It’s always nice to make a good first impression, and without a doubt, the new Borg precon has greatly exceeded my expectations.
On October 26, 2026, Wizards of the Coast released the decklist, and it is BEAUTIFUL! Along with the reveal came a video discussing the new cards included in the deck.
Looking through the decklist and its various Borg abilities, I can’t help but feel like this deck was designed to be the “Star Trek Slivers.”
If you’ve ever played against a Sliver deck, you probably know what I mean. Many Slivers give other Slivers additional abilities. In short, everything gets everything.
While the Borg don’t work exactly the same way, the idea of building an increasingly powerful collective feels very similar.
The deck also includes 32 new-to-Magic cards, giving it plenty of unique Borg-themed abilities and interactions. I really like how this brings the deck closer to the Collective’s pursuit of perfection.
When upgrading precons, I usually try to stick with the main theme and limit how many cards I bring in from outside the set. This helps preserve the deck’s flavor while making the most of its unique mechanics.
Strategem Emulator is a great card for just three mana, even with its relatively small 2/1 body.
It can potentially provide value when used as a chump blocker, and depending on how you build around it, token doublers and other creature or artifact synergies could make it even more useful.
However, unless you have a way to return it to the battlefield, its death-triggered value is generally a one-time benefit
Antagonists Incorporator on the other hand, is a 2/3 rather than a 2/1 and costs only two mana instead of three.
That lower mana cost gives us a little more flexibility early in the game while still supporting our Borg strategy.
It also offers opportunities to take advantage of Borg tokens and other synergies, making it an interesting alternative for this deck.
Reconnaissance Partition looks like a decent starting option. However, unless you have a way to proliferate or move charge counters around, its usefulness may become limited once those counters are spent.
Technodrome While it’s from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set and breaks away from my preference for keeping upgrades within Star Trek, it costs less mana, has the potential to grow, and offers additional card draw.
That card draw could help us find the lands or other resources we need to keep our strategy moving.
Darksteel Plate is a great card in itself and can be an excellent resource to protect your creatures as you continue to set up for the finishing blow.
However, being one of the deck’s few Equipment cards, it feels a little out of place to me.
My goal is to take advantage of the deck’s Assimilate mechanic, and while Darksteel Plate provides protection, it doesn’t directly advance that strategy.
Entropic Battlecruiser on the other hand, offers something a little different.
It fits the sci-fi theme, can become an artifact creature once sufficiently charged, and provides additional opportunities to pressure opponents through discard-related effects.
Those interactions could potentially help fuel our board state and create additional value as the game progresses.
Wayfarer’s Bauble is great early in the game, helping you get an additional basic land onto the battlefield. But unless you plan on recurring it from your graveyard, it’s generally a one-time ramp effect.
Plus, it’s a card I’ve been meaning to get for another deck, so why not kill a few birds with one Stone?
The Mind Stone (did you see what I did there?) is my upgrade choice.
It costs two mana to cast and can provide additional mana immediately, provided we have a way to use it that turn.
Much like Technodrome, this card isn’t from the Star Trek set. However, since pulling it, I’ve been trying to find a good home for it.
Like Wayfarer’s Bauble, it helps with mana production, but it also offers additional artifact synergies. Once harnessed, it could provide further utility, including opportunities to reuse permanents and their enter-the-battlefield abilities.
That added flexibility makes it an interesting option for the deck.
Anguish Unmaking is a solid removal spell. For three mana, you can exile nearly any nonland permanent at instant speed, including one of your own if necessary.
However, as someone who enjoys playing lifegain decks, I’ve always been a little hesitant about cards that cost me life.
Granted, three life isn’t much to worry about in Commander, and it’s usually easy enough to recover.
The other drawback is that unless you have a way to recur instants from your graveyard, it’s generally a one-and-done effect.
That being said, I wouldn’t consider this a necessary cut. Having reliable removal is always useful.
Borg Cube however, adds a little more flavor to the deck.
I mean, you can’t play Borg without having a Cube in your deck, right? That’s Star Trek Magic law, I think?
Borg Cube has affinity for artifacts, which is particularly useful considering how heavily this deck relies on them. With enough artifacts on the battlefield, its mana cost can become considerably more manageable.
While the twelve-charge-counter requirement might seem intimidating, the deck already has several ways to build its board state and take advantage of artifact-related mechanics.
With the right support, charging up the Cube could become another interesting part of the strategy.
Dispatch is a great card to have and can help slow an opponent down, whether that’s tapping a creature before combat or exiling a major threat once metalcraft is active.
However, the deck already includes several other removal and interaction spells that may help make up for this cut.
And since my goal is to focus more heavily on Assimilate, I’m willing to experiment with something different.
Death is Irrelevant is certainly expensive, but with the number of mana rocks in this deck, including Forsaken Monument, Queen’s Diamond, and Everflowing Chalice, I don’t see its eight-mana cost being impossible to manage.
It may take some setup, but if it helps advance the deck’s overall strategy, it could be worth the investment.
Overall, this precon looks pretty solid right out of the box, and I’m excited to see how it performs.
These are simply a few changes I’m considering to lean further into the Borg theme and its unique mechanics.
If you’d rather keep the deck exactly as it comes, I’d encourage that too.
After all, this is YOUR deck, and YOU should play it however you want. Whether that means upgrading it for more competitive gameplay or keeping it casual and flavorful, the choice is yours.
Personally, I want to see just how far I can push the Borg Collective while keeping as much of that Star Trek flavor as possible.
Resistance is futile, after all.
What do you think? Are there any cards you’d swap out, or would you keep the precon as it is?
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