Ian Chesterton
Legendary Creature — Human Scientist
Science Teacher — Each Saga spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost. (When you cast that Saga, copy it for each time you paid its replicate cost. Copies of Saga spells become tokens.)
Doctor's companion (You can have two commanders if the other is the Doctor.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Doctor Who
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #12246
Ian Chesterton drops into a legendary-matters or Saga shell and immediately pulls double duty — triggering on attacks while building lore counters for Sagas — at a mana cost low enough that it never competes with your real plays. Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe decks are the primary home, where Ian's attack trigger feeds directly into the counters-and-legends engine Sigurd demands. Flat verdict: if you're running that archetype, Ian Chesterton is an auto-include.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe
Ian Chesterton shows up in 42% of Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe decks because the two cards are pointing at exactly the same axis — attack triggers, +1/+1 counters, and legendary synergy all compound each other in the same turn.
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria runs Ian Chesterton as a low-cost legendary body that keeps the legendary-creature count high while contributing an attack trigger that feeds Garnet's own value generation.
Narci, Fable Singer
Narci, Fable Singer cares about Sagas advancing and legendary permanents entering, and Ian Chesterton satisfies both axes — the attack trigger can push lore counters forward while Ian himself is the legendary permanent Narci wants on board.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the format Ian Chesterton was built for — the card's attack trigger, Saga synergy, and legendary subtype all map cleanly onto the 100-card singleton strategies where those themes operate at scale. In Legacy and Vintage, where Ian is technically legal, there's no realistic case for running a three-or-fewer-mana legendary that does nothing at instant speed in formats dominated by interaction and combo density. Oathbreaker gives Ian a narrower shot at relevance as a support piece in a Saga-forward pile, though the smaller deck size compresses the redundancy that makes the engine hum in Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Ian Chesterton isn't available in the current index, so confirm the current market rate on Scryfall or TCGPlayer before picking up copies. Given the card's niche-but-real role in Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe lists, demand is real but limited — expect a price that reflects a role-player, not a staple.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe
- Garnet, Princess of Alexandria
- Narci, Fable Singer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.