New MTG Star Trek Spoilers Highlight Intriguing Mono-Red Ramp Commander

MTG Star Trek spoilers continue to flood the internet, and it’s clear that this set’s flavor is through the roof. Yet, even if the Star Trek franchise isn’t your cup of tea, the appeal of many of these tools in Commander is quite high. Will Riker, First in the Field is a great example of a card that looks poised to make a major EDH splash, both in the command zone and the 99 of other decks.

MTG Will Riker, First in the Field

At first glance, Will Riker may not seem super powerful. After all, while its triggered ability provides a nice burst of mana for your second main phase, the lands don’t stick around long-term. Fetch Lands, however, buck this trend by sacrificing themselves for permanent mana, and dodging Will Riker’s downside. With end-of-turn effects like Sundial of the Infinite Sundial of the Infinite {1}, {T}: End the turn. Activate only during your turn. (Exile all spells and abilities from the stack. Discard down to your maximum hand size. Damage wears off, and "this turn" and "until end of turn" effects end.) , you can keep any lands around, too!

Of course, even temporary lands have uses, like triggering Landfall payoffs. In a mono-red shell with Will Riker in the command zone, you have tons of damage-producing payoffs like Koth, the Geomancer Koth, the Geomancer Reach
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, Koth deals 1 damage to each opponent. If that land is a Mountain, add {R}. , and Tunneling Geopede Tunneling Geopede Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. . With the help of damage amplifiers like Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Trample
If a red source you control would deal an amount of noncombat damage less than Ojer Axonil's power to an opponent, that source deals damage equal to Ojer Axonil's power instead.
When Ojer Axonil dies, return it to the battlefield tapped and transformed under its owner's control. and trigger doubles like Lithoform Engine Lithoform Engine {2}, {T}: Copy target activated or triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.
{3}, {T}: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.
{4}, {T}: Copy target permanent spell you control. (The copy becomes a token.) , you’ll threaten lethal quite quickly.

Notably, Will Riker’s potential only grows in the 99 of green-based Landfall shells running payoffs 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. and Rampaging Baloths Rampaging Baloths Trample
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token. . Szarel, Genesis Shepherd Szarel, Genesis Shepherd Flying
You may play lands from your graveyard.
Whenever you sacrifice another nontoken permanent during your turn, put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to Szarel's power on up to one other target creature. and Hearthhull, the Worldseed Hearthhull, the Worldseed 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 8+.)
2+ | {1}, {T}, Sacrifice a land: Draw two cards. You may play an additional land this turn.
8+ | Flying, vigilance, haste
Whenever you sacrifice a land, each opponent loses 2 life. provide particularly powerful homes, since they even reward you when your lands get sacrificed. Throw in Crucible of Worlds Crucible of Worlds You may play lands from your graveyard. effects to rebuy those lands, and you’ve got a fantastic engine.

MTG Deanna Troi, Psychic Counsel

As a mono-white Commander, Deanna Troi isn’t much, but she has plenty of uses in the 99 of other EDH decks. Having access to such an efficient way to add counters to your squad makes it much easier to maximize Proliferate Commanders like Kilo, Apogee Mind Kilo, Apogee Mind Haste
Whenever Kilo becomes tapped, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) and Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may move a counter from target creature you control onto a second target creature you control.
Cheer — Whenever one or more creatures you control with counters on them deal combat damage to a player, you may draw a card and proliferate. Do this only once each turn. . This creature also synergizes with Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar Your opponents can't cast spells during your turn.
Whenever one or more creatures you control each with power greater than its base power deals combat damage to a player, draw a card. , since all your follow-up threats will be enhanced.

Where this card is potentially at its best, however, is in Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn Flying, lifelink
Creature spells you cast have convoke. (Your creatures can help cast those spells. Each creature you tap while casting a creature spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
At the beginning of your first main phase, you may pay {B}. If you do, transform Eirdu. decks. By giving all of your creatures Persist, this Commander’s backside specifically combos with Deanna Troi and a sacrifice outlet, letting you sacrifice your other nontoken creatures infinitely. Winning the game from here, with infinite damage from Blood Artist Blood Artist Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. , or infinite mana from Phyrexian Altar Phyrexian Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add one mana of any color. , is trivial.

Notably, both Eirdu and Deanna Troi are Standard legal, so they could have some interesting brewing potential. It’s also not impossible for Advisor to make a splash in Tokens decks, since it vastly increases damage output from Song of Totentanz Song of Totentanz Create X 1/1 black Rat creature tokens with "This token can't block." Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn. or The Last Ronin’s Technique The Last Ronin’s Technique Sneak {1}{W} (You may cast this spell for {1}{W} if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step.)
Create three 1/1 white Ninja Turtle Spirit creature tokens. If this spell's sneak cost was paid, they enter tapped and attacking. . This card’s vulnerability to Burst Lightning Burst Lightning Kicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to any target. If this spell was kicked, it deals 4 damage instead. could ultimately prove too much to overcome, but Deanna Troi still has potential.

MTG Pah-Wraith

Pah-Wraith may be expensive, but it doesn’t take much for this tool to have a 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. -esque impact on a Commander game. After all, almost any well-built multicolor EDH deck should naturally have many differently named lands, supporting this creature’s trigger with minimal effort. You do need to dodge an instant-speed removal spell to get your bonus, but this shouldn’t be too hard.

With that in mind, go-wide shells with lots of puny creatures, like Krenko, Mob Boss Krenko, Mob Boss {T}: Create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens, where X is the number of Goblins you control. , can use this card well as a finisher. Its attack trigger also pairs nicely with 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. , which generally wants to go wide in the command zone anyway. If that weren’t enough, as one of the few Wraiths in Magic, Pah-Wraith should also be a nice addition to Witch-King, Sky Scourge Witch-King, Sky Scourge Flying
Whenever you attack with one or more Wraiths, exile the top X cards of your library, where X is their total power. You may play those cards this turn.
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.) decks.

MTG Tasha Yar, Out of Time

Despite being a legendary creature, Tasha Yar gets most of its appeal from a Constructed standpoint. A two-powered Hasty creature for two mana is always a consideration on rate for red aggro decks, but this card comes with built-in card advantage when it dies. This effect is a big deal in the removal-heavy matchups, where red aggro decks often struggle.

If that weren’t enough, Tasha Yar also has an activated ability from the graveyard that gives you an extra burst of damage and card advantage when you run out of gas. When combined with burn spells like Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike Lightning Strike Lightning Strike deals 3 damage to any target. in Standard, red aggro now has a decent chunk of reach.

Obviously, it’s too early to tell if this two-drop and the rest of Star Trek’s designs change red’s position in the metagame. Right now, the deck struggles mightily in a field dominated by Lifegain, Landfall, and Dimir Reanimator, but things often shift after new sets release. As such, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this one.

MTG Overflow Submatrix

As a creature that specifically synergizes with other artifact creatures, Overflow Submatrix’s utility is obviously narrow. That said, the newly revealed We Are The Borg precon focuses on maximizing artifact creatures, giving this card plenty of support. By consistently adding more pressure to the board, you’ll get more mileage out of The Borg Queen The Borg Queen Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2.
Whenever The Borg Queen enters or attacks, target opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a creature card. Assimilate that card. They put the rest on the bottom in a random order. (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.) ‘s buff effect or Locutus of Borg Locutus of Borg Lifelink
Artifact creatures you control have "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, create a 1/1 colorless Borg artifact creature token." ‘s ability.

Outside of its impact alongside other Star Trek legends, Submatrix is a perfect fit for Imotekh the Stormlord Imotekh the Stormlord Phaeron — Whenever one or more artifact cards leave your graveyard, create two 2/2 black Necron Warrior artifact creature tokens.
Grand Strategist — At the beginning of combat on your turn, another target artifact creature you control gets +2/+2 and gains menace until end of turn. decks. Each artifact creature you cast from the graveyard triggers Imotekh’s first ability, while the Commander’s second ability enables effective attacks. Submatrix even makes for a decent option in 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." decks, rebuying powerful tools like Steel Overseer Steel Overseer {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control. and Arcbound Ravager Arcbound Ravager Sacrifice an artifact: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Modular 1 (This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies, you may put its +1/+1 counters on target artifact creature.) .

The only downside is that artifact creatures you cast enter with finality counters, so you can’t loop them repeatedly. Still, if you want to work around this, Ferropede Ferropede This creature can't be blocked.
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a counter from target permanent. is an artifact creature you can rebuy to remove these counters, even from itself, though this is quite niche.

So far, the Star Trek set has showcased wacky designs and unique build-arounds, with plenty of cards yet to be revealed. Three more Commander precons are on the way, too, offering more potential homes for these main set tools. Keep your eyes peeled for any other spicy, flavorful inclusions, as there’s surely more coming.

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