The 29 Best Star Trek Cards for Standard

All Good Things. . . | Illustration by Lazare Gvimradze

The release of MTG’s Star Trek set is bound to make an impact in diverse Constructed formats. Star Trek is one of the last sets to be released in this huge Standard format before the 2027 rotation. As such, many of these cards will have a better chance to shine after rotation.

Before we begin, we need to talk about the current Standard metagame, which currently has many top-tier decks:

• Mono-Green is a very explosive deck based around landfall and cards like Tifa Lockhart and Mossborn Hydra. The deck can grind thanks to landfall cards like Icetill Explorer and Sapling Nursery.
• Dimir Kaito keeps being relevant as the metagame shifts, and this deck has dodged major bannings. The idea is to use evasive creatures like Dream Beavers and Spyglass Siren to push a Turn 3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and to take over the game from there. Enduring Curiosity is a solid card drawer, too.
• Dimir Reanimator relies on Superior Spider-Man and a mill package. You’ll win via cards like Doomsday Excruciator, Ardyn, the Usurper, and Emeritus of Ideation.
• Orzhov Lifegain is a white and black deck that exploits lifegain triggers. You have enablers like Liliana the Faultless or Hinterland Sanctifier, and many payoffs, like Ajani Resolute and Amalia Benavides Aguirre.
• 4C Control relies on Jeskai Revelation, Together as One, and Inevitable Defeat to control the early board and overpower with a lot of card advantage in the late game.
• Boros Dwarves mainly has The Hobbit cards and has pretty strong equipment synergy, demonstrating that some sets have a strong linear archetype that impacts Standard.

Star Trek has pretty interesting artifact subthemes, with a couple spacecraft cards and pieces that synergize with them, so artifacts are back on the menu for sure.

What Star Trek Cards Are Standard-Legal?

Stable Wormhole | Illustration by Bruce Brenneise

There are two MTG Star Trek sets: Star Trek (TRK) and Star Trek Commander (TRC). All TRK cards are Standard legal. As a general rule, most TRC cards aren’t legal in Standard because they were designed with Commander in mind or are Eternal reprints, but some cards, like Negate and Valorous Stance, are reprints of cards already legal in Standard.

Cards from the Stardates (SDS) bonus sheet aren’t legal in Standard with the exception of Hikaru Sulu, Peerless Pilot, a reskin of Loot, Exuberant Explorer.

#29. Collation Trimatrix

Collation Trimatrix is a base for an aggressive artifact deck. You have a serviceable 1-drop that can enable your artifact synergies and draw cards later. This reminds me of Warden of the Inner Sky, a card that saw plenty of play in Standard, or Cryptbreaker in zombie decks.

#28. Federation Resupply

Many decks in Standard can use a cheap tutor, like Dwarves or Enchantress. Federation Resupply costs 2 mana and is reusable thanks to beam me up; considering we might have new decks revolving around spacecraft, I suspect this card will see some play. We can even beam some dwarves up, like Dáin's Company, to get even more value.

#27. Borg Cube

Borg Cube is an exceptional spacecraft, in the sense that you’ll either exile a creature or assimilate it. This card often costs 3-4 mana in an artifact creature deck, and I’m evaluating it just for the removal aspect. But if you were to blink it, then the power is real.

#26. Khan, Vengeful Heart

Resilient threats tend to see play in Standard, especially if exile removal is common. I can see a curve of Simulacrum Shaper into Khan, Vengeful Heart, drawing three cards and ramping. Not to mention, there are aristocrats decks in Standard, plus decks that sacrifice artifacts, enabling cards like Biotech Specialist.

#25. Antagonist Incorporator

If black-white going wide with artifacts is ever a respectable deck, Antagonist Incorporator will be a key player. Yes, you need to pay 1 mana each time, so the card doesn’t snowball that hard, but free 1/1 artifact tokens are what make these decks so scary. Going wide with artifacts also helps the affinity mechanics this set offers.

#24. Highly Illogical

After rotation, I can see Highly Illogical being heavily played in blue decks as a nice mix of a soft and a hard counterspell. Even though Standard these days has a lot of 2-mana counters that will even survive rotation, this bridges the need for an early game soft counter and a hard counter in the late game.

#23. U.S.S. Discovery, at Black Alert

When I think ramp targets and payoffs, mechanics like cascade and discovery come to mind. With U.S.S. Discovery, at Black Alert, we have discover 5, which can be pretty potent in the right deck. Sometimes you’ll even drop something in that can come close to immediately stationing this spacecraft. Or just cast an efficient removal or draw spell, which is also gas.

#22. The Dilemma Lands

• Federation Outpost
• Ni'Var Science Academy
• The Unicomplex
• Quark's Bar
• Q Continuum

Star Trek defined the dilemma mechanic basically as modal cards, or cards that give you a bulleted choice. All of these lands offer you a choice between a free surveil 1 and another minor benefit, and lands that surveil are quite good. I don’t think they’re game changers, but they’re easy enough to add to a 2-color deck to replace a basic and generate something good for you.

My favorites are the blue one, Ni'Var Science Academy, which gives flying, and Q Continuum, which can grant +1/+1 and vigilance for a turn.

#21. Quark, Humble Proprietor

Generating Treasure tokens for free is good, but that’s of course assuming you can use them. Unless you want the artifacts for number. Using Quark, Humble Proprietor will require some sacrifices, and it’s good that Quark is a 1/2 creature that can at least chump block. Plus, with cards like Smaug the Magnificent in Standard, just having and generating Treasure tokens can be good.

#20. Dr. Beverly Crusher

White/black lifegain is a strong Standard deck, and the deck will need more lifegain-matters cards after rotation. Dr. Beverly Crusher is a solid addition to these decks, doubling the triggers you get from lifegain, and serving a similar function to Aerith Gainsborough as a 3 mana value lifegain payoff.

#19. Kobayashi Maru Scenario

Demonic Pact is in Standard and sees some play, so I have hopes for Kobayashi Maru Scenario. Combine this with cards like Harmless Offering and Iroh, Tea Master, and you can have a game-winning combo. Greed's Gambit is another card that’s used in these situations. Or just the classic Fear of Isolation + Nurturing Pixie + value.

#18. Dr. Joseph M’Benga

While green has a powerful +1/+1 counter strategy and cards like Ouroboroid, it’s hard to ignore Dr. Joseph M'Benga. It protects your +1/+1 counter creatures and adds a strong Hardened Scales effect. And yes, it’s a 4-drop that competes with other important cards in the deck, so I don’t see this as a 4x, but one or two can be interesting.

#17. The Naked Time

The Naked Time is an interesting card largely because of self-bounce. You can use cards like Nurturing Pixie to ignore chapter three, getting only the good chapters 1 and 2, and from that point on, it becomes a supercharged red Rampant Growth. Iroh, Tea Master is also a card that can give this to your opponent to force them to sacrifice a land.

#16. Locutus, the One Who Speaks

Locutus, the One Who Speaks is an artifact lord and a nice removal spell against aggressive decks. It’s legendary, so you have something to do with the excess copies you draw. It’s simple but very needed in the go-wide WB artifact strategy.

#15. The Destruction of Praxis

The Destruction of Praxis is a strong new black sweeper that might see a lot of play, especially in 4C Control or after Deadly Cover-Up rotates. Destroying a bunch of creatures and getting some 2/1 tokens is nice, and this card even covers some indestructible threats.

#14. MACO Strike Team

Standard already has Pawpatch Recruit, and while MACO Strike Team doesn’t have offspring, getting some free 1/1 officers is a nice bonus, especially if your threat gets removed. It’s also a fine 2/1 aggressive creature.

#13. U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit

U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit is an army in a can, and with any card that buffs officers or creatures, the tokens you’ve just created can station this card by the next turn. It’s a big midrange target that makes tokens and can gain some life later.

#12. Deep Space 9

If Standard decks need a high mana value target, look no further than this. Deep Space 9 can cheat up to four cards into play, and if they collectively have enough power to station this, your creatures have +3/+3. I expect this card to see play alongside Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant and Vaultborn Tyrant, among others.

#11. Jadzia Dax, Living Legacy

Jadzia Dax, Living Legacy is an interesting mana dork: Each turn, it gets a +1/+1 counter and generates free mana. The mana’s locked to your first main phase, but you can invest in +1/+1 counters to ramp harder, and Jadzia’s got a combat trick buyout if you draw it too late for the mana to matter.

#10. Engineered Explosives

A staple card in many formats, Engineered Explosives is a failsafe for the Standard format in case some strategies get too obnoxious. It’s often used against token strategies when X=0, or to kill decks that rely on their 1- or 2-drops.

#9. Salt Vampire

Even if we don’t have a real vampire typal deck in Standard, Salt Vampire is a 2/2 lifelink that gives you a exile-from-hand effect. The Vendilion Clique effect is nice disruption, and you can break up combos and take out your opponent’s good bombs or removal. It’s a strong way to fight those pesky reanimator decks, because you’ll either exile their strong creature or their reanimation enabler.

#8. Subcommander T’Pol

Subcommander T'Pol can be a nice Tishana's Tidebinder after rotation in tempo decks. It’s mostly a sideboard card, but you can play 1 in your main deck. When this effect is good, it’s game-breaking.

#7. Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Cadet

Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Cadet is a flash creature that’s also a mini Cryptic Command. It’s not as powerful as the original Cryptic, but as a surprise 2/2 threat, your opponents will have to respect 4 open mana, and this card can see a lot of play in flash control decks. Another valid comparison is Ertai Resurrected.

#6. Tasha Yar, Out of Time

This card seems pretty solid to me as a 2/1 haste creature that dies into another card. Tasha Yar, Out of Time will have less competition once Standard rotates, and it’s even an officer, if that becomes relevant with cards like Captain Benjamin Sisko and Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

#5. Scotty, Miracle Worker

Scotty, Miracle Worker lives and dies by its beam me up ability, reminding me of Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Beam me up can be even more interesting than flashback at times, because it enables some blink strategies.

#4. Hit It!

Fires of Yavimaya meets ramp with Hit It!. You’ll also mill the cards you revealed, so there’s even potential in Jund () graveyard/reanimator. This has the possibility of being a pillar in future RG ramp decks. Just putting a land in play already offsets the “do-nothing” effect of having a 3-mana enchantment card, and it’s quite strong with powerhouses like the Overlords, or something like Aerid Konstrari.

#3. Kira Nerys, Firebrand

Kira Nerys, Firebrand is well-statted for its mana cost, and it gives your haste or mobilize creatures a nice +1/+1 bonus. But the real deal is when you put a creature into play while attacking. That works with flash creatures, sort of like ninjutsu. This ability is novel, and it can spawn many crazy interactions.

#2. Captain Jean-Luc Picard

WotC isn’t joking with Enterprise captains. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is just solid all around, as an anthem that also gives you some officers to benefit from that bonus. A must-kill threat in creature-heavy decks.

#1. Captain James T. Kirk

Captain James T. Kirk is just value, triggering on entering or attacking. And like other red cards, you get additional benefits from having an empty hand, a condition that red aggro decks tend to meet. This card can help you find stuff you need, add to your board, and even give a mini anthem. When you’re empty-handed, you’ll discard nothing and draw a card for free, besides getting the token and the +1/+0 bonus.

Bonus: Naked Rakdos Aggro in Standard

Heroic Intervention | Illustration by Carlos C Diaz

Source

Although I wanted to highlight a specific WB artifacts aggro deck that gains a lot from this set, I don’t think it’s there yet. Instead, let’s look at a BR aggressive deck built around some oldies and new Star Trek cards, from YouTube user Mythic Mike.

The Naked Time is big here because this is an aggressive deck that doesn’t care about losing its own lands, and you even have ways to deal damage via Iridescent Vinelasher when you ramp. Many creatures come back from the graveyard, like Storied Veteran and Forsaken Miner.

This deck has many cheap cards, so Captain James T. Kirk can do some work when you’re empty-handed. You have haste in Samut, Hazoret's Champion and disruption in Salt Vampire. This is a Best-of-one Standard deck that wants to close the door on your opponent as fast as possible.

Wrap Up

Highly Illogical | Illustration by Joel Chaim Holtzman

And that brings a close to Star Trek and Standard. 2026 has been pretty tame with Standard’s power level, and the format’s been very healthy after some bannings. I think they’re keeping Standard’s power at a lower level, already preparing the format for the next rotation, when Standard will lose six sets, including some powerful ones like The Lost Caverns of Ixalan and Duskmourn: House of Horror. Still, there are some pretty powerful cards in Star Trek and in other sets like Secrets of Strixhaven and Reality Fracture, which will have their time to shine.

What do you think about Star Trek’s Standard power level, guys? Did you expect anything from this set, considering it’s a Universes Beyond one? Let me know in the comments section below, or over in our Draftsim Discord. And check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep, where our guys are discussing all things Star Trek.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you guys around.