Comprehensive Rules Changes

This is a summary of the rules changes planned for Magic with the release of Magic: The Gathering® | Star Trek™. The official rules can be found on our rules page. If there is a discrepancy between this summary and the official rules, the official rules take precedence.

For detailed descriptions of each of the new mechanics, check out Matt Tabak's excellent mechanics article.

New Keywords and Game Terms

700.17, 701.72, and 702.196 are the new rules that explain face a dilemma, assimilate, and beam me up, respectively.

New Rules

508.4e

0242_MTGTRK_Main: Kira Nerys, Firebrand

Kira Nerys, Firebrand's second ability is the first of its kind: a replacement effect that allows creatures you control to enter tapped and attacking under certain conditions. This new rule supports this exciting mechanical exploration.

Updated Rules

208.3

This rule was updated to clarify that any noncreature object that isn't on the battlefield only has power and toughness if the power and toughness printed on it isn't part of any of its abilities.

New Ability Words

  • Battlefront
  • Federation
  • Seek out
  • Strange new worlds

New Artifact Type

  • Communicator

New Creature Types

This release brings more new creature types than we've had in a long time. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations!

  • Aenar
  • Andorian
  • Android
  • Bajoran
  • Betazoid
  • Bolian
  • Borg
  • Brikar
  • Caitian
  • Cardassian
  • Denobulan
  • Edosian
  • El-Aurian
  • Excalbian
  • Ferengi
  • Gorn
  • Hirogen
  • Illyrian
  • Jem'Hadar
  • Kelpien
  • Klingon
  • Kwejian
  • Lanthanite
  • Medusan
  • Melkotian
  • Na'kuhl
  • Ocampa
  • Officer
  • Orion
  • Q
  • Romulan
  • Talaxian
  • Talosian
  • Tamarian
  • Tellarite
  • Tholian
  • Tosk
  • Tribble
  • Trill
  • Vau-N'Akat
  • Vorta
  • Vulcan
  • Xindi

New Glossary Entries

  • Assimilate
  • Beam me up
  • Face a dilemma

Oracle Updates

There's only one notable Oracle text change with this release, but it's one that requires a somewhat lengthy explanation.

Werewolf Pack Leader

Werewolf Pack Leader (AFR)

This card has been a strange outlier for a long time. Its last ability is unique in that it removes a specific creature type (Human, in this case) from Werewolf Pack Leader rather than adding or setting types. This can cause some very strange situations where it can be hard to tell which creature types Werewolf Pack Leader has. More importantly for this release, it can make it hard to tell how many creature types it has!

Here's an example: Say I control Werewolf Pack Leader, and I attach Stalactite Dagger to it. Werewolf Pack Leader is now all creature types. Then I cast Artificial Evolution targeting Werewolf Pack Leader, changing its text to replace all instances of Human with Borg so its last ability now removes the Borg creature type from it. Then I activate that ability. Now, Starfleet Academy's last ability can add a lot of mana, because Werewolf Pack Leader is a non-Borg creature with a lot of creature types!

But how much mana? Do you know? Should you have to know? Well, no, because you shouldn't be required to remember how many creature types exist in Magic in the middle of a game. (Please feel free to store other, more interesting Magic trivia in your neurons instead.) We wanted it to be easy to know how your federation abilities worked, and Werewolf Pack Leader's current text makes that quite challenging, so with that in mind, we're updating its text so that it becomes a Werewolf (and thus loses its other creature types) rather than losing just the Human type. This maintains the function of the card in almost all situations while eliminating this confusing corner case.

Old text:

Pack tactics — Whenever this creature attacks, if you attacked with creatures with total power 6 or greater this combat, draw a card.
{3}{G}: Until end of turn, this creature has base power and toughness 5/3, gains trample, and isn't a Human.

New text:

Pack tactics — Whenever this creature attacks, if you attacked with creatures with total power 6 or greater this combat, draw a card.
{3}{G}: Until end of turn, this creature has base power and toughness 5/3, gains trample, and is a Werewolf.

See all the cards from Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek before its release on November 13, 2026. Prerelease events start today! Shop your local game store or preorder at TCGplayer, Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold.