MTG Star Trek Debut Commander Spoilers Include 4 New Face Commanders

In a rapid turnaround after Reality Fracture’s October 2nd release, the Debut for MTG Star Trek is already upon us. As expected, this was stuffed with spicy new spoilers from the main set, some tasty Stardate bonus sheet reprints, and a ton of funky sci-fi card treatments to boot. As if all this wasn’t enough, we also got some spoilers from the MTG Star Trek Commander precons, too, including all four face Commander and some intriguing new 99 cards.

The Borg Queen MTG

Though it’s pricey at seven mana, The Borg Queen is probably the most exciting new Commander revealed today. Assimilating the next creature in an opponent’s deck is a powerful ability, guaranteeing you at least an extra 4/4 body when paired with Assimilate’s counter and The Borg Queen’s board buff. You’ll also get access to all of its abilities, and add to your artifact count for Affinity payoffs like Krang, Master Mind.

When played fairly, getting this trigger once per turn is already pretty strong. There are a ton of ways to abuse it, however, whether it’s repeatable blink like Eldrazi DisplacerEldrazi DisplacerDevoid (This card has no color.)
{2}{C}: Exile another target creature, then return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control. ({C} represents colorless mana.) and The Mind Stone, or trigger doublers like Strionic ResonatorStrionic Resonator{2}, {T}: Copy target triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A triggered ability uses the words "when," "whenever," or "at."). Heck, with a Panharmonicon and a couple of blink creatures, you can even steal every creature from each opponent’s deck by blinking her in and out infinite times.

Add in her Esper color identity, which provides access to incredible artifact support like Simulacrum Synthesizer and Organic Extinction, and The Borg Queen looks like a fearsome new Commander indeed. Just be sure to pack plenty of mana rocks to get over that hefty casting cost.

Commander Spock MTG

Like The Borg Queen, Commander Spock is a three-color value engine with a very tasty Titan trigger. Each time Spock enters or attacks, you either get to cast the top card of your deck for free, put a land into play, or draw a card. Naturally, outcome one is the best option here, and, interestingly, whether you can use it depends on an idea Star Trek leans into hard: unique land count.

We’ve seen this concept briefly before with cards like Field of the Dead and All-Fates Scroll, and it’s an idea well-suited to Commander. With so many strong dual lands and utility lands available today, it’s easy to build a full mana base with no repeated basic lands. With the emergence of land tokens on cards like Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Saurian Explorer, Spock should net you free spells a lot of the time.

You can also improve Spock’s consistency by running topdeck-manipulation cards, such as Scroll Rack and Sensei’s Divining Top. These will let you dodge cards you can’t quite cast for free yet, or ensure extra land drops with Spock triggers when you need them. You can also abuse blink engines like Conjurer’s Closet and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling to get more triggers per turn and maximize your value. While it’s ultimately a bit generic, Spock is undeniably a powerful new Bant Commander for those looking to play a Midrange game.

Jean-Luc Picard, Luminary MTG

We were expecting a Spacecraft Commander in Star Trek, and Jean-Luc Picard delivers on that front and then some. Since Spacecraft are all artifacts and generally fairly pricey, that first ability turns them into cantrips. The extra draw then feeds right into ability two, which both grants charge counters directly to your Spacecraft, and buffs your creatures so they can Station faster. Since Picard only costs four mana to cast, this should help your Spacecraft decks get going much faster than usual.

Of course, Picard isn’t locked into just being a Spacecraft deck, as his abilities work just fine for a more general Historic strategy as well. Simulacrum Synthesizer has already shown how easy it is to bring in three-cost artifacts repeatedly, letting you turn Picard into a serious draw engine. With Sami, Wildcat Captain, Ancestral StatueAncestral StatueWhen this creature enters, return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand., and four artifacts in play, you can even draw your entire deck with this ability, before closing out with the classic Thassa’s OracleThassa’s OracleWhen this creature enters, look at the top X cards of your library, where X is your devotion to blue. Put up to one of them on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. If X is greater than or equal to the number of cards in your library, you win the game. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.).

Overall, Jean-Luc Picard feels efficient and flexible enough to support a wide range of strategies across multiple brackets. It’s not quite as flashy as some of the other Commanders revealed today, but an uncapped draw engine is never something to take lightly, so this is definitely one to watch.

Worf, Defiant Commander MTG

Heading up the Klingon Fury precon is Worf, Defiant Commander, a fun new take on a Mardu Aggro legend. Five mana gets you a 3/4 and a 2/1 Haste, which lets you immediately impulse draw at least one card with Worf’s Battlefront ability. By the time Worf drops, you should easily be able to stack up some solid early attackers, too, such as Ragavan, Nimble PilfererRagavan, Nimble PilfererWhenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) and Voice of VictoryVoice of VictoryMobilize 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, create two tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature tokens. Sacrifice them at the beginning of the next end step.)
Your opponents can't cast spells during your turn., to guarantee you the maximum three cards ‘drawn’ here.

While this doesn’t sound too impressive at first, it compares fairly well to Tymna, the Weaver, one of the more widely-played Commanders in cEDH. Worf is actually more consistent than Tymna, too, since your creatures don’t need to get through for damage to get you the draw. This means you can leverage cards like Reconnaissance to pull your creature out after it attacks and still get the draw, or damage prevention like Dolmen Gate to survive blocks while still generating advantage.

Impulse draw isn’t always ideal, of course, but with Worf you get until the end of your next turn to play them, which is better than usual. This also lets you tap into the many ‘cast from exile’ synergies that Wizards has been printing lately, such as Passionate Archaeologist and Advanced Reconstruction. Though Worf feels a bit less exciting than the other face Commanders revealed today, I think it may end up being one of the most powerful once the dust settles post-release.

Best of the Rest

In addition to the precon face Commanders, today’s MTG Star Trek Debut also included some spicy spoilers from the 99. Of this batch, Koloth, Tribble Hunter is probably the most exciting, putting a ton of Tribble tokens into play each turn, and ensuring your opponents are always swinging at each other. Alongside cards like Suture Priest and The Meathook Massacre, which punish opposing creature death, this can very quickly become a serious threat. It’s also fantastic in any kind of Aristocrats list, as a reliable way to generate two pieces of fodder per turn.

Carrying on down the cute critter path, Spot, Felis catus is probably the cutest MTG creature we’ve seen this year. It’s also a genuine banger, too, providing a free Food on entry, then again whenever a nontoken legendary permanent enters. Right off the bat, this lets you make infinite Food with Hullbreaker Horror or fellow Cat Displacer Kitten, provided you have a Mox AmberMox Amber{T}: Add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and planeswalkers you control. and another mana rock to loop. You can then feed these Foods to Krark-Clan Ironworks and use Spot’s ability to blow up every opposing artifact in play. While this is the dream scenario, Spot seems generally useful just as a value piece, so I expect plenty of decks like Ragost, Deft Gastronaut to try it out.

Last but not least, Star Trek finally gave us a truly scary-looking Spacecraft in Starship Enterprise. While it needs 16 charge counters to get going, the Landfall ability here means that’s only four land drops away, or two if you’re running Fetchlands. Once it’s up and running, you can reliably draw four cards a turn with this beast, or more if you invest in stat buffs and Double Strike granters like Genji GloveGenji GloveEquipped creature has double strike.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, if it's the first combat phase of the turn, untap it. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Equip {3}. As a generic draw option for land-based Commander decks, this seems great, and it’s one of the few Spacecraft we’ve seen so far that’s not clunky beyond belief.

While the other MTG Star Trek Commander spoilers from today’s Debut were far less exciting, they still had some gems. Locutus of Borg is a great piece for aggressive Esper artifact brews, for example, while The Sword of Kahless is an interesting typal Equipment for decks like Gornog, the Red Reaper. If the rest of these precons meet the same standard, these new decks will be well worth the extended wait.

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