Star Trek Debut Stream Preview Recap

by
Josh Nelson
Josh Nelson
Star Trek Debut Stream Preview Recap

U.S.S. Enterprise-D, Galaxy-ClassU.S.S. Enterprise-D, Galaxy-Class | Art by Pablo Mendoza

On Stardate: Tuesday, October 20th, the WeeklyMTG stream on Twitch debuted the preview week for Star Trek, the newest upcoming Magic: The Gathering set. Coming out on November 13th, the set features a whole galaxy's worth of collaborative throwbacks. Furthermore, there are so many references to the CBS property that even a Klingon might consider the set illogical (and sorry to all those Vulcans out there - you've got it bad). So engage with us as we traverse the universe, and recap the coolest cards in Star Trek!

New Mechanics

To start, let's go over some of the new (and a few returning) mechanics within the set:

"Beam me up!"

Functioning with some similarity to Web-slinging from Marvel's Spider-Man, "Beam me up" is a Flashback-style mechanic in that it functions from the graveyard. To cast a spell with Beam me up, you pay the requisite cost and return a creature you control to its owner's hand. It's as simple as that! Just be sure you aren't halfway on the teleporter; nasty things can happen in there.

Open Communications

Face a Dilemma

"Facing a dilemma" is the new shorthand for picking modes on a modal spell or ability. Technically, this is a returning mechanic from the days of Charms, Commands, and Confluences (and all manner of other modal cards). However, when Wizards of the Coast puts a keyword or terminology to something, expect to see it much more often in the future.

A few cards in Star Trek reference facing a dilemma, including the previously previewed Seven of NineSeven of Nine. There are purportedly other cards in the set that do so, however, so be on the lookout!

Seven of Nine

Federation

Federation is an ability keyword that asks players to keep an eye on the creature types of any non-Borg creatures under their control. Borgs (and their other creature types) are excluded for flavor reasons, of course, but any creature type on a non-Borg creature will apply here.

Starfleet Academy. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Captain Jonathan Archer. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

"Strange new worlds"

Similarly to how Federation tracks (most) creature types, "Strange new worlds" tracks the number of lands you control with different names. This ability keyword uses this information in a variety of ways depending on the card.

Deep Space Scan. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Captain Pike, Fullness of Time. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Spacecraft and Station

A returning mechanic in Star Trek, as fitting as First Officer Riker's uniform, is the paired use of Spacecraft and Station. There are plenty of different starships in Star Trek, so this mechanic is a perfect match for the set. Here are some of the cards previewed that utilize this mechanic:

U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Romulan Bird-of-Prey. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS U.S.S. Reliant, From Hell's Heart. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS D-7 Battle Cruiser. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS U.S.S. Discovery, at Black Alert. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Assimilate

The Borg's primary keyword is Assimilate, a mechanic that steals opposing creatures from various zones to under your control. The mechanic also makes the creature stolen into a Borg artifact creature and puts a +1/+1 counter on it. It will lose all of its other creature types, but at least you'll have added another Borg to your ranks!

Borg Cube. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Battlefront (Commander Only)

An ability only seen on cards in the set's Commander precons, Battlefront is a keyword that cares about the number of opponents you have attacked in a given turn. What's a good example of a card with a Battlefront ability? We'll show you that soon. Read on!

Seek Out (Commander Only)

The second of two keywords specific to the Star Trek Commander precons, Seek Out is yet another ability keyword debuting in the release. This one cares about when you draw your second card in a given turn. And, as with Battlefront, an example of cards with Seek Out will be shown later in this article.

Star Trek Main Set Previews

Here are a ton of cards from the main Star Trek set:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a new card from Star Trek. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Troubling Tribbles. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Kobayashi Maru Scenario. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Lieutenant Commander Data. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Mr. Spock, Science Officer. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Nyota Uhura, Communications. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Seven of Nine, Unassimilated. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS In the Pale Moonlight. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Captain Michael Burnham. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

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Quark, Humble Proprietor. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Worf, Intelligence Contractor. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Amok Time. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Dr, Joseph M'Benga. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

The City on the Edge of Forever. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Gowron, Eager for Battle. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Hit It! Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Live Long and Prosper. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Engineered Explosives, a reprinted card from Star Trek. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Replicator. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Federation Outpost. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Quark's Bar. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The Unicomplex. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Booster Fun

Here are a smattering of Booster Fun treatments within the main set!

Autographed Cards

These are the headliner cards for Star Trek. They're super-scarce and very cool:

The autographed headliner of Captain James T. Kirk. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headliner for Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headliner for Mr. Spock, Science Officer. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headlienr for Lieutenant Commander Data. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headliner for Captain Kathryn Janeway. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headliner for Seven of Nine, Unassimilated. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The autographed headliner for Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

LCARS Shocklands

The Library Computer Access and Retrieval System, or LCARS, is a main concept in the Star Trek property. As such, all ten Shocklands are featured in this set!

Spacecraft Schematics

These cards showcase the schematics of Star Trek's various starships:

U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit in the Schematic treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS U.S.S. Reliant, From Hell's Heart in the Schematic treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS D-7 Battle Cruiser in the Schematic treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS U.S.S. Discovery, at Black Alert in the Schematic treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Borg Cube in the Schematic treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Stardates Cards

These cards explore crucial moments in Star Trek's storied past. Effectively the "Source Material" of this set, Stardates are reprints of some pretty neat cards.

Kenrith, the Returned King as General Picard, Earth Warlord. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Bristly Bill, Spine Sower as Leonard McCoy, Country Doctor. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Prosper, Tome-Bound as Spock, Mirror Malefactor. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Minamo, School at Water's Edge as Academy on the Bay. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Klingon Frame Cards

A small contingent of cards have been given a Klingon-style frame:

Bat'leth, in the Klingon frame. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS A Good Day to Die, in the Klingon frame. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Worf Intelligence Contractor, in the Klingon frame. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Gowron, Eager for Battle, in the Klingon frame. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Additionally, these cards will be available in the canon Klingon language as well, albeit only available in Klingon from Collector Boosters.

Scene Cards

Scene cards return to Magic in this set! There are many scenes depicted within them here, such as:

  • Showdown at Sector 001: Picard is no more (for an episode, at least). This 4-card scene by Nicky Barkla shows the nail-biting confrontation between Data and Locutus from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • Mirror, Mirror: Mark Spears's 6-card scene brings this unforgettable episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to Magic, complete with a goatee'd Spock.
  • Unimatrix Zero: Star Trek: Voyager's battle between Janeway and the Borg Collective comes to life on Gal Or's 6-card scene, with a special appearance by Seven of Nine in a unique 2-by-3-card vertical scene.
  • Deep Space Find: The vibrant cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has gathered on Marija Tiurina's 9-card scene. Odo, Quark, Sisko, Jadzia … There're too many to count!

There are also two Scene Boxes in this release!

Classic Enterprise Cards

Finally, the Starship Enterprise wouldn't be complete in its history without some retro-inspired cards to close out the Booster Fun:

Troubling Tribbles, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Kobayashi Maru Scenario, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Mr. Spock, Science Officer, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Nyota Uhura, Communications, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Salt Vampire, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Captain James T. Kirk, in the Classic Enterprise treatment. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Commander Decks

Finally, there are four Commander precons to go along with the release of Star Trek. Those four decks are:

  • Federation Fleet ()
  • Landing Party ()
  • Klingon Fury ()
  • We Are The Borg ()

Here are some of the cards you'll find within the Star Trek Commander precons!

The Borg Queen, the face commander of the We Are The Borg Commander precon. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Commander Spock, the face commander of the Landing Party Commander precon. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Jean-Luc Picard, Luminary, the face commander of the Federation Fleet Commander precon. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Worf, Defiant Commander, the face commander of the Klingon Fury Commander precon. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Guinan, Ancient Advisor. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Join the Collective. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Spot, Felis catus. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Koloth, Tribble Hunter. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Locutus of Borg. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Command Chair. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS Starship Enterprise. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS The Sword of Kahless. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and CBS

Furthermore, these decks also have a limited-run Collector's Edition series to go along with them. The standard-issue precons have an MSRP of $74.99, while their Collector's Edition variants are $159.99 each.

"Make it so!"

Star Trek looks like it'll be a banger of a set. There are so many aspects that will appeal not only to fans of the series but also to Magic players unfamiliar with it. All of this to say, it's probably worth a gander!

And now, let's open the floor to you, dear readers! Are you excited for Star Trek and all it offers? What's your favorite thing about it so far in this set? Sound off in the comments below!

Josh Nelson

Josh Nelson

Josh Nelson wears many hats. They are a music journalist when not writing gaming news. Beyond this, they're a scholar of the Sweeney Todd urban legend, a fan of monster-taming RPGs, and a filthy Aristocrats player. Josh has been playing Magic since 2001 and attributes their tenure to nostalgia, effort, and "aesthetic".

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