MTG Star Trek Teasers Highlight Multiple Doubling Effects and Earl Grey Tea Card

Despite Reality Fracture being less than a month old, we’re already moving on to MTG’s next set. In less than a week, on October 20th, the highly controversial MTG Star Trek’s spoiler season kicks off. While many may want more time with Reality Fracture, for Star Trek fans, next week can’t come soon enough.

Fortunately, while Star Trek spoiler season hasn’t started yet, MTG designer Mark Rosewater has just shared some teasers for cards that will appear in the main Standard-legal set. With callouts to iconic Star Trek characters and tons of new doubling effects, there’s lots to be excited about.

Tons of Doubling Effects

Thanks to Commander’s slower nature, cards that do little on their own but create tons of value over time are extremely popular in the format. Doubling Season Doubling Season If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead.
If an effect would put one or more counters on a permanent you control, it puts twice that many of those counters on that permanent instead. or Roaming Throne Roaming Throne Ward {2}
As this creature enters, choose a creature type.
This creature is the chosen type in addition to its other types.
If a triggered ability of another creature you control of the chosen type triggers, it triggers an additional time. , for example, are ideal for creating the wacky, ridiculous board states that Commander is known for.

To add to Commander’s doubling mayhem, one of Rosewater’s teasers reveals the rules text of “if a triggered ability of that creature triggers, that ability triggers an additional time” will appear on an MTG Star Trek card. While this will likely be quite appealing in Commander, the exact wording here is a bit suspect.

Because of how this card is worded, it suggests that this effect will only affect one creature, meaning it could be an equipment like Wizard’s Staff Wizard’s Staff Equipped creature has prowess. (Whenever its controller casts a noncreature spell, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
If a triggered ability of equipped creature triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.
Equip Wizard {1}
Equip {3} or some sort of targeted ability. That said, if the card is rather generic and costs around four mana to fully use, it will likely see a ton of Commander play anyway.

If one doubling effect weren’t enough, Rosewater also teased a new card draw doubler with text that reads: “If you would draw a card, draw two cards instead.” Notably, we already have a few cards that do this, like Alhammarret’s Archive Alhammarret’s Archive If you would gain life, you gain twice that much life instead.
If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead. and Teferi’s Ageless Insight Teferi’s Ageless Insight If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead. , both of which see a ton of Commander play, appearing in 159,000 and 233,000 decks, respectively.

With these cards being so popular, this Star Trek draw doubler will likely become a strong redundancy piece for Commanders like Queza, Augur of Agonies Queza, Augur of Agonies Whenever you draw a card, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. and Varina, Lich Queen Varina, Lich Queen Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life.
{2}, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token. . Between these two doubler effects and the appearance of “four cards with the word “twice” in its rules text,” MTG Star Trek will be a set to watch for Commander players.

Losing the Game and Surviving at 0 Life

Beyond a bunch of new doubling effects for Commander players, MTG Star Trek also has a few extremely powerful pieces of rules text. The flashiest of these is “a new card that can make you lose the game”, which many speculate will appear on the teased card named Kobuyashi Maru Scenario. As a test designed by Star Fleet to place cadets in a no-win scenario, this would be an extremely flavorful nod.

Typically, lose-the-game conditions on MTG come up as downsides to cards that are otherwise extremely powerful, like Demonic Pact Demonic Pact At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one that hasn't been chosen —
• This enchantment deals 4 damage to any target and you gain 4 life.
• Target opponent discards two cards.
• Draw two cards.
• You lose the game. or Archfiend of the Dross Archfiend of the Dross Flying
This creature enters with four oil counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove an oil counter from this creature. Then if it has no oil counters on it, you lose the game.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, its controller loses 2 life. . More often than not, these cards’ upsides outweigh their downsides, giving them a niche role in competitive MTG. Of course, something like Harmless Offering Harmless Offering Target opponent gains control of target permanent you control. could also create a new combo with this card.

An arguably more interesting addition is the reveal of a card that lets you go to 0 life without losing the game. While this effect exists in current MTG, as Lich’s Tomb Lich’s Tomb You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
Whenever you lose life, sacrifice a permanent for each 1 life you lost. (Damage causes loss of life.) or Marina Vendrell’s Grimoire Marina Vendrell’s Grimoire When Marina Vendrell's Grimoire enters, if you cast it, draw five cards.
You have no maximum hand size and don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
Whenever you gain life, draw that many cards.
Whenever you lose life, discard that many cards. Then if you have no cards in hand, you lose the game. demonstrates, it usually comes with a massive catch.

Often, because these cards offer little value beyond changing your loss condition, they aren’t very playable outside of Commander. That said, cards like Phyrexian Unlife Phyrexian Unlife You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
As long as you have 0 or less life, all damage is dealt to you as though its source had infect. (Damage is dealt to you in the form of poison counters.) have created powerful combos in the past, essentially making your immortal with Solemnity Solemnity Players can't get counters.
Counters can't be put on artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or lands. . With this in mind, it’ll be worth watching for this card to see if it creates a powerful new combo.

More Immersion-Breaking Food?

Continuing the MTG crossover greats like Hot Dog Cart Hot Dog Cart When this artifact enters, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
{T}: Add one mana of any color. and Bagel and Schmear Bagel and Schmear Share — {W}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature. Draw a card. Activate only as a sorcery.
Nosh — {2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life and draw a card. from MTG Spider-Man, or MTG TMNT’s overabundance of pizzas, MTG Star Trek will introduce an Earl Grey Tea card. With the card name “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” revealed as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, some players were unsurprisingly upset.

While this might not be another artifact Food card, given that it follows in the line of others criticized for breaking immersion, a strong reaction seems inevitable.

The bright side, at least, is that MTG players may not have to deal with this much longer. As demonstrated by 2027’s Marvel Darkhold Destiny’s decision to write a new story for MTG’s Universes Beyond crossover, it appears that a lot more care is being taken to avoid issues like this next year. Hopefully, if these food items do come back, it will be in a more tongue-in-cheek way.

Player Predictions

Frankly, compared to past MTG set teasers, MTG Star Trek seems to be a bit less exciting than the rest. Still, many of the new details hint at the appearance of beloved Star Trek characters, which has fans excited.

Tribbles, for example, have been confirmed to appear in this set, which pairs perfectly with another one of Rosewater’s teasers. Many players feel that Tribbles will likely be the card that “lets you search for any number of cards in your library with its name.” As such, there’s a fair chance that Tribbles could be a new ‘Relentless’ effect in MTG, allowing you to play any number of copies of it in your decks.

Otherwise, many upcoming creature types suggest the appearance of MTG Star Trek characters players are excited about. The Legendary Ooze Horror, for example, is speculated to be Armus, while a Ferengi Noble is almost certainly The Grand Nagus.

With MTG Star Trek being even more controversial than most of MTG’s existing Secret Lair crossovers, it will be particularly interesting to see how this set is received once spoiler season begins on October 20th. For now, however, these teasers suggest that Star Trek and Commander fans have a lot to look forward to.

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