MTG We Are The Borg Introduces Legend That Copies All Your Artifacts

We’re into week two of Star Trek spoiler season now, and it’s time for the set’s Commander precons to make their long-awaited entrance. Kicking things off, today saw the full reveal of MTG We Are The Borg, a new Esper artifacts decks with a heavy focus on creature combat. With a whopping 32 new cards in the mix, many of which look absolutely fantastic for the format, this is a hell of an introduction to Star Trek’s supplementary product lineup.

Hugh, First of Many MTG

We Are The Borg actually includes four different Esper legends you could run in the command zone, and Hugh, First of Many is perhaps the spiciest option. The ability here, granting all of your artifact spells Replicate, is quite simple, but it has all manner of ramifications in play. Used fairly, this is a great way to turn good-early-but-underwhelming-late cards, like Cryogen Relic Cryogen Relic When this artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, draw a card.
{1}{U}, Sacrifice this artifact: Put a stun counter on up to one target tapped creature. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.) and Perilous Snare Perilous Snare Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
When this artifact enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
Max speed — {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or Vehicle you control. Activate only as a sorcery. , into late-game mana sinks. It also lets you double down on massive power plays like Portal to Phyrexia Portal to Phyrexia When this artifact enters, each opponent sacrifices three creatures of their choice.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It's a Phyrexian in addition to its other types. once you’ve ramped a lot, which artifact decks are great at doing.

While this is great in itself, Hugh also makes easy token copies of any artifact you cast, opening up a bunch of shenanigans. You can copy these tokens cheaply using cards like Worldwalker Helm Worldwalker Helm If you would create one or more artifact tokens, instead create those tokens plus an additional Map token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.")
{1}{U}, {T}: Create a token that's a copy of target artifact token you control. and Replicator Replicator When this artifact enters, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
{2}, {T}: Create a tapped token that's a copy of target token you control. , for instance, or get extra value with cards like Baron Bertram Graywater Baron Bertram Graywater Whenever one or more tokens you control enter, create a 1/1 black Vampire Rogue creature token with lifelink. This ability triggers only once each turn.
{1}{B}, Sacrifice another creature or artifact: Draw a card. . With a ton of utility in both the command zone and the 99, Hugh seems like a fantastic new legend, funny name aside.

Võx, Child of the Collective MTG

Võx is a rare instance of ramp in MTG not tied to a tap ability, but instead to an enters/start-of-combat trigger. It’s doubly strange because it uses the rare Undaunted ability, which scales with your opponents in Commander.

In this case, you’ll almost always be getting a three-mana discount whenever Võx triggers, which is a pretty major deal. This lets you dump staple artifact creatures like Scrap Trawler Scrap Trawler Whenever this creature dies or another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return to your hand target artifact card in your graveyard with lesser mana value. or Solemn Simulacrum Solemn Simulacrum When this creature enters, you may search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
When this creature dies, you may draw a card. for free or close to it, rapidly developing your board.

Võx is particularly strong with other artifact ramp, like Foundry Inspector Foundry Inspector Artifact spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. and The Eternity Elevator The Eternity Elevator {T}: Add {C}{C}{C}.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery.)
20+ | {T}: Add X mana of any one color, where X is the number of charge counters on The Eternity Elevator. , which can catapult you far ahead. It’s also worth noting that multiple instances of Undaunted stack, so if you blink Võx with something like Ephemerate Ephemerate Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.) , or double its main phase trigger with Gogo, Master of Mimicry Gogo, Master of Mimicry {X}{X}, {T}: Copy target activated or triggered ability you control X times. You may choose new targets for the copies. This ability can't be copied and X can't be 0. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.) , you can rack up discounts of six mana or more. At that point, even huge threats like Krang, Utrom Warlord Krang, Utrom Warlord Flying, trample, indestructible, haste
Other artifact creatures you control have flying, trample, indestructible, and haste. become trivial to cast.

As a final note, Võx’s ability discounts the next artifact creature and Spacecraft spell you cast, so you can get a ton of extra value here with colorless Spacecraft like Deep Space 9 Deep Space 9 When Deep Space 9 enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top four cards of your library. Put all permanent cards exiled this way onto the battlefield.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery.)
9+ | Creatures you control get +3/+3. and Starship Enterprise Starship Enterprise Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put four charge counters on Starship Enterprise.
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 16+.)
16+ | Flying
Whenever Starship Enterprise deals combat damage to a player, draw that many cards. . Even in a regular artifact deck, though, Võx seems like an extremely powerful new ramp piece to test.

Ambulatory Reactor MTG

Speaking of great MTG ramp cards, We Are The Borg has another one in Ambulatory Reactor. For four mana, this essentially serves as a Cryptolith Rite Cryptolith Rite Creatures you control have "{T}: Add one mana of any color." for artifact decks, letting all your artifact creatures tap to fuel more artifact shenanigans. This is honestly solid even with just one or two other artifact creatures in play, but it goes wild when you start generating a ton of tokens with the likes of Genesis Chamber Genesis Chamber Whenever a nontoken creature enters, if this artifact is untapped, that creature's controller creates a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token. or Myr Battlesphere Myr Battlesphere When this creature enters, create four 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature tokens.
Whenever this creature attacks, you may tap X untapped Myr you control. If you do, this creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn and deals X damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking. .

Add in an ‘ability Haste’ granter, 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. , and now blue artifact decks can emulate the huge success Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
{T}: Add two mana of any one color. Spend this mana only to activate abilities of creature sources. decks have been seeing lately. There’s also a ton of combo potential here, particularly with the on-color Intruder Alarm Intruder Alarm Creatures don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
Whenever a creature enters, untap all creatures. to refresh your artifact mana every time you make a new token. All you need is something like Urza, Prince of Kroog Urza, Prince of Kroog Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2.
{6}: Create a token that's a copy of target artifact you control, except it's a 1/1 Soldier creature in addition to its other types. , which makes tokens on demand, and this can easily snowball into an infinite.

Even without wild lines like this in the mix, Ambulatory Reactor feels like a new staple for pretty much every blue artifact deck. Whether you play Urza, Lord High Artificer Urza, Lord High Artificer When Urza enters, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control."
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Add {U}.
{5}: Shuffle your library, then exile the top card. Until end of turn, you may play that card without paying its mana cost. or Breya, Etherium Shaper Breya, Etherium Shaper When Breya enters, create two 1/1 blue Thopter artifact creature tokens with flying.
{2}, Sacrifice two artifacts: Choose one —
• Breya deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker.
• Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
• You gain 5 life. , this is a newcomer you’ll definitely want to pick up.

Transwarp Hub MTG

Most Spacecraft we’ve seen so far in MTG have been overcosted in one way or another, whether by mana cost or Station requirements. Transwarp Hub, by contrast, feels almost absurdly undercosted, packing a ton of value for just three mana.

The enters effect here alone, which is like a better Stock Up Stock Up Look at the top five cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. in artifact decks, would likely be enough by itself. Coming on an artifact, the potential for blinking or recycling Hub makes this quite an exciting draw effect, especially if you’re running graveyard synergy like Emry, Lurker of the Loch Emry, Lurker of the Loch Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
When Emry enters, mill four cards.
{T}: Choose target artifact card in your graveyard. You may cast that card this turn. (You still pay its costs. Timing rules still apply.) .

On top of that, Transwarp Hub also provides one of the best ways we’ve seen to sneak creatures through for damage in a while. Stationing for three is trivial for the majority of decks, at which point this can freely grant unblockable to even your biggest creatures. This is particularly nice in decks that rely on combat damage, like Mendicant Core, Guidelight Mendicant Core, Guidelight Mendicant Core's power is equal to the number of artifacts you control.
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
Max speed — Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, copy it. (The copy becomes a token.) , but it’s also just good in any deck with chunky creatures.

To top it off, Hub doesn’t even become a creature once Stationed, which keeps it safe as you pursue your combat plan. Add in potential shenanigans with artifact untappers like Tezzeret, Cruel Captain Tezzeret, Cruel Captain Whenever an artifact you control enters, put a loyalty counter on Tezzeret.
0: Untap target artifact or creature. If it's an artifact creature, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
−3: Search your library for an artifact card with mana value 1 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−7: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of combat on your turn, put three +1/+1 counters on target artifact you control. If it's not a creature, it becomes a 0/0 Robot artifact creature." , and Transwarp Hub feels like a new blue artifact staple.

Queen’s Diamond MTG

If you thought we were done with wild new ramp pieces for We Are The Borg, think again. Queen’s Diamond does start out as a do-nothing artifact, but with just a few charge counters it becomes a repeatable Jeweled Lotus Jeweled Lotus {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add three mana of any one color. Spend this mana only to cast your commander. , and only gets more ridiculous from there. For any kind of colorless or Mono-Color Commander, this essentially removes Commander tax as a factor, since you can tap your Commander each time it re-enters to add more counters to cover it.

To take things even further, Queen’s Diamond also allows for some fairly easy infinites with the right setup. Once it becomes a creature, you can use Intruder Alarm Intruder Alarm Creatures don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
Whenever a creature enters, untap all creatures. to untap it each time you cast your Commander, letting you loop it endlessly with a sacrifice outlet. This lets you win either via your Commander’s enters ability for something like Maralen, Fae Ascendant Maralen, Fae Ascendant Flying
Whenever Maralen or another Elf or Faerie you control enters, exile the top two cards of target opponent's library.
Once each turn, you may cast a spell with mana value less than or equal to the number of Elves and Faeries you control from among cards exiled with Maralen this turn without paying its mana cost. , or via your sacrifice outlet if it’s something like Altar of Dementia Altar of Dementia Sacrifice a creature: Target player mills cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power. . Either way, Queen’s Diamond feels like a spicy new combo enabler, and a great card in general for decks that rely heavily on pricey Commanders.

An Insane Stack of New Cards

Impressive as all of the above cards are, they’re really just a taste of what We Are The Borg has going on. There are a ton of exciting new cards here, from wild Commander Jurati, Cordial Queen, to powerhouse draw engine Co-Option Adjutant. There’s even a new take on Hall of Echoes Hall of Echoes {T}: Add {C}.
{5}: This land becomes a copy of target creature you control until end of turn. The "legend rule" doesn't apply to permanents you control this turn. in Shore Leave Planet, which trades entering untapped for becoming an artifact copy of the Clone Clone You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield. d creature, opening up a ton of different avenues.

On top of that, there are plenty of tools for creature-focused artifact decks, with many new cards that mass-buff them in the style of Slivers. Supplementation Node Supplementation Node Artifact creatures you control have "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it." lets them gain counters on damage, Extraction Integrant Extraction Integrant Artifact creatures you control have menace and "Whenever a creature blocks this creature, that creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn." makes them very difficult to block, and One, Borg Evolved One, Borg Evolved Artifact creatures you control have flying, double strike, vigilance, menace, lifelink, and ward {2}. gives them a whole suite of keywords to wreak havoc with. Add in other mass buffs like The Borg Queen The Borg Queen Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2.
Whenever The Borg Queen enters or attacks, target opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a creature card. Assimilate that card. They put the rest on the bottom in a random order. (To assimilate a card, put it onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter. It's a Borg artifact creature and loses all other creature types.) , and one-sided sweepers like Battle of Wolf 359 Battle of Wolf 359 All nonartifact creatures get -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of artifact creatures you control. , and straightforward artifact Aggro decks are getting a lot of tools here.

Reprints-wise, We Are The Borg isn’t exactly overflowing with value, but it still has some decent hits. Morphic Pool Morphic Pool This land enters tapped unless you have two or more opponents.
{T}: Add {U} or {B}. is the big winner here at $27. Add on Unwinding Clock Unwinding Clock Untap all artifacts you control during each other player's untap step. at around $20, and The Immortal sun The Immortal sun Players can't activate planeswalkers' loyalty abilities.
At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card.
Spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Creatures you control get +1/+1. at around $12, and there’s a nice bit of value here. Beyond that, while they aren’t super expensive, plenty of solid midrange cards like Toxic Deluge Toxic Deluge As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn. , Academy Ruins Academy Ruins {T}: Add {C}.
{1}{U}, {T}: Put target artifact card from your graveyard on top of your library. , and Skullclamp Skullclamp Equipped creature gets +1/-1.
Whenever equipped creature dies, draw two cards.
Equip {1} are on offer.

Overall, We Are The Borg is an excellent start for the MTG Star Trek Commander precons. With each deck promising another 32 new cards, we’re in for an exciting week indeed as Wizards slowly rolls them all out.

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