord, and there are nine in the library.

Leela, Sevateem Warrior is a 3/3 for {3}{G} that grows when an opponent draws an extra card. Only two cards in the box give an opponent one, Sergeant John Benton and The Second Doctor, and the Doctor's is the opponent's choice. Adric, Mathematical Genius is a 1/1 for two whose copying ability costs {2}{U} and a tap. Both are legendary, so neither is a dead card, but each spends a slot a payoff can use.

The seven Doctors in the library look off-type if you read the deck as Human typal, because none of them is Human. That's the wrong reading. Each Doctor is legendary, so each is a historic spell that triggers Sarah Jane, Teshar and Elena, and some do more. The Sixth Doctor copies the first historic spell you cast each turn, and the copy of a permanent spell becomes a token that isn't legendary. The Eighth Doctor is the graveyard permission above.

Two more cards look worse than they play. Displaced Dinosaurs costs seven, and it turns every historic permanent that enters afterwards into a 7/7 Dinosaur creature as it enters. That includes Sagas, rocks and the two legendary lands. It's the heaviest card in the deck and the first I'd drop at a fast table. Gallifrey Stands is six mana to return every Doctor from your graveyard to your hand, then put a Doctor creature onto the battlefield each upkeep for free, with a win at thirteen Doctors. There are eight Doctor cards in the whole deck, so the win would need five copies, and the free Doctor is the reason it stays.

Eleven tapped lands, eight

Eleven of the box's 36 lands always enter tapped: three Temples, two cycling duals, Celestial Colonnade, Seaside Citadel, Path of Ancestry and the three Thriving lands. The swaps take that to eight, and they take the number of lands with a condition from nine to twelve.

The colour counts barely move, and they shouldn't. Green stays at 26 sources, white at 29, and blue rises from 27 to 28 because of the Skull. The lands are a tempo fix. Chromatic Lantern is the colour fix.

The new lands depend on land types. Hinterland Harbor wants a Forest or an Island, and ten lands in the list carry one: the three Forests, the two Islands, four of the duals that have basic types, and Hallowed Fountain. Sunpetal Grove wants a Forest or a Plains and has ten as well. Hallowed Fountain has both basic types, so it also helps Glacial Fortress, and costs 2 life only if you want it untapped.

If $6.90 is more than you want to spend on one land, skip Hallowed Fountain first and play Adarkar Wastes ($0.34), which makes {W} or {U} for 1 damage or {C} for free. Star Trek reprints Hallowed Fountain on 13 November 2026 and Mystery Booster Commander Edition reprints Chromatic Lantern on 9 November, so expect both prices to move.

Legendary lands would raise the deck's two historic lands, and I priced out the best of them. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is $6.38, makes {W} and has a channel ability that deals 4 damage to an attacking or blocking creature, cheaper by {1} for each legendary creature you control. Otawara, Soaring City ($26.06) bounces an artifact, creature, enchantment or planeswalker the same way, and Boseiju, Who Endures ($49.77) destroys an artifact, enchantment or nonbasic land an opponent controls. Rivendell ($1.04) and The Shire ($2.21) enter untapped once you control a legendary creature, and 26 of the 28 creatures here are legendary. I left them out because the basics they'd replace are also the land types Hinterland Harbor, Sunpetal Grove and Glacial Fortress look for.

The upgraded decklist

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FAQ

Is Blast from the Past a Human deck?

Only on paper. Thirteen of the 25 creatures in the library are Human, and Sarah Jane Smith makes it 14 of 27, but the only card that notices is Path of Ancestry, a tapped land that scries. What the deck asks for is historic: 47 of its 62 nonland cards are, and both commanders pay for them. The one creature type with a few payoffs is Time Lord, which TARDIS, Gallifrey Council Chamber and Trenzalore Clocktower care about, and nine cards in the library have it.

Does a land played from the top of the library set off Sarah Jane Smith?

No. Her trigger watches for historic spells being cast, and lands are never cast. A legendary land played off the top with The Fourth Doctor still makes a Food token, but no Clue. The list has two legendary lands, Gallifrey Council Chamber and Trenzalore Clocktower, so it comes up rarely.

Does Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass make The Fourth Doctor's ability redundant?

No. The Skull lets you play historic lands and cast historic spells from the top of your library with no limit per turn, where the Doctor allows one each turn, so on a turn with two historic cards on top you can cast both. The Doctor's ability is the one that makes a Food token. Both let you look at the top card, which costs nothing extra.

What does the whole upgrade cost?

$13.00 for ten cards at the cheapest released printing of each. Hallowed Fountain is $6.90 of that and the easiest part to skip, because the other nine come to $6.10. Adarkar Wastes ($0.34) does the same job with 1 damage when it taps for colour. Star Trek reprints Hallowed Fountain on 13 November 2026 and Mystery Booster Commander Edition reprints Chromatic Lantern on 9 November, so expect those two prices to move.

Can The Night of the Doctor skip its board wipe?

Yes, with Barbara Wright out. She gives your Sagas read ahead, so a Saga can enter with a chosen number of lore counters, and skipped chapters don't trigger. The Night of the Doctor has two chapters, and entering it at chapter II skips the destroy-all and goes straight to returning a legendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Does Gallifrey Stands win the game?

It can, but not often. The win needs thirteen Doctors on the battlefield after its upkeep trigger puts one more in, and the deck has eight Doctor cards in total, so the other five would have to be copies. The Sixth Doctor copies the first historic spell you cast each turn, and the copy of a Doctor is still a Doctor, so it's possible in a long game. The card earns its slot by returning your Doctors and putting one onto the battlefield every upkeep for free.