Star Trek's Hugh Copies All Your Artifacts For Insane Commander Plays

While we sadly won’t be getting our hands on them for some time yet, Magic’s Star Trek precons are absolutely packed with bangers. Naturally, many of these are strong new MTG Commanders, the best of which may just be Hugh, First of Many.

This brutal Borg legend brings back one of Magic’s more obscure mechanics in Replicate, and pushes it to its logical extreme. The result is a new Esper Artifacts Commander that could have serious legs, both as a fair value engine and a spicy combo enabler.

Hugh, First of Many MTG

In case you haven’t seen Replicate before, which would be understandable given how rarely Wizards breaks it out, here’s a quick rundown of how it works. Essentially, when casting a spell with Replicate, you can pay the Replicate cost as a sort of Multikicker effect. For each instance of Replicate you pay, you get another copy of the spell.

Hugh specifically lets you do this with artifacts, which gives you a huge range of options. Paying extra to copy mana rocks like Sol Ring Sol Ring {T}: Add {C}{C}. is a great way to use this, giving you more mana to sink into future Replicate costs.

Similarly, cost reducers like Foundry Inspector Foundry Inspector Artifact spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. offer double discounts when copied, making them particularly strong here. It’s worth noting here that the total cost of each spell is calculated when you decide how many times to Replicate it, so having two Inspectors out will just reduce the overall total by two, not let you Replicate for one blue mana a pop.

Once you’ve built up a nice suite of mana, you can start using Hugh’s ability on more serious artifacts. High-impact Affinity creatures, like Panther Robot Panther Robot Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
Reach, trample and Thought Monitor Thought Monitor Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
Flying
When this creature enters, draw two cards. , are great options here, since they naturally offer a lot of value for little mana in an artifact-focused deck.

You can also get a lot of mileage out of copying removal effects with Hugh, turning Demonic Junker Demonic Junker Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
When this Vehicle enters, for each player, destroy up to one target creature that player controls. If a creature you controlled was destroyed this way, put two +1/+1 counters on this Vehicle.
Crew 2 and Borg Cube Borg Cube Affinity for artifact creatures
Whenever this Spacecraft enters or attacks, assimilate a creature card exiled with it. If you can't, exile up to one target creature. (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.)
Station
12+ | Artifact creatures you control have flying. into massive swing cards. Once you’ve secured the board like this, multiply Stax pieces like Sphere of Resistance Sphere of Resistance Spells cost {1} more to cast. to make sure your board dominance holds up.

Since Hugh creates token versions of the permanents it copies, you can start getting pretty funky with token copiers, too. Cards like 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. and 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. are mainly meant to copy junk tokens like Food and Maps. With Hugh, however, you can have them making extras of 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. or Simulacrum Synthesizer Simulacrum Synthesizer When this artifact enters, scry 2.
Whenever another artifact you control with mana value 3 or greater enters, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control." instead.

Sadly, thanks to some pesky rules wrinkles, the tokens Hugh creates aren’t eligible for multiplication via cards like Anointed Procession Anointed Procession If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead. . That said, you can double up on the effect with Twinning Staff Twinning Staff If you would copy a spell one or more times, instead copy it that many times plus an additional time. You may choose new targets for the additional copy.
{7}, {T}: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. , which is actually eligible for copying itself since it’s an artifact. With one or two of these bad boys out, literally any artifact you cast could swing the game in your favor.

Copy Combo Kookiness

Hugh is more than good enough to win games of Commander through raw value alone, but if you’re feeling less scrupulous, it also offers a wide suite of infinite combos. Perhaps the easiest involves casting and bouncing Ancestral Statue Ancestral Statue When this creature enters, return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand. over and over, for infinite enters and leaves triggers.

To set this combo up, all you need to do is Replicate one of your cost reducers until you have a total discount of four generic mana or more. Urza’s Incubator Urza’s Incubator As this artifact enters, choose a creature type.
Creature spells of the chosen type cost {2} less to cast. is a great pick here, as you only need to copy it once to cover that. Once this is done, you can cast Statue for free then pick it up repeatedly, allowing for an easy win with Altar of the Brood Altar of the Brood Whenever another permanent you control enters, each opponent mills a card. or Aetherflux Reservoir Aetherflux Reservoir Whenever you cast a spell, you gain 1 life for each spell you've cast this turn.
Pay 50 life: This artifact deals 50 damage to any target. .

If infinite mana and tokens are more your thing, Hugh has you covered there too alongside 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 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. . With Hugh and Urza in play, simply cast Helm and Replicate it with Hugh to get things started.

Next, pay two mana and tap one of the Helms to copy the token version, resulting in an extra Helm and two Map tokens. Tap the Maps for two blue mana with Urza, then pay to make yet another Helm, with the number of extra Maps scaling up each time. This will result in infinite artifact tokens on board, and infinite blue mana to sink into Urza to cast your entire deck.

Finally, Hugh can even let you take infinite turns with the help of Ugin’s Nexus Ugin’s Nexus If a player would begin an extra turn, that player skips that turn instead.
If Ugin's Nexus would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, instead exile it and take an extra turn after this one. . Simply Replicate Nexus as you cast it, and the token copy will Legend Rule’d, putting the extra turn trigger on the stack. Use an artifact bouncer like Master Transmuter Master Transmuter {U}, {T}, Return an artifact you control to its owner's hand: You may put an artifact card from your hand onto the battlefield. to return the original to your hand before the extra turn trigger resolves, and the coast is clear for you to start taking an endless stream of turns.

Whether you decide to make use of these combos or not, Hugh is a truly exceptional Commander from a design space perspective. The ability to copy any artifact, any number of times, is incredibly open, and ensures that this is a legend that will only get better over time. While there’s some stiff competition in MTG Star Trek, Hugh is undoubtedly one of the best Commanders the set has to offer.

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