New MTG Star Trek Spoilers Highlight Intriguing Mono-Red Ramp Commander

MTG Star Trek spoilers continue to flood the internet, and it’s clear that this set’s flavor is through the roof. Yet, even if the Star Trek franchise isn’t your cup of tea, the appeal of many of these tools in Commander is quite high. Will Riker, First in the Field is a great example of a card that looks poised to make a major EDH splash, both in the command zone and the 99 of other decks.

MTG Will Riker, First in the Field

At first glance, Will Riker may not seem super powerful. After all, while its triggered ability provides a nice burst of mana for your second main phase, the lands don’t stick around long-term. Fetch Lands, however, buck this trend by sacrificing themselves for permanent mana, and dodging Will Riker’s downside. With end-of-turn effects like Sundial of the InfiniteSundial of the Infinite{1}, {T}: End the turn. Activate only during your turn. (Exile all spells and abilities from the stack. Discard down to your maximum hand size. Damage wears off, and "this turn" and "until end of turn" effects end.), you can keep any lands around, too!

Of course, even temporary lands have uses, like triggering Landfall payoffs. In a mono-red shell with Will Riker in the command zone, you have tons of damage-producing payoffs like Koth, the Geomancer, and Tunneling Geopede. With the help of damage amplifiers like Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might and trigger doubles like Lithoform Engine, you’ll threaten lethal quite quickly.

Notably, Will Riker’s potential only grows in the 99 of green-based Landfall shells running payoffs like Scute SwarmScute 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 Rampaging Baloths. Szarel, Genesis Shepherd and Hearthhull, the Worldseed provide particularly powerful homes, since they even reward you when your lands get sacrificed. Throw in Crucible of Worlds effects to rebuy those lands, and you’ve got a fantastic engine.

MTG Deanna Troi, Psychic Counsel

As a mono-white Commander, Deanna Troi isn’t much, but she has plenty of uses in the 99 of other EDH decks. Having access to such an efficient way to add counters to your squad makes it much easier to maximize Proliferate Commanders like Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee MindHaste
Whenever Kilo becomes tapped, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) and Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian. This creature also synergizes with Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, since all your follow-up threats will be enhanced.

Where this card is potentially at its best, however, is in Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn decks. By giving all of your creatures Persist, this Commander’s backside specifically combos with Deanna Troi and a sacrifice outlet, letting you sacrifice your other nontoken creatures infinitely. Winning the game from here, with infinite damage from Blood Artist, or infinite mana from Phyrexian Altar, is trivial.

Notably, both Eirdu and Deanna Troi are Standard legal, so they could have some interesting brewing potential. It’s also not impossible for Advisor to make a splash in Tokens decks, since it vastly increases damage output from Song of Totentanz or The Last Ronin’s Technique. This card’s vulnerability to Burst LightningBurst LightningKicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to any target. If this spell was kicked, it deals 4 damage instead. could ultimately prove too much to overcome, but Deanna Troi still has potential.

MTG Pah-Wraith

Pah-Wraith may be expensive, but it doesn’t take much for this tool to have a Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof 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.-esque impact on a Commander game. After all, almost any well-built multicolor EDH deck should naturally have many differently named lands, supporting this creature’s trigger with minimal effort. You do need to dodge an instant-speed removal spell to get your bonus, but this shouldn’t be too hard.

With that in mind, go-wide shells with lots of puny creatures, like Krenko, Mob Boss, can use this card well as a finisher. Its attack trigger also pairs nicely with Isshin, Two Heavens as One, which generally wants to go wide in the command zone anyway. If that weren’t enough, as one of the few Wraiths in Magic, Pah-Wraith should also be a nice addition to Witch-King, Sky Scourge decks.

MTG Tasha Yar, Out of Time

Despite being a legendary creature, Tasha Yar gets most of its appeal from a Constructed standpoint. A two-powered Hasty creature for two mana is always a consideration on rate for red aggro decks, but this card comes with built-in card advantage when it dies. This effect is a big deal in the removal-heavy matchups, where red aggro decks often struggle.

If that weren’t enough, Tasha Yar also has an activated ability from the graveyard that gives you an extra burst of damage and card advantage when you run out of gas. When combined with burn spells like Burst Lightning and Lightning StrikeLightning StrikeLightning Strike deals 3 damage to any target. in Standard, red aggro now has a decent chunk of reach.

Obviously, it’s too early to tell if this two-drop and the rest of Star Trek’s designs change red’s position in the metagame. Right now, the deck struggles mightily in a field dominated by Lifegain, Landfall, and Dimir Reanimator, but things often shift after new sets release. As such, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this one.

MTG Overflow Submatrix

As a creature that specifically synergizes with other artifact creatures, Overflow Submatrix’s utility is obviously narrow. That said, the newly revealed We Are The Borg precon focuses on maximizing artifact creatures, giving this card plenty of support. By consistently adding more pressure to the board, you’ll get more mileage out of The Borg Queen‘s buff effect or Locutus of Borg‘s ability.

Outside of its impact alongside other Star Trek legends, Submatrix is a perfect fit for Imotekh the Stormlord decks. Each artifact creature you cast from the graveyard triggers Imotekh’s first ability, while the Commander’s second ability enables effective attacks. Submatrix even makes for a decent option in Urza, Chief Artificer decks, rebuying powerful tools like Steel Overseer and Arcbound Ravager.

The only downside is that artifact creatures you cast enter with finality counters, so you can’t loop them repeatedly. Still, if you want to work around this, Ferropede is an artifact creature you can rebuy to remove these counters, even from itself, though this is quite niche.

So far, the Star Trek set has showcased wacky designs and unique build-arounds, with plenty of cards yet to be revealed. Three more Commander precons are on the way, too, offering more potential homes for these main set tools. Keep your eyes peeled for any other spicy, flavorful inclusions, as there’s surely more coming.

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