This past Christmas, my wife bought me a pre-constructed Magic: the Gathering Commander deck, which is set in the Doctor Who universe. Doctor Who appears within Magic: the Gathering as a part of an initiative called ‘Universes Beyond’. This series, based on various IPs, features other settings such as Lord of the Rings, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Fallout (to name a few).

It was an unexpected, but welcome, gift to say the least. I haven’t played Magic: the Gathering in years (I’ve never played the Commander format), but I do love me some Doctor Who. So, I wasted no time tearing into it to check out the cards, and I have to say: I’m in love. From the artwork to the card mechanics to the flair text, the theme oozes from every card. It’s exactly what you’d want from a Doctor Who themed Magic: the Gathering set.

As I sat there reading the cards and trying to understand how the deck worked, I felt something long dormant began reawakening in me: the desire to play. And, as I sat there reading over the cards, it became apparent to me that I’ve been out of the game for far too long. Unfamiliar keywords, command zones, color identities… my eyes crossed trying to parse everything. Magic is an ever-evolving game and…

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Released in 2024, the movie Flow follows the adventures of a mismatched group of animals as they try to navigate, and survive, a massive flood of apocalyptic proportions. Flow, the cooperative board game (released in 2025) is heavily inspired by this narrative. In the game, players work against the clock, placing tiles to create a pathway for the animals trapped on the edges of the game board to reach the safety of the boat in the middle. Each time the one-minute timer runs out, dice are rolled and, depending on the results, a number of tiles are washed away by the rising flood waters, forcing the players to start again. If the players are able to create pathways for all four animals, they win. But, if the tiles run out before that occurs, they lose.

Overview

The game board is divided into a 7x7 grid. Each corner features the image of one of the four animals the players are trying to save, and each image has the beginning of two pathways connected to it. The center row and column are highlighted in a different color than the other empty squares of the grid. During setup, the boat tile is placed in the center of the board where these stripes intersect. The boat tile is double-sided. One side features an…

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