Skip to content
  1. Commander Nexus
  2. Commanders
  3. Doran, Besieged by Time

Command zone

Doran, Besieged by Time

Doran, Besieged by Time

Legendary Creature — Treefolk Druid

Doran wants a deck that fills the table with artifacts that make mana and draw cards. It also works in a deck built around Druids or Plants / Treefolk.

  • Mana cost1 genericwhiteblackgreen
  • White, Black, Green ()
  • Power / toughness0 / 5
  • RarityRare

Each creature spell you cast with toughness greater than its power costs 1 generic less to cast.

Whenever a creature you control attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the difference between its power and toughness.

Build a deck with Doran Find it in the app

Archetypes

Cards That Fit Doran, Besieged by Time

Picked for what they do in Doran's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Doran's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

Does what Doran, Besieged by Time does6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Doran, Besieged by Time

explain how Doran works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 17 Nov 2025

Doran's first ability applies only to generic mana in the total cost of creature spells you cast with toughness greater than their power.

Wizards of the Coast 17 Nov 2025

The value of X is calculated only once, as Doran's last ability resolves.

Wizards of the Coast 17 Nov 2025

To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you're paying (such as a flashback cost), add any cost increases (such as kicker costs), then apply any cost reductions (such as that of this ability). The mana value of the spell is determined by only its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast that spell was.

Wizards of the Coast 17 Nov 2025

To find the difference between a creature's power and its toughness, subtract the smaller of those two numbers from the larger one. For example, the difference between the power and toughness of a 3/5 creature is 2. The difference between the power and toughness of a 5/3 creature is also 2.

4 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Doran, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWBGPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, B for black, G for green.ArtifactsAn artifacts deck fills the battlefield with artifacts, cards like Sol Ring that stay in play and keep working turn after turn. Played together, they give you extra mana and extra cards. A handful of keywords turn up on artifacts again and again. Equip means you pay a cost to attach an Equipment such as Swiftfoot Boots to one of your creatures. If that creature dies, the Equipment does not go to your graveyard with it. It stays on the battlefield, and you can pay the cost again to attach it to another creature. Crew means you tap your own creatures with enough total power between them to turn a Vehicle such as Smuggler's Copter into a creature until the end of the turn. A Treasure is a token you can sacrifice (put into your graveyard on purpose) for one mana of any color. A token is a game piece that a card makes, not a card from your deck, and Pitiless Plunderer is one card that makes Treasures. Affinity makes a spell like Frogmite cheaper for each artifact you control. Unearth brings a card like Combat Courier back from your graveyard for one turn, and then it is exiled. Modular creatures like Arcbound Ravager enter with +1/+1 counters and pass them to another artifact creature when they die.Open the Artifacts pageStat ScalingA creature whose power and toughness count something, so it grows as the game goes on. It might count lands you control or cards in your graveyard. Craterhoof Behemoth, Psychosis CrawlerOpen the Stat Scaling pageCost ModificationChanges what a spell costs to cast: cheaper for you, or more expensive for everyone. It is the broad family; Cost Reducer and Spell Tax say which direction a given card goes. Herald's Horn, Foundry InspectorOpen the Cost Modification pageCost ReducerMakes your own spells cheaper to cast. A discount every turn adds up faster than a single burst of mana. Herald's Horn, Foundry InspectorOpen the Cost Reducer pageCombat TrickAn instant you cast during a fight to change how it ends: making a creature bigger or smaller, or keeping your creatures from dying. Boros Charm, Flawless ManeuverOpen the Combat Trick pageAttack TriggerTriggers when a creature attacks, so the reward comes from declaring the attack. You get it even if the creature is blocked. Sword of the Animist, Adeline, Resplendent CatharOpen the Attack Trigger page