Way back in 1968, the original run of Star Trek established the foundation of Vulcans' striking cultural philosophy: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, or IDIC. Vulcans celebrated the vast differences across the universe and honored the ways people developed. This outlook underpins their wider cultural interest in learning, personal growth, and exploration. What began as a bit of narrative to describe another species' outlook soon evolved into the driving philosophy of Star Trek itself: diversity is strength and diversity is beautiful!

Conveniently (and probably because we're also a bunch of Star Trek fans), we think diversity is a strength here in Studio X as well! Magic: The Gathering has thrived by trying new things, embracing new genres, and inviting new perspectives. Arguably, the most mechanically relevant application of diversity in Magic is its creature types.

0153_MTGTRK_Main: Infinite Diversity

Behind the scenes, the intersection of Magic creature types and Star Trek became a much bigger story than anyone expected.

Creature types are at a weird crossroads of narrative flavor and game rules. No sorcery gives everyone named Todd indestructible; no enchantment says, "All cards with necklaces in their art can be tapped for mana." (Well … outside of Un- sets, at least.) But we have plenty of spells that affect all Goblins or all Cats.

0029_MTGTRK_CmdNewO: Spot, Felis catus

Cauldron Familiar's new support team

The right creature type can make a card feel more authentic. As a narrative designer, I can assure you that is the most important element of any card. But creature types can also impact rules and a card's synergies, which any game designer can tell you is the most important element of any card. But, of course, any new creature types have to be tracked and compatible with the basic Magic rules, which obviously the editors and rules managers know is the most important part of any card. And obviously if a card is a big hit, you want its creature type to be something you can reprint independent of its current set, which any architect can tell you is the most important element of any card. Because of that, we look at creature types carefully and are cautious about adding new ones.

Our story begins when we asked, "What creature type is Lieutenant Commander Data?"

0069_MTGTRK_Main: Lieutenant Commander Data

"Legendary Artifact Creature — Construct," right? There are a bunch of existing cards that give great synergy to Constructs, and Data is pretty popular, so that makes this a perfect marriage! Case closed. End of story.

But is he? In the Magic Multiverse, Constructs are traditionally artifact creatures animated by arcane power and mana. Data is all tech. The distinction is important enough that we introduced the Robot type and used it for technology-based creatures like Edge of Eternities's mechan. So, Data is a Robot! Case closed. End of story.

But is he? Dr. Soong's little mechanical boy states on many occasions that he is not a robot, and one of the core tenets of Star Trek is the importance of self-determination. Are we betraying the series if we give Data an identity he has explicitly rejected? And that self-identity is important to the fans as well. None of us have any trouble referring to Data as a "he" even though he doesn't have a Y-chromosome, after all.

Data identifies himself as an android, but Magic didn't have an Android creature type. If we are true to how Data identifies, that means adding a new creature type; that means getting buy-in from the designers and the editors and the product architects.

Will we ever revisit the Android creature type in the future? We will probably visit other Universes Beyond worlds that have androids.

Does it do anything an existing creature type does? It's kind of like Construct and Robot, but not quite, so it does fill a niche.

After a few meetings, we finally decide that yes, we can make an Android creature type to make sure Data feels authentic. So, we did. Now, Magic does have an Android creature type.

0040_MTGTRK_CmdNewO: Data, Exploring Humanity

Now, expand that scope. Magic: The Gathering® | Star Trek™ has around 373 differently named creature cards. For each one, we needed to decide whether to use an existing creature type or create a new one. Unlike Android, many of those new creature types are things we would never be able to use in future sets. You won't find Klingons on Dominaria, sadly. The easiest solution is to just default to the closest existing Magic: The Gathering analogue, but that isn't the most satisfying answer—judging by the howls of rage and thrown chairs when I suggested making all Vulcans Elves.

0074_MTGTRK_Main: Mr. Spock, Science Officer 0053_MTGTRK_CmdNewO: Tuvok, Chief Tactical Officer 0106_MTGTRK_CmdNewO: T'Pring, Never Parted

Pictured: Not Elves. Apparently.

There's an extra wrinkle to this entire debate as well. At Star Trek's core philosophy is the idea that nobody in Star Trek is an "alien." Each culture is distinct and celebrated, not othered, and labeling anything as an alien can easily muddy those essential Star Trek vibes, which meant not using the Alien creature type as an easy solution. Making an accurate creature type for every non-Human card would mean a huge number of new creature types that would be difficult to reprint. How do you make that feel worthwhile?

But a narrative problem is a chance for a mechanical solution!

Enter the federation ability word, which provides advantages based on how many different creature types you have! What began as arguments and headaches developed into one of the most exciting and most authentic components of the entire set!

0033_MTGTRK_Main: Saavik, Stoic Student

Pictured: Also not an Elf.

So, we decided to lean into specificity and genuine representation for our sapient Star Trek characters, making that an earmark of the set! Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek doesn't cut corners in bringing out the Star Trek vibes, even if it does introduce a few dozen new creature types. In the process, we developed a fun new mechanic and a new creature type or two like Android that can escape containment and pop up in future sets! And best of all: it won't take you too long to collect every Ferengi card ever printed in Magic!

0112_MTGTRK_Main: Grand Nagus Zek 0166_MTGTRK_Main: Quark, Humble Proprietor 0076_MTGTRK_CmdNewO: Rom and Leeta, Unlikely Pair 0171_MTGTRK_Main: Savvy Profiteer 0249_MTGTRK_Main: Nog, Ambitious Cadet

Done!

Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek releases on November 13, 2026, and Prerelease events begin on Friday, November 6! The set is available for preorder now from your local game store, TCGplayer, Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold.