Wizards of the Coast is capping off a very busy year with one last crossover. Magic the Gathering | Star Trek is a grand celebration of the franchise’s 60-year run across film, television, and even animation. While this collaboration is definitely more out there than some other Universes Beyond sets, a closer look at the main set leads to some more promising discoveries.
Star Trek is not the first dalliance with outer space in Magic’s vast history – those honors go first to the 2022 humor set Unfinity. However, Magic the Gathering | Star Trek is more a companion set to last year’s Edge of Eternities. That set introduced Spacecraft as a card subtype along with the mechanic Station to staff those large craft. Unsurprisingly, the various incarnations of the Enterprise and beyond fit right into the mechanic and may even improve upon it.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit | 3 Colorless Mana, 2 White Mana
Legendary Artifact – Spacecraft
Ward – 2 Colorless Mana
When U.S.S. Enterprise-A enters, create three 1/1 red Officer creature tokens.
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 6+)
6+ charge counters: Flying, lifelink
5/5
D-7 Battle Cruiser | 1 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana
Artifact – Spacecraft
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 8+)
3+ charge counters: At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 2/1 red Klingon Warrior creature token with haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
8+ charge counters: Flying
3/3
When Edge of Eternities introduced Spacecraft, cards erred on the conservative side of power. As a result, many Spacecraft were too slow to charge up and had to rely on enters effects to be remotely viable. In the case of Star Trek, things are a little bit different.
Enterprise-A can Station half of its needed charge counters immediately after coming into play. Provided the red shirts can stay alive long enough to untap it, it will be able to attack after summoning sickness wears off, just like any other creature.
In comparison, the D-7 can come down on the second turn of the game, and then when a creature comes in on turn three, it can station the D-7 and start spitting out Klingons. Those Klingons can themselves station the D-7 or start attacking immediately. Needless to say, this is the most interesting that Spacecraft cards have been outside of a specialized Commander deck.
Of course, all these iconic spaceships do need a crew and a captain. True to a Universes Beyond set, Magic the Gathering | Star Trek is filled to the brim with legends showcasing the various explorers of the final frontier. The latter brings even more Spacecraft support and a very iconic set of flavor words.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana
Legendary Creature – Human Officer
Other creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever you cast a creature or Spacecraft spell, create a 1/1 red Officer creature token.
Tap seven untapped Officers you control: Search your library for a Spacecraft card, put it onto the battlefield with seven charge counters on it, then shuffle.
2/3
Picard continues the theme of giving Spacecraft creatures to station with immediately and increases their power to speed up the process. His ability to go get a Spacecraft and immediately station it with seven charge counters could make for some very funny wins.
For example, Picard could tutor for The Serima from Edge of Eternities, immediately give all tapped legendary creatures (like Picard now is) indestructible while tutoring another creature off The Serima. Seven creatures feels a bit much in the current Standard format, but the changelings from Lorwyn Eclipsed come to mind as a solution to that problem.
The Federation is more than just an organization of explorers. They are also a coalition of species, and the Federation ability word represents and rewards players for unifying creatures of different species. Scott Bakula, er, Captain Jonathan Archer demonstrates the payoffs for embracing the Federation ideal.
Captain Jonathan Archer | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Green Mana
Legendary Creature – Human Officer
When Captain Archer enters, create Porthos, a legendary 1/1 green Dog creature token.
Federation – 1 Green Mana, tap: Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creature types among non-Borg creatures you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
3/3
Right off the bat, Archer and his loyal pet increase the X value on his Federation ability by 2. The longer a game goes, the larger that value can be. In truth, keeping that many different creatures in play can be tough even in limited gameplay. Even so, Federation is an incredibly flavorful implementation of a kindred strategy with a different angle.
A new land might make the whole thing worthwhile:
Starfleet Academy
Legendary Land
Tap: Add 1 Colorless Mana.
Federation – 5 Colorless Mana, tap: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to the number of creature types among non-Borg creatures you control.
Now, to make Federation work at all, the set needs a lot of other creature types. Thankfully, every one of Star Trek‘s alien species gets specific creature types rather than using “alien” as a catch all. Some of those characters even carry multiple creature types that contribute to Federation along with their own effects, like the main set’s Spock that doubles the number of cards its controller draws.
Mr. Spock, Science Officer
Legendary Creature – Vulcan Human Scientist
If you would draw a card, draw two cards instead.
2/4
Just like in Edge of Eternities, lands are a big factor in Magic the Gathering | Star Trek. Landfall is a deciduous mechanic that Magic sets can use as needed, so it’s no surprise to see it in this set. The act of discovering territory does line up well with the idea of playing a land – though personally I would have preferred Ixalan’s Explore given a new context. Credit where it’s due, Star Trek Discovery‘s Michael Burnham combines with Reality Fracture’s red Koth to open up a new frontier for mono-red decks.
Captain Michael Burnham | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Red Mana
Legendary Creature – Human Officer
Trample
Landfall – Whenever a land you control enters, Captain Burnham deals 1 damage to each opponent. If this is the second time this ability has resolved this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Captain Burnham.
3/3
Once those lands are in play, they’re even more useful than normal. Inspired by the iconic introduction and Paramount+ series, Strange new words is an ability word that checks for the names of lands. For each differently named land, the payoff increases.
Case in point, a revised take on Oracle of Mul Daya in the form of Christopher Pike.
Captain Pike, Fullness of Time | 1 Colorless Mana, 2 Green Mana
Legendary Creature – Human Officer Scout
Strange new worlds – Captain Pike’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of differently named lands you control.
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may play lands from the top of your library.
*/*
Strange new worlds can also appear on nonpermanent spells, giving flexibility in how and when to leverage various lands in play. With the right kind of configuration, players might even be able to draw six or more cards with no downside.
Deep Space Scan | 4 Colorless Mana, 2 Blue Mana
Sorcery
Strange new worlds – Draw X cards, where X is the number of differently named lands you control. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn.
Magic the Gathering | Star Trek will have reprints of all ten of the iconic shock lands, which can enter untapped for the cost of 2 life. That will keep these together in the Standard rotation, a format that currently is chock full of nonbasic lands. Limited play won’t only have to rely on the shock lands thanks to a cycle of locations from the franchise that come with choices if they enter untapped.
Quark’s Bar
Land
This land enters tapped unless you control two or more other lands.
When this land enters untapped, choose one –
- This land deals 1 damage to each opponent.
- Surveil 1.
Tap: Add 1 Red Mana.
As revealed in the sneak peek, these choices form the backbone of another mechanic – facing a dilemma. A dilemma is a game state which occurs when a player makes a choice as part of resolving an effect. Making a choice when playing Quark’s Bar to either deal damage or Surveil is one such case. Facing a dilemma has rewards beyond those choices thanks to cards like Seven of Nine.
Seven of Nine | 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana, 1 Black Mana
Legendary Artifact Creature – Human Scientist
Whenever you face a dilemma, draw a card. (You face a dilemma as you choose one or more modes for a spell or ability.)
2/4
Another set that Magic the Gathering | Star Trek seems to share some DNA with – for good or ill – is Marvel’s Spider-Man. Like that set, Star Trek has a mechanic that has returning a creature to the hand as a cost. In the context of Star Trek, this simulates beaming up using the transporter.
Beam me up is a keyword on instants and sorceries that allows a player to cast the spell from the graveyard for an alternative mana cost (similar to Flashback), along with returning a creature to hand. Open Communications is a simple example of this design.
Open Communications | 1 Blue Mana
Sorcery
Draw a card.
Beam me up: 2 Colorless Mana, 1 Blue Mana (You may cast this card from your graveyard for 2 Colorless Mana and 1 Blue Mana if you also return a creature you control to its owner’s hand. Then exile this spell.)
This mix of Flashback and Web-Slinging is novel, but it may end up being the weak link of the set, depending on what other spells come with this mechanic attached. That said, with Slight of Hand set to rotate out of Standard at the beginning of 2027, spell-slinging decks might want to try Open Communications as a replacement.
Now, while many of the mechanics of the Star Trek set celebrate the lofty hopes of the Federation and utopia, one in particular highlights the terror of one of its greatest threats – the Borg. Just like in the series, the Borg hive mind can assimilate the opponent’s creatures over to the other side of the table, joining the collective.
Assimilating a creature includes moving it from whatever zone it is in to the player’s battlefield, giving it a +1/+1 counter, replacing its creature types with the Borg type, and making it an Artifact in addition. It will still retain all its other properties – though it won’t add to Federation ever again.
A creature can be assimilated even from exile, as seen on Borg Cube:
Borg Cube | 5 Colorless Mana, 1 White Mana, 1 Black Mana
Artifact – Spacecraft
Affinity for artifact creatures
Whenever this Spacecraft enters or attacks, assimilate a creature card exiled with it. If you can’t, exile up to one target creature. (To assimilate a card, put it on to the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter. It’s a Borg artifact creature and loses all other creature types.)
Station
12+ charge counters: Artifact creatures you control have flying.
6/6
Considering this deeper look at what this frontier offers, Magic the Gathering | Star Trek looks to be iterating on some less notable aspects of Magic’s previous space adventures. The new perspective on Spacecraft is a promising direction. Facing a dilemma is a clever way to re-contextualize years of Magic design. There’s a good chance that this jam-packed year of excellent sets manages to stick the landing – or reach the stars.
Magic the Gathering | Star Trek prerelease begins November 6, 2026, followed by a release on Magic the Gathering Arena November 10, 2026, and a wide release on November 13, 2026.
