We Are The Borg Upgrade Guide: 19 Easy Changes You Can Make

The Borg Queen | Background Illustration by Jodie Muir

We Are The Borg is a new Esper Commander precon from Star Trek Commander. It focuses on artifacts, with the Borg as Phyrexian-like creatures (and probably an original inspiration for the Phyrexians).

This precon is very interesting right out of the box, reaching towards a Bracket 3 level of competition. Today, I’m suggesting some easy changes to make this deck even leaner and stronger, while respecting a budget because MTG isn’t cheap these days. With that in mind, let’s get assimilated!

We Are the Borg Deck Overview

We Are The Borg is an Esper () artifact deck with The Borg Queen as its main commander. Most of the cards in the deck are artifacts or artifact creatures, or interact favorably with artifacts. The deck contains many interwoven themes, like ramping into expensive spells or swarming your opponents with many artifact creatures and pumping them.

This deck has four legendary Esper creatures that can be your commander. Three of them are more mana hungry: The Borg Queen, Hugh, First of Many with its replicate ability, and One, Borg Evolved. Locutus of Borg is a cheaper and less mana-intensive option, focused more on the combat aspect and getting on the board early.

I want to bolster the combat aspect of this deck and focus on Locutus of Borg as the main commander. But don’t get me wrong: The Borg Queen is very powerful as a 7-mana commander that has a strong immediate impact on the board, and a plan on ramping into the Queen and flickering could also be a very valid strategy.

Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Commander Deck - We are the Borg

• ASSIMILATE YOUR ENEMIES—Outwit and outmaneuver your friends in Star Trek’s final frontier with Commander, Magic’s most popular multiplayer format
• RESISTANCE IS FUTILE—Add your mind to the Borg Queen’s Collective and deploy waves of Borg tokens in your conquest of the universe. Even if your own forces fall, assimilate your enemies to add their strength to the Borg
• 33 NEW COMMANDER CARDS—Each ready-to-play deck includes 33 Star Trek-themed Commander cards entirely new to Magic: The Gathering
• FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDER—Command your deck in style with 1 Mythic Rare Legendary card featuring Borderless art and a shiny Traditional Foil treatment
• EPIC MULTIPLAYER GAMES—Best with 3–5 players, Commander is an action-packed, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue

$74.98

Buy on Amazon

Upgrade Plan

After the decision to change the commander, my upgrades focus on establishing an early artifact board and protecting it. I want to add more ways to draw cards based on the artifacts we have, and ways to make spells cheaper so that the deck becomes more consistent. Let’s turn this midrange-based value deck into a more aggressive artifact beatdown one!

To make room for the alterations, I’ll be mostly taking out more expensive cards that rely on this mid/control style of deck, and cards that synergize with charge counters on artifacts, which are more ideal in the long game. You also need to focus on combat damage; Locutus already gives you a 1/1 token if you deal damage with an artifact creature, so why not expand the bonuses with more card draw and the like?

Budget Suggestions

If money is not a concern, or you already have these cards, here are a few Commander staples that would be great in this deck:

• Esper Sentinel is perfect as a 1-drop that taxes players, draws some cards, and gets better if you have ways to raise its power.
• Roaming Throne naming Borg as a creature type doubles all your Borg triggers.
• Anointed Procession doubles your tokens, so your Locutus of Borg and other token-creators are twice as strong.
• Urza, Lord High Artificer is a staple in blue artifact decks: You can use your creatures for mana, create more artifact creatures, and turn mana into card advantage.
• Raffine's Tower and some shock lands like Watery Grave will improve your mana base a lot.

The Mana Base

Suggested Cuts: Evolving Wilds, Fetid Pools, Umbral Expanse, Irrigated Farmland

WotC is putting great mana bases in Commander precons recently, and this one is no exception. There’s a nice mix of dual lands and basics, as well as the excellent Commander dual land, Morphic Pool. Since I’m adding affinity cards, I also want to add a bunch of artifact lands.

Sai, Master Thopterist

Suggested Cut:

One of the reasons I’m cutting Ambulatory Reactor is that I want to change the deck’s plan: Instead of casting expensive 7-mana commanders, I want to cast cheap artifacts, which synergize well with Sai, Master Thopterist. Plus, 1/1 thopter tokens are nice with all the extra buffing you can give to artifacts and the combat damage ability from Locutus.

Bronze Guardian

Suggested Cut:

Bronze Guardian is such a cool payoff for having a lot of artifacts. First, they all get ward 2, and the more artifacts you have, the harder Bronze Guardian hits, with double strike on top.

I’m taking out Maturation Chamber to reduce the dependency on charge counters and slower cards that favor a grindier style of play.

Thought Monitor

Suggested Cut:

Thought Monitor is gas. It’s just an artifact Mulldrifter, but one that you can cast for 2-3 mana most of the time. It also flies, so it has some synergies with the commander.

Assimilate the Wounded is nice, but too conditional for my taste. Most of the time you won’t be able to play it. It would make more sense in a deck that runs edicts and has more of a sacrifice plan.

Voyage Home

Suggested Cut:

When your commander isn’t a 7-mana creature, the effectiveness of a 4-mana ramp spell like Stonespeaker Crystal goes down. I’m adding Voyage Home because it can be a clean draw-3 for way less than 7 mana, usually 3-4 in this deck with all its artifact support.

Shuri, Wakandan Inventor

Suggested Cut:

Here, I’m changing how the deck ramps. Most relevant spells are artifacts, and Shuri, Wakandan Inventor is a nice way to reduce their costs. The copy ability can be relevant sometimes with all the 1/1 tokens you can transform, but I’m playing it for the cost reduction.

Astral Cornucopia is much slower, and I’m also taking out cards that synergize with charge counters, so it gets worse in this build. It’ll just be a common Manalith in this reworked version of the deck.

Foundry Inspector

Suggested Cut:

I’m taking out some charge counters enablers and payoffs, and trading a 4-mana card for a 3-mana card that essentially does the same thing, if we don’t care about the station mechanic and charge counters. In Foundry Inspector, out Type-03 Borg Vessel.

Counterspell

Suggested Cut:

I’m changing the interaction type here. Counterspell is a very flexible answer, especially if you’re ahead, while Return to Dust is clunkier and only effective sometimes. I don’t like that this card is only a two-for-one if you cast it at sorcery speed, and time has largely left this 4-mana answer by the wayside.

Dovin’s Veto

Suggested Cut:

Another interaction change here. Darksteel Plate is nice to protect a big threat from destruction, while Dovin's Veto is an unconditional Negate. This deck will suffer more from enemy combos and sweepers than it will from spot removal, so that’s why I’m making this change.

Resistance Is Futile

Suggested Cut:

Resistance Is Futile needs to be in a Borg Commander deck, right? At least for the flavor. I like that it’s a more flexible Go for the Throat, and even if opponents only play artifacts, it does an Unearth impression.

Bitter Triumph is nice, but I’m improving the deck with this substitution, and losing the ability to remove planeswalkers isn’t that big of a deal in Commander.

Master of Etherium

Suggested Cut:

I get Gift of Perfection. It’s basically a good creature from your opponent’s library for free, and an artifact creature no less. But sometimes it whiffs, and we don’t have any incentives to play a card we don’t own (nice card for theft decks). That’s why I’m going with Master of Etherium here, a card that’s cheap, buffs your artifact creatures, and gets bigger the more artifacts you have.

Antagonist Incorporator

Suggested Cut:

I’m taking out Reconnaissance Partition, a Borg with an okay effect that makes less sense without the charge counter support. This kind of slow, grindy card is nice if you can keep putting more charge counters on it or blinking it, and 4 mana for a 3/3 that needs you to wait a turn before you do something isn’t something I’m really interested in. Instead, Antagonist Incorporator is a cheap creature with a good size and an awesome saboteur ability for all your artifacts, including tokens.

Research Thief

Suggested Cut:

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct is a nice support card for charge counters, but I’m not going that route. I’m adding Research Thief into the mix, a card that gives other artifact creatures the saboteur effect. This adds another layer of syergistic card draw to the deck.

Cyberman Patrol

Suggested Cut:

Both cards are artifact creatures; I just value the afflict 3 bonus more than the amplification of charge counters Optimization Annex provides. Cyberman Patrol is an efficient 1/3 that makes your 1/1 tokens more evasive or more painful, depending on what your opponents decide to do.

Organic Extinction

Suggested Cut:

When you have a lot of artifact creatures, Organic Extinction becomes an excellent card. Join the Collective destroys all creatures, including your own, and gives you some 1/1 Borg tokens. That’s potentially powerful, but I prefer the Plague Wind potential of Organic Extinction.

Cyberdrive Awakener

Suggested Cut:

Cyberdrive Awakener is a nice artifact lord, and taking them into the air is usually a huge swing, if not an immediate win. Yes, I know that 1/1 token creatures won’t get that benefit, but this deck has many regular artifact creatures to make up for it. I’m taking out a basic land and bringing the land total to 37.

The Final Deck and New Cards

Here’s the final deck with all the substitutions already in place, with a second list below of just the new cards. If you want to buy only the cards you need for the upgrade, you can use the shopping cart button on the decklist to buy them with just one click.

Commanding Conclusion

Borg Queen, One Who Is Many | Illustration by Erion Markuo

This upgrade of the We Are The Borg precon just changes the main commander to Locutus of Borg and adapts some of the card choices.

If I were to upgrade this deck using The Borg Queen as the main commander, I’d lean into more artifact ramp, more blink support and blink-related creatures, or Clone effects. Casting The Borg Queen is strong, and copying it is even stronger.

Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Commander Deck - We are the Borg

• ASSIMILATE YOUR ENEMIES—Outwit and outmaneuver your friends in Star Trek’s final frontier with Commander, Magic’s most popular multiplayer format
• RESISTANCE IS FUTILE—Add your mind to the Borg Queen’s Collective and deploy waves of Borg tokens in your conquest of the universe. Even if your own forces fall, assimilate your enemies to add their strength to the Borg
• 33 NEW COMMANDER CARDS—Each ready-to-play deck includes 33 Star Trek-themed Commander cards entirely new to Magic: The Gathering
• FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDER—Command your deck in style with 1 Mythic Rare Legendary card featuring Borderless art and a shiny Traditional Foil treatment
• EPIC MULTIPLAYER GAMES—Best with 3–5 players, Commander is an action-packed, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue

$74.98

Buy on Amazon

Are you planning on getting this precon? What do you think about the changes I’ve suggested? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below or the Draftsim Discord. And for more on Star Trek and Star Trek Commander, check out Draftsim’s YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.