Captain James T. Kirk: Kobayashi Maru

Captain James T. Kirk is a 2/2 for three. Whenever he enters or attacks, you choose one: discard a card and then draw a card, create a 1/1 red Officer token, or give your creatures +1/+0 until end of turn. If you have no cards in hand, you choose one or more instead, so an empty-handed Kirk does all three every time he attacks. Star Trek releases on November 13, 2026, so Kirk and the other Star Trek cards here are priced at presale.

So this deck plays to have nothing in hand, the way Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru by changing the test. Faithless Looting, Thrill of Possibility, Dangerous Wager and Magmatic Insight throw cards away, Fireblast can be cast by sacrificing two Mountains, Seismic Assault turns every spare land into 2 damage, and Fury of the Horde can be cast by exiling two red cards from your hand. Reckless Impulse, Light Up the Stage, Wild Wasteland, Outpost Siege and Laelia, the Blade Reforged give you cards to play from exile instead of cards to hold. With an empty hand, Rakdos Pit Dragon has double strike, Gathan Raiders gets +2/+2, and Phial of Galadriel turns Kirk's one draw into two. Then the deck attacks again: Seize the Day, Relentless Assault, Overpowering Attack, Fury of the Horde, Great Train Heist and Combat Celebrant each give Kirk a second attack and a second trigger.

Cards from the Star Trek set do the work where they can. The Wrath of Khan deals 4 damage to a creature and, if it survives, borrows it for a combat, Khaaaaaaaaaaaannn! deals twice X to a creature, Plasma Cascade deals 3 damage and lets you swap a card, Type-2 Phaser stuns a blocker, and Academy Instructor makes an Officer whenever you cast a noncreature spell and gets +1/+0 for each Officer token you control. Arena, the land, is Kirk's fight with the Gorn (it makes no mana, and the opponent picks which of their creatures fights), and Charming Scoundrel, Captivating Crew and Professional Face-Breaker cover the charm and the fistfights. Jaxis, the Troublemaker copies Kirk, so the copy's enter trigger fires before the legend rule sends it to the graveyard, and the copy draws you a card as it dies.

One rule people get wrong: Kirk checks your hand when the ability triggers, not when it resolves. You choose the modes as the trigger goes on the stack, so casting your last card in response is too late. Empty your hand first. Ignorant Bliss exiles your hand until the end step, so cast it at the beginning of combat and Kirk attacks with all three modes. With an empty hand, the first mode still draws: you discard nothing and draw a card. That card is in your hand at combat damage, when Rakdos Pit Dragon and Gathan Raiders check again, so on turns those two swing, choose only the Officer and the pump. Anje's Ravager has to attack and draws you three when it does, so the turns it swings are refill turns, not Pit Dragon turns.

After Star Trek is out on November 13, the first swap is Encounter the Unknown for Glimpse the Impossible. Its Come in Peace mode exiles two cards you can play through your next turn; its Shoot to Kill mode deals 2 damage to each creature, your Officers and Kirk included.