Star Trek Spoilers Arrive, Combo Week Hits Commander, & Modern's Shifting Meta

July 16, 2026 · 27 sources

Set News — spoilers, previews, announcements, bans, upcoming releases

The Star Trek (TRK) Universes Beyond set is officially in spoiler season! We got our first look at the mythics, treatments, and mechanics this week, and the community is already buzzing over previews like Hoshi Sato, Exolinguist and In the Pale Moonlight.
MTGGoldfish has a full breakdown of the 26 new cards revealed, while EDHREC offers a comprehensive recap of the WeeklyMTG First Look.
Need a break from the final frontier? Draftsim has your first impressions for Star Trek's 4 Commander precons. They also highlighted players rediscovering the banned card Far Out, which is an absolute flavor windmill slam for your Star Trek decks.
It's not just Star Trek; a new TRC Black Welcome Deck also quietly popped up on Reddit.
Meanwhile, Marvel's Super Heroes (MSH) set is still making waves. Some players are already lamenting mechanics and cards we were "robbed" of in the Marvel release.

It’s officially Combo Week over at EDHREC! Commander Spellbook just hit a massive milestone of 100,000 databased combos. Whether you're looking for ten combos for your monocolor decks, trying to decide which combo to run, or wondering if your deck actually needs one, they've got the primers to help you goldfish like a pro.
If you're still brewing with MSH cards, Draftsim put together a fantastic list of 16 commanders from the set that NO ONE has built yet. For optimized lists, EDHREC has a deep dive tech on Monica Rambeau Humans and a guide on how to effectively build Wasp, Shrinking Savior.
On the jankier side of the format, check out the finalists for the July Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest, or see if you're "the Bolas" when you sit down with Electrostatic Pummeler.
Looking to port a 60-card archetype to the 99? EDHREC's "60 to 100" series is building Jeskai Oculus. Also, if you want to grow your local scene, check out EDHREC's interview regarding the Light the Way Grant Program.

The Modern format is still adjusting to recent bans, and MTGStocks is breaking down the sleeper archetype making a massive comeback in the shaken-up meta.
Over in Standard, Marvel Super Heroes is making its presence felt. MTGGoldfish brewed up a sweet list utilizing Captain America, proving he can outlast opponents and buff your board to victory.
If you're strictly looking to escape Universes Beyond for your competitive play, Mark Rosewater highlighted the growing fan-made communities for Planar Standard and Premodern, which explicitly ban all UB cards.

The conversation around Universes Beyond and product fatigue continues, with players expressing strong distaste for cards featuring famous actor likenesses. MaRo opened the floor to the community to share their thoughts on how these premium treatments affect the game's visual identity and reprint equity.
In other product news, Draftsim has a breakdown of everything we know about the MTG Foundations Commander decks. These products are set to be massive entry points for newer players and could feature some much-needed reprints for the secondary market.

Mark Rosewater fielded a ton of design questions on Blogatog this week. He explained why UB sets tend to feature characters from all eras (like Kirk to Boimler in Star Trek) rather than focusing on a specific timeline—mostly because most properties only get one set, so they try to maximize fan service.
Speaking of Marvel, MaRo revealed that Mjölnir originally used the text "equip worthy" before the design team opted to formalize "Worthy" as a batch mechanic. He also noted that despite the set's theme, there were no explorations into Two-Headed Giant mechanics.
Finally, a fascinating piece of Magic history surfaced on Reddit: original design guidelines for set designers from 1993, posted by legendary early collector Keith Adams. It's an incredible deep dive into the early philosophy of the game!