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.
Let me check the archetypes really quick. Yup, Izzet is a spells deck again. Apparently, some traditions are simply too sacred for Wizards to mess with.
That means this has a pretty obvious home in the Izzet deck, and honestly, that’s about it.
Spending three mana on a card that does absolutely nothing when it enters the battlefield is a pretty terrible deal in Limited. You really need to know that your deck has enough ways to get the engine running before you even consider putting this in your pile.
Even when you’ve built around it properly, there’s still the unfortunate problem of drawing it late in the game. Nothing quite says “I’m about to lose” like topdecking a three-mana enchantment that needs several more spells to accomplish anything.
The Caretaker needs a little time before the ridiculous stuff starts happening. Playing it and a modal spell in the same turn isn’t realistic on curve, so your opponent will usually get a chance to respond before you start having fun. The exception is if you have a creature like Tal Shiar Operative that you face a dilemma with without spending any mana.
That being said, the upside here is absolutely ridiculous.
Stealing cards from your opponent’s deck is already a fantastic way to generate value, and having the potential to mill them out gives you an entirely different path to victory.
Without modal spells to get the engine moving, though, you’re left with an overpriced body. That’s what’s keeping me from going any higher.
Still, the ceiling is enormous, and I’m willing to put in some work for a card that can potentially take over the entire game.
This creature is LARPing as an opp. See, kids? I’m still cool and down with the latest slang. At least we’ve moved on from the days of calling everything “on fleek.” Those were dark times.
Questionable attempts to sound like someone under the age of 40 aside, we’ve seen plenty of variations of this creature before. Usually, we’re getting a 2/2 for one less mana, and those aren’t exactly setting the Limited world on fire.
These creatures are generally filler in dedicated spells decks, where you can at least take advantage of their synergies to make up for the unimpressive stats. Outside of those archetypes, they rarely have much reason to see play.
Ward one is a nice little bonus, but it’s hardly enough of a deterrent to make this particularly appealing. Your opponent isn’t going to lose much sleep over paying one extra mana if this does ever get out of hand.
This is card 22-23 in the right spells deck and something I’d happily leave in the sideboard everywhere else.
In your average two-color Limited deck, this is probably going to cost around six mana. That’s assuming you’ve got one of each basic land and managed to draw a dual land along the way. Six mana is still an awful lot to pay for this effect, and things get considerably uglier if that dual land never makes an appearance.
Of course, the entire conversation changes when you’re playing five-color soup. If you’ve managed to assemble enough differently named lands to cast this for just three mana, now we’re talking. At that price, this becomes a fantastic deal and exactly the kind of payoff that makes those questionable mana bases worthwhile.
It shouldn’t take telepathic powers to figure out that I’d prefer this one stay cloistered in my sideboard.
The biggest problem is that being a 2/1 means flash isn’t really going to let you surprise an opponent who thought they were getting in a free attack. You’re not exactly ambushing anything impressive with those stats, and that single point of toughness is particularly concerning with all the 1/1 Officer tokens running around the format.
Sure, getting to loot is a nice little bonus, and I’m never going to complain about having a way to improve my card quality. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to elevate this beyond being an unexciting curve filler.
Mana Leak is a pretty respectable Magic card. Mana Leak for three mana? Considerably less exciting. That’s already the going rate for Cancel, and these days we’re usually getting some extra value stapled onto that for our troubles.
The other option isn’t exactly setting the world on fire either. Tapping a creature, putting a stun counter on it, and drawing a card for three mana feels like something that would have been perfectly acceptable five years ago. Unfortunately, it’s not five years ago, and Magic cards have gotten considerably more ridiculous since then.
Having the flexibility to choose between the two modes does make this slightly more appealing, especially if you’ve got some payoffs for facing a dilemma. Neither option is particularly impressive on its own, but having access to both gives you a little more room to maneuver.
Don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely going to be games where Data comes down on turn two, starts growing, and eventually runs away with the entire game. Unfortunately, there are also going to be games where you draw him on turn ten, stare at your shiny new 0/1, and wonder why you didn’t just put an actual Magic card in your deck.
That’s the problem with creatures that need time and additional resources to become relevant. The ceiling can be pretty impressive, but the floor is somewhere in the basement of the Enterprise.
One thing I do appreciate is that drawing cards can effectively become a combat trick. That’s a pretty neat interaction, especially when your opponent thinks they’ve figured out the combat math only for Data to suddenly get a little bigger.
There’s definitely some potential here, particularly in a deck that can consistently draw extra cards. I’m just not thrilled about playing something that can be such an embarrassing topdeck later in the game.
Five-color soup and an ordinary two-color deck might as well be evaluating two different cards here.
If you’re playing five-color soup, then you absolutely want this in your deck. Getting a massive refill of cards is exactly the kind of payoff that makes all those questionable mana decisions worthwhile.
On the other hand, if you’re playing a normal two-color deck and spending six mana to draw two or three cards, you should probably be scanning the rest of the pack for something better.
This is the kind of card that should theoretically wheel back to you if you’re the only person at the table drafting soup. Unfortunately, this is Arena, where people will happily take a random rare they have absolutely no intention of playing just to add another shiny object to their collection.
Five-mana Clone? Suddenly, I’m considerably less enthusiastic.
Copying counters can make this better than your average Clone, but that’s situational. I’m not especially interested in paying an extra mana for something that might not matter.
At least there’s the fallback option of playing this when it’s the only creature on the battlefield. That’s certainly better than having a completely dead card in your hand, but let’s be serious here. Are you really excited about spending five mana on a 3/3 in 2026?
Emergency is definitely the right word for this card, because that’s exactly what it’s going to take for me to put this in my deck.
The body doesn’t cut it unless you’re getting a Spacecraft back, and there won’t always be one in your graveyard. That’s a pretty specific condition just to make an otherwise weak creature worth the investment.
At least facing a dilemma gives you some potential synergy, but that’s not enough to save this one.
Man, I really wish this card was an instant. Apparently, Scotty can beam you up, but only during your main phase.
Two bounce effects on one card can still buy an awful lot of tempo, particularly when you’re trying to force through the last few points of damage. The sorcery speed hurts, but the effect is useful.
There’s also the option of using Beam Me Up to reuse one of your own enters-the-battlefield abilities. I like having that flexibility, even if I wish I could do it on my opponent’s turn.
Let’s get one thing straight right away. You’re not going to be building some glorious dedicated mill deck around Chekov. That said, there are certainly going to be games where you manage to knock out your opponent’s last five or six cards and steal a victory that you probably had no business winning.
The more practical upside is potentially grabbing a land, making Chekov something of a pseudo-cantrip. Getting a body while replacing the card you spent is usually worth a look.
There’s a catch: that land comes from your opponent’s deck. You might not have the colors to use it, and there’s always the possibility of whiffing entirely.
The obvious comparison is U.S.S. Excelsior, Cutting Edge, which we just discussed in yesterday’s article. Both give you some immediate interaction while offering the potential to turn into a flying threat later in the game.
In this case, you’re stunning a creature instead of outright killing it, although you do get the advantage of not needing the target to be tapped. That’s a nice bit of flexibility, but I’d generally prefer my removal to actually remove something instead of politely asking it to take a couple of turns off.
On the plus side, this requires two fewer station counters to get up and running, and vigilance is welcome. The three toughness is a significant downgrade, though, making the Enterprise easier to beat in combat and more vulnerable to removal.
When you add everything together, I think this comes out slightly worse than the Excelsior. It’s still a perfectly playable card, especially in a deck that can station it quickly, but the weaker interaction and more vulnerable body are enough to knock it down half a point.
There’s an awful lot to like about this card without it being particularly spectacular at any one thing. It’s basically the Swiss Army knife of one-drops, assuming your Swiss Army knife was designed by Starfleet.
A one-mana flyer with surveil thrown in is already a fine starting point. I’d expect to choose that mode about 75% of the time, since the random +1/+1 is much more situational. Having the choice is still a bonus.
On top of that, it’s an artifact, which opens up another pile of potential synergies. Oh, and let’s not forget that it also triggers anything that cares about you facing a dilemma.
That’s quite a few useful little effects packed into a single mana. None will break the game, but together they make for a surprisingly versatile one-drop.
We’ve seen approximately 300 variations of this effect over the years, and at this point, I’m pretty sure Wizards just changes a few words and calls it a new card. Not that I’m complaining, because these spells have consistently been solid Limited playables.
Give me a copy or two and I’m happy. Just don’t confuse solid interaction with premium removal.
That second ability won’t come up often, but it isn’t why I’m drafting this anyway.
What you’re getting is essentially a Grizzly Bears with half of its stats coming from Equipment that you can move around to other creatures. That’s actually a pretty nice bit of flexibility, especially when Gwyndala has outlived her usefulness or you’ve got something with evasion that would appreciate a little extra muscle.
The problem is that the Equipment isn’t quite as efficient as I’d like. If this were essentially a Short Sword with equip one stapled onto a creature, I’d happily bump the grade up to a 3.0.
It would be highly illogical to spend an early pick on this card. Even Spock would struggle to come up with a convincing argument for it.
One of the biggest advantages of a two-mana counterspell is being able to counter your opponent’s three-drop when you’re on the draw. That’s an incredibly important tempo play, and this card completely misses the mark.
Then there’s the kicker, which brings the cost up to four mana for what is essentially a Cancel with absolutely nothing extra thrown in. In an era where three-mana counterspells routinely come with additional upside, that’s not exactly an exciting deal.
As someone who enjoys playing counterspells in Limited, I’m usually willing to give them more credit than most people. Even I can’t find much to defend here.
Don’t get me wrong, if you’ve got a couple of Humpback Whales swimming around in your deck, this is a perfectly reasonable Magic card. Being able to fetch something worthwhile is always nice, especially when you’ve got some particularly large aquatic mammals waiting to make an appearance.
No whales, no bueno. Without something worth fetching, this belongs in the sideboard rather than your final 40.
I’m always happy to get a solid creature that digs for something useful, and Hoshi does both.
You’re almost always going to be looking at at least two cards, with three or four being a realistic expectation in plenty of games. Once you get up to four cards, you’re essentially getting an Impulse stapled onto a 3/3 creature.
That’s a pretty fantastic deal when you consider that you’re effectively paying three mana for the body and the normal two mana for Impulse, all while only spending a single card from your hand. That’s the kind of efficiency that makes a Limited player happy.
As with Free Borg Revolutionaries, basic landcycling for two mana helps fix your colors and opens the door to wildly irresponsible splashes. I know better. That has never stopped me.
When you actually cast the whales instead of cycling them, you get a gigantic body that clogs up the ground and makes attacking through it miserable.
Would I prefer a big, goofy flyer that could actually close out the game? Absolutely. The whales apparently haven’t figured out how to fly, even in the 23rd century.
At four mana, this could have been a premium common. At five, it’s going to land firmly in the “playable with limitations” category. That doesn’t seem particularly stellar to me.
The five-mana slot is already crowded, and a merely reasonable creature isn’t what I want when I’m spending that much mana.
Jett Reno has a bit of an identity crisis. She wants to be in the Spacecraft deck so you can easily tap her for station, but she also wants Face a Dilemma payoffs to grow into an actual threat. Getting both plans to cooperate sounds like a problem even Jett might struggle to solve.
I’m sure someone is going to assemble the perfect combination of cards, turn this thing into an absolute battlecruiser, and start drawing an extra card every turn. They’ll probably post a screenshot of it on Discord just to prove how wrong I was.
I’d rather have a creature that works without requiring the rest of my deck to perform emergency repairs.
This feels like a significantly worse Demonic Pact, which is quite an accomplishment considering they are both actively trying to kill you. At least Demonic Pact had the decency to provide enough value that you might actually win the game before it finished you off.
I really don’t understand why they felt the need to restrict the bounce effect to permanents with mana value three or less. Was letting us bounce something relevant really going to break the format? Apparently, even the designers were worried this card might accidentally be good.
You’re jumping through far too many hoops for effects that don’t justify the effort. Even in a deck built to exploit this, I wouldn’t be thrilled to see it in my opening hand.
Just like the Kobayashi Maru, playing this feels like a no-win scenario. Unfortunately, I don’t think even Kirk could cheat his way into making this a good Limited card.
One detail pushes Data all the way to a 3.5: your opponent’s noncreature spells trigger him too. You don’t even have to do all the work yourself.
In the Izzet spells deck, this has the potential to grow into an absolutely massive threat in a hurry. You’re already planning on casting a bunch of noncreature spells, and your opponent is probably going to contribute a few of their own whether they like it or not.
Better yet, Data doesn’t just grow. He can generate card advantage while becoming a legitimate threat, and that’s a combination I’m happy to invest in.
Geordi can get your Spacecraft stationed in a hurry, and by that I mean an absolutely ridiculous hurry.
On his own, he’s potentially dropping six station counters for a three-drop. That’s an absurd amount of progress for such a small investment, and we haven’t even gotten to the fact that he can do the same thing with your other creatures.
Of course, none of this matters much if you don’t have ships worth stationing. In the right Spacecraft deck, though, Geordi could be one of your most important support pieces.
I’m sure he learned how to pull all this off by taking a look in a book. If you don’t get that reference, I’m genuinely sorry about your childhood.
Most decks will get a serviceable modal spell out of this. If you’ve drafted plenty of Face a Dilemma payoffs, there’s a little more reason to get excited.
I suspect you’ll be choosing the creature and the cards about 80% of the time. Getting another dude onto the battlefield while keeping the cards flowing is generally a pretty good way to play Limited, and that’s the option I’d expect to provide the most consistent value.
Of course, there are going to be situations where you desperately need a bigger blocker or that extra mana from the other option. Having the flexibility to make those decisions is nice, even if one choice is going to be the clear winner most of the time.
Four mana to lock down a creature without turning off its abilities isn’t a fantastic rate. Fortunately, that’s not the mode I plan to use most often.
For one mana, you can lock down a creature that’s already tapped. Now we’re talking!
The fact that your opponent can’t just Beam Me Up their creature to escape is another massive point in this card’s favor. I’m always happy when my removal doesn’t come with an obvious escape hatch built into the format.
The floor is rough, but facing a single dilemma gets this up to where it needs to be. Anything after that starts looking genuinely good.
You don’t even have to warp your deck around it. There are enough playable modal spells in the format that you should be able to trigger this with cards you wanted anyway.
That’s the kind of synergy I like. No need to fill your deck with mediocre enablers just to make one creature respectable.
I’m genuinely torn between giving Spock a 4.0 and a 4.5. The upside is enormous, but so is the target he paints on himself the moment he hits the battlefield.
Power isn’t the issue. The question is whether you get to use any of it before your opponent points a removal spell at him.
You can wait until turn five and pair him with Open Communications to guarantee some immediate value, but that isn’t the reason I’m excited about this card.
Leave Spock alone for a few turns and the steady stream of value can take over a Limited game without much additional work.
His vulnerability is the only reason I’m stopping at 4.0. The potential for something truly absurd is absolutely there.
Spock is fantastic. Keeping him alive long enough to prove it is your problem.
This is going to depend somewhat on your opponent’s deck, but I suspect you’ll be naming two or three most of the time. Those are pretty popular spots on the mana curve, and making your opponent miserable for playing perfectly normal Magic cards is always a strategy I can get behind.
The really interesting part is that you’re not even going to realize how much work Uhura is doing in some games. There will be plenty of situations where your opponent is sitting there with spells they would love to cast but simply won’t because of her. You don’t get to see those cards, so you might never know just how badly you’ve disrupted their game plan.
I think this is going to overperform, and the reason is simple: one mana.
It’s cheap, it replaces itself, and it lets you reuse an enters-the-battlefield ability. You don’t need to spend half your turn assembling some elaborate Beam Me Up combo to get value here.
These small, unglamorous plays have a habit of winning games without anyone noticing. I’ll happily take the wins.
For such a small mana investment, this has a surprising amount of upside, even if it takes a while to get the engines running.
You have two ways to power it up, so you can use whichever fits your board instead of jumping through one specific hoop.
Things get particularly interesting when you’re able to add those last few counters at instant speed. Suddenly, your opponent’s perfectly reasonable attack turns into an absolute disaster when a fully operational Bird-of-Prey comes out of nowhere to ruin their day.
I love me some Control Magic action. There’s just something deeply satisfying about taking your opponent’s best creature and using it to beat them over the head. Unfortunately, giving up three cards in the process is an absolutely massive price to pay.
It’s not necessarily a deal breaker, but I better be stealing something completely ridiculous to justify that kind of investment.
Now, you might be thinking, “I’ll just give them one of my random creatures and draw three cards instead!” Sure, that’s an option, but you’re still giving something up in the exchange. Even a straight five-mana draw three would be pretty underwhelming by modern Limited standards, and this comes with an additional cost.
The flexibility is nice, and there are certainly situations where either mode could be good. I’m just not convinced that either one is consistently worth what you’re paying.
I wonder if Scotty realizes just how absurd he would be if he weren’t restricted to doing his thing during your main phase. I’m pretty sure Scotty doesn’t know.
Obviously, you’re going to need some spells worth effectively flashing back and creatures with enters-the-battlefield abilities worth reusing. But that’s a little like saying, “I hope I remembered to put good Magic cards in my deck.” If you’ve managed to accomplish that incredibly difficult task, Scotty is going to do some serious (miracle) work.
I’m grading Seven without assuming either differently named lands ability will turn on. Sure, there will be games where the five-color soup monstrosities I keep recommending unlock everything. In your average Limited deck, though, those abilities are bonuses, not something you should count on.
Even without them, she’s essentially a Merfolk Looter that can actually hold her own as a blocker. That’s a heck of a package.
There are an awful lot of random 2/2s running around this format, and this jockey is perfectly happy to keep them in check. Sometimes all you need is a creature that makes your opponent think twice before turning their little dudes sideways.
That’s useful when you’re stabilizing early or trying to win through the air. Let this hold down the ground while your flyers do the actual work.
Ground-based aggro decks are another story. If your game plan is to attack, a creature that would rather sit back on defense isn’t doing much to help.
Countering an activated or triggered ability will occasionally ruin someone’s day, but most games this is going to be a Frost Lynx with flash.
That extra option matters even when you don’t choose it: you still face a dilemma and collect any payoffs you’ve drafted. Sometimes the decision is obvious and you get paid anyway.
I do love me some creatures that replace themselves when they enter the battlefield. Getting a body while keeping the cards flowing is one of those things that never really goes out of style in Limited.
Five station counters is a real investment for a creature that isn’t exactly going to take over the game once you’ve finished assembling it.
Replacing itself gives it a decent floor, and a dedicated Spacecraft deck shouldn’t struggle too much to station it. Just be careful how much room you give these cards.
A deck full of ships waiting to wake up can end up spending more time preparing to play Magic than actually playing it.
Tappers have bounced in and out of Limited relevance for years. Lately they’ve had a rough time of it: faster games and stronger creatures leave less spare mana to spend locking things down.
It also doesn’t help that this costs three mana when, historically, we were getting perfectly respectable tappers for two. Apparently, inflation has finally reached the world of Magic creatures.
The discount on the tap ability is the selling point. Get that activation cheap enough and you can keep their best attacker occupied without sacrificing your whole turn.
Without the discount, I’m not impressed. With it, this could get genuinely annoying for your opponent.
I initially misread this card and thought it was decent, then I realized you discarded two cards in step one. Basically it’s a slow and limited Regrowth with some card selection tossed in and a bit of messing with the graveyard. I’m not sure what those scientists are up to, but it’s certainly nothing good.
Seven mana might as well be seven light-years away in some Limited games, but sometimes you just need a big, goofy top-end creature to finish things off. If you haven’t managed to pick up anything better, V’Ger is a perfectly reasonable option.
At least seven mana buys an enters-the-battlefield trigger: replace it with another card or shrink your opponent’s board, depending on what you need.
You get that effect again every time V’Ger attacks. If your opponent can’t deal with it, the triggers will pile up in a hurry.
This isn’t even the card advantage it might look like at first glance. You’re spending a card to get two of your opponent’s while handing them one of yours in the process.
I’d rather cast the spells I actually drafted, which presumably work with the rest of my deck instead of whatever random nonsense my opponent brought to the table.
I suppose I could see sideboarding this in if my opponent had a ridiculous collection of bombs and my own deck was, to put it kindly, the Cleveland Browns.
At that point, though, I’m not sure a Vulcan mind-meld is going to be enough to save me.
Wesley gives me an excuse to make dated musical references that a significant portion of Magic players have probably never heard of. Fortunately, he can also deliver some soul-crushing plays of his own.
Countering a noncreature spell while picking up a bonus is exactly the kind of exchange I love in Limited.
When that doesn’t happen, though, he’s just a decent creature. I’m not grading him based on the highlight reel.
When he delivers, Wesley is a Starfleet prodigy. When he doesn’t, I’m starting to understand why Picard kept telling him to shut up.
Cochrane is close to unplayable in a generic Limited deck. Put him in a dedicated Azorius Spacecraft build, though, and suddenly he has an actual job.
When you’re trying to station a fleet, having another piece to speed things along earns its keep.
Outside that strategy, there’s not enough here to justify a slot. Draft him for the ships, not for the name on the card.
Blue is looking like an interesting color, although I’m not convinced it’s going to be one you can just throw into any random Limited deck and expect great results. There’s some serious power here, but quite a few cards are going to need the right supporting cast before they start pulling their weight.
The good news is that the payoffs look pretty sweet. Mr. Spock and Scotty are both capable of doing some absolutely ridiculous things, while cards like The Caretaker you plenty of reasons to explore the Face a Dilemma strategy. Meanwhile, Beam Me Up is looking increasingly appealing as a way to squeeze additional value out of creatures you’d already be happy playing.
I’m also interested to see how the Spacecraft decks shake out. Blue has some excellent ways to get those ships operational, but there’s a fine line between assembling an impressive fleet and spending six turns preparing to do something while your opponent is busy actually winning the game.
And, of course, there’s five-color soup. Some of these cards get dramatically better when you start collecting differently named lands, which means I’m inevitably going to convince myself that another wildly irresponsible mana base is a brilliant idea. I’ve been playing Limited long enough to know better. That has never stopped me before.
My biggest takeaway is that blue looks like a color that rewards having a plan. The premium cards are excellent, but there’s a noticeable drop-off once you get into the filler. Knowing which synergies you’re actually supporting is going to matter a lot more than simply grabbing every blue card that looks vaguely playable.
That’s it for blue! Next up, we’re heading into black to see what other questionable decisions the Borg and their friends have waiting for us.
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.
