Iconic MTG Star Trek Hero Turns Your Graveyard into a Second Hand

Our first full week of MTG Star Trek spoilers is drawing to a close, and what a ride it’s been. We’ve seen some wild combo enablers, a range of promising new Commanders, and even some spicy Stardate reprints as well.

What better way to cap off such a fantastic week, then, than with one of the most iconic MTG Star Trek characters of all in Scotty, Miracle Worker. This beloved engineer’s reputation extends far beyond Star Trek itself, and his Magic incarnation feels worthy of that legacy.

Scotty, Miracle Worker MTG

Once you get past the slightly confusing wording, and realize that Beam Me Up only works with instants and sorceries, Scotty’s power becomes clear. This is essentially a new take on something like Past in Flames Past in Flames Each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Flashback {4}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Spells can't be countered.
Each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard has flashback. The flashback cost is equal to that card's mana cost. , letting you re-use all of your spells for a ton of extra value. The main caveat here, of course, is that Beam Me Up requires you to bounce a creature back to your hand each time, which changes the equation completely.

For the most part this is a downside, but there are plenty of ways to change that in the right decks. Free creatures like Ornithopter Ornithopter Flying , or any Affinity creatures in an artifact deck, essentially remove the limitation here, as you can just re-cast them after each bounce. Alternatively, you can run Scotty in a deck focused around re-using handy enters abilities, and bounce something like Loran of the Third Path Loran of the Third Path Vigilance
When Loran enters, destroy up to one target artifact or enchantment.
{T}: You and target opponent each draw a card. or Mulldrifter Mulldrifter Flying
When this creature enters, draw two cards.
Evoke {2}{U} (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters.) for extra value. A particularly nice trick here is to Beam your whole board by re-casting cheap spells like Brainstorm Brainstorm Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. , getting your creatures to safety before you cast a board wipe.

Because Scotty lets you cast spells from your graveyard, it’s excellent in decks that already want to do that, 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. and Kellan, the Kid Kellan, the Kid Flying, lifelink
Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, you may cast a permanent spell with equal or lesser mana value from your hand without paying its mana cost. If you don't, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. . It’s also great for strategies that mill or discard a ton of cards each game, such as 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 Nekusar, the Mindrazer Nekusar, the Mindrazer At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, Nekusar deals 1 damage to that player. , since they naturally create a ton of fuel for him to work with. In these decks, Scotty essentially serves as a big refill later on, but without the usual Underworld Breach Underworld Breach Each nonland card in your graveyard has escape. The escape cost is equal to the card's mana cost plus exile three other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast cards from your graveyard for their escape cost.)
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this enchantment. downside of only lasting a turn.

While Scotty should find homes in a wide range of Commander decks across all brackets, it looks particularly interesting for cEDH. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh First strike, menace, trample
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.) is one of the most-played Commanders in the format already, and it pairs perfectly with Scotty, letting you re-cast your whole ‘yard without worrying about the Beam Me Up cost. With a Flash granter like Borne Upon a Wind Borne Upon a Wind You may cast spells this turn as though they had flash.
Draw a card. in the mix, you can do this in response to opposing plays, too, which feels quite strong. While this won’t enable the same combos as something like Breach, due to Beam Me Up’s exile clause, getting a second use out of all your interaction is a tasty prospect indeed in cEDH.

Add in some fringe potential in the command zone, and Scotty feels like a great all-rounder for Commander. Its potential goes far beyond that, mind you, as it also seems like a fine addition to Dimir Bounce decks in both Standard and Pioneer. Getting extra uses out of your bounce spells, and ‘free’ extra bounces from Beam Me Up, gives the deck a ton of extra juice, and could potentially bring it back into the spotlight.

Overall, Scotty, Miracle Worker lives up to both that lofty name, and the character’s lofty reputation. It feels like a card with a huge array of homes, in Commander in particular, but also a fair card due to the considerable hoops you have to jump through to get the most out of it. When the preview season dust settles next week, I’ll be very surprised if Scotty isn’t one of the chase mythics for the set.

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!