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Avoid these common misplays with Genesis of the Daleks

For Black suddenly wearing the face of a Time Lord’s most infamous pepperpots, Genesis of the Daleks is a delightfully brutal Saga from the Doctor Who crossover era. With a casting cost of {4}{B}{B} and the aura of a saga enchantment, it invites a patient, methodical plan more than a quick tempo push. The card is rare in the Doctor Who Commander set, a treaty between lore and labor that rewards long-term planning and careful counter management 🧙‍♂️🔥. Its flavor is unmistakable: as you watch the lore counters accumulate, you’re building a drone army of the Daleks, each token a menace in the dark, each draw step a nudge toward a decisive turn ⚔️💎.

First things first: the saga enters with a lore counter, and you add one more lore counter after each draw step. As the counters climb, you’ll spawn Dalek tokens at stages I–III, a cascade that can swing the balance of a board state in a hurry. The tokens are 3/3 black artifact creatures with menace, and they multiply with every added lore counter. It’s easy to get lost in the excitement and miscount how many tokens you actually gain, or to forget that the tokens come in precisely because of those counters on the saga—not because of some extra effect in later chapters. Misplaying this detail is how you talk yourself into an underwhelming combat turn when you could have unleashed a far more punishing assault 🧙‍♂️🎲.

Another trap is misreading the big IV decision. After the fourth lore counter resolves, Genesis of the Daleks offers a dramatic binary: destroy all Dalek creatures and have opponents lose life equal to the total power of Daleks that died this turn, or destroy all non-Dalek creatures. That choice is not just a line on a card—it’s a strategic fulcrum. If you’ve built a board full of Daleks, the life-loss option can close out games by turning your foes’ life totals into a ringing bell of inevitability. If you’ve kept your Daleks lean and the opponent’s board is teeming with non-Dalek creatures, wiping those non-Daleks can keep your army intact while shrinking the enemy’s options. The misplay here is to default to the opposite of what the current board state clearly warrants, or to overlook the life total dynamics if your opponents are piling up lives with life-gain effects or large blockers. Read the room, then read the stanza on IV again 🧪⚖️.

Timing is everything. People often misstep by sacrificing the saga too early or too late. Genesis of the Daleks explicitly notes “Sacrifice after IV.” That line means you should plan your culmination to occur immediately after the fourth lore counter resolves, not before. If you sacrifice on the IV step or before, you either miss out on the maximum token count or derail the planned result of the IV decision. It’s a card that asks for control of tempo—your tempo—and misplacing that tempo is how you turn a potential victory into a stumble with wasted resources 🧭.

Practical misplays to avoid

• Underestimating token growth: Don’t assume the tokens are a side effect. Each lore counter on I–III creates one more 3/3 Dalek with menace. If you’re not calculating the total threat, you’ll misjudge blocker needs and lethal swings.
• Miscounting lore counters: The saga captures counters at entry and after your draw step. Losing track means you may delay or rush the IV choice, mismanaging the board state and life totals.
• Forgetting the sacrifice timing: Sacrifice after IV is a deliberate cutoff. Delaying sacrifice can waste a powerful wipe or leave you with a board state you didn’t intend to pass up.
• Incorrect IV choice: When to destroy Daleks to trigger life loss vs. wiping non-Daleks to preserve your army depends on the board. A reckless IV selection can flip a game you were winning into a comeback story for your opponents.
• Over-reliance on the Dalek swarm: While Dalek tokens are potent, Genesis of the Daleks is a strategic card that rewards careful planning. Don’t flood the board with Daleks too early if you don’t have a plan for the IV payoff or if you’ll overload your resources chasing tokens.

From a gameplay perspective, think of Genesis of the Daleks as a bridge between late-game inevitability and mid-game board control. The saga’s narrative arc mirrors a tactical sequence: accumulate power, then unleash a choice that can reshape the battlefield. The tokens ensure a persistent presence while the IV choice offers a dramatic, sometimes explosive, swing that can swing a match in your favor—or backfire if misused. The card plays best in a black-heavy shell that appreciates artifact creature themes and can leverage sacrifice outlets or synergy with other artifacts to maximize the Dalek tokens’ impact 💎⚔️.

Artistically, Genesis of the Daleks fits the Doctor Who crossover’s dark elegance. The Doctor Who set-era design—frame, border, and flavor text—sits comfortably with black mana’s themes of secrecy, sacrifice, and menace. The token Daleks, as artifact creatures, blend the legendary menace of the Dalek race with the mechanical precision of artifacts, a fusion that feels both iconic and a touch mischievous in your local metas 🎨🧙‍♂️.

If you’re drafting a Commander deck or building a casual black-control shell, Genesis of the Daleks offers a reliable engine. The card’s six-mana casting cost is a reminder that big-picture planning often wins games in this color, pairing well with draw engines and recursion to keep the counters climbing and the tokens multiplying. The rare status in a memorable crossover set ensures the card remains a conversation piece at the table, a piece that can deliver both spectacle and strategy in equal measure ⚔️🔥.

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