MTG Star Trek rules changes: Kira breaks combat & a werewolf errata

Wizards printed 43 new creature types for Star Trek, more than any recent set. Somehow that's the least interesting line in the update bulletin.

Eric Levine published the Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Update Bulletin on November 6th, the same day prerelease events opened. It's short, but the MTG Star Trek rules changes in it include a brand-new combat rule built for one Bajoran soldier and an Oracle change to a werewolf from 2021. I went through the bulletin and Levine's full Star Trek release notes so you know what each change does before your next game.

What are the MTG Star Trek rules changes?

The MTG Star Trek rules changes come down to one new combat rule, one updated rule, one Oracle change, and the paperwork for the set's new mechanics.

Here's the full list:

• New rule 508.4e for Kira Nerys, Firebrand, a replacement effect that makes your creatures enter tapped and attacking

• Updated rule 208.3, covering when a noncreature card off the battlefield has power and toughness

• New rules 700.17, 701.72, and 702.196 for face a dilemma, assimilate, and beam me up, plus matching glossary entries

• Four new ability words: battlefront, federation, seek out, and strange new worlds

• One new artifact type (Communicator) and 43 new creature types, from Aenar to Xindi

• One Oracle update: Werewolf Pack Leader

Two of those will actually change how you play. The rest is the rulebook catching up to the cards.

Kira Nerys, Firebrand gets her own combat rule

Kira Nerys, Firebrand needed rule 508.4e because her second ability is the first of its kind: a replacement effect that turns every creature you put onto the battlefield during combat into an attacker.

Kira is a 4/3 trampler for 1RW. Her middle line reads, "If a creature you control would enter while you control an attacking creature, instead it enters tapped and attacking." Her last ability gives each other creature that enters +1/+1 until end of turn. Plenty of cards make a token that enters attacking. Kira does it to everything, as long as you already have something swinging.

The release notes spell out what that means:

• You pick the target. Each creature that enters this way can attack any opponent, planeswalker, or battle you choose.

• No attack triggers. These creatures were never declared as attackers, so anything that says "whenever a creature attacks" stays quiet.

• No attack taxes either. For the same reason, Propaganda and Ghostly Prison never get a chance to charge you for them.

The trick that wins games: flash a creature in after blockers are declared. It enters attacking after blockers are locked in, so it connects. Every flash creature in your deck turns into a combat trick with its own damage attached.

The no-attack-triggers ruling cuts the other way too. If your Boros deck runs on "whenever a creature attacks" payoffs, the creatures Kira drops in mid-combat won't feed them. Build her as a flash deck.

Why did Werewolf Pack Leader get errata?

Werewolf Pack Leader got new Oracle text because its old wording made it hard to tell how many creature types it had, and Star Trek's federation cards count creature types.

The old activated ability read: "3G: Until end of turn, this creature has base power and toughness 5/3, gains trample, and isn't a Human." The new version ends with "and is a Werewolf" instead.

In a normal game, nothing changes. Werewolf Pack Leader is a Human Werewolf. Activate it under either wording, and you've got a 5/3 trampling Werewolf. The difference only shows up once another effect piles extra creature types onto it. The old text stripped Human and left everything else. The new text wipes all of it.

Why does that matter now? Federation abilities count the creature types among your non-Borg creatures. Starfleet Academy taps for that much mana, and Captain Jonathan Archer pumps a creature by that much. MTG Rocks reported a combo using Amoeboid Changeling or Stalactite Dagger, and Artificial Evolution that pushed Starfleet Academy past 300 mana. Wizards' position is that you should never need to know how many creature types exist in Magic, so the werewolf got a haircut.

That's a five-card combo that was never showing up at Friday Night Magic, and the errata is still the right call. A rule that requires a creature type census to resolve one land ability would have been a judge call waiting to happen.

Assimilate, beam me up, and face a dilemma are now official rules

The Comprehensive Rules now include face a dilemma as rule 700.17, assimilate as 701.72, and beam me up as 702.196.

Reality Fracture went through the same paperwork step for its new mechanic, which I covered in my Empower Jace mechanic explainer. Here's what each Star Trek term does.

Face a dilemma is a new name for something you already do. You face a dilemma whenever you choose one or more modes for a modal spell or ability. Picking three modes is still one dilemma. Choosing zero modes on an optional choice is no dilemma at all. Dilemma triggers resolve before the spell that caused them, so Seven of Nine still draws you a card even if someone counters your Command Decision.

Assimilate gives you control of a creature, or puts a creature card onto the battlefield under your control. Either way, it gets a +1/+1 counter and becomes a Borg artifact creature, losing its other creature types and keeping everything else. My favorite release-notes example: an assimilated Dryad Arbor becomes an Artifact Land Creature, Forest Borg. Resistance is futile, and so is your type line. The Borg Queen is the poster card here.

Beam me up lets you cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard for its beam me up cost, plus returning a creature you control to its owner's hand. Returning the creature is part of the cost, so your opponent can't kill it in response to stop you. The spell gets exiled when it leaves the stack, countered or not. Sorcery timing still applies, and the card works even if it was milled instead of cast. Open Communications is the common to learn it on. In Commander, bouncing a creature with a strong enters ability as your "cost" is the whole point.

What does the rule 208.3 update change?

Rule 208.3 now says a noncreature card off the battlefield only has power and toughness if those numbers aren't printed as part of one of its abilities.

That's a narrow fix, and my read is that it exists for Spacecraft. Since Edge of Eternities, Spacecraft print their power and toughness inside a station tier, which is an ability. Under the new wording, a card like Starship Enterprise has no power or toughness while it sits in your hand or graveyard. Unless something checks the power of a card in one of those zones, you'll never notice.

Why Star Trek needed 43 new creature types

Star Trek added 43 creature types because federation cares about type diversity, and the franchise has a lot of species to cover.

The list runs from Aenar and Andorian through Tribble, Vulcan, and Xindi. Q is a creature type now. So is Tribble, which feels like a choice that will haunt somebody's token count. Officer joins as a type too, which matters because Captain Benjamin Sisko makes 1/1 Officer tokens for each dilemma you faced that turn.

Federation counts every type once among your non-Borg creatures. A type a Borg shares with a non-Borg still counts, so a Borg Noble next to a Human Noble gives you two types: Human and Noble. Building a federation deck means mixing species on purpose, which is a nice nod to the show.

The new Communicator artifact type also debuts on Combadge, an Equipment that makes the equipped creature unblockable when it attacks while you control another creature wearing a Communicator. Pin two badges on your away team, and they walk right past the blockers.

The rules change I'm building around

Of all the MTG Star Trek rules changes, Kira Nerys is the one I might just take advantage of for Commander, and I'd fill her 99 with flash creatures before a single attack-trigger payoff.

The math is better than it looks. Three opponents' worth of blockers means nothing to a creature that never had to get through the declare blockers step. Every flash creature becomes a surprise attacker that also gets +1/+1 from Kira's last ability. In multiplayer, you choose a separate opponent for each one, so you can split damage after you see who left their shields down.

Watch for one thing at your table this week: players reaching for Propaganda taxes on creatures that entered attacking. Those creatures were never declared, so the tax never comes up. Expect to explain that more than once at your LGS.

MTG Star Trek rules changes FAQ

What rules changed in the MTG Star Trek update bulletin?

The MTG Star Trek update bulletin added rule 508.4e for Kira Nerys, Firebrand, updated rule 208.3, and added rules 700.17, 701.72, and 702.196 for face a dilemma, assimilate, and beam me up. The bulletin also added four ability words, the Communicator artifact type, 43 creature types, and new Oracle text for Werewolf Pack Leader.

What does Kira Nerys, Firebrand do?

Kira Nerys, Firebrand is a 4/3 trample legendary creature for {1}{R}{W}. If a creature you control would enter while you control an attacking creature, Kira Nerys, Firebrand makes it enter tapped and attacking instead, and each other creature that enters under your control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

Do creatures that enter attacking with Kira Nerys trigger attack abilities?

Creatures that enter attacking with Kira Nerys, Firebrand do not trigger "whenever a creature attacks" abilities. The Star Trek release notes state these creatures were never declared as attackers, so attack triggers and attack costs such as Propaganda do not apply to them.

Why was Werewolf Pack Leader changed?

Werewolf Pack Leader was changed because its old ability removed only the Human type, which made it hard to tell how many creature types the card had. Star Trek's federation abilities count creature types, so Wizards changed the ability to make the creature a Werewolf, which removes all its other creature types.

What is face a dilemma in Magic: The Gathering?

Face a dilemma is a Magic rules term, rule 700.17, for choosing one or more modes of a modal spell or ability. Choosing several modes counts as one dilemma, and choosing no modes counts as none.

What does assimilate do in MTG Star Trek?

Assimilate is a keyword action, rule 701.72, that gives you a creature or puts a creature card onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter. The assimilated creature becomes a Borg artifact creature and loses its other creature types.

How does beam me up work?

Beam me up is a keyword ability, rule 702.196, that lets you cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard by paying its beam me up cost and returning a creature you control to its owner's hand. A spell cast with beam me up is exiled when it leaves the stack.