This weekend, game stores across the world held their long-awaited Prerelease events for MTG Star Trek, and players finally got their hands on the new cards in paper. While these events almost always bring significant price drops on new cards, MTG Star Trek is already almost entirely a budget set.
Whether this is down to players not vibing with the IP, or a fatigue with Magic releases in general, is hard to say. What this means, however, is that there are some fantastic new cards available for far less than we feel they should be, and we’ve gathered the best of them here.
Hit It! | $1.25
As our pick for the best Commander card in Star Trek, and the best card in the set overall, we’ve made no secret of our love for Hit It! here at MTG Rocks. Put simply, this is one of the best ramp spells and Haste granters we’ve seen in years.
Putting a land right into play from your top five is great, but what really sets Hit It! apart is that it dumps the other four cards into your graveyard. This makes it particularly good in graveyard-based Gruul decks like Slimefoot and Squee, though pretty much every Commander deck these days can benefit from it to some degree.
Beyond its obvious Commander appeal, players are already testing Hit It! in Gruul Landfall decks in Standard, and even in Amulet Titan lists in Modern. This is a card with massive multi-format appeal, which makes its current price tag of $1.25 absolutely baffling.
New Rare Lands | $1.18 – $1.50
Every new MTG set comes with some kind of rare land cycle, and Star Trek’s is a funky mono-colored take on the Slow Lands. These all enter untapped if they’re your third land or later, and if they do, you get to pick between Surveil 1 or another ability to make use of.
These vary significantly in quality, with The Unicomplex being the clear frontrunner with its creature recursion option. Quark’s Bar is also interesting in that it’s an untapped damage-on-entry land, which makes it a great win condition for Landfall loops or Worldgorger Dragon
Worldgorger DragonFlying, trample
When this creature enters, exile all other permanents you control.
When this creature leaves the battlefield, return the exiled cards to the battlefield under their owners' control. combos.
The other three lands here, Federation Outpost, Ni’Var Science Academy and Q Continuum, feel a lot worse in terms of abilities, but it is worth bearing in mind the floor here. The Surveil lands have already proven themselves in multiple formats, and these play in a similar space, except they aren’t fetchable.
For this reason, I expect all five members of this new land cycle to see extensive Commander play, and possibly even some use in constructed as well. Right now all five are available for $1.50 or less, too, so it’s a great time to stock up on these clear future staples.
Rok-Tahk, Budding Scientist | $1.72
Rok-Tahk feels like the natural evolution of cards like Cryptolith Rite and Enduring Vitality, both of which have seen a ton of recent success in cEDH. While you lose mana fixing here, you get double the mana production per creature, which turbocharges these strategies.
This ability could easily earn Rok-Tahk a spot in top-tier decks like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, where you can sink all of the extra mana into activations. Getting the Indestructible Murf token is a great edge, too, since it lets you hold off attacks from decks like Tymna the Weaver and Winota, Joiner of Forces.
As much potential as it has in cEDH, Rok-Tahk looks even better in the lower Commander brackets. The extra ramp is excellent for powering out huge haymakers, whether it’s Craterhoof Behemoth
Craterhoof BehemothHaste
When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. or Deep Space 9, especially in go-wide Token decks. Given its near-guaranteed staple status in Commander, $1.72 feels like an absolute steal.
Genesis Device | $2.50
Much like Hit It!, Genesis Device is a new three-mana ramp piece that has a lot of players talking. This is largely down to the card’s second ability, which is just straight-up Scapeshift, one of the most notorious combo enablers in Magic history.
Scapeshift decks are still relevant meta players today, whether it’s Amulet Titan in Modern or Lumra Scapeshift in Pioneer. Having access to a second copy of the card could greatly increase the consistency of these strategies, making them even more fearsome than before. The card will do something similar in Commander, too, with even more utility since artifacts are easy to recur in the format.
Add in a very serviceable ramp ability that lets you tutor up Evendo, Waking Haven
Evendo, Waking HavenThis land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {G}.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Planet. Station only as a sorcery.)
12+ | {G}, {T}: Add {G} for each creature you control. as a backup plan, and Genesis Device is an obvious banger. Given that Scapeshift is $42 right now, $2.50 for this new variant is an incredible deal.
Lieutenant Commander Data | $2.70
As any cEDH player will tell you, cards that trigger off of any player casting a noncreature spell are very tasty indeed in the format. Lieutenant Commander Data does just that, scaling up into a huge threat as players just take their turns normally.
Once it’s buffed up, Data can start drawing you cards by cashing in its easily earned counters. With synergy pieces like Hardened Scales in the mix, this can get you a few cards per turn cycle in most games. Notably, Data can also use counters from your other creatures, too, which makes it great removal insurance in a +1/+1 Counters deck.
Outside of Commander, Data could actually have legs in current Standard alongside Moonshadow. This is already one of the strongest one-drops in the format, and Data turns it into a reliable three-mana 7/7 that draws two cards, which is a ridiculous rate. Add in Sleep-Cursed Faerie
Sleep-Cursed FaerieFlying, ward {2}
This creature enters tapped with three stun counters on it. (If it would become untapped, remove a stun counter from it instead.)
{1}{U}: Untap this creature. as another great synergy piece, and a Standard Dimir Aggro deck could be legit.
Despite all of this potential, and its mythic rare status, Data is sitting at just $2.70 for a base copy right now. Even if it doesn’t end up popping off in Standard, the Commander appeal here more than warrants that price.
Captain James T. Kirk | $3.17
Captain Kirk’s mythic version is one of my personal favorite MTG Star Trek cards overall, and one I’m very surprised is a budget option so soon in the set cycle. You can grab near-mint copies of this icon for just $3.17 on TCGplayer right now, which is low for any mythic, but especially one as flexible as this.
Like a half-price Titan, Kirk gives you a nice advantage bump every time he enters or attacks. The rummaging and token abilities alone would likely warrant this card’s inclusion in plenty of decks, but it can also be a temporary power buff in a pinch.
While Kirk is arguably worse on rate than Seasoned Pyromancer, generating extra value over time makes it more desirable for grindy Commander lists. Getting all three options when you’re Hellbent is also a big edge, and could even push the card into contention for Mono-Red Aggro decks in Standard.
Though it’s being slept on for now, I fully expect Captain Kirk to rise to the occasion as players start to test the new set out.
Seven of Nine, Unassimilated | $3.51
Seven of Nine isn’t the flashiest mythic in the world, which likely contributes to its bafflingly low current price tag. Give it a proper look, however, and you’ll see that this is one of the better looters Wizards has printed recently, and a shoo-in for a ton of different Commander decks.
Just being a two-mana looter that doesn’t need to tap is a pretty big deal for Seven of Nine right out of the gate, letting you hold down the fort while still supporting Commanders like Green Goblin. The looting also becomes full-on card draw once you have five unique lands out, which is a trivial condition in any deck with two or more colors.
As if this wasn’t enough, Seven of Nine is also an artifact, which makes it a great incidental addition in decks like Mendicant Core, Guidelight. Add in a late-game mana sink that makes the card a considerable threat on the board, and you have a blue Commander card that can fit in pretty much every deck and do work. How this card is only $3.51 right now is really anyone’s guess.
Captain Kathryn Janeway | $4.48
Of all the budget MTG Star Trek cards on this list, Captain Kathryn Janeway may be the most bizarre to me. This card is a clear new staple for Landfall decks in Commander, offering both another Exploration effect as well as a busted repeatable Explore for your creatures.
Since Landfall decks often rely on token generators like Scute Swarm
Scute SwarmLandfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. If you control six or more lands, create a token that's a copy of this creature instead. and Springheart Nantuko to dominate games, Janeway can create an absurd amount of value between its two abilities. It’s also fantastic with Crucible of Worlds effects and Commanders like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur, as a stellar pseudo-draw engine.
Heck, I could even see Janeway showing up in Standard, given how well Mono-Green Landfall has been doing there lately. With so much obvious play behind it, the fact that this new mythic is available for just $4.48 truly boggles the mind.
Quark, Humble Proprietor | $5.34
Another personal favorite of mine from MTG Star Trek, Quark is one of the more unique designs we’ve seen in recent years. You get a truly absurd Treasure generator here, with the caveat that you can’t actually use those Treasures unless you can get Quark off the battlefield first.
Fortunately, this is pretty trivial to do, whether you’re sacrificing Quark to Goblin Bombardment, or bouncing it back to your hand with Scotty, Miracle Worker
Scotty, Miracle WorkerDuring your main phase, each card in your graveyard has beam me up. The beam me up cost is equal to that spell's mana cost. Scotty can't be beamed up to cast a spell this way. (Only instant and sorcery spells can be cast this way. You may cast a card from your graveyard for its beam me up cost if you also return another creature you control to its owner's hand. Then exile that spell.). You can also block with it, so unless your opponents can remove it pretty quickly, it’ll serve as a Ghostly Prison-style attack deterrent for you, too.
Even if you find yourself ‘stuck’ with Quark, the raw rate of artifact generation here is ridiculous. Add in Reckless Fireweaver and Xorn
XornIf you would create one or more Treasure tokens, instead create those tokens plus an additional Treasure token., for instance, and it becomes a legitimate win condition. This makes it a bit of a lose/lose scenario for opponents, which is excellent for a three-mana creature.
While it’ll excel in decks that can easily remove it on demand, Quark feels efficient enough that I think pretty much any red Commander deck could run it. Given this easy potential to become a staple, the fact that you can grab this card for just over $5 right now is absolutely wild to me.
Jadzia Dax, Living Legacy | $7.37
As soon as it was revealed, it was clear that Jadzia Dax would be one of the chase mythics from MTG Star Trek. A mana dork that scales its production with its power isn’t a new concept, but other than Gyre Sage we’ve never had a two-mana version before, and that didn’t buff itself to guarantee you more mana each turn.
Jadzia Dax doesn’t even need to tap to make mana, which means it can get involved in combat, which few mana dorks can. These qualities make the card worth considering in most green Commander decks, even without additional counter synergy.
That said, the card obviously works far, far better in Counters decks, since you can stack Jadzia Dax up much quicker to start producing big chunks of mana early. Every +1/+1 Counters deck, from The Wise Mothman to Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice, will want a copy of Jadzia Dax for this reason.
Even beyond Commander, Jadzia Dax could wind up seeing play in Standard Mono-Green lists, where its combat trick option, and synergy with Ouroboroid, will shine. In most sets you’d expect a new banger on this level to run you more than $20, but thanks to whatever voodoo is going on with Star Trek you can snag a copy for just $7.37.
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