The Doctor's Childhood Barn MTG Card


Grants significant card advantage and deck filtering to outplay opponents. Instant speed play enhancing strategic depth and board state control. Unique mana acceleration enabling quicker spell deployment and tempo.
The Doctor's Childhood Barn - Doctor Who
RarityCommon
TypePlane — Gallifrey
Released2023-10-13
Set symbol
Set nameDoctor Who
Set codeWHO
Number579
Frame2015
LayoutPlanar
BorderBlack
Illustred byJohn Di Giovanni

Text of card

Creatures enter the battlefield tapped. Whenever chaos ensues, for each opponent, choose up to one target nonland permanent that opponent controls. Untap those permanents. They phase out. They can't phase in for as long as The Doctor's Childhood Barn remains face up. When a player planeswalks, those permanents phase in.


Cards like The Doctor's Childhood Barn

Exploring the niches of Magic: The Gathering cards often leads us to unique effects and synergies. The Doctor’s Childhood Barn, while a peculiar name in the vast collection, shares functionality with several similar cards. If we consider the card’s ability to retrieve creature cards from the graveyard, it can be juxtaposed with the likes of the well-known Gravedigger. Both cards offer the utility of recursion, although Gravedigger is creature-based, directly returning another creature card to your hand on its entry to the battlefield.

Examining further, we come across Eternal Witness, another card with the potential for retrieval from the graveyard. Unlike The Doctor’s Childhood Barn, Eternal Witness has the flexibility to bring back any card type, not just creatures, making it a staple in many decks for its versatility. Then we have Regrowth, a classic spell with a straightforward effect: it allows the return of any card from the graveyard to hand but, unlike The Doctor’s Childhood Barn, does not focus on the creature type alone.

Every card has its spot in MTG, and The Doctor’s Childhood Barn finds its intrigue in its link to specific strategies. Comparing it with its counterparts, it holds a specialized role for players who take advantage of creature-heavy decks or repetitive creature-based combos.

Gravedigger - MTG Card versions
Eternal Witness - MTG Card versions
Regrowth - MTG Card versions
Gravedigger - MTG Card versions
Eternal Witness - MTG Card versions
Regrowth - MTG Card versions

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Sea of Sand - MTG Card versions
Izzet Steam Maze - MTG Card versions
Cliffside Market - MTG Card versions
Agyrem - MTG Card versions
Sokenzan - MTG Card versions
Raven's Run - MTG Card versions
Velis Vel - MTG Card versions
Academy at Tolaria West - MTG Card versions
Naar Isle - MTG Card versions
Minamo - MTG Card versions
The Fourth Sphere - MTG Card versions
Pools of Becoming - MTG Card versions
Prahv - MTG Card versions
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Kharasha Foothills - MTG Card versions
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Card Pros

Card Advantage: An aspect that stands out with The Doctor’s Childhood Barn is its potential to grant card advantage. Players can not only draw additional cards but also benefit from its ability to filter through the deck, ensuring that the cards in hand are the options most needed at any given moment. This feature can be pivotal in outmaneuvering opponents and maintaining a strong presence on the board.

Resource Acceleration: The Doctor’s Childhood Barn offers a unique approach to resource acceleration. It allows players to bypass the traditional methods of land-based mana generation, often enabling a faster deployment of other spells in their arsenal. This can lead to a significant tempo boost, giving players the upper hand in ramping up their game plan quicker than their opponents.

Instant Speed: The ability to act at instant speed offers flexibility and strategic depth. By using The Doctor’s Childhood Barn during an opponent’s turn, players can keep their options open, respond to threats immediately, and optimize the timing of their plays. This adaptability can be a game-changer when navigating through complex board states or when in need of a surprise factor to shift the game’s momentum in their favor.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the limiting factors of The Doctor’s Childhood Barn is that you have to discard a card to activate its ability. This poses a significant setback, especially in tight gameplay where every card in hand is crucial for strategizing the next move.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a particular combination of mana colors making it a less flexible option for a variety of decks. Players who don’t run a deck tailored to its mana specifications might find it hard to justify its inclusion.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When looking at the overall mana curve, The Doctor’s Childhood Barn might seem steep for its effect. Players could be deterred from using it when there are other cards in the same cost bracket that provide a more impactful board presence or immediate value.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: The Doctor’s Childhood Barn offers an adaptable presence on the battlefield, complementing various strategies that capitalize on creature and artifact synergies.

Combo Potential: This card can be a linchpin in intricate combos, especially in conjunction with mechanics that revolve around tapping or untapping permanents, multiplying its utility.

Meta-Relevance: Given its unique ability to fit into an array of deck archetypes, The Doctor’s Childhood Barn maintains relevance in an ever-shifting competitive landscape.


How to Beat

The Doctor’s Childhood Barn is a unique card that resonates with many players due to its ability to tap into the fondness of nostalgia. It forms a bridge to an archetype that appreciates history within the game itself, similar to cards like Gaea’s Cradle, which thrive on the power of creatures you control. However, the card does have its vulnerabilities that can be exploited.

Strategically, the key to overcoming The Doctor’s Childhood Barn lies in disrupting the synergies it forms with other pieces on the board. Artifact removal spells, such as Abrade or Disenchant, prove extremely effective, neutralizing the Barn before its ability can accumulate value over time. Another approach is using land destruction or land interaction cards like Ghost Quarter, allowing you to remove the Barn directly from the battlefield.

Furthermore, employing counterplay techniques such as graveyard disruption through cards like Tormod’s Crypt or Leyline of the Void ensure that the recursive abilities of The Doctor’s Childhood Barn are hampered, thereby preventing your opponent from gaining long-term advantages. Understanding and executing these strategies will be crucial for players facing off against this card in competitive play.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase The Doctor's Childhood Barn MTG card by a specific set like Doctor Who, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the The Doctor's Childhood Barn and other MTG cards:

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Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering The Doctor's Childhood Barn card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2023-10-13 A permanent phased out by The Doctor's Childhood Barn phases in during its controller's untap step as normal only if The Doctor's Childhood Barn is no longer face up. (This situation may occur in rare instances if the delayed triggered ability that would normally cause those permanents to phase in immediately is countered.)
2023-10-13 Any continuous effects with a "for as long as" duration ignore phased-out objects. Any such effects will expire if their conditions are no longer met after ignoring the phased-out objects.
2023-10-13 Any one-shot effects that are waiting "until
-his] leaves the battlefield," won't happen when a permanent phases out.
2023-10-13 Choices made for permanents as they entered the battlefield are remembered when they phase in.
2023-10-13 Each Aura and Equipment attached to a permanent that's phasing out also phases out. They will phase in with that permanent and still be attached to it. Similarly, permanents that phase out with counters phase in with those counters.
2023-10-13 Phasing out doesn't cause any "leaves the battlefield" abilities to trigger. Similarly, phasing in won't cause any "enters the battlefield" abilities to trigger.
2023-10-13 While a permanent is phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist. It can't be the target of spells or abilities, its static abilities have no effect on the game, its triggered abilities can't trigger, it can't attack or block, and so on.