Now that I've shown you my top 10 older Magic: The Gathering cards that have Time Counters on them, it's worth asking how many of them are going to see more play in Commander in the coming months. Not all of the new Doctor Who cards care about Time Counters, either on suspended cards or on permanents you control, but it seems like a really fun direction to build in and a great way to make the most of your own wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey Doctor Who Commander deck!

Universes Beyond may not be for everyone, but if you're a long time Whovian and you'll be building around these exciting new cards I wish you luck in all of your Time Traveling adventures.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading!

So, today I'd love to share my top ten older Magic: The Gathering cards that use Time Counters! With four new Doctor Who commander decks hot off the presses, it's no surprise that this old counter type is going to get some fresh attention. Not all of the...

Wait a moment...

You already knew I was writing about my top 10 Time Counter cards, and not just from this column's title? I think I may have my timeline a little mixed up here. My end is where my beginning should be, and I'm heading into the middle when I should just be gathering my thoughts and stating my purpose?

I guess that's what happens when you start writing about Time Lords and dipping your toe into the amazing world of Doctor Who. Time gets all mixed up and things don't necessarily go in the order you expect. Let's just carry on then, shall we?

Not all time counters are the same. Cards with suspend get exiled with time counters and when the last one is removed, you get to cast the card without paying its mana cost. Permanents with vanishing have time counters and get sacrificed when the last time counter gets removed. In a format with longer games, I'll let you figure out which of those is better and which is vanishingly worse.

Our new Doctor Who cards love to play with time counters. Time Travel is a mechanic that allows you to add or remove time counties from any number of suspended cards and permanents you control. Both The Tenth Doctor and Rotating Fireplace let you Time Travel. All of History, All at Once pairs Time Travel with the powerful Storm mechanic. The Girl in the Fireplace and Time Beetle marry Time Travel to combat damage triggers, The Wedding of River Song lets you Time Travel, and Wibbly-wobbly, Timey-wimey puts Time Travel on a cantrip.

All this Time Travel begs a question...

Which of the older time counter cards are worth your time?

The Top 10 Time Counter Cards

Are we in the right section? We didn't skip ahead or go back to the beginning again, did we?

I think we're safe... but if I try to put these in order, chances are good they'll just go all wibbly-wobbly on me, so let's just get on with it.

When a spell is countered, it can sometimes just be brought back out of the graveyard, but Delay will counter the spell and exile it, suspended with three time counters on it. Suspend is a removal spell that will exile target creature with two time counters on it. With Time Travel shenanigans you can keep that spell in exile for much longer than two or three turns!

Reality Strobe is a Sorcery that will bounce a permanent to its owner's hand and then Reality Strobe gets exiled with three time counters on it. Repeatable removal is powerful even if it's just bouncing a creature to hand, and you may have creatures you want to bounce so you can recast them. 6 mana is a hefty cost, but in the right deck, at the right power level, this card could be a fun addition that plays well with Time Travel.

Aeon Chronicler has a power and toughness equal to the number of cards in your hand, but where this Blue Avatar shines is as a source of card draw. You can suspend it for with X time counters and when you remove a time counter from it, you'll draw a card. That initial suspend cost isn't cheap, but you'll be getting an extra draw on your upkeep and every time you're able to remove one with one of these funky new Doctor Who cards.

Benalish Commander and Fungal Behemoth both have the potential to get pretty huge. The former has a power and toughness equal to the number of Soldiers you control. The latter has a power and toughness equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control. Both have a suspend cost of X and two colored mana, White for Commander and Green for the Behemoth. When you remove time counters from Benalish Commander you create a 1/1 White Soldier creature token, and Fungal Behemoth rewards you by letting you put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. These two creatures each need to go in a fairly specific build, but they are each fairly good, if somewhat niche cards.

Deep-Sea Kraken is a favorite of mine because it's unblockable and once I turned it into a ninja with Runed Stalactite and got a Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow trigger with it. This Kraken is a 6/6 and has Suspend 9 for two and a Blue, but those time counters come off much faster than your usual suspend card. Whenever an opponent casts a spell you get to remove one, so in a multiplayer format like Commander it can hit the battlefield much sooner than you might expect!

Jhoira of the Ghitu was the go-to commander for time counter shenanigans for a long time. I never liked how she would telegraph your plays, but for 2 mana she'll let you suspend a card with four time counters. You need a longer game for her to work, and you have to accept that players will have time to prepare to counter anything they don't want you cast out of exile. A Drannith Magistrate would wreck your plans pretty nicely, but I can see why Jhoira was a popular card back in the day. You get to suspend ridiculously mana-intensive cards and let your tablemates worry about what they'll do when those spells eventually get cast.

My last two choices are so good, they were reprinted in the Doctor Who commander decks, but these cards are originally from Modern Horizons 2 and Amonkhet.

Out of Time is an enchantment that will enter the battlefield, untap all creatures, and then phase them out until it leaves the battlefield. It has vanishing and gets a time counter for each creature phased out this way. When a deck is set up to flicker this enchantment you'll be in for a long game unless you can remove it.

Phased out creatures don't leave the battlefield, so you won't lose your tokens, and when they phase back in they won't have summoning sickness. Out of Time is a weird card, but it can be a powerful boardwipe that kinda sorta doesn't really wipe the board.

If there's an enchantment that you'll really want to load up with time counters, it is As Foretold. Once each turn, including on your opponents' turns, you can cast a spell with mana value X or less for free where X is the number of time counters on As Foretold.

You'll put a time counter on it at the beginning of your upkeep, and once you have at least one you'll be able to Time Travel (or proliferate) them to either of your hearts' content!