A Red Tolarian Terror is coming in Star Trek Universes Beyond hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector) | usagoldmines.com

Magic: The Gathering is ready to boldly go where it has never gone before with its upcoming Star Trek Universes Beyond set, and I have a pair of cards from it to showcase for you today!

Let’s start with Jake Sisko, War Correspondent. A mono-Green Commander with Landfall is nothing new, though I see them working much better in the 99 given their ability, especially in more budget-friendly or color-restricted decks after somewhat reliable card draw.

I’m coming back around on incidental lifegain, especially on cards like this where it’s not the only reward for your chosen strategy — in this case, playing as many lands as possible. In more grindy, elongated games, it can help you cling to life for a turn or two more to eke out a win, and can offset any life loss afflicted by your value engines.

The Clue reward for your second land drop each turn isn’t as useful as a full card, but in a deck with access to plenty of mana (which Landfall decks tend to be) and especially in such decks without the card draw efficiency afforded by Blue, it’s not a terrible alternative.

Tireless Tracker sees play for this reason, and while Jake Sisko is arguably worse given the restrictions on its Clue generation, it does offer a little redundancy.

If you do want to build Jake Sisko, War Correspondent out as a Commander, I’d recommend including cards like Academy Manufactor, Stridehangar Automaton, and Tippy-Toe, Terrific Partner which each turn you Clue into a Clue and other tokens — Tippy-Toe will also turn even one Landfall trigger into card draw on your end step. You’ll also want cards like Captain Kathryn Janeway, Exploration, and Asuza, Lost but Seeking to help you consistently play two lands a turn.

Turning to Ravenous Cosmozoan, a Red Tolarian Terror that gives up protection and some stats for Flying and Haste — lending itself to a more immediately aggressive approach the turn it comes down.

At Uncommon, the Cosmozoan won’t see the Pauper play of its predecessor, but I fear it may mimic Terror’s low Standard play rate.

There are some notable differences. Flying and Haste should help the Cosmozoan pressure opponents more aggressively the turn it comes down — even if it packs a softer punch — and notably it cares about all nonland, noncreatures in your Graveyard, not merely your Instants and Sorceries.

We’ll have to wait and see if that’s enough to save it, though.

The best (perhaps only) place for it may unfortunately be Limited. If the environment is more grindy and games tend to go a little longer, it shouldn’t cost more than a couple of mana in the late game, and a few of these could swing over an opponent’s board to steadily chip them down to zero — perhaps as a surprise attack thanks to its Haste.