Between an incredible Limited format and tons of deep cuts, Reality Fracture has been a massive hit for MTG players. Sadly, because of Wizards of the Coast’s crammed release schedule, Reality Fracture is only in the spotlight for about a month, which is a crying shame. With MTG Star Trek Prereleases starting November 6th, MTG’s next set is closer than you might think.
As a result, this weekend’s New York Comic Con appears to have some new Star Trek goodies to share, but whether they actually hit store shelves is somewhat suspect. If they’re in the scrapped Star Trek Beginner Box, after all, we may never see them. That said, only one of these cards is expected to appear there, and it’s not the one showcasing a new equipment subtype.
MTG Starfleet Communicator

Introducing a new artifact card type to MTG, Starfleet Communicator’s effectiveness will heavily depend on how plentiful the new communicator equipment type is. If the equipment type is common, Starfleet Communicator can become an absolutely insane ramp tool, drawing tons of cards and dropping lots of lands.
That said, the card is quite effective on its own. Since it copies itself on cast, Starfleet Communicator can draw four cards and play any lands among them each of your turns, which is powerful for three mana. You can then use cards like
Court of Vantress
Court of Vantress
When this enchantment enters, you become the monarch.
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose up to one other target enchantment or artifact. If you're the monarch, you may create a token that's a copy of it. If you're not the monarch, you may have this enchantment become a copy of it, except it has this ability.
to create even more Starfleet Communicator tokens, further increasing your advantage.
While Starfleet Communicator’s ceiling is high, it is held back by the need to equip it to different creatures. This makes the card far weaker in Voltron builds, but the card could do well in go-wide token 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.
, or artifact creature 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."
.
We aren’t sure where Starfleet Communicator will appear yet, but it’s likely in a Commander precon, and possibly in more than one. So far, players expect the Communicator to appear in the Bant Landing Party precon, but that is purely speculation.
MTG Join the Collective

If your Commander pod tends to play a lot of go-wide decks, Join the Collective will be a fantastic add to your deck, creating an instant board. Outside of that scenario, however, because of the card’s massive mana cost, this Borgwipe is really only playable in decks with a ton of synergy. Since the nonartifact clause makes this card awkward in artifact creature decks, Join the Collective actually works best in token decks.
For Commanders 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.
, Join the Collective is essentially a one-sided wipe, as long as you aren’t running many artifact creatures. The creature tokens you lose will just be replaced by Borgs, and you’ll gain even more from the creatures your opponents kill. With a token doubler 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.
or
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.
in play, Join the Collective can wipe the board and create an instant army, taking over the game.
With that in mind, Join the Collective might be a Commander card that works better than it looks, but it is undeniably slow. With this in mind, Bracket 2 is probably the sweet spot for a card like this, since you’ll commonly have enough time to pull it off. Early speculation places this card in the We Are the Borg Commander Precon.
MTG Borg Queen, One Who Is Many

Borg Queen, One Who Is Many is painfully simplistic, but it can be decent in artifact creature Commander decks. Construct Typal decks, in particular, 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."
can gain an absolutely ridiculous amount of life from Borg Queen. Similarly,
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.)
can get quite massive with a lot of artifacts in play, gaining lots of life with this creature.
Unfortunately, Borg Queen might be far more expensive than players expect, and may not even be available. Current speculation puts this card in the scrapped Star Trek Beginner Box product, meaning it may never be officially released. Even if that is the case, Borg Queen could appear in Collector Boosters, but it could be extraordinarily expensive if it becomes hard to find.
While this card could be an interesting addition to some artifact Commander decks, Borg Queen, One Who Is Many may not be worth the insane premiums she draws if she’s a rare open. With that in mind, we’ll have to wait and see how easy this card is to find.
MTG Tricorder

Last, and certainly least, Tricorder is a common from the main set that will likely be rather uninteresting outside of Draft. Its low cost could make it interesting with Surveil Commanders like
Denzilore Fatehold
Denzilore Fatehold
Flash
Flying
Whenever you scry or surveil, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
, but outside of that, Tricorder may not do enough in budget builds.
In Limited, however, Tricorder could be quite impressive. This card is similar to Marvel Superheroes’
S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit
S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever equipped creature attacks alone, untap it and scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
Equip {1} ({1}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
, which proved effective in the format. The card’s low mana value and equip cost, combined with its card selection, let Spy Kit generate tons of card selection, something Tricorder could do as well.
That’s all the new cards from New York Comic Con for now, but more MTG news is coming soon. Tomorrow, a new Universes Beyond set is scheduled to be announced, starting at 7:45 EST. At the time of writing, however, the set is still a mystery, so be sure to watch this space for updates.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!