Magic: The Gathering is adapting specific Star Trek episodes into Saga cards for its upcoming Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek set, using the card type’s chapter-based structure to walk players through complete story arcs. The Universes Beyond set draws from across the franchise’s 60-year history and releases Nov. 13, according to Polygon.
The MTG Star Trek Saga cards translate episodes into a sequence of in-game abilities, with each chapter representing a distinct story beat. Matt Tabak, of the Magic design team, explained why the card type fits Star Trek’s format so well.
“Sagas have emerged as an exceptional design tool for presenting story arcs from other universes because of their episodic nature,” Tabak said, according to Polygon. “Each chapter of a Saga can focus on an individual story beat, so when you put them together, you get a great overview of an entire episode in only a few abilities.”
Which Episodes Became Saga Cards
The Saga lineup reaches across the franchise. “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Amok Time,” both from “Star Trek: The Original Series,” get the Saga treatment alongside the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” episode “In the Pale Moonlight.”
Amok Time has a creature you control fight one an opponent controls, a fitting nod to Spock and Kirk’s duel on Vulcan. In the Pale Moonlight makes each opponent sacrifice a nontoken creature, then lets you investigate and trade an artifact or creature for two Romulan tokens.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard gets two Sagas of his own. Polygon revealed “The Inner Light,” a green-white rare based on the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode in which Picard lives out a lifetime on another world, and “All Good Things…,” a green-blue rare adapting the series finale. The Inner Light brings back a green or white creature from the graveyard, turns combat damage into card draw and wraps up by gaining life and creating a Treasure token.
The Sagas don’t stop there, either. The “Star Trek: Voyager” two-parter “Year of Hell” also shows up as a rare Saga in the set’s card gallery.
Other Cards Pulled From Star Trek Lore
Beyond the Saga cards, the set includes creatures and artifacts built around specific franchise moments. Interstellar Effigy, a five-mana blue artifact creature that bounces an opponent’s creature back to its owner’s hand when it enters, references the Original Series episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” in which the Enterprise crew discovers an alien threat is actually a puppet concealing a childlike being. Pet Sehlat, a 4/3 Bear for two generic mana and one white that can’t attack alone, nods to “Journey to Babel,” the episode that introduced Spock’s childhood pet, described in the show as a fat teddy bear with 6-inch fangs.
The Suurok-Class Science Vessel represents an early Vulcan ship from “Star Trek: Enterprise,” a series set about a century before The Original Series. The three-mana blue Spacecraft draws a card when it enters and becomes a flying creature once it’s stationed with five or more charge counters. Temporal Conqueror depicts the Na’kuhl, the time-traveling faction from Enterprise that allied with the Nazis in an altered 1944 timeline where Germany held both Moscow and Washington, D.C. The three-mana green Na’kuhl Warrior is a 2/3 that mills three cards when it enters, then returns a land card from the graveyard to its controller’s hand. If it can’t, it creates a Treasure token instead.
Cetacean Ops pays tribute to “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” depicting Kimolu and Matt, the two beluga whales who help navigate the USS Cerritos. The four-mana blue Whale Officer is a 3/3 with ward 1 that gains a +1/+1 counter whenever its controller casts a noncreature spell.
IGN’s exclusive reveal included Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, a two-mana common Food artifact that references Captain Picard’s signature drink order. The card draws a card when it enters, and for two more mana you can tap and sacrifice it to gain three life or deal two damage to an opponent.
IGN also revealed Mirror Universe Intrusion, a three-mana blue-black rare sorcery. Pay its kicker of four generic mana plus one blue and one black, and you copy all of an opponent’s creatures and give them menace. Rounding out IGN’s batch, Dahar Master is a four-mana red Klingon Warrior common, a 4/3 that can sacrifice a nonland permanent to deal damage to any target.
New Mechanics Built for the Set
Magic’s official site outlined the mechanics that come with the Star Trek crossover. Beam me up lets players cast certain instants and sorceries from their graveyard by returning a creature they control to its owner’s hand and paying the listed cost, and the spell is exiled afterward. Federation abilities count the creature types among a player’s non-Borg creatures, mirroring the United Federation of Planets’ multi-species makeup. Strange New Worlds abilities tie into exploration by counting how many differently named lands a player controls, while players face a dilemma whenever they choose modes on a modal spell or ability, according to Wizards of the Coast.
The Borg get their own new mechanic, too. Assimilate brings a card under your control as a Borg artifact creature with a +1/+1 counter, whether it’s coming from outside the battlefield or already on it. Spacecraft and the station ability also return from Edge of Eternities.
Release Date and Where to Preorder
Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek releases Nov. 13, with prerelease events at local stores running Nov. 6-12, according to Wizards of the Coast. Local game stores, TCGplayer, Amazon and other retailers are taking preorders now. Wizards announced Oct. 16 that some products are delayed in certain regions, and in North America, Commander decks could arrive after launch.
Previews are still rolling out, but fans won’t have to wait for the prerelease to see everything. Wizards of the Coast says its complete card image gallery goes live Oct. 30.
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