MTG Star Trek "Precon-Upgrading" Scene Boxes Reveal Incredible Five-Color Faerie Typal Commander

In the deluge of MTG Star Trek spoilers we’ve seen over the past week, it’s easy to forget that the set has two Scene Boxes to offer. Today, during Weekly MTG, the contents of the Star Trek’s two Scene Boxes have finally been revealed, and there are some extremely interesting cards here.

Both of these Scene Boxes contain cards that are meant to function as upgrades to some MTG Star Trek Commander Precons, and otherwise offer some enticing MTG cards to use across the format. While the initial upgrade plan seems to have derailed a bit, it still has some interesting cards, including a powerful new five-color Faerie Typal Commander.

MTG Divergent Timeline Scene Box

As mentioned during the Weekly MTG Reveal, Divergent Timeline is meant to offer a series of rather simple cards that can act as upgrades to the Bant Landing Party Commander Precon. Honestly, a fair few of these cards appear as though they may fail in their intended role, but there are an interesting set of card draw options here.

Uhara, Xenologist is likely the most powerful card in the Divergent Timeline Scene Box, allowing your nonhuman creatures to become cantrips for just one mana. Notably, Uhara cares about creatures entering instead of being cast, allowing her to draw a sickening amount of cards off of token producers like Scute Swarm Scute Swarm Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. If you control six or more lands, create a token that's a copy of this creature instead. or the new Star Trek Troubling Tribbles Troubling Tribbles This creature can't block.
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a token that's a copy of this creature. . While her expensive mana value does make the card significantly less exciting than she could be, many go-wide Commander decks that need a card draw engine can consider Uhara.

Spock, Voice of Reason is a deceptively powerful draw engine, too, drawing a ton of cards in decks that can dump permanents into play. This is fantastic alongside Cheerio Commander decks that use a lot of zero-drops, like Mishra’s Bauble Mishra’s Bauble {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Look at the top card of target player's library. Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep. , to trigger Commanders like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain Whenever you cast a historic spell, draw a card. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.) . Though his use-cases are a bit specific, Spock does seem strong enough to see some Commander play.

Kirk, Man of Action seems to be designed with the Federation Fleet Precon in mind, acting as a super-anthem for many creature types that could appear in this precon. That said, outside of these very specific archetypes, Kirk isn’t all that exciting, really, making him one of the most uninteresting cards in this Scene Box. If Federation Fleet fails to go wide effectively, Kirk may not even be good in its intended precon, either.

Continuing the theme of strong draw engines, Chekov and McCoy can draw more cards than you’ll ever need in +1/+1 counter decks. With cards like Hardened Scales Hardened Scales If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead. and Kami of Whispered Hopes Kami of Whispered Hopes If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a permanent you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on that permanent instead.
{T}: Add X mana of any one color, where X is this creature's power. in play, just one +1/+1 counter allows Chekov and McCoy to do an Ancestral Recall Ancestral Recall Target player draws three cards. impression, refilling your hand with ease.

Add counter doublers like 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. and Branching Evolution Branching Evolution If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, twice that many +1/+1 counters are put on that creature instead. , and you can easily draw a fresh 7 with Chekov and McCoy. You can also easily work around the once-each-turn clause by using instants like Archdruid’s Charm Archdruid’s Charm Choose one —
• Search your library for a creature or land card and reveal it. Put it onto the battlefield tapped if it's a land card. Otherwise, put it into your hand. Then shuffle.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don't control.
• Exile target artifact or enchantment. on your opponent’s turns.

For artifact token decks like Treasure, Clue, or Food Typal, Scotty, Chief Engineer can be deceptively strong. It’s extremely easy to flood your board with artifacts in Commander, allowing this card to make all of your important creatures unblockable. Tapping artifacts without going to combat can have its benefits too, especially alongside Commanders like Unctus, Grand Metatect Unctus, Grand Metatect Other blue creatures you control have "Whenever this creature becomes tapped, draw a card, then discard a card."
Other artifact creatures you control get +1/+1.
{U/P}: Until end of turn, target creature you control becomes a blue artifact in addition to its other colors and types. Activate only as a sorcery. ({U/P} can be paid with either {U} or 2 life.) , who can turn any blue artifact creatures you tap into a loot.

Last, and likely least, Sulu, Heroic Helmsman is a godsend for Vehicle or Spacecraft Commanders or Typal decks, but is basically unplayable elsewhere. In these decks, however, Sulu Stationing or Crewing for 6 is a really big deal, instantly turning on behemoths like Consulate Dreadnought Consulate Dreadnought Crew 6 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 6 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) . Sulu also gets you a good chunk of the way towards Crewing 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.) , or Stationing 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. .

Overall, between cards like Uhara, Xenologist, or Chekov and McCoy, the Divergent Timeline Scene Box offers some cards that are powerful in very specific strategies. While the goal of having this as an upgrade to the Bant Landing Party deck was a goal when designing this, it’s tough to know how effective those upgrades appear since the precon has not been spoiled yet.

MTG Enterprise-Q Scene Box

While the Enterprise-Q Scene Box was originally intended as an upgrade to the Jeskai Federation Fleet Precon, some of the MTG cards in this Scene Box weren’t quite strong enough to fill that role. A fair few cards remain as intentional upgrades to the precon, but Q, Your Illustrious Host, in a strong fit of flavor, is instead doing their own thing.

Wizards of the Coast’s design team quickly identified that Q, Your Illustrious Host wasn’t strong enough as a Faerie Typal Commander when limited to Jeskai Colors, so they pushed them to being five-color instead. Now, Q is definitely the most exciting Faerie Typal Commander on the market, turning three untapped Faeries into free cards from the top of your deck. With topdeck manipulators like Scroll Rack Scroll Rack {1}, {T}: Exile any number of cards from your hand face down. Put that many cards from the top of your library into your hand. Then look at the exiled cards and put them on top of your library in any order. and Sensei’s Divining Top Sensei’s Divining Top {1}: Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
{T}: Draw a card, then put this artifact on top of its owner's library. , you can easily cast haymakers like Blightsteel Colossus Blightsteel Colossus Trample, infect, indestructible
If Blightsteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Blightsteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead. for free. Of course, you can also do this with cards like Craterhoof Behemoth Craterhoof Behemoth Haste
When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. , turning your Faeries into a lethal alpha strike.

Of course, you’ll also want MTG’s many Faerie Token generators with Q, like Bitterblossom Bitterblossom At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying. , Bitterbloom Bearer Bitterbloom Bearer Flash
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 blue and black Faerie creature token with flying. , or Alela, Cunning Conqueror Alela, Cunning Conqueror Flying
Whenever you cast your first spell during each opponent's turn, create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying.
Whenever one or more Faeries you control deal combat damage to a player, goad target creature that player controls. . Changelings can do a lot of work here, too, making Springleaf Parade Springleaf Parade When this enchantment enters, create X 1/1 colorless Shapeshifter creature tokens with changeling. (They're every creature type.)
Creature tokens you control have "{T}: Add one mana of any color." a fantastic way to spew a bunch of Faeries onto the board.

There’s a ton to talk about with Q, Illustrious Host, and we’re planning on diving deeper in the future. If you’re planning on building this Commander, be sure to watch this space, as that analysis will be something you won’t want to miss.

Accompanying Q is a bunch of synergistic Faerie Typal pieces that, while interesting, don’t necessarily look incredible. Worf, Still Not Merry does offer a ton of potential token production for go-wide aggressive decks, and is especially interesting for Commanders that have additional synergies with the Faeries created.

Winota, Joiner of Forces Winota, Joiner of Forces Whenever a non-Human creature you control attacks, look at the top six cards of your library. You may put a Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. It gains indestructible until end of turn. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in a random order. , for example can turn these Faeries into a ton of free Humans on later turns, while Caesar, Legion’s Emperor Caesar, Legion’s Emperor Whenever you attack, you may sacrifice another creature. When you do, choose two —
• Create two 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste that are tapped and attacking.
• You draw a card and you lose 1 life.
• Caesar deals damage equal to the number of creature tokens you control to target opponent. can sacrifice your Faeries for additonal benefits. Heck, Isshin, Two Heavens as One Isshin, Two Heavens as One If a creature attacking causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time. can directly double up on Worf’s triggers, creating a massive tide of tokens.

Sadly, Worf’s expensive mana value does hold him back a bit, turning what could be an incredibly aggressive token maker into an ok payoff. While this card will be extremely flashy with Commander’s best go-wide Commanders, I’m unsure if this payoff is worth the five-mana investment.

La Forge, Thoughtful as Ever can create a lot of Faeries in the right circumstances, but the conditions on this card are somewhat specific. La Forge does pair well with Commanders that want to buff their entire team with counters, like Aang, Swift Savior Aang, Swift Savior Flash
Flying
When Aang enters, airbend up to one other target creature or spell. (Exile it. While it's exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.)
Waterbend {8}: Transform Aang. or Denzilore Fatehold Denzilore Fatehold Flash
Flying
Whenever you scry or surveil, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. , and can otherwise do well with permanents that put counters on themselves, like Sagas. Even then, however, having La Forge’s payoff on a tap ability is a downside, making me think that this card takes too much effort to set up.

Jean Luc, Mon Capitaine was referenced as a potential alternate Commander for Federation Fleet Precon, but after looking at the decklist, this is a really bad idea. Considering that there are no Faeries in the precon at all, Jean Luc would be entirely dependent on the other cards in this Scene Box, which isn’t enough support. Frankly, considering that Q was pushed to five colors because Jeskai Faeries was too weak, I only expect Picard to appear in the 99 of Q decks outside of some other very specific homes.

Fortunately, Data, Professor of Humanities seems like a much more sensible upgrade to Federation Fleet. Since Jean-Luc Picard, Luminary Jean-Luc Picard, Luminary Whenever another historic permanent you control with mana value 3 or greater enters, draw a card. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Seek out — Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on up to one other target creature and two charge counters on up to one target Spacecraft. turns your larger Historic cards into cantrips, Data should be fairly easy to trigger, creating tons of Faeries to attack or block with. In fact, drawing your second card each turn is a larger theme in the precon, leading to inclusions like Howling Mine Howling Mine At the beginning of each player's draw step, if this artifact is untapped, that player draws an additional card. . With lots of support, Data does seem quite good in Federation Fleet, indeed.

Troi, Winging it is a bit of a weird one, and likely plays a lot worse than she reads. Cards like Scrawling Crawler Scrawling Crawler At the beginning of your upkeep, each player draws a card.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player loses 1 life. that force everyone to draw at once, or an opponent’s Rhystic Study Rhystic Study Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may draw a card unless that player pays {1}. , can create a fair few Faeries with Troi.

Sadly, limiting Troi’s effect to extra cards your opponents draw during your turn only is a major downside. Throw in her clunky mana value of four, and Troi seems more like a deckbuilding trap than anything else. Troi could be interesting in a Rhystic Study-heavy metagame, mind you, but her mana value still seems like a stretch for cEDH.

All in all, the MTG Star Trek Scene Boxes, frankly, don’t offer the most exciting cards ever. While there are a few gems here, like Chekov and McCoy or Q, Your Illustrious Host, none of these cards will end up being auto-includes across a ton of decks. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Federation-Q Scene Box was popular, even if players only care about the five-colored Commander.

If you’re interested in picking up the MTG Star Trek Scene Boxes for yourself, Divergent Timeline and Federation Q will be available during Star Trek Prerelease with an MSRP of $41.99.

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