Emergency Blog Post: No Phelddagrif in Star Trek

Space…the final frontier. These are the ramblings of an internet persona, its continuing mission: to explore the limits of a singular focus on a single trading card, to seek out answers to mundane questions, to boldly question where no Phelddagrif has questioned before…But not this set because there was no Phelddagrif in Magic: the Gathering Presents Star Trek.

This is the least surprising one of the year. Oh, reader, please, don’t look at me like that with those puppy dog eyes.¹ Of course Phelddagrif wasn’t going to appear in Star Trek. I think the show is more about whales than hippos, and, while we could draw the connection with hippos being close genetic relatives of whales, I don’t think we’re catching any fish² with that bait.

Maybe they did, I don’t really know. All I know about Star Trek is that it’s a 90’s sitcom about Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra…yadda yadda yadda then the walls fell.

And the set? The online murmurings about Star Trek the set, or at least what I’ve heard, seem to be concerned with audience response being mostly tepid. Prereleases with low attendance or not firing, the prices of booster boxes being less than $100³, people not having to wait to get their secret lairs. Those content creators who make videos⁴ have pointed towards lower viewership metrics for their star trek related videos. If those who have more expertise, those who experience content success, are in the mires of Tanagara when talking about Star Trek, then why should I, a humble blogger about all things mostly Phelddagrif, even try?

As Captain Picard said in Star Trek: The Next Generation⁵: 

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense.

A Star Trek Screed: What Went Wrong!

While there were no hippos in Star Trek⁶, there weren’t elves in Avatar: the Last Airbender either and we still saw Rhys in the Avatar: the Last Airbender through the bonus sheet. Star Trek came with its own bonus sheet called “Stardates”⁷ which Questing Phelddagrif could have been reprinted on. Presumably the cards are thematically linked to the characters/scene being depicted. Zuko was a reprint of Rhys not because of Zuko’s elfish personality but because both of them were redeemed like the card says.⁸ Even a tenuous cosmetic connection is enough for a card to get reprinted.

While bonus sheets are a good opportunity to reprint desirable cards, and Stardates has quite a few including Starfleet HQ, Under Assault as a reprint of Phyrexian Tower, there are also duds. Bonus sheets aren’t all money reprints and sometimes come with cards like Hull Breach.⁹

While I would be ecstatic about a new Questing Phelddagrif card, the market is unlikely to reflect this enthusiasm and most players/pack openers would wish they opened a $70 Benedict Cumberbatch instead. Questing Phelddagrif could appear on a bonus sheet by virtue of its lack of value, not despite it.

But would Questing Phelddagrif fit thematically with Star Trek? Would it fit alongside cards like Sen Triplets, Loot, Exuberant Explorer; Kenrith, the Returned King and Thada Adel, Acquisitor? Would it make sense for Questing Phelddagrif to be in the same set that has a cycle of enchantments that make “Quest” counters?

No. Questing Phelddagrif is not legendary and there were only legendary creatures on the Stardates bonus sheet.

So there was never any hope of Questing Phelddagrif appearing in Star Trek. And to that, reader, with mouth agape¹⁰, I say: “Good.”

Don’t Call it Sour Grapes: Why It’s Actually Good That Phelddagrif Didn’t Appear in Star Trek

Lots of people say things on the internet. It’s happening to you right now, someone saying a thing on the internet. But I try to keep you, reader with toned calves and piercing insights, on the level when I say things on the internet.

Some of the things being said right now are about the Magic: the Gathering Star Trek set allegedly failing¹¹ and why it is failing.¹² Some of these read more like moral condemnations than justifications. Critiques of the art in the set, that it’s too many pictures of people standing or sitting down. Even though that’s what happens in the show, I could see people getting upset that the static images on their cardboard aren’t implying more motion. Not like the gold old days of Magic art which was bustling with speed lines.

Among other criticisms like the show Star Trek not having much Magic in it, or the set appearing to be low power level, or whatever other allegedly ex post facto reason why the set isn’t doing so hot.¹³ And, while there are plenty of words on the Internet garbed in the robes of “reason”, none of these are why the set is not doing well¹⁴. It’s because the set missed the core thing about star trek: The Transporters

Transporter technology in Star Trek “beams” crew members through vivisects a person of all their matter and recreating a copy of them on the new destination. Yes, you heard that right, vivisects. Stepping into the transporter kills you and recreates a hallow facsimile. Where Magic went wrong was in representing the transporter problem through the “Beam me up” mechanic put on sorceries¹⁵ that flashbacks a spell as long as you return a creature from the battlefield to your hand. The creature that is returned to your hand is still the same creature that has been “beamed”.¹⁶

But “beaming” your creature doesn’t destroy it, and it isn’t a faithfully scientific or philosophically sound way of representing the technology through a trading card game. Magic has rules and mechanics that could correctly portray the transporter working, by sacrificing the creature and creating a copy token¹⁷. Or do the whole alchemy thing where you “summon” a copy of that creature to your hand after destroying it.

I mean, what are the fans of the franchise and Magic: the Gathering to believe? That the creature hasn’t been killed and xeroxed, but instead has been magically saved to be redeployed later from your hand/spaceship?

Ok, there’s a joke¹⁸. See you next year for Nauctis!

1. Unless those eyes are about there being nothing for Reality Fracture. That’s fair. But I have my reasons (I’m lazy). ↩︎
2. Which whales are. ↩︎
3. Like the good old days. ↩︎
4. Reader, would you prefer these essays to be video essays (from the French verb for “video attempt”)? ↩︎
5. This is kind of a silly name for a show, isn’t it? ↩︎
6. I wrote this before finding out about the comics and then that one blurry screenshot. So lets just pretend hippos went extinct in Star Trek for now. ↩︎
7. Jesus, really? That’s what it’s called? ↩︎
8. Reading the card explains the card. ↩︎
9. Which shows a hull being breached ↩︎
10. The adverb. This is not a Christian blog. ↩︎
11. Although this is uncertain if this is true, this is just vibes off reddit and bluesky, which is not a great way of doing research or for making claims but it’s good enough for other publications. ↩︎
12. Once again, a dubious claim which will be proven wrong when MaRo makes a post about Star Trek being the highest selling set of November 2026. ↩︎
13. Which, again, no clue if this set is actually a failure or not. ↩︎
14. If it isn’t doing well. ↩︎
15. “Beam me Up” having timing restrictions is simultaneously flavorful as there’s tension created by whether they’ll be transported in time, and unflavorful since yeah the transporter pretty much always saves the main crew in the nick of time like an instant would. ↩︎
16. I’m sure there’s a correct Star Trek verb for using the transporter. Shout off in the comments if you know what it is and the pornbots that spam this site will have someone new to talk to! ↩︎
17. My god, they even made a copy token in the Star Trek set. ↩︎
18. Not a particularly funny one. ↩︎