The 10 Most Expensive MTG Star Trek Cards to Look for at Prerelease

After a veritable cosmic voyage of a preview season, we’re finally right on the cusp of Prerelease for Magic’s Star Trek set. Before you head out and crack some MTG Star Trek packs, we’ve broken down the most expensive cards in the set to watch for.

While prices overall feel surprisingly low this time around, there are still plenty of bangers on offer in Magic’s second trip into space. Between the many iconic, powerful legends in the set, and a surprisingly deep suite of combo enablers, there’s a ton of value to be had here.

10 | Khan, Vengeful Heart

Price: $7.65

Star Trek’s most notorious villain, appropriately enough, gets a card here that can very easily make you the villain at your next Commander night. This is largely down to the legend’s interaction with Food Chain Food Chain Exile a creature you control: Add X mana of any one color, where X is 1 plus the exiled creature's mana value. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells. , which lets you make infinite creature mana by exiling and re-casting Khan repeatedly.

What sets Khan apart from existing creatures that fill this role, like Squee, the Immortal Squee, the Immortal You may cast this card from your graveyard or from exile. and Misthollow Griffin Misthollow Griffin Flying
You may cast this card from exile. , is that it’s not just a vanilla creature. Khan’s Costly Plunder Costly Plunder As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact or creature.
Draw two cards. ability makes it a fine card to run out on non-combo turns, while also letting you draw through your entire deck by sacrificing your Commander over and over once you have infinite mana.

This combo should give Khan a solid base of playability in Commander, perhaps even in some cEDH decks given it’s essentially a two-card instant win. Beyond this, it could actually revitalize Food Chain decks back in Legacy, too, since it largely eclipses Misthollow Griffin Misthollow Griffin Flying
You may cast this card from exile. as a value proposition there.

While its value is tied almost entirely to its combo potential, that’s enough to make Khan one of the most notable mythics in Star Trek. It’s also enough to earn it a solid $7.65 pre-order price tag, making it one of the priciest cards in the set.

9 | Jadzia Dax, Living Legacy

Price: $7.76

Thanks to last year’s Badgermole Cub Badgermole Cub When this creature enters, earthbend 1. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that's still a land. Put a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional {G}. , it’s tougher than ever to make it as a two-mana dork in Magic these days. Jadzia Dax looks to be in with a shot, however, blending consistent mana generation with a scaling threat to stellar effect.

With no other support, Jadzia Dax will make you one green mana on turn three, then two on turn four, and so on. You can easily push those numbers way up by adding in +1/+1 counter support 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. , however, or stat buffs like Rancor Rancor Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and has trample.
When this Aura is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return it to its owner's hand. . While not tapping for mana means you can’t abuse Jadzia as easily as some dorks, it also means the card still gets to attack, which makes her much more proactive than her peers.

Naturally, Jadzia Dax will be an auto-include in pretty much all +1/+1 Counter decks, and many general low-color green lists, in Commander. It also has a pretty serious shot in constructed, mind you, given how well it pairs with Standard all-stars like Ouroboroid Ouroboroid At the beginning of combat on your turn, put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control, where X is this creature's power. and Earthbender Ascension Earthbender Ascension When this enchantment enters, earthbend 2. Then search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put a quest counter on this enchantment. When you do, if it has four or more quest counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains trample until end of turn. . Jadzia’s combat trick mode comes into play here, too, serving as a great way to mitigate multiple copies or push for a win.

Thanks to this wide-ranging potential, Jadzia Dax is sitting pretty at $7.76 right now. While this makes it one of the most expensive new cards in MTG Star Trek, this honestly feels like a pretty great price for a potential staple of this caliber.

8 | Borg Cube

Price: $7.92

Ironically enough, given the absurd size of the thing, Borg Cube managed to fly largely under the radar during Star Trek preview season. Now that the cards are out on the market, however, it’s back in a big way, rocking a $7.92 price tag right out of the gate.

This funky Spacecraft seems unwieldy at first glance, but thanks to Affinity for artifact creatures you can get it down for as little as two mana. It’s surprisingly easy to flood the board with tokens to enable this, too, whether you’re running Ravenous Robots Ravenous Robots Whenever you cast an artifact spell, create a 1/1 colorless Robot artifact creature token.
{R}, {T}: Creature tokens you control gain haste until end of turn. in constructed or Illustrious Wanderglyph Illustrious Wanderglyph Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.)
Other artifact creatures you control get +2/+2 as long as you have the city's blessing.
At the beginning of each upkeep, create a 1/1 colorless Gnome artifact creature token. in Commander.

Once it’s out, Borg Cube serves as a removal spell first off, then starts cycling between removal and Assimilation once it gets Stationed and swinging. Twelve is a tough total to reach here, especially in constructed, but Commander decks like Urza, Chief Artificer Urza, Chief Artificer Affinity for artifact creatures (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact creature you control.)
Artifact creatures you control have menace.
At the beginning of your end step, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control." should handle it fairly easily.

Overall, while it may end up too clunky even for Commander, it’s unwise to count out a card with Affinity, even a highly specific form of Affinity like this. Though the price on Borg Cube could go either way from here, I’m not surprised to see early bets landing where they have.

7 | Death Is Irrelevant

Price: $8.37

Like a twisted lovechild of Debtors’ Knell Debtors’ Knell ({W/B} can be paid with either {W} or {B}.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. and Avacyn, Angel of Hope Avacyn, Angel of Hope Flying, vigilance, indestructible
Other permanents you control have indestructible. , Death Is Irrelevant is a classic big, splashy Commander enchantment. Reanimating any creature each turn is pretty strong in itself, meshing well with graveyard decks like Muldrotha, the Gravetide Muldrotha, the Gravetide During each of your turns, you may play a land and cast a permanent spell of each permanent type from your graveyard. (If a card has multiple permanent types, choose one as you play it.) and Mill decks like Captain N’Ghathrod Captain N’Ghathrod Horrors you control have menace.
Whenever a Horror you control deals combat damage to a player, that player mills that many cards.
At the beginning of your end step, choose target artifact or creature card in an opponent's graveyard that was put there from their library this turn. Put it onto the battlefield under your control. alike.

The big twist here is that Death Is Irrelevant also protects your creatures via Indestructible since they become artifacts post-Assimilation. This makes board wipes such as Damnation Damnation Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. one-sided in your favor, and also protects any existing artifact creatures you were already running, all the way down to Esper Sentinel Esper Sentinel Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays {X}, where X is this creature's power. .

While it’s decidedly too expensive for constructed, or for higher-bracket Commander pods, Death Is Irrelevant will almost certainly become a staple at casual tables. For that reason, it’s currently sitting at a very respectable pre-order price of $8.37.

6 | Dr. Joseph M’Benga

Price: $8.89

Like many of the mythics in Star Trek, Dr. Joseph M’Benga couldn’t be screaming “future Commander staple” any louder. +1/+1 Counter decks are hugely popular in the format, and this is a slam-dunk inclusion in pretty much all of them.

Not only does M’Benga serve as another 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. effect by doubling the counters placed on your creatures, but it also protects said creatures as well by granting them Hexproof. Both of these abilities are huge in decks like The Wise Mothman The Wise Mothman Flying
Whenever The Wise Mothman enters or attacks, each player gets a rad counter.
Whenever one or more nonland cards are milled, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to X target creatures, where X is the number of nonland cards milled this way. and Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
At the beginning of your end step, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) , so M’Benga should have no shortage of Commander homes.

Over in constructed, M’Benga could easily wind up seeing play in Standard Selesnya Counters decks, largely due to its busted synergy with Ouroboroid Ouroboroid At the beginning of combat on your turn, put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control, where X is this creature's power. . Start a combat with both creatures out, and you’ll put two counters on your entire board, which should quickly snowball into a win. Getting extra value out of creatures like Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker Trample
Leatherhead enters with a hexproof counter on her.
Whenever Leatherhead deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a counter from her. When you do, destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls. and Bejeweled Warg Bejeweled Warg Trample
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, choose one —
• Put a +1/+1 counter on target Wolf you control.
• Create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") is great upside, too.

With clear multi-format potential, it’s no surprise that Dr. Joseph M’Benga is one of the most expensive new cards in MTG Star Trek at $8.89.

5 | Seven of Nine, Unassimilated

Price: $9.64

I’ve seen a surprising lack of fanfare around Seven of Nine among MTG players on social media so far, but it seems the market has its own ideas. At $9.64, this is one of the pricier cards in the set as of right now, and it’s not difficult to see why.

At a base level, Seven of Nine is essentially a funky looter, letting you draw and discard a card on each turn. Unlike other cards in this category, like Kitsa, Otterball Elite Kitsa, Otterball Elite Vigilance
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{2}, {T}: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. Activate only if Kitsa's power is 3 or greater. , however, Seven of Nine actually drops the discard part once you have five different lands out, making it straight-up card advantage in the late game.

While you lose out on untap shenanigans with this trade-off, it does mean Seven of Nine will be a better option in most blue decks. It’s also a good early blocker and a big late beater thanks to its activated ability, so it stays relevant at every stage of the game.

Thanks to these myriad virtues, I expect Seven of Nine will find homes in all manner of blue Commander decks, particularly discard-focused brews like Green Goblin Green Goblin Norman Osborn can't be blocked.
Whenever Norman Osborn deals combat damage to a player, he connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
{1}{U}{B}{R}: Transform Norman Osborn. Activate only as a sorcery. . The fact that it’s an artifact creature helps a lot here, too, and may land it homes in serious decks like 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. to boot.

4 | Mr. Spock, Science Officer

Price: $11.32

Ice-cold take incoming: drawing cards in MTG is a pretty good thing to do. Cards that let you draw more cards each time, like Teferi’s Ageless Insight Teferi’s Ageless Insight If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead. , have proven themselves very powerful for this reason, and Mr. Spock may be the best card in this category so far.

While it’s unfortunate that Spock is a creature, and therefore vulnerable to removal, four toughness is at least solid in terms of resilience. In any case, Spock makes up for his fragility with the most flexible version of this ‘double draw’ ability yet, doubling your regular draw as well as any extras.

This means Spock is, at the absolute minimum, a Phyrexian Arena Phyrexian Arena At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw a card and lose 1 life. -type effect in blue. Add in any kind of draw effect, particularly cheap burst draw like Brainstorm Brainstorm Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. , however, and it quickly becomes an absurd advantage engine that can snowball you to a win.

Given its generic playability in a wide range of blue Commander archetypes, I expect Mr. Spock to become a solid staple in the format before long, perhaps even up in cEDH. With this in mind, its current price tag of $11.32 feels fairly appropriate, and perhaps even a bit conservative.

3 | Dr. Beverly Crusher

Price: $13.24

In a not-so-shocking twist, Dr. Beverly Crusher, Magic’s latest trigger-doubling effect, is one of the most expensive cards from MTG Star Trek. In this case, you double triggers that result from gaining life, which sounds niche but is anything but.

First and foremost, this seems like a slam-dunk in the Lifegain decks currently rocking it in Standard. Crusher significantly boosts some of the staple cards in these shells, granting Ajani Resolute Ajani Resolute Whenever you gain life, put a loyalty counter on Ajani.
0: You gain 1 life.
−4: Create a 2/2 white Cat Soldier creature token named Ajani's Pridemate with "Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this token."
−10: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2." and Amalia Benavides Aguirre Amalia Benavides Aguirre Ward—Pay 3 life.
Whenever you gain life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre explores. Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20. (To have this creature explore, reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.) double triggers. It also becomes a massive threat itself alongside the likes of Aunt May Aunt May Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life. If it's a Spider, put a +1/+1 counter on it. and Hinterland Sanctifier Hinterland Sanctifier Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life. , so she gives the deck a new axis of attack.

Standard aside, Dr. Beverly Crusher feels like a very safe bet in Commander, too. Any kind of white Lifegain deck, from Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Oloro, Ageless Ascetic At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 2 life.
Whenever you gain life, you may pay {1}. If you do, draw a card and each opponent loses 1 life.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Oloro is in the command zone, you gain 2 life. to Hope Estheim Hope Estheim Lifelink
At the beginning of your end step, each opponent mills X cards, where X is the amount of life you gained this turn. , is going to want this new banger in their 99.

While it’s not for every deck, Dr. Beverly Crusher is good enough in her Lifegain niche that I expect its current price of $13.24 to hold, and possibly even rise once Star Trek hits shelves.

2 | Deep Space 9

Price: $14.35

Every new MTG set these days seems to have some kind of big, dumb artifact finisher in it, whether it’s The Ten Rings The Ten Rings Your maximum hand size is ten.
At the beginning of your end step, if you have fewer than ten cards in hand, draw cards equal to the difference. or Krang, Utrom Warlord Krang, Utrom Warlord Flying, trample, indestructible, haste
Other artifact creatures you control have flying, trample, indestructible, and haste. . Star Trek’s take on this proud tradition is Deep Space 9, probably one of the best Spacecraft cards we’ve seen yet.

In a similar vein to 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. , Deep Space 9 nets you a bunch of value when it comes down, then does so again each upkeep. You can cheat in any kind of permanent with these triggers, including lands, which can result in some pretty wild swing turns.

Notably, any creatures you cheat in with Deep Space 9 can also Station it immediately, so it’s not hard to get that second ability online. Once it is, Deep Space 9 becomes a massive universal buff for your board, making it very dangerous in decks like Baylen, the Haymaker Baylen, the Haymaker Tap two untapped tokens you control: Add one mana of any color.
Tap three untapped tokens you control: Draw a card.
Tap four untapped tokens you control: Put three +1/+1 counters on Baylen. It gains trample until end of turn. . Unlike most Spacecraft, Deep Space 9 doesn’t even become a creature once Stationed, so your opponents can’t just remove your investment with creature removal.

While the mana cost here is definitely prohibitive, there are countless ways around that in Commander. Artifact decks can use Goblin Welder Goblin Welder {T}: Choose target artifact a player controls and target artifact card in that player's graveyard. If both targets are still legal as this ability resolves, that player simultaneously sacrifices the artifact and returns the artifact card to the battlefield. to cheat it out, for example, while Ramp decks like Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may draw a card. can just cast it early. Overall, Deep Space 9 is one of the better flashy mythic artifacts we’ve seen lately, and one that feels worthy of its current $14.35 price tag.

1 | Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Price: $17.97

Just from the card name alone, it was a pretty safe bet that Captain Jean-Luc Picard would be topping this list. Picard is not only one of the most iconic characters in Star Trek, but one of the most iconic fictional characters from any IP, and his mythic printing more than lives up to that legacy.

Even if you ignore the Spacecraft shenanigans here, Picard is a very serviceable universal lord effect, making it ideal for go-wide strategies in Commander and constructed alike. Picard also provides his own army thanks to the Officer ability, helping lists like Zurgo Stormrender Zurgo Stormrender Mobilize 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, create a tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature token. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
Whenever a creature token you control leaves the battlefield, draw a card if it was attacking. Otherwise, each opponent loses 1 life. develop their boards at lightning speed.

While it’ll be little more than flavor text in constructed, Picard’s activated ability could be legit in Commander. It’s not hard to get seven Officers together, be it through Picard’s ability or clever Maskwood Nexus Maskwood Nexus Creatures you control are every creature type. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield.
{3}, {T}: Create a 2/2 blue Shapeshifter creature token with changeling. (It is every creature type.) trickery. Once you do, tutoring up bangers 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 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. can seriously swing some games.

Playability aside, this card’s price is likely being pushed up by the recent passing of beloved actor Patrick Stewart. While this will have a bigger impact on the ultra-rare Autograph version, fans and collectors alike will still enjoy the base printing, so $17.97 feels reasonable. Whether this is a temporary price bump or the real deal will be revealed in the weeks to come, but for now Picard is the most expensive of the new cards in MTG Star Trek.

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