Magic × Star Trek rules explained: Beam Me Up, Borg, Federation and format legality
Wizards' 30 October official rules notes clear up the new abilities, creature-type counting, unusual land interactions and the difference between TRK and Commander cards.
Wizards published extensive Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek release notes on 30 October 2026. The important part for players is not another card-gallery reveal. It is the actual rules language that tells you what new abilities do, how to count for them and which formats different card codes enter.
For people attending a November prerelease, the rules notes are a useful companion to GameOnCue's Australian event guide. They do not tell us which deck will dominate tournaments. These are rules explanations, not a tested metagame ranking.
Beam Me Up: the graveyard does not make a free spell
Some instants and sorceries have Beam Me Up. The ability allows a card to be cast from your graveyard using its printed Beam Me Up cost and by returning a creature you control to its owner's hand; the spell is then exiled. It is not simply a second copy of the card for no further cost.
Wizards uses cards including There's Coffee in that Nebula and Energize in its examples. The tactical question is whether you want the spell again badly enough to give up board presence temporarily, or whether the returned creature's enter-the-battlefield abilities make the trade worthwhile. That second consideration is an interaction to evaluate, not a promised combo.
Federation: count types among non-Borg creatures
Federation is an ability word indicating that a card cares about the number of creature types represented among creatures you control that are not Borg. Count unique creature types, not creature cards. If one non-Borg creature is both a Human and Noble, those are two relevant types; another Human does not add a new one.
A Borg creature is excluded even when it has another creature type. Wizards' own explanation makes the nuance clear: a separate non-Borg creature can still contribute a type that a Borg also happens to have. The type is not permanently banned; the Borg is simply not counted toward Federation.
Assimilate: the Borg change what a creature is
The assimilate keyword action either takes control of a creature or brings a creature card onto the battlefield under your control, depending on the effect doing the assimilating. That creature receives a +1/+1 counter, becomes a Borg artifact creature and loses its other creature types. The precise instructions on the card creating the effect still govern which creature it can affect.
This matters immediately for Federation: turning one of your own multi-type creatures into a Borg may change the number of non-Borg creature types represented on your battlefield.
Strange New Worlds and Seek Out
Strange New Worlds counts lands you control with different names, not the number of basic land types or simply the number of lands. Multiple lands sharing one exact English name count once. Decks that want a higher count therefore have a naming and mana-base decision to make.
Seek Out cares when you draw your second card in a turn. Wizards explains that the permanent with Seek Out does not have to have been on the battlefield for the first draw: controlling it when you draw the second card can be sufficient. Always read the individual card for what the trigger actually awards.
Planet and returning Landfall
Planet is a land subtype, with no automatic special ability just because the word appears on the type line. Landfall still triggers when a land you control enters, including when an effect puts it onto the battlefield. It does not trigger merely because a permanent already present becomes a land.
Which Star Trek cards are legal in which format?
| Set code | Wizards' rules-notes guidance |
|---|---|
| TRK (main set) | Legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern and Commander, subject to the format's current restrictions. |
| TRC (new Commander cards) | New cards are legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage. Reprints follow any format where that named card is already legal. |
| SDS (Stardates) | Legality follows formats where the same named card is permitted. |
That distinction matters before you buy singles or assemble a Standard deck. A Star Trek product being on the shelf does not automatically make every card inside Standard-legal. Check the printed set code, the card's exact name and the latest official formats and banned lists.
Best use of these notes at prerelease
Keep the original Wizards release notes available when a rules dispute comes up. They include card-specific interaction examples beyond this overview. Bring questions about unusual timing or interactions to the event judge rather than treating an abbreviated guide as the complete rules.
For collecting rather than play, see our separate scene-card and token guide. Those art treatments are a different question from card legality or mechanics. The official rules may change with subsequent releases; check Wizards' current comprehensive rules if an interaction becomes contentious.
Sources & verification
- Wizards of the Coast — Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Release Notes ↗
- Wizards of the Coast — All the Scene Cards from Star Trek ↗
Original source published: . References reviewed 31 Oct 2026 AEST.