"Star Trek: The Final Frontier That Couldn't Fill a Prerelease."

 "Star Trek: The Final Frontier That Couldn't Fill a Prerelease."

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr.MD

I was out with my family last Sunday when I decided to check out the turnout for the Star Trek Prerelease. Since it was already past 1 PM, I assumed there would be quite a number of people trying to secure a slot and participate in the event.

I headed to Neutral Grounds in Vertis North, one of my usual places to play Magic.

The store wasn't exactly empty. It was filled with the familiar faces of Commander players I usually see whenever I visit. However, something was noticeably missing. Nobody seemed to be there for the Star Trek Prerelease. Everyone was busy playing their usual EDH games.

When I spoke with the people manning the store, things became even more disappointing. There were no confirmed attendees, and apparently, not a single Prerelease kit had been sold at that point!

What a sad turn of events, especially considering that Neutral Grounds is one of the better places to experience a Prerelease. If players weren't showing up here, what were the chances that the other local game stores in the area were doing any better?

Now, I have to admit that I had high hopes for this particular Universes Beyond release.

Star Trek is a beloved science-fiction franchise with more than 60 years of history behind it. As a Trekkie, I was genuinely excited when Wizards of the Coast announced the collaboration. Having seen the preview cards, I thought there were quite a few interesting additions that would have made opening a Prerelease kit worthwhile.

Unfortunately, I am beginning to think that this may be one of the more disappointing Universes Beyond experiments.

The problem isn't necessarily Star Trek itself. It is the state of the franchise and the increasingly divided audience that comes with it.

While Star Trek has enjoyed numerous successful television series throughout its history, its more recent offerings have been considerably more divisive. Discovery and Starfleet Academy have generated their share of controversy among longtime fans. Picard, meanwhile, arguably found its strongest footing in its final season, when the beloved Next Generation crew finally reunited.

To be fair, I haven't watched Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks, so I won't pretend to have an opinion about everything Star Trek has produced recently.

But that is precisely where the problem lies.

Even among Star Trek fans, there is considerable disagreement about the direction of the franchise. While seeing iconic characters like Spock and Benjamin Sisko represented in Magic cards is exciting, not everyone is necessarily enthusiastic about Michael Burnham or Georgiou. Personally, I actually like Georgiou, but I also think the writers went a little overboard with the character's larger-than-life portrayal. Even Section 31, arguably one of the most fascinating organizations in the Star Trek universe, lost some of its appeal in the process.

So who exactly was Wizards of the Coast trying to attract?

If the target audience was longtime Star Trek fans, then perhaps the choice of characters and the more recent direction of the franchise weren't enough to generate the excitement they were hoping for. On the other hand, if they were hoping to attract newer audiences who had embraced the more recent series, the apparent lack of Prerelease interest suggests that this audience wasn't enough to fill the seats either.

Of course, one store's experience isn't enough to declare an entire product line a failure. There may be other locations doing considerably better. But what I witnessed at Neutral Grounds was certainly not the kind of enthusiasm I expected from a crossover involving one of science fiction's most recognizable franchises.

There have even been calls from some longtime fans to abandon or effectively disregard the Kelvin timeline, which they believe marked a turning point in the franchise's direction. I wouldn't be surprised if Wizards of the Coast eventually wishes it could quietly send this particular Universes Beyond collaboration into a temporal anomaly as well.

And then there is the inevitable question of what happens to the product after release.

We have already seen several Universes Beyond collaborations, including Aetherdrift's release cycle, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, and now Star Trek. With so many crossover products competing for attention, there is a real possibility that some of these releases will eventually find themselves heavily discounted in the secondary market.

I wouldn't be surprised if Star Trek products become considerably easier to acquire a few months down the road, particularly from sellers looking to move excess inventory through platforms like Amazon.

So what does this mean for Magic?

Perhaps Wizards of the Coast needs to be more careful when selecting the franchises it wants to bring into the game. Having a recognizable name isn't necessarily enough. A successful crossover needs an audience that is not only familiar with the property but genuinely excited about seeing it represented in Magic.

Universes Beyond has opened some wonderful opportunities for the game, but there is also a limit to how many franchises players can be expected to embrace.

And frankly, the novelty of these crossovers may eventually wear off.

As a Trekkie, I genuinely wanted this collaboration to succeed. I wanted to open my Prerelease kit, find a legendary captain or one of my favorite characters, and build a Commander deck around them.

Instead, I found myself looking at an almost entirely Commander-focused crowd at Neutral Grounds, wondering where all the Star Trek fans had gone.

Perhaps the final frontier wasn't space after all.

Perhaps it was finding enough players willing to show up for the Prerelease.