With Star Trek’s spoiler season coming to an end, Prerelease, arguably the most exciting time in MTG, is just around the corner. Soon, we’ll all be opening our first Star Trek packs, while relentlessly pestering our friends for the cards we’re all looking for.
If you’re not sure what cards you should be trying to find, then we’ve got you covered. No matter what you think of MTG’s Star Trek crossover, there are plenty of cards worth adding to your collection.
For this list, we considered each card’s 60-card and 100-card potential, since our goal is to find the absolute best cards in MTG Star Trek. As a result, cards that looked strong in both places ranked higher than others that seemed strong in only one.
Honorable Mentions
For the honorable mention section, I try to highlight cards that are a bit difficult to predict. While these cards could end up being format-warping, they could also just fall flat and do nothing.
A past honorable mention we had was Aetherdrift’s Radiant Lotus, for example, which ended up being terrible despite getting tons of hype during spoiler season. On the other hand, Leyline of the Guildpact was another honorable mention that lived up to the hype.
This time around, Brazen Bluff is one of our honorable mentions, a card like none we’ve ever seen. While this card’s potential is absolutely massive, it’s hard to know how it will perform in practice.
In Commander, where cards like Return to the Lightrealms or Improvisation Capstone are insane, Brazen Bluff should create some fun blowouts. In 60-card formats, however, Brazen Bluff is really difficult to assess.
Vulcan Mind-Meld is in a similar boat, but this card looks much better in 60-card formats than Commander. Drawing two cards for one mana is absolutely obscene in MTG, but the risk of giving your opponent a card is, again, something we haven’t really seen before.
While they could just end up doing nothing, these cards will certainly be ones to watch. For this reason, if Brazen Bluff or Volcan Mind-Meld end up being cheap at your MTG Star Trek prerelease, they could be worth picking up.
11 | MTG Star Trek Land Cycle
As Surveil Lands have proven, any land that can enter with extra value attached can revolutionize entire formats. Unfortunately, the ‘two other land’ restriction and the lack of basic land types on these Star Trek lands means they might not do much in older 60-card formats, but they’ll be great in Commander.
Some of the bonuses that these cards offer are quite strong, too, with Ni’Var Science Academy being the most impressive. Giving one of your creatures Flying can help a Voltron Commander like Captain America, First Avenger push for damage, or help Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow get her triggered ability off.
The Unicomplex also has quite an interesting ability, putting a creature on top of your deck from the graveyard. This can help set up top-of-deck shenanigans with cards like Runo Stromkirk, or you can bring back a valuable creature that got blown up.
The other lands in this collection, particularly Federation Outpost and Quark’s Bar, aren’t that exciting, but they can still do work in lifegain and noncreature damage decks in Commander. Frankly, these just seem like free upgrades to just about every Bracket 3 Commander deck over a basic land, so I’d expect them to be quite popular.
10 | MTG Salt Vampire
While Star Trek’s new land cycle looks quite good in Commander, Salt Vampire is the opposite, looking strong in 60-card MTG. This one reminds me a lot of Vendilion Clique, but the cheaper mana value and exiling the targeted card are both upsides.
Throw in Lifelink, and Salt Vampire looks like a great new card for Standard Lifegain decks, getting rid of key hate pieces like Torpor Orb. Really, Salt Vampire is strong enough to see experimentation in any black Standard deck, like Superior Spider-Man Reanimator, Jund Sacrifice, or Dimir Midrange.
Heck, Salt Vampire could even see play in Pioneer or Modern, especially alongside Blink decks that use Ephemerate. Here, you can Flicker Salt Vampire repeatedly, completely shutting combo decks down by tearing apart their hand.
Older formats also have access to Orcish Bowmasters, which synergizes insanely well with Salt Vampire. You can grow your Orc Army while ripping cards out of your opponent’s hand, and take out small creatures like Ocelot Pride
Ocelot PrideFirst strike, lifelink
Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.)
At the beginning of your end step, if you gained life this turn, create a 1/1 white Cat creature token. Then if you have the city's blessing, for each token you control that entered this turn, create a token that's a copy of it.. If you’re running draw deniers like Narset, Parter of Veils
Narset, Parter of VeilsEach opponent can't draw more than one card each turn.
−2: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a noncreature, nonland card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order., than Salt Vampire becomes downright nasty.
All of this makes Salt Vampire exciting for 60-card black deck players, but it absolutely sucks in Commander. Because of this, Salt Vampire is low on our list.
9 | Deep Space 9
If you can actually get Deep Space 9 in play, the amount of permanents that you’ll get for free should win you the game easily. Dropping a collection of Eldrazi Titans into play for free is absolutely devastating, and the thought of them chilling in this gigantic spacecraft is kinda funny.
Of course, Deep Space 9’s mana cost is the main hurdle, but there are a few ways to cheat this card into play. Artifact reanimator cards like Trash for Treasure, or cards like Kona, Rescue Beastie, can get Deep Space 9 into play for free. You could even use Star Trek’s new Saga Unification if you’re focusing on Spacecraft, but at Bracket 3 just playing this on turn 9 is perfectly fine.
This card goes absolutely nuts in upkeep-matters decks like Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Obeka, Splitter of SecondsMenace
Whenever Obeka deals combat damage to a player, you get that many additional upkeep steps after this phase., who can get 12 free permanents into play per turn without any buffs. Deep Space 9 is also quite strong with Panharmonicon, Paradox Haze, and Sphinx of the Second Sun effects.
Depending on how quickly Deep Space 9 shuts a game down, this card could even be good in 60-card Magic with cards like Shape Anew. It’s likely this card will appear only in Commander, though.
8 | Captain Kathryn Janeway
Whether you’re playing Landfall or +1/+1 counter decks in Commander, Captain Kathryn Janeway can easily go nuts. This isn’t one of those cards that does nothing on its own, either, since you can immediately drop an extra land into play with good timing.
The overlap between Janeway’s extra land drop and Explore is super sweet here, since your extra creatures can find you more lands to play early. This fixes one of the most annoying things about extra land drop cards: running out of lands to put into play.
For some reason, Wizards of the Coast decided to let token creatures Explore with Captain Janeway, too, which seems unnecessary to me. This lets Janeway go absolutely nuts with cards 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., churning through your deck while dropping extra lands.
Even though Captain Janeway can absolutely pop off in Commander, she still needs time to get a lot of value. Because of this, Captain Janeway doesn’t feel very good in 60-card Magic, but she’ll be fantastic in a lot of different green Commander decks.
7 | Lieutenant Commander Data
With lots of opponents to take advantage of, cards that do something based on your opponents’ actions often excel in Commander. Between the three opponents at your Commander table, Lieutenant Commander Data should trigger at least once per turn cycle, but will often trigger far more.
Whether your opponents play removal, mana rocks, or setup cards like Doubling Season, Data will see it all and grow in the process. You can even turn your extra counters into extra cards, or just attack your opponents for a ton of damage.
Of course, Data is absolutely incredible with counter-based Commanders like Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian who can easily use Data’s card draw effect multiple times. Data also just goes nuts with Hardened Scales and Kami of Whispered Hopes effects, growing insanely fast.
Data feels like a card that a whole bunch of Commander decks could try, but artifact and +1/+1 counter decks will like him most. Even if this doesn’t end up being a generically powerful card, Data will definitely find a home somewhere.
6 | Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (rest in peace Sir Patrick Stewart) is one of the few MTG Star Trek cards that look good in both 100-card and 60-card Magic. With the Anthem giving Picard immediate value, the token generation giving quick value, and the final effect giving you long-term value, Picard just kind of does everything.
In Commander, Picard is obviously fantastic with any go-wide legend, like Baylen, the Haymaker or Caesar, Legion’s Emperor. Between buffing your team and creating tons of tokens, Picard is exactly the type of card that these decks are looking for.
If, for whatever reason, you actually manage to get seven Officers in play, Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s final ability can be game-winning when played around. Deep Space 9 is the best thing that Picard can cheat in, but there’s a whole host of Spacecraft, like The Seriema
The SeriemaWhen The Seriema enters, search your library for a legendary creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It's an artifact creature at 7+.)
7+ | Flying
Other tapped legendary creatures you control have indestructible. or Extinguisher Battleship, that also make for good targets.
Even in Standard, Captain Jean-Luc Picard looks interesting in decks that want to go-wide like Boros Tokens or White Momo strategies. These are currently on the downtick in the format, but Picard will give them an extremely powerful tool if they come back.
With rotation right around the corner, Captain Jean-Luc Picard could soon be seen across Standard tables everywhere. Heck, the Captain might even be ok in Pioneer in decks like Mono-White Humans.
5 | Genesis Device
From this point on, we get into the really good MTG Star Trek cards, and Genesis Device is an insane start. Giving us a delayed Scapeshift with a ramp effect on top, this card is so good that we yapped about it for an entire article.
Giving tons of Landfall combo decks more copies of their key card, Genesis Engine has a strong chance of seeing Pioneer and Modern play. With Amulet Titan, Gruul Scapeshift, and Pioneer Scapeshift combos built around this effect, many combo strategies will likely become much more consistent.
While Genesis Device looks great in 60-card Magic, it’s even better in Commander. The ramp on entry matters a lot more here, getting you to Commanders like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingFlying
Whenever Korvold enters or attacks, sacrifice another permanent.
Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Korvold and draw a card. and Tatyova, Benthic Druid a turn early. Once out, you can cash Genesis Device in for a free hand refill, making it much better than most 3-mana rocks.
Genesis Device is particularly powerful with Toph, the First Metalbender and Hearthhull, the Worldseed decks, where the card can easily win the game on its own. Between its powerhouse potential in 60-card and 100-card formats, this will be a Star Trek card worth watching.
4 | Quark, Humble Proprietor
Quark, Humble Proprietor is easily one of the best Treasure Token generators in Commander, creating Treasure on each upkeep. That’s an absolutely absurd four mana per turn rotation, which can easily turn the game on its head.
Of course, the minigame with Quark is figuring out how, and when, to get rid of him, since the Ferengi will do his utmost to hoard all your Treasure for himself. Fortunately, a bunch of common Commander cards, from Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed KingFlying
Whenever Korvold enters or attacks, sacrifice another permanent.
Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Korvold and draw a card. to Phyrexian Tower, make sacrificing Quark easy and generate tons of mana.
You don’t necessarily need to sacrifice your Treasures to get value from them, either, as Vihaan, Goldwaker or Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer prove. All of this is basically saying that Quark won’t fit in every Commander deck, but it will be very good in the ones that he does.
Quark is obviously insane in bracket 3 Commander, but he could have some 60-card potential, too. He seems particularly interesting for Jund Sacrifice decks in Standard and Pioneer as a powerful Treasure generator for The Sackville-Bagginses
The Sackville-BagginsesWhen The Sackville-Bagginses enter, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, draw a card and create a Treasure token.
Whenever you sacrifice a token, target opponent loses 1 life. and Biotech Specialist to go nuts with. While he might be a bit awkward to kill here, just having an extra blocker hanging around and discouraging your opponent’s attacks can buy a lot of time.
3 | Jadzia Dax, Living Legend
Jadzia Dax is exciting no matter what kind of MTG player you are. This is the type of card that can see play everywhere, like Standard, Commander, and maybe even older formats like Modern.
As far as a mana dork goes, Jadzia Dax is one of the best that Bracket 3 Commander has ever seen. The card will naturally grow into a threat while providing tons of mana when played early, and goes absolutely nuts with cards like Hardened Scales.
Since Jadzia Dax generates mana equal to her power, it plays well with equipment too, or any other buffing strategies you may be using. Commander’s Plate is particularly good with this legend, giving you protection from all kinds of colors and a massive buff.
Even if you draw Jadzia Dax late, you can discard it to buff another creature, repurposing your mana dork as a combat trick. While it still isn’t extremely powerful in the late game, Jadzia Dax will do a lot more on turn seven than Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves.
I expect Jadzia Dax, Living Legacy to be one of the most popular cards in MTG Star Trek. While other cards in the set will likely perform better in constructed or Commander, few will perform as well as Jadzia does in both.
2 | Test of Courage
It may seem strange to see an uncommon this high up on the list, but Test of Courage is that good. The card is a natural upgrade to multi-format staples like Nature’s Claim in many cases, meaning that it could see Modern, Legacy, and even cEDH play.
Yes, Test of Courage can only blow up smaller artifacts and enchantments, but in faster formats, that doesn’t really matter. Games end so quickly that players can’t really afford to play the larger cards that Test of Courage can’t hit.
Beyond basically removing any artifact or enchantment in faster formats, Test of Courage also hits cards out of your opponent’s graveyards. This can hose a Persist or Goryo’s Vengeance play in Modern, catching Archon of Cruelty
Archon of CrueltyFlying
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, target opponent sacrifices a creature or planeswalker of their choice, discards a card, and loses 3 life. You draw a card and gain 3 life. or Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Atraxa, Grand UnifierFlying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.) before they hit play. You can also gain some life in a pinch, giving this far more utility than most one-mana removal spells.
Where Test of Courage might be a bit worse is casual Commander, but that’s about it. Even there, however, Test of Courage will rarely be a dead card in your hand.
1 | Hit it!
Hit it!, which recently saw a very early errata, is the best card in MTG Star Trek between Constructed and Commander, in our opinion. The card does seem a bit better in Commander overall, but it has tons of promise in 60 and 100-card formats alike.
Attaching a land drop to a Haste enabler makes Hit it! really scary in Standard Landfall decks, setting up instant kills with Mightform Harmonizer
Mightform HarmonizerLandfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the power of target creature you control until end of turn.
Warp {2}{G} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) and Mossborn Hydra. The card also fills the graveyard, which seems like overkill, setting up Esper Origins and lands for Icetill Explorer.
Even in older formats like Modern, Hit it! seems like it could see some play, thanks in particular to filling your graveyard. The card is fantastic alongside Emry, Lurker of the Loch, giving her Haste while putting combo pieces like Grinding Station
Grinding Station{T}, Sacrifice an artifact: Target player mills three cards.
Whenever an artifact enters, you may untap this artifact. and Sewer-Veillance Cam into the graveyard.
Hit it! is even better in Commander, as the card kind of just does everything. Between ramping your mana, giving your creatures Haste, and filling your graveyard, this seems like a clear upgrade for all kinds of strategies.
With Hit it! being a no-brainer in bracket 3 Commander and having some strong competitive potential, this is our call for the best card in MTG Star Trek.
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