As we approach MTG Star Trek’s official release date, it’s clear things aren’t going as well as Wizards of the Coast expected. Despite the individual card designs for this set being quite interesting, every available sign points to the set being rejected by the market.
Between record-low prerelease turnouts, data suggesting that Limited play is down, and boxes selling for under MSRP, MTG Star Trek looks like the biggest miss of 2026.
MTG Star Trek Sells for Under MSRP
If there’s a telltale sign that a new MTG set has failed, it’s booster boxes selling for almost half of their expected MSRP before the set’s official release date.
On TCGplayer, Play booster boxes for MTG Star Trek are consistently selling for $107.48 right now. With Play booster packs having a reported MSRP of $6.99 each, that puts a full booster box at about $209.70.
Of course, the real MSRP of a Star Trek booster box isn’t quite this high, but selling boxes for almost half of the booster pack MSRP is a major red flag. Compare Star Trek to the more popular Universes Beyond set box prices, like the recent Hobbit at $127, and the difference is massive.
For reference, the last time this happened was MTG Spider-Man, another Universes Beyond set widely criticized for its poor quality. The set’s booster box absolutely plummeted to a temporary market value of $96, and the Play booster MSRP is the same as Star Trek’s. The box has since rebounded to $110, but that’s still an extremely low rate.
The lack of Star Trek-inspired financial movement on individual cards in the secondary market only reinforces this. It’s quite common for Commander precons to cause demand spikes for potential upgrades as early as spoiler season.
For MTG Star Trek, we’ve seen few, if any relevant price spikes caused by any of the Commander precons, which is basically unheard of. Of course, this could change in the coming weeks, but the quiet is deafening.
Unfortunately, early data on play rates supports this failure even further, with many players reporting record-low prerelease turnout for MTG Star Trek.
Unpopular Opening Week
After MTG personality Saffron Olive asked about Prerelease turnout on X, waves of comments rolled in, saying turnout at many stores was down 50% or more compared to past releases. While this doesn’t mean much individually, the volume of replies suggests a narrative.
Scattered stories on Reddit confirm this, reinforcing that Star Trek and other Universes Beyond sets don’t seem to perform well by this metric. Many stores have shared their grievances online too, suggesting that Star Trek prerelease, overall, did not go well.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only metric suggesting that Star Trek is unpopular amongst the MTG crowd. 17Lands, an extremely popular MTG Limited website, reportedly saw its recorded games drop by almost 50% from the usual number for early MTG Star Trek Arena Limited.
By now, based on personal experience, the site typically has all the core cards in an MTG set ranked outside the Bonus Sheet, plus a few unplayable outliers. At the time of writing, however, a fair few MTG Star Trek cards are still missing.
Frankly, this suggests that Star Trek, as an IP, just isn’t popular among the MTG community. Personal experience confirms this somewhat, with many of my friends skipping this set purely because it’s Star Trek, and nothing else.
While that doesn’t really mean much in isolation, it does support the larger feedback we’re seeing across social media. For some MTG players on a budget, however, this is probably a good thing.
Everything Is Cheap
The plus side of MTG Star Trek being so unpopular is that prices across the board for this set are dirt cheap. Unlike MTG Spider-Man, the cards in this set are actually good in Commander, too, giving you a great way to upgrade your decks on the cheap.
Heck, the prices for singles are so good right now that we’ve highlighted a few cards that we’re excited to pick up. Considering that Star Trek hasn’t even officially released yet, these cards could get even cheaper soon.
Personally, considering how strong many of the card designs are in this set, I wouldn’t be surprised if MTG Star Trek ages well. Card designs like
Captain Kathryn Janeway
Captain Kathryn Janeway
You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
Whenever Captain Janeway or another creature you control enters, that creature explores. (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 the creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
,
Dr. Beverly Crusher
Dr. Beverly Crusher
If you gaining life causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Crusher.
, and
Mr. Spock, Science Officer
Mr. Spock, Science Officer
If you would draw a card, draw two cards instead.
could easily be $10+ cards, but they’re all under $10 here.
Even Shock Lands, which were reprinted in Star Trek, are the cheapest they’ve been in a very long time. With many of them going for $5-6 right now, and with the potential to go even lower, it’s a great time to pick them up.
With lots of card designs and strong reprints available, it’s very possible that MTG Star Trek could rebound in the far, far future. For now, however, it’s clear this IP isn’t resonating with a large part of the community.
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