Commander blueprint · Star Trek Commander · Preview

How to build Q, Your Illustrious Host

Q, Your Illustrious Host casts the top nonland card of your library for free each time you tap three Faeries, and he can do it on any player's turn. This five-colour list makes the Faeries, chooses what sits on top, and keeps nine cards that cost six or more so the free spell is worth having.

Art by Alexander Gering

A Faerie that arrived this turn can already pay for Q

Q taps three Faeries as a cost, but the tap symbol is not in that cost, and summoning sickness only stops a creature from attacking and from using its own {T} abilities. So a Faerie that entered a moment ago can be one of the three. That makes the flash Faeries the best Faeries here. Faerie Mastermind, Spellstutter Sprite, Bitterbloom Bearer, Obyra, Dreaming Duelist, Pestermite, Scion of Oona, Vendilion Clique, Brazen Borrower, Faerie Harbinger and Mischievous Sneakling can all come down in an opponent's end step and be tapped for Q before your turn starts.

The noncreature Faeries pay too. Bitterblossom and Faerie Tauntings are Kindred enchantments with the Faerie type, and Firdoch Core is a changeling, which is every creature type even while it is only an artifact. Bitterblossom and Faerie Tauntings never attack, so tapping them costs nothing in combat, and none of the three dies to a creature sweeper, so after one they are Faeries you still have. Firdoch Core taps for mana or for Q in a turn, not both.

A Faerie creature usually attacks or pays for Q in a round, not both. The cleanest time to activate is the end step of the player just before you. Those three Faeries untap in your untap step, so they still attack on your turn, and the free spell cost them nothing. Activating in your own main phase spends three attackers, and activating after combat can only use the Faeries that stayed home. Nothing in the core list has vigilance, so the choice stays real until the untap cards further down arrive.

Q never shuffles, so the card he casts is the card you put on top

Q exiles from the top of your library until he hits a nonland card and leaves the rest of the library in order, so whatever you place on top is what he casts. Sensei's Divining Top rearranges the top three for as often as you can pay, which means a look before every activation. Brainstorm puts two cards from your hand back on top, so a Craterhoof Behemoth you cannot afford to cast goes back up for Q to cast free. Ponder, Preordain and Faerie Seer set the top two or three. Personal Tutor finds a sorcery and puts it on top, which here means Plague Wind or Genesis Ultimatum, the two sorceries worth casting free, and Faerie Harbinger does the same for any Faerie card. Unwelcome Sprite surveils 2 whenever you cast a spell on an opponent's turn, and the spells Q casts count, so each activation there sets up the next one. D'Vana Tendi surveils 1 for , Elminster's +2 scries 2, Realmwalker lets you look at the top card at any time, and Undercity Sewers, Hedge Maze, Meticulous Archive and Shadowy Backstreet each surveil 1 as they enter.

A shuffle throws all of that away. Fabled Passage, Farseek and Nature's Lore search and shuffle, Ponder offers a shuffle you should usually decline, and Faerie Harbinger and Personal Tutor shuffle before they put their card on top. So fetch lands first, set the top second and activate last. If Sensei's Divining Top is the card on top, because you tapped it to draw, Q exiles it and casts it, which spends an activation on a one mana artifact.

Lands are the other thing Q finds and cannot use. Every land above the first nonland card is exiled for good. With this list's starting mix of 35 lands to 64 other cards, that averages about one land for every two activations, so a game with six activations costs about three lands. That is part of why the list keeps 35.

A free spell is worth its mana value, so nine cards cost six or more

With nothing set up, the average nonland card in this list costs 3.45 mana, and that is roughly what a blind activation is worth. The expensive end is where Q pays off. Kozilek, the Great Distortion and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger both trigger when cast, and a card cast from exile is still cast, so Kozilek fills your hand to seven and Ulamog exiles two permanents. Agent of Treachery takes the best permanent on the table, Genesis Ultimatum puts permanents from the top five onto the battlefield, and Morophon, the Boundless, Shadow Puppeteers and Oona, Queen of the Fae cost six or seven each. Most of these are not meant to be cast from your hand. They wait in the library until Brainstorm or Sensei's Divining Top puts them on top.

Q ignores timing as well as cost. The free spell is cast while his ability resolves, so a sorcery or a creature without flash can be cast on any player's turn. That makes Plague Wind better on an opponent's turn: activate in their combat after attackers are declared, and every creature your opponents control is destroyed before damage. Craterhoof Behemoth is the opposite case. Its bonus lasts until end of turn, so on someone else's turn it only makes your blockers bigger. You may decline any free spell, but a declined card stays in exile, so when Craterhoof is on top, activate in your own main phase. Any X in a free spell's cost is 0, which is why the list has no X spells.

Elminster's −3 turns the top card's mana value into Faerie Dragons

Elminster is here for what he does to the top of the library. His +2 draws a card and scries 2, which sets up the next activation, and each time you scry, your next instant or sorcery that turn costs less for every card you looked at. His −3 exiles the top card and makes a 1/1 flying Faerie Dragon for each point of that card's mana value. Faerie Dragon is two creature types, so every token is a Faerie that can pay for Q. Put Ulamog on top, use the −3, and you have ten Faeries, which is three activations with one left over.

The −3 exiles the card without casting it, so it trades the card's own effect for Faeries. Use it when you have fewer than three Faeries to tap, or when the card on top is one you would rather have as fliers, such as a Kozilek with your hand already full. Elminster starts at five loyalty, so he can use the −3 the turn he arrives and stay on the battlefield.

Seedborn Muse makes every turn a turn Q can be used

Without help each Faerie pays for Q once a round. Seedborn Muse untaps everything you control whenever another player untaps, so in a four player game each Faerie can pay once on every turn, and the end step timing stops mattering. Murkfiend Liege does the same for your green and blue creatures. Most Faeries here are blue, and so are the tokens from Bitterbloom Bearer, Oona, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Faerie Formation, Faebloom Trick and Elminster. Bitterbloom Bearer, Blightwing Bandit and Changeling Outcast are mono-black and stay tapped, and so do the black Rogue tokens from Bitterblossom, Alela, Cunning Conqueror and Shadow Puppeteers and the three noncreature Faeries.

The instant speed untaps are smaller and come at the right moment. Village Bell-Ringer has flash and untaps all your creatures as it enters, so you can tap three Faeries for Q, cast Bell-Ringer, and tap the same three again, and if Q flips Bell-Ringer it untaps them on its own. Pestermite enters as an untapped Faerie and untaps a second one, so it is two thirds of another activation by itself. D'Vana Tendi taps to untap another permanent, which is once a round, or once on every turn beside Seedborn Muse.

Each spell Q casts on another player's turn sets off five other cards

A spell Q casts is a spell you cast, wherever it came from, and five cards here pay out when you cast one during an opponent's turn. Alela, Cunning Conqueror makes a 1/1 Faerie Rogue for the first one each opponent's turn, which is a Faerie toward the next activation. Blightwing Bandit exiles the top card of that player's library face down, and you can play it later with any mana. Voracious Tome-Skimmer draws a card for 1 life, Unwelcome Sprite surveils 2, and Faerie Tauntings makes each opponent lose 1 life. One activation in each opponent's turn of a four player game is three rounds of all that before the free spells do anything.

It also lets the free spell be an answer. Spellstutter Sprite counters a spell with mana value up to the number of Faeries you control, and Counterspell and Glen Elendra Archmage need a spell to point at. So when an opponent casts something that matters, activate Q in response. If the top card is a counter it has a target, and if it is not, you have still cast a spell on their turn and collected all five payouts.

Kellan, the Kid and Archmage of Echoes turn one free spell into two

Kellan, the Kid triggers whenever you cast a spell from anywhere but your hand, and Q casts from exile. So each activation also lets you cast a permanent spell from your hand with equal or lesser mana value without paying for it, or put a land from your hand onto the battlefield if you would rather. A free Ulamog means any permanent in your hand comes down free beside it. Realmwalker casts Faerie creature spells from the top of the library, and that triggers Kellan too. Archmage of Echoes copies every Faerie or Wizard permanent spell you cast, so a Faerie that Q flips arrives with a token copy of itself, and so does one that Kellan lets you cast from your hand.

Arcane Adaptation makes Q a Faerie, and five other cards change with him

Arcane Adaptation naming Faerie makes every creature you control a Faerie, along with every creature card you own that is not on the battlefield. Q becomes a Faerie, so he can tap himself as one of the three, and Scion of Oona then gives him shroud. Faerie Harbinger can now find any creature card in your library and put it on top, which makes it a tutor for Craterhoof or Ulamog. Secluded Courtyard and Unclaimed Territory name Faerie, and their coloured mana only pays for Faerie creature spells, so they cannot help cast Q until he is one. And Morophon, the Boundless naming Faerie takes off the cost of every Faerie spell, which with Adaptation out is all of Q's mana cost, so recasting him costs only the commander tax.

That tax is the real threat to this deck. Q costs five, every recast costs two more, and the list does nothing until he is back. Lightning Greaves gives him shroud for an equip cost of nothing, and he gains nothing from its haste, since his ability has no tap symbol, so the shroud is the whole point. Heroic Intervention saves him and the Faeries from a destroy sweeper or a targeted spell at instant speed.

The core list

Q and the 99 that feed him. Hover over a card name to see it, and the price beside each one is its cheapest paper printing, which is the printing the hover shows.

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The budget rung swaps the triomes for tri-lands, and bracket 4 tutors onto the top of the library

Neither ladder changes the plan. Q, Elminster, Arcane Adaptation and all ten flash Faeries appear in every rung, so moving between them changes how often he can be activated and how good the card on top is, not what the deck does.

Fourteen swaps take the core list from at least $519 to at least $264, and most of the saving is in the lands. The five triomes become the older tri-lands, which also enter tapped but have no basic land types and cannot be cycled, so Farseek and Nature's Lore can no longer fetch them, and Watery Grave and Breeding Pool become gain lands. Three Tree City and City of Brass become Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse, which shuffle, so crack them before you set the top. Seedborn Muse becomes Quest for Renewal, which takes a quest counter whenever a creature of yours becomes tapped and does Muse's job for your creatures from the fourth, so the first two activations of Q switch it on as long as creatures paid for them. Craterhoof Behemoth becomes End-Raze Forerunners, a smaller pump that hands out vigilance, so the Faeries that attack can still pay for Q afterwards. Ulamog becomes Desolation Twin, whose cast trigger makes a 10/10 token whether you cast it or Q does. Sensei's Divining Top becomes Opt, and Bitterblossom becomes Dimir Strandcatcher, a Faerie that surveils once for each opponent you attack. Seedborn Muse was the only Game Changer, so nothing holds the budget list above bracket 2.

Going up is eight swaps, at least $760 and six Game Changers, and three of them are tutors that put the card on top, which is where Q wants it. Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Worldly Tutor replace Personal Tutor, Ponder and Preordain, so the top card can be any instant or sorcery, any card at all, or any creature, chosen at instant speed in the end step before you activate. Coalition Victory comes in for Faebloom Trick, and Q does half its work. It wins if you control a creature of each colour and a land of each basic land type, Q alone is a creature of all five colours, and the triomes and shock lands cover the five types quickly. Mystical Tutor puts it on top and three Faeries cast it free in the same turn. Intruder Alarm replaces Faerie Formation and turns Q into a chain. Creatures stop untapping in their controllers' untap steps, but every creature that enters untaps all of them, so each creature Q casts pays for the next activation. A noncreature card on top ends the chain with your Faeries tapped, and only Seedborn Muse, which untaps them in other players' untap steps, gets them back before another creature enters. Roaming Throne naming Faerie makes every Faerie's triggered abilities trigger twice, Archmage of Echoes and Kellan, the Kid included, Force of Will replaces Counterspell, and Cavern of Souls replaces Exotic Orchard so your Faerie spells cannot be countered. A list that wins with three Faeries and a one mana tutor is not one to bring to a casual pod without saying so first.

FAQ

Can Faeries that entered this turn pay for Q, Your Illustrious Host?

Yes. His cost taps three untapped Faeries but does not use the tap symbol, and summoning sickness only restricts a creature's attacks and its own abilities that use the tap symbol. A flash Faerie cast in an opponent's end step can be tapped for Q at once.

Can Q, Your Illustrious Host cast a sorcery on someone else's turn?

Yes. The card is cast while his ability resolves, and a spell cast that way ignores the timing rules for its card type. A sorcery or a creature without flash can be cast during any player's turn, even in combat. Its mana cost is not paid, so any X in it is 0.

What happens to the lands Q exiles, and to a card you choose not to cast?

Both stay in exile. Q exiles cards until he reaches a nonland card and puts nothing back, so every land above it is gone, and a nonland card you decline is gone with them. With 35 lands in 99 cards that is about one land lost for every two activations.

Do Bitterblossom and changelings count as Faeries for Q?

Yes. Q asks for Faeries you control, not Faerie creatures, so Bitterblossom and Faerie Tauntings count through their Kindred Faerie type, and Firdoch Core, Changeling Outcast, Mischievous Sneakling, Realmwalker and Morophon, the Boundless count because changelings are every creature type.

How is Q, Your Illustrious Host different from Q, Stacking the Deck?

Q, Stacking the Deck is a mono-red four drop that shuffles your library once as he enters, exiles one nonland card, and lets you exile cards from your hand to cast copies of it on your turns. Q, Your Illustrious Host is five colours, never shuffles, and casts the top nonland card free each time you tap three Faeries, on any turn and as often as you have Faeries.

How much does this Q, Your Illustrious Host deck cost?

At least $519 for the core list, with each card bought at its cheapest paper printing. Q has no price yet, so that counts 99 of the 100 cards, and D'Vana Tendi, Optimistic Ensign carries a preorder price that should fall after release. The budget rung is at least $264 and the bracket 4 version at least $760.

When does Q, Your Illustrious Host become legal?

On 13 November 2026, the day Star Trek is released. Until then a deck checker treats him and D'Vana Tendi, Optimistic Ensign as unreleased cards, and that lifts on release day without any change to the ban list.

What bracket is this Q, Your Illustrious Host deck?

Bracket 3 at the lowest, because Seedborn Muse is a Game Changer. The budget rung swaps it for Quest for Renewal, and nothing left in that list holds it above bracket 2. The bracket 4 rung adds Force of Will, Coalition Victory and three tutors, which is six Game Changers. Nothing from Star Trek is on the Game Changers list so far, and a five colour commander that casts free spells at instant speed is the kind of card a revision looks at, so all three numbers are floors.