Magic: The Gathering’s Star Trek Set Officially Introduces a New Way to Lose the Game

Most Magic: The Gathering games conclude when one player’s life total falls to zero, yet plenty of fans delight in building decks around stranger paths to victory. You might mill your opponent’s library, smother them in poison counters, or chase the alternate win conditions printed on cards like Simic Ascendancy or Doctor Doom, Unrivaled. Next month, the Star Trek Universes Beyond set adds an entirely new way to lose, inspired by one of James T. Kirk’s most celebrated tales.

Nicholas Meyer’s 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan begins with Admiral Kirk observing a Starfleet training simulation in which the USS Enterprise answers a distress call from the crew of the Kobayashi Maru. Klingons ambush the vessel, and whatever the bridge crew decides, the mission collapses into catastrophe. The real purpose of the exercise is to examine how cadets cope with a “no-win scenario.”

Image: Wizards of the Coast

The mythic rare blue enchantment Kobayashi Maru Scenario translates that idea into gameplay, letting its controller pick a different course of action at the start of each upkeep. It also showcases the set’s focus on modal cards, which are now known as “Dilemmas.” You may draw two cards, bounce an opposing creature with mana value 3 or less back to its owner’s hand, or create two 1/1 red Officer creature tokens. Once three turns have passed, however, only one choice remains: abandon ship and lose the game.

The design echoes Demonic Pact, another enchantment that hands you powerful benefits while setting a four-turn countdown. Some players will gamble that they can win quickly with the extra resources, or destroy the enchantment before it finishes them. Others will surely follow Kirk’s example and bend the rules. Later in The Wrath of Khan, Kirk admits he never accepted the idea of a no-win scenario, and reveals that he reprogrammed the simulation as a cadet in order to pass. J. J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek film dramatizes that moment early on, much to Spock’s irritation. In the same spirit, players may turn to Donate to hand Kobayashi Maru Scenario to an opponent just before their clock runs out.

What other new mechanics does Magic: The Gathering Star Trek add?

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Star Trek also brings back the Spacecraft and Station mechanics first seen in Edge of Eternities, so players can crew a broad range of legendary vessels, from the USS Enterprise-A to a Borg Cube. The Borg rely on Assimilate to seize creatures and transform them into Borg artifact creatures carrying a +1/+1 counter, stripping away all of their former creature types. More often than not, your targets will come from your opponent’s graveyard.

The United Federation of Planets thrives on cooperation among countless worlds, and the Federation mechanic captures that spirit. Captain Jonathan Archer, for instance, can tap to Federation for a single green mana, granting a creature you control +X/+X, where X equals the number of creature types among the non-Borg creatures you control. Borg are left out because they refuse to collaborate with the Federation, which also means the ability does not count changelings.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

The Federation’s spirit of exploration is embodied by the Strange New Worlds ability, whose rewards grow with the number of differently named lands you control. The sorcery Deep Space Scan lets you draw a card for each uniquely named land, while that same count sets the power and toughness of Captain Pike, Fullness of Time. The effect looks especially potent in Commander, where it pairs wonderfully with Field of the Dead.

Starfleet crews regularly rely on transporters to slip out of perilous situations, and the Beam Me Up ability follows suit: return a creature to your hand as an additional cost to cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard. Because bouncing the creature is part of the cost, an opponent can’t respond by removing your target, although the spell itself can still be countered in the usual way.

Magic: The Gathering Star Trek arrives on Nov. 13. Stay tuned to Polygon for further coverage, including exclusive card reveals.