Mr. Roboto | Building your One, Borg Evolved Commander Deck
One, Borg Evolved has one line of rules text and six keywords in it. Every artifact creature you control gets flying, double strike, vigilance, menace, lifelink, and ward {2}, and that includes One.
That's the whole pitch. A One, Borg Evolved commander deck makes a pile of 1/1 artifact tokens, hands them all six keywords, and flies over the table gaining life on every swing. Ten tokens hit for 20 in the air. I built mine from scratch around the commander, and the whole plan is cheap mana early and a sky full of double strikers late.
Why One, Borg Evolved is worth building around
One, Borg Evolved is worth building because it turns the weakest permanents in Magic, 1/1 artifact tokens, into evasive lifelinkers that hit twice.
Look at the token makers Esper already has. Thopters, Servos, Myr, Constructs, and now Borg drones from the Star Trek set. All of them are artifact creatures, which means all of them answer to One. One hands out a keyword stack that makes chump-blocking pointless and racing impossible. Menace plus flying means an opponent needs two fliers to block a single drone, and lifelink means you gain back whatever they swing at you with.
The catch is the price tag on the commander itself. One costs 4WUB, seven mana for a 3/3. A big chunk of the deck exists to make that cheaper.
How does One, Borg Evolved actually work?
One gives keywords to artifact creatures you control as a static ability, so the bonus applies the moment a token enters and switches off the moment One leaves the battlefield.
Four rules details shape the whole build.
One buffs itself. One is a legendary artifact creature, so it's a 3/3 flier with double strike and lifelink. That's 6 commander damage per hit.
Double strike doubles your triggers. A double striker deals combat damage in the first-strike step and again in the regular combat step, so every "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player" trigger fires twice. Card draw and token making both happen twice per creature, per combat.
Ward 2 taxes every answer. Any opponent targeting One or a token pays two extra mana or the spell gets countered. Paying ward to kill one Thopter is a bad deal for them.
Vigilance turns attackers into mana. Your whole air force comes home untapped. Anything that taps artifacts for value, like Urza, Lord High Artificer or Whirler Rogue, gets to use the same creatures that just swung. And a tapped attacker still deals its combat damage, so you can tap vigilant drones mid-combat to pay for Whirler Rogue's unblockable ability.
The flip side is brutal. Remove One and every token goes back to being a 1/1 on the ground. Protection needs to be a core part of your build.
Early game: turns one to three
The early game is about mana rocks and token engines, so One comes down on turn four with a board ready to fly.
Play two-mana rocks on turns two and three. Arcane Signet, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Progress, and Talisman of Hierarchy all count as artifact spells for your engines.
Land Sai, Master Thopterist before the rocks if you have it. Every artifact you cast after that comes with a free flying Thopter.
Cast Võx, Child of the Collective as early as possible. It's the card that turns One into a four-drop in a 4-player pod.
Hold your removal. The early turns belong to your board, and your answers matter more once One is on the table.
Mid game: landing One and building the hive
The mid game starts the turn One resolves, and your job from there is to grow the token count while One stays safe.
Cast One with Undaunted from Võx. Undaunted cuts one generic mana per opponent, so in a four-player pod One costs 1WUB.
Get protection online fast. Padeem, Consul of Innovation gives your artifacts hexproof, and One is an artifact. Swiftfoot Boots covers the gap if Padeem isn't around.
Turn on the damage triggers. Co-Option Adjutant and Locutus of Borg give every artifact creature a combat damage trigger, card draw, and a fresh Borg token, and double strike fires each one twice.
Swing at the player with the fewest fliers. Five unblocked drones with Adjutant and Locutus out draw you 10 cards and make 10 tokens in one combat.
Late game: the alpha strike
The late game is one big swing, usually with an anthem out and every token in the red zone.
Stack an anthem. Tempered Steel makes every artifact creature a 3/3, which means each one hits for 6 with double strike.
Tap vigilant drones after you declare attackers to make One unblockable with Whirler Rogue. After combat, Urza taps the rest for blue mana.
Keep Emergency Regeneration up. It gives your artifacts hexproof and indestructible until end of turn, which shuts down an instant-speed wipe in response to your shenanigans.
Cast Battle of Wolf 359 before combat if the blockers are piling up. It gives nonartifact creatures -X/-X equal to your artifact creature count, so it also kills your own Sai and Padeem. Cast it when that trade is worth it.
How does a One, Borg Evolved deck win?
A One, Borg Evolved commander deck wins four ways, and the token air force is the main one.
The air force. Ten to twelve tokens with flying and double strike kill a player per turn and gain you the same amount of life. Most tables can't block one menace flier, let alone a dozen.
Commander damage. One alone deals 6 commander damage per hit, so four connections kill. With Tempered Steel out, One is a 5/5 that deals 10, and three hits get there.
The Thopter Foundry loop. Thopter Foundry lets you pay 1 and sacrifice a nontoken artifact to make a 1/1 flying Thopter and gain 1 life. Sword of the Meek returns to the battlefield whenever a 1/1 creature enters under your control, so it comes right back to feed the Foundry again. Every spare mana becomes a double-striking flier. Add Ashnod's Altar to sacrifice a Thopter for two colorless mana, and the loop nets one mana and one life every time, which means infinite mana and as many Thopters as you want. That's a three-card combo, so mention it at rule zero.
March of the Machines. March of the Machines turns every noncreature artifact into an artifact creature with power and toughness equal to its mana value. Your Talismans become 2/2 double strikers, Sol Ring becomes a 1/1 flier, and vigilance means they still tap for mana after attacking. Read the fine print before you cast it. Anything with mana value 0 becomes a 0/0 and dies, and Equipment falls off whatever it was attached to (goodbye, Swiftfoot Boots). It animates your opponents' noncreature artifacts too, minus One's keywords.
5 cards your One, Borg Evolved commander deck needs
These five cards do the most work in the deck, and I'd cut almost anything else first.
When Võx enters and at the beginning of your first main phase, your next artifact creature spell has undaunted. One is an artifact creature spell. Seven mana becomes four, and since Võx triggers every turn, it eats commander tax on the recast too.
Every artifact spell makes a 1/1 flying Thopter. In a deck built on artifacts, Sai is a token factory that works from turn three.
Gives every artifact creature you control "draw a card when it deals combat damage to a player." Double strike means two cards per drone. It's the best card draw in the deck by a mile.
Gives your artifacts hexproof, One included, and draws you a card each upkeep if you control the highest mana value artifact. One costs seven, so that's usually you.
The mana sink and the combo piece. Even without Sword of the Meek, it turns spare rocks and dead artifacts into double-striking Thopters at instant speed.
The anthem trap: Tempered Steel breaks your combo
Tempered Steel and Sword of the Meek fight each other, and the deck needs a plan for it.
Sword of the Meek only returns when a 1/1 creature enters. Static anthems apply the instant a creature enters the battlefield, so with Tempered Steel out, the Thopter from Thopter Foundry enters as a 3/3 and Sword stays in the graveyard. The Borg Queen gives artifact creatures +2/+2 as well and breaks the loop the same way. Pick your lane each game. If you're assembling the Foundry combo, hold the anthems in hand. If you're going for the game-ending swing, slam Tempered Steel and treat Thopter Foundry as a one-shot token maker.
Is One, Borg Evolved the commander deck for you?
One, Borg Evolved is the commander for you if you like going wide, drawing a pile of cards off combat, and winning with an air force your opponents can't block.
It's a seven-mana commander that plays like a four-drop when you build the mana right, and it punishes every table that forgets about flying. You'll spend real deck slots protecting One, because the whole army drops back to plain old 1/1 tokens the second it leaves. If that tradeoff sounds fun, sleeve up Võx and Sai, start making Thopters, and let the collective do the rest. Resistance really is futile.
One, Borg Evolved Commander Deck FAQ
What does One, Borg Evolved do?
One, Borg Evolved gives every artifact creature you control flying, double strike, vigilance, menace, lifelink, and ward {2}. One, Borg Evolved is a legendary artifact creature itself, so it gains all six abilities too.
What colors is a One, Borg Evolved commander deck?
A One, Borg Evolved commander deck is Esper: white, blue, and black. One, Borg Evolved has a mana cost of 4WUB.
When does One, Borg Evolved release?
One, Borg Evolved releases on November 13th, 2026, with Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek. One, Borg Evolved appears in the We Are the Borg Commander precon.
Does double strike trigger combat damage abilities twice?
Double strike makes a creature deal combat damage in both the first-strike and regular damage steps, so each "deals combat damage to a player" trigger fires twice per combat. Co-Option Adjutant draws two cards for each unblocked artifact creature under One, Borg Evolved.
How do you cast One, Borg Evolved early?
Võx, Child of the Collective gives your next artifact creature spell undaunted, which reduces its cost by one generic mana per opponent. In a four-player game, Võx cuts One, Borg Evolved from seven mana to four.
Does Tempered Steel stop the Sword of the Meek combo?
Tempered Steel stops the Sword of the Meek and Thopter Foundry combo, because the Thopter enters as a 3/3 and Sword of the Meek only returns when a 1/1 creature enters. The Borg Queen breaks the combo the same way.
How many hits does One, Borg Evolved need for commander damage?
One, Borg Evolved needs four hits to deal 21 commander damage on its own, since double strike deals 6 per connection. With Tempered Steel on the battlefield, One, Borg Evolved deals 10 per hit and needs three.
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