Mono-Black Star Trek Commander Doubles Life Loss For Instant Wins

With the entirety of MTG Star Trek now revealed, we as Magic players now have several new frontiers of deckbuilding to explore. Commander, in particular, is getting a ton of new toys from this set, with the legendary creature lineup alone being good enough to launch a whole Federation fleet.

For those who prefer to bat for the villainous side, Gul Dukat, Colonial Prefect is one of the best new MTG Commanders in the set. With a seriously potent ability attached, this legend can lay down an absolute beating if you can overcome his chunky mana cost.

Gul Dukat, Colonial Prefect MTG

I’m not familiar with the source material for MTG Star Trek at all, but based on this card I’m assuming Gul Dukat is a pretty bad dude. His core ability, which essentially doubles the life your opponents lose each turn, is usually reserved for horrific Demons like Bloodletter of Aclazotz Bloodletter of Aclazotz Flying
If an opponent would lose life during your turn, they lose twice that much life instead. (Damage causes loss of life.) , after all, so that’s the level we’re working at here.

By itself, this is a fantastic ability to have access to in the command zone, given how easy it is to create insta-kill combos with it. Simply clock an opponent with an Unstoppable Slasher Unstoppable Slasher Deathtouch
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, they lose half their life, rounded up.
When this creature dies, if it had no counters on it, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control with two stun counters on it. or Virtus the Veiled Virtus the Veiled Partner with Gorm the Great (When this creature enters, target player may put Gorm into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Deathtouch
Whenever Virtus deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up. , and Gul Dukat will finish them off in the end step, provided their life total was even.

In a similar vein (pun intended), Gul Dukat works wonderfully with cards that set opponents’ life totals lower, since that counts as life loss, too. The likes of Repay in Kind Repay in Kind Each player's life total becomes the lowest life total among all players. and Sorin Markov Sorin Markov +2: Sorin Markov deals 2 damage to any target and you gain 2 life.
−3: Target opponent's life total becomes 10.
−7: You control target player during that player's next turn. can easily drop an opponent’s life by 20 or more, leaving Gul Dukat to do the rest.

If you’re more into causing drawn-out suffering than sudden death, then I pity your Commander pod, but Gul Dukat has you covered there too. Even if you’re just pursuing a straightforward black Aggro strategy, this is an easy way to push your damage much further, turning cheap creatures like Gravecrawler Gravecrawler This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie. and Bloodghast Bloodghast This creature can't block.
This creature has haste as long as an opponent has 10 or less life.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. into serious threats. You can even rope in cards like Sanguine Bond Sanguine Bond Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life. to convert the bonus lifegain into even more gradual damage.

Since Gul Dukat triggers on each end step, not just yours, it has some interesting political uses as well. Your opponents will be incentivized to swing at each other rather than you, since their damage goes further that way. You can even add in Curses like Curse of Disturbance Curse of Disturbance Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player is attacked, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Each opponent attacking that player does the same. and Curse of Shallow Graves Curse of Shallow Graves Enchant player
Whenever a player attacks enchanted player with one or more creatures, that attacking player may create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token. to push that angle further.

Strong as these synergies are, there’s a pretty large elephant in the room with Gul Dukat: his 4BBB mana cost. This essentially forces you to run a ton of ramp, whether it’s The Soul Stone The Soul Stone Indestructible
{T}: Add {B}.
{6}{B}, {T}, Exile a creature you control: Harness The Soul Stone. (Once harnessed, its ∞ ability is active.)
∞ — At the beginning of your upkeep, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. or Dark Ritual Dark Ritual Add {B}{B}{B}. , to get him out in a reasonable time frame. Once he’s down, you also need additional protection like Lightning Greaves Lightning Greaves Equipped creature has haste and shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {0} and Feign Death Feign Death Until end of turn, target creature gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it." , since he’s extremely vulnerable to removal.

While there are definitely problems to overcome, Gul Dukat feels powerful enough to warrant it, especially if you like playing the role of Archenemy in your Commander pod. Between this and Georgiou, Terran Emperor, Mono-Black players are eating very well indeed this set.

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