Hey everyone! I guess it wasn’t just Jace messing with reality that dragged me back into writing these reviews, because here I am again, jamming a ridiculous pile of words onto the internet.
This time, we’re boldly going where no Limited review has gone before. Or, you know, where plenty of them have gone before, but with more Star Trek references, bad puns, and questionable jokes.
I’ll be reviewing every card in Star Trek from a Draft perspective, breaking down what’s worth picking, what’s worth avoiding, and what’s probably going to make you regret your life choices somewhere around turn six.
5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or start packing up your cards.
4.5: An incredible bomb that can completely take over a game, but still gives your opponent a slim chance to fight back.
4.0: Great rares, the absolute best uncommons, or extremely premium removal. Cards I’m very happy to first pick.
3.5: Excellent role-players or removal spells that basically never get cut.
3.0: Good playables that I’m almost never cutting from my deck.
2.5: Solid playables and roughly the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck can reach.
2.0: Mediocre filler. These are normally fighting for those last few spots in the 20th-23rd card range.
1.5: Replaceable and generally below-average filler. This can also include decent sideboard cards or cards that need a very specific deck.
1.0: Bad filler that gets cut most of the time. There may be a deck that wants it, but I’m not happy when mine does.
0.5: I’m very unhappy to main deck this, but there might be some fringe sideboard application. These are cards that could be useful in the perfect situation but are bad almost everywhere else.
0.0: Completely unplayable in basically every possible situation. Thankfully, they rarely print cards this bad anymore.
A Note on Ratings
These grades aren’t meant to exist in a vacuum. Limited cards can move considerably depending on the deck around them. A 2.0 role-player might become a 3.0 in the archetype that actually wants it, while a supposedly powerful card can drop quickly if your deck can’t support it.
I’ll try to grade cards based on their average performance while pointing out the ones that have especially high or low ceilings depending on synergy.
This is functionally a split card, although apparently that’s not good enough to count as facing a dilemma. I guess even pure evil has to follow the rules.
On one side, you’ve got a three-mana -4/-4 removal spell. On the other, you’ve got a gigantic seven-mana creature that’s going to tear apart your opponent’s hand. Neither option is particularly spectacular on its own, but having access to both is where things start getting interesting.
Against aggressive decks, you’re perfectly happy to spend three mana killing something before it beats your face in. Against slower control or five-color soup decks, you’ve got a massive late-game threat that can completely dismantle whatever plans your opponent was holding onto.
That’s a pretty fantastic combination of flexibility and power. You’re rarely going to be unhappy to see this in your hand, which is exactly what I want from a high pick.
Assault Drone lives and dies by the number of artifact creatures you’ve managed to cram into your deck.
If you’ve got absolutely no other artifact creatures running around, this is probably closer to a 1.0. A 3/4 for four that does nothing else isn’t a card that you should be playing.
On the other hand, if you’ve gone full Borg and decided that resistance really is futile, this could easily climb to a 3.0. Suddenly, all those little mechanical monstrosities are working together to make this considerably more threatening.
I’m assuming the average Limited deck will have at least a handful of artifact creatures, which puts this somewhere in the middle.
There’s genuine upside here, but the Borg are all about the collective. Showing up without any friends is a pretty lousy way to assimilate anyone.
I suspect this will find a home in plenty of Limited decks, even if the name is overselling how eager I am to go to war with it.
A Wind Drake is still a serviceable low-end playable when evasion matters. It’s not going to win any awards for efficiency, but a flyer that chips away at your opponent’s life total has its uses.
What makes this considerably more appealing is the ability to sacrifice another creature or artifact when it attacks to draw a card. That’s a pretty nice way to squeeze some extra value out of creatures that have already outlived their usefulness, especially with all those 1/1 Officer tokens running around. Apparently, the Automated Warfare System has finally figured out what Starfleet has known for decades: redshirts are an expendable resource.
Bat’leth
Rating: 1.5/5
I know some people are going to compare this to Crude Bent Blade, but I don’t think those two cards are even in the same galaxy.
Sure, getting to target a specific creature is nice, but giving something -2/-2 is considerably worse than forcing a sacrifice when you’re paying three mana for the privilege. Then there’s the equipment half, which is essentially a Bonesplitter without the extra toughness. That might not sound like a huge difference, but it absolutely matters when you’re trying to keep your creatures alive in combat.
Both effects are things we’ve historically been able to get for around one mana. Stapling them together doesn’t suddenly make them worth three, especially when you still have to pay to equip the thing afterward.
This desperately needed flash or the ability to attach itself to a creature when it entered the battlefield. Either one would have gone a long way toward making the card worth the investment.
A dedicated sacrifice deck could grow this into something worth the investment. Everywhere else, you’re starting with an unimpressive creature and hoping the rest of your deck comes to the rescue.
That floor is low enough to make me wary before we even get to the restrictions.
What really kills my enthusiasm is that pesky once-per-turn restriction. Nothing ruins a potentially ridiculous sacrifice engine quite like three little words telling you that you’re not allowed to have too much fun.
Reusing one of your better enters-the-battlefield effects while adding another body is a tempting package, especially if your deck has a few creatures worth bringing back.
The drain ability might steal a game here and there, but I wouldn’t count on it often enough to push the grade any higher.
Ultimately, this is a card that’s only going to be as good as the creatures you’ve already lost. In the right deck, that’s a pretty exciting proposition. In the wrong one, you’re just paying extra mana to recycle mediocrity.
Believe it or not, I actually like what this card is doing. You’re not exactly getting ahead on mana when it comes to the total stats, but spreading those stats across two bodies, with part of the package having haste, is a pretty respectable deal.
Two bodies offer some flexibility, and getting to attack immediately with part of the package is a welcome bonus.
Then we run into the problem I’ve complained about approximately 47 times already: you only get so many five-drop slots. At that point on the curve, I want something that makes a serious impact, not merely an acceptable amount of cardboard.
It’s a reasonable creature at a mana value where reasonable often isn’t good enough.
I’m assuming your average Limited deck has enough artifacts to activate this fairly regularly. If that’s true, you’ve got a serious source of repeatable card advantage.
In a dedicated Borg deck, though, this thing could get absolutely bananas. All it takes is a simple Assembly Specialist and you’re already drawing an extra card on turn two. That’s a ridiculous amount of value to start generating that early in the game, especially when there’s potential to keep the cards flowing.
Without enough artifacts, the whole plan falls apart. Fortunately, I don’t think you’ll have to work terribly hard to meet that requirement.
Once the engine is running, Trimatrix can bury your opponent in cards while they’re wondering how you keep finding an answer for everything.
Does this have the potential to swing for an absolutely massive amount of damage? It sure does.
Does it also have the unfortunate tendency to trade with some random two-drop and die to practically every removal spell in the format? Also yes.
That’s the tradeoff. A dedicated artifact creature deck can turn it into a legitimate threat, but its one toughness makes all that potential painfully easy to answer.
Am I resisting the temptation to make a terrible pun about the Collective Groan? I’m sure you already know the answer to that.
Apparently, resistance is futile, but making terrible puns is inevitable.
Remember when Phyrexian Rager was all the rage in Limited? Those were simpler times, when getting a card attached to a reasonably sized creature was enough to make everyone happy, even if it cost you a life.
These days, we’ve gotten plenty of variations that don’t even charge you that life. Raffi apparently missed the memo: she takes two life and another two mana before you actually get the card. That’s right, you only get a Clue for your troubles. Starfleet’s budget cuts are getting completely out of hand.
Exiling a card to gain two life offers some flexibility, but I expect to choose that mode only occasionally.
At least having the choice means you’re facing a dilemma, which gives you some additional synergy with cards that care about that mechanic.
Now THIS is the kind of modality I can get behind. Instead of giving me two mediocre options and expecting me to be impressed because I get to choose between them, both modes actually do something worthwhile.
Edict effects can be pretty underwhelming in a format where everyone seems to have a small army of 1/1 tokens running around. Nothing quite ruins your exciting removal spell like watching your opponent sacrifice some random Officer they weren’t particularly attached to anyway.
Fortunately, D’Ghor has a solution to that problem. If your opponent is hiding behind a bunch of one-toughness creatures, you can simply wipe them all out instead. That’s a pretty fantastic way to punish the go-wide decks while still having an answer to a single large threat.
I have a feeling approximately half of you are going to think this grade is way too high, while the other half will think I’ve completely lost my mind for not giving it a 5.0. Welcome to the wonderful world of evaluating expensive Limited bombs.
I’m landing somewhere in the middle. The inevitability is ridiculous if the game goes long, but resolving this isn’t the same thing as winning. An opponent with a threatening board can still put you away before it matters.
And let’s not forget the rather significant elephant in the room. This thing costs eight freaking mana.
I know that doesn’t sound like a massive difference compared to seven, but trust me, that extra mana feels like approximately three additional turns when you’re sitting there staring at an uncastable card while your opponent beats your face in.
The ceiling deserves respect, even if the price tag is absurd.
Yes, I know this looks low for a sweeper. The problem is that spending five mana to blow up the battlefield isn’t nearly as exciting when half your opponent’s creatures might survive.
In your average two-color deck, you’re probably only doing it for two or three, which is a long way from what I’d consider a good sweeper. Sure, you’ll occasionally catch a bunch of smaller creatures, but there’s also a very real chance that your opponent’s biggest threats just shrug it off and continue beating your face in.
That’s why I’m sticking with a 2.5 for an average two-color deck rather than grading the dream scenario.
Where this really starts to shine is when you add a splash or two and get enough differently named lands onto the battlefield to cause some serious ruckus. Suddenly, you’re dealing enough damage to actually clear the board instead of just mildly inconveniencing it. In a dedicated soup deck, I’d be willing to bump this grade considerably higher.
Yeah, I know I should have said destruction instead of ruckus, but I don’t ALWAYS grab the low-hanging fruit.
Apparently, removal spells have decided to de-evolve, because this feels like something we would have been playing back in the olden days of Limited. And not necessarily the good old days.
It’s technically a two-mana removal spell, which sounds fantastic until you read the fine print. The creature keeps its abilities, and even with threshold it hangs around until the following turn. That’s an awful lot of qualifications for a card that’s supposed to solve a problem.
If I’m spending a card to get rid of something, I’d prefer that something to actually go away.
That being said, I could absolutely see playing this in a very aggressive deck that just wants a cheap way to clear a blocker and keep attacking. When you’re trying to end the game quickly, sometimes getting a creature out of the way is all you really need.
Sacrificing one of your own permanents to destroy an opponent’s creature is a familiar Limited bargain. It’s usually a good one, provided you’ve got something disposable lying around.
Between this set’s tokens and artifact synergies, finding sacrifice fodder shouldn’t be a major issue.
All those 1/1 Officers suddenly look a lot more useful when you can trade one in for a proper removal spell.
I’m not particularly comfortable with the way this guy is looking at me. He’s giving off some serious “I know where you live” vibes, which isn’t exactly what I’m looking for in someone who’s supposedly just a simple tailor.
The card itself makes a much better impression.
One of the biggest things I look for when evaluating synergy cards is whether they’re actually good without the synergy. A 3/3 menace for three mana? That’s a fantastic starting point. You’re getting an aggressive body that’s going to be annoying to block, even if you never manage to trigger the rest of the card.
Then the drain triggers start piling up. Two life at a time might sound modest, but there’s no once-per-turn restriction preventing you from going completely nuts.
That’s exactly what I want from a synergy card: a strong baseline and a ceiling that can get completely out of hand. Garak doesn’t need the rest of your deck to carry him, though he’ll happily take the help.
Ravenous Rats effects traditionally cost two mana, but I’m fine with paying an extra mana for two more power. Making your opponent discard while leaving behind a creature that can trade with something relevant is a fair deal.
Interestingly, I think this is going to perform considerably better in defensive decks than aggressive ones. That might seem backwards when you’re getting extra power, but the single toughness is a serious liability when you’re trying to attack. With all the random 1/1 Officer tokens running around, there’s a pretty good chance your opponent will happily throw one in front of it and call it a day.
On defense, however, that extra power becomes much more valuable. You’ve already taken a card out of your opponent’s hand, and now you’re threatening to trade with a creature that probably cost them considerably more than a random token.
You’ve already taken a card out of their hand. If this trades for a real creature afterward, I’m happy. I’d much rather have it sitting back and listening than trying to make a run for it.
Lorca can generate plenty of free value if your deck has enough ways to face a dilemma. That’s a reasonable expectation when you’ve drafted with the mechanic in mind.
Better yet, you might never have to cast him. Loot or mill Lorca into your graveyard, and he’s still hanging around as a resource whenever you start facing dilemmas.
Even if you have to raw dog him onto the battlefield the old-fashioned way, he’s still a perfectly reasonable card with the right support.
In a dedicated Klingon deck, this guy has the potential to go absolutely nuts. If you’re regularly sending creatures into combat and watching them die gloriously, Chang can turn all that carnage into some serious value.
He’s useful outside the dedicated Klingon deck, too. Give Chang some spare creatures to sacrifice and he’ll find a productive way to send them to the dumpster.
This is the ultimate “Do you have removal?” card in the entire set. If your opponent doesn’t have a way to deal with a six-toughness creature, they can’t win. Literally.
The ridiculous part is that you don’t even need to risk Georgiou in combat to take over the game. You can simply sit back, let her do her thing, and eventually end up with an actual army of dudes ready to overwhelm whatever your opponent has managed to assemble.
That six toughness is particularly important because it puts her out of range of a lot of the damage-based removal and smaller creatures running around the format. Your opponent needs a real answer, and they probably need it sooner rather than later.
I’m not particularly impressed with this one, even at the bargain price of a single mana. Cheap combat tricks are usually something I’m happy to consider, but they still need to actually accomplish something worthwhile.
The biggest problem is that +2/+0 isn’t going to change nearly as many combat outcomes as you’d like. Drawing a card seems nice, but your creature has to actually die to pull it off.
I understand the once-per-turn restriction from a Constructed perspective. Nobody needs a combo deck generating approximately 400 Treasures in a turn. In Limited, though, that safety valve makes Zek painfully slow.
He wants a giant pile of Treasures to become threatening, but he’s terrible at producing that pile himself. It’s a business plan that seems to be missing the part where you make money.
For a Grand Nagus, Zek is surprisingly bad at turning a profit.
I suspect some people are going to think this guy is perfect just because he’s a big, shiny mythic with a wall of impressive text. He’s certainly powerful, but there are packs where I’ll open him, shrug, and pass him along.
Seven mana is already a pretty substantial investment in Limited, and requiring three black mana makes things even more awkward. You’re not casually splashing this guy into your latest five-color soup monstrosity. Well, you can certainly try, but I’d recommend having a backup plan for when your mana base remembers that it’s a terrible idea.
He doesn’t necessarily affect the battlefield the turn he arrives, either. Unless you’ve already dealt some damage, that entire seven-mana turn could amount to nothing while your opponent threatens lethal.
Of course, if Dukat survives, the entire conversation changes. Between the pseudo-lifelink and the ability to take enormous chunks out of your opponent’s life total, racing him becomes an absolute nightmare. Your opponent is suddenly trying to win a game where their life total keeps disappearing while yours refuses to cooperate.
He’s earned the 3.5, but I’m not pretending a seven-mana, triple-black mythic is an automatic first pick.
Well, he was wearing a red shirt. What did you think was going to happen?
Unconditional removal is always welcome in Limited, though I’d rather pay three mana than four. The surveil is a useful consolation prize for the extra cost.
Plus it gives you the opportunity to point at a creature and tell your opponent, “He’s dead, Jim.”
The body is adequate rather than impressive, but the reason to play this is what happens when it starts attacking.
Your opponent doesn’t want to let you draw cards, so they’re pushed into blocks they’d probably rather avoid. Forcing that kind of awkward combat is already valuable before you consider the artifact synergies.
Add a bunch of small artifact creatures, and those unassuming Borg drones become pieces of a potentially absurd card-drawing engine.
In a dedicated Borg deck, this might be the most busted card you’re playing. I’m not grading it entirely on that ceiling, but it’s hard to ignore.
I’m really not a fan of giving my opponent two dudes when I’m trying to use this as a removal spell. Generally speaking, the whole point of killing something is to leave your opponent with fewer creatures, not replace their giant monster with a couple of new friends. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s the choice you have to make. Giving them two smaller creatures is still considerably better than just dying to some ridiculous bomb.
The other mode, drawing two cards and dealing two damage to both players, is solid at instant speed.
There’s also the added benefit of being able to trigger your Face a Dilemma payoffs at instant speed. Your opponent might think they’ve figured out the combat math, only for you to throw an unexpected trigger into the equation and ruin their plans.
Neither option is without its drawbacks, but the flexibility makes this a solid Limited card. Sometimes you’re going to be forced into a pretty miserable choice, but at least you’re the one deciding which flavor of misery works best for you.
The nontoken restriction is a pretty big deal here. Your opponent can’t just toss some random Officer token overboard and call it a day. They’re actually going to have to give up something relevant, which makes this considerably more appealing than your average edict effect in a format full of disposable little dudes.
You also get a Clue, with the option to sacrifice a creature or artifact to make a couple of 2/2s. That’s a substantial haul from one card.
You might still have that convenient Clue sitting there waiting to be sacrificed if you don’t have anything else you’re particularly interested in dumping into space. Turning a Clue into four power across two bodies is a pretty nice consolation prize if you don’t need the card draw.
Best-of-Three gives you some information about your opponent’s deck, which helps. I’m still not particularly impressed.
Here’s the problem. Most Limited decks aren’t running multiple copies of the same card, so naming something you’ve already seen isn’t necessarily going to accomplish much. Even if you manage to name something they’re holding, losing three life isn’t exactly a devastating punishment when they’re casting a card they desperately need to play anyway.
Realistically, I think your best bet is naming something with a repeatable activated ability that’s already sitting on the battlefield. That way, you’re at least putting some pressure on your opponent every time they want to use it instead of hoping you’ve somehow developed psychic powers and correctly guessed what’s in their hand.
Now that we’ve gotten the obligatory screaming out of the way, let’s talk about the actual card.
I really like the idea of turning some random piece of sacrifice fodder into two cards. That’s a fantastic way to squeeze additional value out of creatures that have already outlived their usefulness, especially in a format with plenty of disposable bodies running around. The biggest concern is that three toughness.
Playing him from exile is also a great flavor win, considering how much of his story involves being stranded somewhere he’d rather not be. I doubt an opponent is going to exile him once they know he’ll just return looking for revenge, but it’s handy protection against certain effects.
This belongs in a slower deck that’s happy to sit back and face dilemmas. There, it has a job to do.
Take away the modal spells, though, and the Operative is dangerously close to unplayable. You need a steady supply of triggers before it deserves a slot.
Giving one creature menace is perfectly fine, but giving your entire army of artifact creatures menace? Now that’s something I can get behind.
In a Borg deck, this can turn combat into an absolute nightmare. Good luck blocking a swarm of little artifact creatures when every single one demands two blockers.
Ideally, you want to play this when you’ve got enough mana left over to immediately cast something else and guarantee some value. That said, it’s not the end of the world if you have to raw dog this onto the battlefield on turn three and hope for the best.
If you’ve ever played with Lurrus in Limited, you already know just how absurd this type of effect can get.
Sure, this doesn’t have the completely busted advantage of being a companion, but it makes up for that by letting you cast things up and down the mana curve instead of being restricted to cheap permanents. That’s an enormous amount of flexibility and opens the door to some truly ridiculous value.
I expect some people to be lower on this, and I don’t want a pile of copies. The first one, though, interests me quite a bit if I’ve got creatures worth hitting with Beam Me Up.
Card selection helps you hit a land early or find something relevant late. Flashback gives you a second shot at that utility, which is enough to make the first copy appealing without pretending the effect is spectacular.
I won’t prioritize it during the draft. Just don’t be surprised if that single copy earns its place in the deck.
A two-mana removal spell sounds great, even at sorcery speed. The catch is that this only hits nonartifact creatures, which is a pretty ugly restriction in a format overflowing with Borg and Spacecraft.
When your opponent’s biggest threat is an artifact creature, that supposedly efficient removal spell might as well be a blank piece of cardboard.
The other option isn’t particularly exciting either. You need a cheap artifact creature sitting in your graveyard to get what amounts to an Unearth effect. That’s certainly useful in the right deck, but it’s not the kind of flexibility that makes me forget about the removal restriction.
I suppose it also triggers Face a Dilemma payoffs, which is a nice bonus if you’ve got enough of those running around.
The individual effects are reasonable, but both come with enough restrictions that I’m not willing to give this a premium removal grade.
Basic landcycling is a terrific safety valve in Limited, especially if it lets you fix your colors or attempt another wildly irresponsible splash. Rogue Artificial Intelligence gives you that option without saddling you with a useless creature when you draw it late.
The body is good enough to cast when you no longer need the fixing, and that’s really all I ask from this kind of package.
Sometimes you don’t need your artificial intelligence to take over the world. You just need it to find you a Swamp.
This is going to leave more than a few opponents feeling pretty salty.
Taking your opponent’s best card is an incredibly powerful effect, even if you’re giving them a replacement card in the process. You’re getting rid of whatever was going to cause you the most trouble while forcing them to take their chances with a random card off the top of their deck. That’s an exchange I’m going to be happy to make most of the time.
The best part is that you don’t even have to make the exchange if you don’t want to. If their hand is full of garbage and you’d rather not give them a chance to find something better, you can simply leave things alone. There’s no reason to help your opponent improve their hand just because you can.
Even when the ability isn’t useful, you’re left with a creature worth playing. That’s what pushes Salt Vampire into premium territory rather than leaving it at the mercy of your opponent’s hand.
This actually has a nice little interaction with Khan, Vengeful Heart. Being able to exile him for some extra value and then cast him again is exactly the kind of nonsense I enjoy finding in Limited.
We’re still talking about a Hill Giant, and those aren’t famous for surviving combat in 2026. Trading with something and getting a 2/2 afterward is fine; attacking repeatedly and collecting value is excellent.
But plenty of boards will leave Sela staring at creatures she can’t profitably attack into. Then you’ve paid a lot of mana for a body that’s accomplishing very little.
That’s the paradox here. In the games where she can attack, she’s going to look considerably better than a 2.5. In the games where she can’t, you’re going to wonder why you spent so much mana on a Hill Giant with delusions of grandeur.
This seems like a pretty solid card if you’re playing a hyper-aggressive deck or have a bunch of sacrifice outlets looking for something to throw into the dumpster. In either of those situations, there’s some legitimate value here.
The inability to block is a brutal drawback, though. If you’re not attacking or sacrificing creatures, leave this one behind.
This grade is primarily for the first copy because the value of this card drops off pretty dramatically from there. I could certainly see myself playing two in the right deck, but I’m struggling to imagine many situations where I’d actually want a third.
Choosing a mode should be straightforward. Early on, take your opponent’s best card and disrupt their plans. Later, return a couple of creatures from your graveyard to rebuild your board.
In any case, that flexibility makes the first copy appealing; I’m not convinced the second or third will pull the same weight.
This is a pretty solid card if you’re planning on being aggressive or have enough Face a Dilemma payoffs to take advantage of it. In those decks, it can put in some respectable work without requiring you to jump through too many hoops.
On defense, however, it’s miserable. If you’re behind and need to stabilize, this is one of the last creatures you want to draw.
Aggressive decks don’t plan on blocking much anyway, and the extra dilemma synergy helps. Just draft it for the deck you have, not the one you wish you had.
I’ll tell you what I see: a card that might be much better than it looks. Or a steaming pile of garbage that makes me look like an idiot for giving it a 2.5. That’s part of the fun.
The key here is putting this in an aggressive deck with plenty of ways to face a dilemma. When your opponent is already getting beaten down, taking another four damage every time you cast a modal spell isn’t exactly an appealing option. That means they’re going to be heavily incentivized to let you draw cards instead.
Keep up the pressure and the modal spells, and either choice hurts your opponent: you draw more fuel or they move four life closer to zero.
The obvious downside is that this gets considerably worse when you’re behind on the board. An opponent sitting comfortably at 20 life isn’t going to lose much sleep over taking four damage to deny you a card.
It doesn’t quite replace itself with a full-sized clone, but getting a 1/1 token is still a decent deal. An extra artifact creature can block, feed a sacrifice outlet, or support your other Borg synergies.
I want a four-drop waiting in my graveyard before I cast this. Getting something back immediately is the reliable part of the card; the Spacecraft itself takes quite a bit more work.
Station ten. TEN!
That’s an outrageous number of counters. If you’re planning to station it, make sure the rest of your deck can support that ambition instead of counting on the Reliant to get there by itself.
The recursion makes this powerful even when the ship never gets moving. Sometimes you’ll take the card back and leave the Reliant sitting in spacedock.
Are you following this up with a sweeper? No? Well, then this is probably going to be a pretty sad excuse for a mission of vengeance. You’ll still be able to take them down fairly quick through trading in combat, but this will be at its best if you have sacrifice synergies.
What really frustrates me is how close this could have been to a really good card. Just give me a lousy 1/1 token when it enters the battlefield, and suddenly I’ve got something to work with. At least then you’re getting a little immediate value instead of spending mana on a card that sits there waiting for the rest of your deck to cooperate.
Black has some serious power in this set, but it also has a remarkable talent for handing you cards that look fantastic until you realize how much work they expect you to do.
At the top end, there’s no shortage of reasons to move into the color. Georgiou, Elim Garak, Armus, and Salt Vampire are the kinds of cards that can justify an early pick all by themselves. Overflow Submatrix looks downright ridiculous if your deck can take advantage of it. Black also gets some strong interaction, even if a few of its removal spells come with enough conditions to make you consider hiring a lawyer before casting them.
The Borg cards are where things get interesting. Collation Trimatrix and Hive Mind Coprocessor can generate an obscene amount of card advantage, but you need enough artifacts and expendable bodies to make the machinery work. Fortunately, all those little drones and Officer tokens can be useful for more than standing around waiting to die. They’re also excellent sacrifice fodder, which gives black several ways to turn otherwise forgettable creatures into something worthwhile.
Face a Dilemma is another theme worth watching, particularly when the payoff is attached to a card you’d be happy to play anyway. What I don’t want is a deck full of questionable enablers that spends more time setting up synergies than actually winning games. There’s a difference between having a plan and needing the stars to align before any of your cards work.
My biggest takeaway is that black rewards you for knowing exactly what your deck is trying to accomplish. The premium cards are powerful enough to stand on their own, but the supporting cast varies enormously depending on whether you’re drafting Borg artifacts, sacrifice, or a more controlling dilemma deck. Don’t let a shiny rare talk you into playing seven-mana triple-black nonsense without checking your mana base first. Yes, Dukat, I’m looking at you.
That’s it for black. Next up is red, where I’m sure we’ll find more creatures interested in attacking first and asking questions never. Until then, stay classy people.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
