"Captain Kirk: To Boldly Go… and Empty Your Hand."

 "Captain Kirk: To Boldly Go… and Empty Your Hand."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Star Trek spoilers are now among us.

It has been a long time coming, but we all knew this day would eventually arrive. Magic: The Gathering now has Star Trek cards to add to its already bewildering collection of card pools.

I wanted to steer clear of this crossover, but I couldn't help myself. After all, we're talking about Star Trek, and there are only so many times a Magic player can resist the temptation to peek at a new set.

So, the first card I want to discuss is the franchise's most famous captain: Captain James T. Kirk.

He's a three-mana red creature with an aggressive tilt. Which makes sense, because Kirk was aggressive in dealing with threats and equally aggressive in pursuing women on just about every planet he visited!

Jokes aside, Kirk is a Mythic Rare creature with a 2/2 body. That's not exactly the most imposing frame for a legendary captain. He can easily be taken out by a humble Shock, but at least he brings plenty of value to the table.

His ability also encourages you to empty your hand before he arrives. You'll want to play your lands, deploy your creatures, and cast whatever spells you can before dropping the legendary captain into the fray. The fewer cards you have left in hand, the more flexibility you get from his abilities.

Kirk has both an enter-the-battlefield trigger and an attack trigger, giving him a bit of that old-school Titan feel. Whenever Captain Kirk enters or attacks, you choose one of the following modes. If you have no cards in hand, you can choose one or more instead.

Discard a card, then draw a card.

Create a 1/1 red Officer creature token.

Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.

There's some interesting flexibility here.

The first ability is particularly useful when your hand is empty because it essentially reads, draw a card. You get to dig for another resource without having to give anything up.

The second option gives you a 1/1 Officer token. This is particularly useful if you don't have any creatures on the battlefield and need to establish a presence before your opponent starts applying pressure.

Finally, you can give your entire team +1/+0 until the end of the turn. If you're already ready to swing, that extra power might be enough to push an opponent into the red.

What's particularly nice is that Kirk doesn't have to attack immediately to provide value. Even if you can't send him into combat the turn he enters the battlefield, you still get to use his enter-the-battlefield ability. And once he starts attacking, he can continue generating value while helping your other creatures hit harder.

I can see him finding a home in Winota, Joiner of Forces decks, where Humans are constantly being put onto the battlefield. An additional Officer token can help build up your board, while the power boost can make an already threatening army even more dangerous.

Of course, I'm not entirely convinced that this is the best representation of Captain Kirk.

Mechanically, the card makes sense. He's aggressive, resourceful, and capable of rallying his crew to get the job done. The ability to choose between drawing cards, creating an Officer, and boosting your team gives him some welcome versatility.

But I can't help feeling that something is missing.

Kirk was more than an aggressive captain who charged into danger. He was a strategist, a risk-taker, a diplomat when necessary, and occasionally a man whose personal life seemed to require its own starship. His character had a depth that went beyond simply attacking and making sure his hand was empty.

Perhaps this is only one aspect of Kirk's character, and other cards in the Star Trek set will explore the rest. Still, for a Mythic Rare representing one of science fiction's most iconic captains, I was hoping for something that captured a little more of what made him special.

For now, Captain Kirk looks like a solid, aggressive card with a home in the right deck.

He can generate resources, build a crew, and help lead the charge.

Just don't expect him to survive a Shock.

After all, even the captain of the USS Enterprise has to worry about two points of damage.