Star Trek Draft Archetypes: All 10 Color Pairs

The Short Version

Star Trek has ten draft archetypes, one for each two-color pair, and each pair has two gold uncommons that spell out its plan. Don't commit to one in the first few picks. Take removal and the strongest cards, then move in when a pair's signpost or its best commons keep coming to you. Nine of the pairs also get a common Planet dual land, so the colors are easy to support once you choose.

Which colors are deepest, the best commons and the bombs to first-pick are in our Star Trek draft guide.

White-Blue: Spacecraft

White-blue taps its creatures to station Spacecraft, then flies over the top with them. It wants plenty of cheap bodies to do the tapping and a way to keep its ships alive.

Hemmer, Fixing What Is Broken ↗

Two mana. Your Spacecraft have hexproof during your turn, and Hemmer loots whenever he taps, which includes tapping him to station.

Constable Odo ↗

Five mana for a 4/3 that either stuns an opposing creature for two turns or makes two Clues. A dilemma either way.

Commons: Suurok-Class Science Vessel draws a card and flies at 5 counters, Class-F Shuttlecraft fixes mana, DOT-7 Repair Squad untaps a creature after it stations, and Warp Core adds two counters at a time. Rares to hope for: U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Free Spirit and Live Long and Prosper. This is the one pair with no common Planet.

Blue-Black: Dilemmas

Wizards built blue-black as the dilemma deck: you face a dilemma whenever you choose a mode, and this pair is paid for every one. It is a slower, value-minded deck that drains the opponent and draws cards.

Seven of Nine ↗

Four mana for a 2/4 that draws a card every time you face a dilemma, which means every modal spell or ability you choose modes for.

Lore, Positronic Provocateur ↗

Three mana for a 2/3 that makes a creature unblockable for a turn or surveils 2 when it enters. A dilemma on a body.

Commons: Obsidian Order Operative drains 1 for every dilemma, and Federation Probe, Consider the Prime Directive, Make It So and Rogue Artificial Intelligence are all modal. Rares to hope for: Elim Garak, Simple Tailor, who drains 2 per dilemma, and Mirror Universe Intrusion. The Planet is Romulus.

Black-Red: Klingon Sacrifice

Black-red makes 2/1 haste Klingon tokens and sacrifices them for value. Its removal is the best of any pair, because it gets black's kill spells and red's burn together.

L'Rell, Fierce Visionary ↗

Three mana. Makes a 2/1 haste Klingon every combat that you sacrifice at end of turn, so you get to sacrifice it to something first.

The Duras Sisters ↗

Two mana for a 3/2 that leaves a 2/1 haste Klingon behind when it dies. Easy to sacrifice, hard to block well.

Commons: Cha'DIch Investigator and Boarding Action make the tokens; Eject the Warp Core, Dahar Master and Automated Warfare System sacrifice them; Battle-Scarred Survivalist grows when they die and Planetary Bombardment deals 4 after one has. Rares to hope for: Gowron, Eager for Battle, Khan, Vengeful Heart and General Chang, Cold Warrior. The Planet is Qo'noS.

Red-Green: Landfall

Red-green rewards every land you play. It's an aggressive deck that keeps adding pressure as long as it hits land drops, and it wants a few ways to put extra lands into play.

Cleveland Booker, Empath ↗

Four mana. Every land you play makes a 2/2 Worm that can't block, so the deck floods the board as it plays lands.

Dal R'El, Augment Orphan ↗

Three mana for a 3/3 that adds mana on landfall and can sacrifice a land to draw a card later in the game.

Commons: Xindi Surveyors, Planetary Patrol and Saurian Explorer grow on landfall, and Final Frontier and Temporal Conqueror keep the land drops coming. Rares to hope for: Hit It! and Will Riker, First in the Field, who puts two lands onto the battlefield every combat, for that turn. The Planet is Orion.

Green-White: Counters

Green-white spreads +1/+1 counters, then cashes in on creatures that have one. Many of its creatures are Doctors, and most of its counters come from creatures as they enter.

The Doctor, EMH ↗

Five mana. Puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature, then one more on each creature you control that already has a counter.

Phlox, Unorthodox Doctor ↗

Four mana for a 3/4 trampler. Draw a card whenever a creature of yours with a counter on it deals combat damage to a player.

Commons: Dominion Supervisor gives creatures with counters trample, Emergency Medical Hologram, Federation Field Medic and Cold-Blooded Crew add counters as they enter, and Pure Energy spreads two. Rares to hope for: Dr. Joseph M'Benga, who doubles every counter, Deanna Troi, Psychic Counsel and The Inner Light. The Planet is Risa.

White-Black: Artifact Creatures

White-black is the Borg deck: a wide board of artifact creatures with lords that pump them. It gets black's removal too, which makes it one of the strongest pairs on paper.

Locutus, the One Who Speaks ↗

Two mana. Your artifact creatures get +1/+1, and late in the game he can be discarded to deal 2 damage to a creature and gain 2 life.

Zero, Incorporeal Sensate ↗

Three mana for a 2/2 lifelink artifact creature that exiles a nonland card from an opponent's hand and makes it cost {2} more.

Commons: Assault Drone gives artifact creatures +1/+0, Vexing Drone taps a blocker, Relentless Drednok is a cheap lifelinker, and Free Borg Revolutionaries pumps the team. Rares to hope for: Borg Cube, Primary Unimatrix Adjunct, which gives artifact creatures double strike, and Crystalline Entity, whose wipe spares your artifact creatures. The Planet is Cardassia Prime.

Blue-Red: Noncreature Spells

Blue-red plays a lower creature count and rewards casting instants, sorceries and artifacts. It needs enough removal and card draw to count as spells, and a few creatures that grow off them.

Gray and Adira, Forever Joined ↗

Four mana. On any turn you've cast a noncreature spell, copy a creature of yours at the start of combat, with haste.

Spock, Always Your Friend ↗

Two mana for a 2/2 that looks at four cards and takes a noncreature, nonland card. A bear that finds you a spell.

Commons: Cetacean Ops gets a counter for every noncreature spell, and Plasma Cascade, Reckless Impulse, Open Communications and Make It So are the spells. At uncommon, Academy Instructor makes an Officer per spell. Rares to hope for: Lieutenant Commander Data and Romulan Bird-of-Prey, which charges up every time you cast a noncreature spell. The Planet is Andoria.

Black-Green: Leaving the Graveyard

Black-green fills its graveyard, then gets paid whenever cards leave it. Beam me up spells, cards that exile from the graveyard and recursion all count, so the deck grinds long games.

Vash, Freelance Archaeologist ↗

Three mana for a 2/4 that surveils every upkeep and draws a card the first time each turn a card leaves your graveyard.

Daniels, Temporal Agent ↗

Four mana for a 3/1 that returns a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, then gains 2 life from the graveyard later.

Commons: First Contact and Temporal Conqueror mill, Relentless Drednok and Cybernetic Specialist take cards out of the graveyard, and Pattern Buffer Preservation and Final Frontier come back with beam me up. Rares to hope for: Sela, Tal Shiar Paradox and Nog, Ambitious Cadet. The Planet is Ferenginar.

Red-White: Power 8

Red-white attacks with 8 or more total power to turn on its bonuses. That number is easy to reach with three or four creatures, so the deck curves out and attacks every turn.

Kirk, Commanding Officer ↗

Three mana for a 3/3. Attack with 8 or more total power and you exile your top card and may play it that turn.

Worf, Honor-Bound Warrior ↗

Two mana. Attack with 8 or more total power and his power doubles, and he grows by tapping two spare artifacts or creatures.

Commons: Tactical Officer grows and untaps, Cantankerous Captain gives menace, Pet Sehlat is four power for three when it has a partner, and Captain's Tutelage adds 2 more. Uncommons: La'An Noonien-Singh, Security and Una Chin-Riley, Number One. Rares to hope for: Kira Nerys, Firebrand and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The Planet is Bajor.

Green-Blue: Strange New Worlds

Green-blue counts its differently named lands. In draft that means the Planet duals, New Planet tokens and a third basic type, so it's the hardest pair to build and the one most likely to be underdrafted.

The Traveler ↗

Two mana for a reach, vigilance creature whose power equals your number of differently named lands. Usually a 2/3 in draft, and bigger with each Planet.

D'Vana Tendi, Optimistic Ensign ↗

Three mana for a 2/4 that untaps another permanent, such as a land for extra mana, and surveils for {3} when you have mana left.

Commons: Final Frontier fetches a Planet, Astute Terraformer gets cheaper to pump with each land name, Xenobotanist taps for any color, and Saurian Explorer makes a New Planet late. Pick up every Planet you see, whatever its colors. Rares to hope for: Captain Pike, Fullness of Time, Deep Space Scan and All Good Things.... The Planet is Earth, Sector 001.

Which Pairs Look Strongest

The pairs with black look best, because black has the best removal in the set. Black-red gets the most removal of any pair, and white-black adds the artifact lords. Red-white is the best pair without black, since it gets red's burn and white's flexible removal in an aggressive shell.

Green-blue looks hardest: it has the least removal and needs lands most drafters pass. That can work in its favor at a table where nobody else wants Planets. All of this is a read of the card text before release, so expect it to change once people play the format.

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