Underrated Uncommon MTG Star Trek Commander Enables Explosive Turn 4 Wins

Spoiler season for MTG Star Trek is now in full swing, and the hits just keep on coming. In addition to a bunch of great new cards for various formats, we’ve also seen some truly intriguing new Commanders to boot. Interestingly, one of the best so far, Hemmer, Fixing What Is Broken, comes in the uncommon slot, which is unusual for MTG. Despite its low rarity, however, this is a great new build-around with some serious combo potential out of the command zone.

Hemmer, Fixing What Is Broken MTG

For two mana, Hemmer gets you a 2/3 body with a couple of highly useful abilities. While the Spacecraft protection effect only works on your turn, it’s still nice to have some extra resilience here. Since Spacecraft often take multiple turns to fully Station, this prevents opponents from just removing them as soon as they become creatures and denying you your payoff. With powerful Spacecraft like Uthros Research Craft Uthros Research Craft Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It's an artifact creature at 12+.)
3+ | Whenever you cast an artifact spell, draw a card. Put a charge counter on this Spacecraft.
12+ | Flying
This Spacecraft gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control. and The Seriema The Seriema When The Seriema enters, search your library for a legendary creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It's an artifact creature at 7+.)
7+ | Flying
Other tapped legendary creatures you control have indestructible. available in Azorius colors, there’s plenty of upside to building around the card type with Hemmer.

You’ll also want to run some Spacecraft to support Hemmer’s ‘loot on tapping’ ability, which is the real star of the show here. Early on, Hemmer’s 2/3 stats will let you do this each turn simply by attacking, but later on you’ll want to rely on guaranteed tap outlets instead. Spacecraft are ideal here since you can use their Station abilities to tap Hemmer even once they’re fully charged, and the Station lands like Uthros, Titanic Godcore Uthros, Titanic Godcore This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {U}.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Planet. Station only as a sorcery.)
12+ | {U}, {T}: Add {U} for each artifact you control. work here as well.

In a similar vein, Vehicles like Smuggler’s Copter Smuggler’s Copter Flying
Whenever this Vehicle attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) and Shorikai, Genesis Engine Shorikai, Genesis Engine {1}, {T}: Draw two cards, then discard a card. Create a 1/1 colorless Pilot creature token with "This token crews Vehicles as though its power were 2 greater."
Crew 8 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 8 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) are excellent unlimited tap outlets as well. Alternatively, you can grant Hemmer a tap ability with something like Paradise Mantle Paradise Mantle Equipped creature has "{T}: Add one mana of any color."
Equip {1} or Ocular Halo Ocular Halo Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: Draw a card."
{W}: Enchanted creature gains vigilance until end of turn. to tap him on demand. With these cards in the mix, untappers like Thousand-Year Elixir Thousand-Year Elixir You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
{1}, {T}: Untap target creature. will let you double-dip on looting each turn for even more selection.

Once your looting engine is up and running, you can tap into various payoffs to develop your game. Discard synergy cards, like Monument to Endurance Monument to Endurance Whenever you discard a card, choose one that hasn't been chosen this turn —
• Draw a card.
• Create a Treasure token.
• Each opponent loses 3 life. and Containment Construct Containment Construct Whenever you discard a card, you may exile that card from your graveyard. If you do, you may play that card this turn. , are a great place to start, offering extra value for every Hemmer trigger. Similarly, Hemmer’s extra draw is fantastic for getting value from cards like King T’Challa King T’Challa Flash
Whenever a player draws their second card each turn, you draw a card.
{4}{W}{U}: Transform King T'Challa. Activate only as a sorcery. and Mischievous Mystic Mischievous Mystic Flying
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, create a 1/1 blue Faerie creature token with flying. , which care about your second draw each turn.

Since Hemmer dumps so many cards into your graveyard as it loots, there’s even room for a graveyard sub-theme. Spells with Flashback, Harmonize, or even the new Beam Me Up mechanic are all ideal inclusions, since you can discard them to Hemmer and replay them later. Harmonize spells like Winternight Stories Winternight Stories Draw three cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard a creature card.
Harmonize {4}{U} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its harmonize cost. You may tap a creature you control to reduce that cost by {X}, where X is its power. Then exile this spell.) are particularly good options, as they can tap Hemmer itself when you cast them from your graveyard.

With so much discard, cards that use your graveyard as a resource, such as Abhorrent Oculus Abhorrent Oculus As an additional cost to cast this spell, exile six cards from your graveyard.
Flying
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, manifest dread. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.) and Dig Through Time Dig Through Time Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Look at the top seven cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. , are also fantastic in a Hemmer deck. Add in some recursion tools, like Mystic Sanctuary Mystic Sanctuary ({T}: Add {U}.)
This land enters tapped unless you control three or more other Islands.
When this land enters untapped, you may put target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard on top of your library. and Sevinne’s Reclamation Sevinne’s Reclamation Return target permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If this spell was cast from a graveyard, you may copy this spell and may choose a new target for the copy.
Flashback {4}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) , and you’ll have a surprisingly versatile and resilient Azorius brew.

Dig For Victory

Beyond its plentiful fair potential, Hemmer, Fixing What Is Broken also enables several infinite combo lines, letting you loot through your entire deck with ease. The easiest way to do this is to kit Hemmer out with both Paradise Mantle Paradise Mantle Equipped creature has "{T}: Add one mana of any color."
Equip {1} and Freed from the Real Freed from the Real Enchant creature
{U}: Tap enchanted creature.
{U}: Untap enchanted creature. . With this setup, you can tap Hemmer for blue mana, trigger a loot, then pay blue to untap him and repeat.

You can also pull off this combo with Hemmer in other ways, such as exiling an Aphetto Alchemist Aphetto Alchemist {T}: Untap target artifact or creature.
Morph {U} (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron Agatha’s Soul Cauldron You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. and giving Hemmer its ability, letting it tap to untap itself repeatedly. Alternatively, with a tap outlet like a Spacecraft in play, you can use Ioreth of the Healing House Ioreth of the Healing House {T}: Untap another target permanent.
{T}: Untap two other target legendary creatures. and Marvin, Murderous Mimic Marvin, Murderous Mimic Marvin has all activated abilities of creatures you control that don't have the same name as this creature. to untap each other and Hemmer over and over. This redundancy, paired with Hemmer’s natural looting, makes this combo fairly easy to pull off.

Once your deck is empty, you can close out the game with one of the classic ‘if your deck has no cards’ win conditions. Thassa’s Oracle Thassa’s Oracle When this creature enters, look at the top X cards of your library, where X is your devotion to blue. Put up to one of them on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. If X is greater than or equal to the number of cards in your library, you win the game. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.) is easily the best of these, but Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Jace, Wielder of Mysteries If you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, you win the game instead.
+1: Target player mills two cards. Draw a card.
−8: Draw seven cards. Then if your library has no cards in it, you win the game. and Laboratory Maniac Laboratory Maniac If you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, you win the game instead. make great backups. If you’re feeling particularly spicy, the new Fblthp, Impossibly Lost Fblthp, Impossibly Lost When one or more of your opponents are dealt combat damage during your turn, draw two cards. If your library has no cards in it, you win the game. Fblthp's owner shuffles him into their library. (If you draw from an empty library this way, you still win the game.) is also an option, albeit a worse one since you need to connect for damage.

Overall, despite being an uncommon, Hemmer, Fixing What Is Broken looks like a very legit MTG Commander for multiple brackets. If you’re looking for a flexible strategy that can win games without breaking the bank, this is definitely one to look out for come next month.

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