If there’s one aspect of Magic: The Gathering that has seen a huge overhaul in the last few years, it’s collectability. Rare special treatments are now par for the course, with every set having serialized cards or something close to them. As revealed in today’s First Look stream, Star Trek is no exception, bringing signed autograph cards to MTG for the first time.
The MTG Star Trek Autograph Cards
This new treatment presents key Star Trek cards in a fully textless style, along with a real signature from the actor who portrays the character in question. While autographed cards are nothing new, being part of sports card collecting for decades, this is the concept’s Magic debut. We’ll be getting seven of these autograph cards in total, including Captains Kirk and Janeway, but they’re not all Captain cards.
While not officially ‘serialized,’ Wizards did note on today’s stream that there will be “a little north of 200” of each of these cards. This puts them among the rarer serialized cards in the game, like the X/250 concept Praetors from Modern Horizons 3. Though this should, in theory, guarantee high prices for these cards, there’s a lot of variance in the serialized card market.
The serialized Ulamog, the Defiler sells for over $2,300, for example, while the equally rare Teysa, Opulent Oligarch goes for just $790. A lot of pricing on cards at this level comes down to the aesthetic appeal of the treatment in question, which is dubious in this case. While the autograph certainly adds a unique edge, the art itself is fairly standard, at least on these first two examples.
Mixed First Picks
In terms of the two legends chosen to receive this treatment so far, it’s a bit of a mixed bag power-wise. Captain James T. Kirk, unfortunately, feels like a pretty poor card for such an iconic hero. While it’s very flexible, and could see play in discard decks like Norman Osborn//Green Goblin, it feels like a selection of bad options. The low stat line adds insult to injury here, too.
Captain Kathryn Janeway is a lot more interesting, essentially being another self-fueling Landfall engine like Icetill Explorer. Having yet another Exploration effect for decks like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur is fantastic, and the easy Explore triggers are a nice source of value. Janeway still isn’t an amazing card by any means, but it’s at least definitely playable, unlike Kirk.
Thankfully, playability isn’t always relevant when it comes to high-end collectible cards like this, as rarity is what matters. That said, there are still five of these cards to be revealed, so there’s plenty of room for the treatment to impress us yet. There’s also a very real chance that these become valuable beyond Magic spaces, as signed Star Trek memorabilia almost certainly holds weight in fandom spaces.
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