Precon upgrade guide · Star Trek Commander

Landing Party precon upgrade guide

Of the 99 cards in this box, 89 are a land or a spell costing five or less. So once Spock has five differently named lands to count, almost anything he turns over is free. What holds the deck back is how few chances he gets.

Landing Party isn't in shops until 13 November 2026. Until then, the 38 cards in it that are new with this release, Spock included, read as not legal in Commander, which is a release date and not a ban, and only three of them show a price at all, each one a preorder that will move once the box is out. Every card this guide adds is already in print, and each price quoted for one is TCGplayer's for the cheapest printing out today, on 29 October 2026.

Commander Spock reveals the top card of your library whenever he enters or attacks. If it's a spell whose mana value is no more than the number of differently named lands you control, you may cast it without paying for it. If it's a land, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped. Whatever you don't play, you draw. The box already gets the count right. What it doesn't do is make him enter often enough, so most of this upgrade is about that: three more ways to blink him, one card that doubles every entry, and cheap ways to know what he's about to reveal.

What are the best Landing Party upgrades?

In buying order, if you want to buy a few at a time. Prices are for the cheapest released printing, which is why Ephemerate's is a Secret Lair and Restoration Angel's a Commander reprint. Hovering a name shows the card.

1. Soulherder (~$1.87). At the beginning of each of your end steps it can exile another creature you control and return it, so a Spock who attacked earlier in the turn enters again before you pass. It also gains a +1/+1 counter whenever any creature is exiled from the battlefield, and Chief Kyle, Temporal Tribulation and Path to Exile all exile.
2. Ephemerate (~$4.55). One white mana blinks Spock, and when you cast it from your hand, rebound casts it again for free in your next upkeep. That's two entries for one card, each one a reveal, and a land as well while Janice Rand is out.
3. Panharmonicon (~$4.26). Every trigger caused by a creature entering happens twice, so each blink of Spock reveals two cards, and Janice Rand, if she's out, puts in two lands. Guardian Project draws twice off the same entry, and Captain Kirk and Avenger of Zendikar double too.
4. Restoration Angel (~$0.30). A blink at instant speed, on a 3/4 flier. Flash it in at the end of an opponent's turn and Spock's free spell happens there, or flash it in when removal is aimed at him and he dodges it.
5. Swiftfoot Boots (~$1.83). Haste lets Spock attack the turn he's cast, which is two triggers on his first turn instead of one. It gives hexproof, where Lightning Greaves gives shroud, and here that difference matters: six of the seven cards in this list that bring him back have to target him, and shroud would stop all six.
6. Breeding Pool, Temple Garden and Hallowed Fountain (~$9.24, ~$6.41 and ~$7.39). Untapped for 2 life, and each one has two basic land types, which six lands in the box check for: the three that enter untapped if you control a land of the right type, and the three that ask you to reveal one from your hand. Farseek finds all three and Nature's Lore the two with Forest in them. All three are reprinted in the main Star Trek set on 13 November, so these prices belong to older printings and may move.
7. Oracle of Mul Daya (~$2.63). An extra land drop every turn, which can push the count Spock checks up by two a turn instead of one. You may also play lands straight off the top of your library, so a land sitting there doesn't use up his next reveal, and the top card stays face up, so you always know what he's about to turn over.
8. Swords to Plowshares and Generous Gift (~$1.08 and ~$0.97). One-target removal in place of Wrath of God, which would kill Spock along with everything else. Generous Gift destroys any permanent at instant speed. Spot removal goes from three cards to five.
9. Crystal Ball (~$0.44). For one mana and a tap it scries 2, and you can activate it with Spock's trigger already waiting, so the card he reveals is one you chose to leave there.
10. Avenger of Zendikar (~$0.49). A 0/1 Plant for every land you control when it enters, and every land after that puts a +1/+1 counter on each of them. Spock casts it for free once you control seven differently named lands.
11. Retreat to Coralhelm (~$0.42). Each land that enters lets you scry 1 or untap a creature, and Spock and Janice Rand both put lands onto the battlefield. A land that enters during his attack, from his own reveal or from Janice, can untap him, so a 3/5 is back to block.
12. Yavimaya Coast and Brushland (~$0.32 and ~$0.41). Untapped green from turn one, in place of the two green Planets that always enter tapped. Six of the box's ramp cards cost one or two mana and need green.

Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top are missing on purpose, and they'd be the best two cards for Spock if price didn't matter. Scroll Rack swaps cards from your hand with the top of your library, so with his trigger waiting you can put the best spell in your hand on top and he casts it for free. Sensei's Divining Top rearranges your top three for one mana, as often as you like. They cost about $36.48 and $36.88, each nearly as much as all sixteen adds above ($42.61 together). The box's Brainstorm does the Scroll Rack trick once, and Crystal Ball does a smaller version every turn. If you spend more after the list, one of those two is the next buy.

With five lands out, 89 of the 99 are free

Spock's number is how many lands you control with different names, and this mana base was built for it: 40 lands carrying 35 names. The only repeats are the basics, four Forests, two Plains and two Islands, so until you draw a second copy of one, every land you play adds one to the count.

At five names, 49 of the 59 spells in the box's 99 qualify. Add the 40 lands, which he puts straight onto the battlefield, and 89 of the 99 cards are either a free spell or a free land. The other ten cost six or more, and those he draws. After the swaps it's 90, because two six-drops leave and one seven-drop arrives.

So the count is rarely the problem. What matters is which cards he can find, and how many times he gets to look.

Four cards in the box bring Spock back

Out of the box Spock enters once, and after that he has to attack to trigger, a 3/5 swinging into three other boards. Chief Kyle, Temporal Tribulation, Balance of Terror and The Guardian of Forever each take a creature of yours off the battlefield and bring it back once the next end step starts. Aim one at Spock and he enters again, which is another reveal.

Chief Kyle is the best of the four, because his trigger is landfall. Attack with Spock first, play your land after combat, exile Spock with Kyle, and he enters again at your end step, a second reveal that cost you only the land drop. A land Spock turns over during that attack is landfall as well, so you can take him out of combat with Kyle right there if the attack starts to look like a mistake.

The Guardian of Forever does it at instant speed for four mana by sacrificing him, and Temporal Tribulation exiles two of your permanents on anyone's turn, then does it again from the graveyard with flashback. Balance of Terror's second and third chapters each blink one permanent, but they resolve before combat, so if you aim them at Spock he can't attack that turn. Point them at Lt. Arex, Ever-Adapting instead, who draws three more cards each time he enters, unless attacking with Spock that turn looks too risky anyway.

Two more cards copy him. Colossal Clone Master can enter as a copy of Spock that isn't legendary, so you have two of him, each with the trigger. Shore Leave Planet becomes a copy of him for five mana, and if it's been on the battlefield since your turn began, it can attack as a second Spock. While it's a copy it isn't a land, so your count is one lower for as long as it stays one.

The upgrade adds three more blinks and a doubler. Soulherder works every one of your turns, Ephemerate twice from one card, and Restoration Angel at instant speed. With Panharmonicon and Janice Rand both out, a turn where Spock attacks and Soulherder blinks him at your end step turns over three cards and puts three of Janice Rand's lands onto the battlefield. Teleportation Circle (~$5.40) does Soulherder's job from an enchantment, out of reach of creature removal, and it's the next blink I'd buy.

Let Janice Rand go first when the top card is a land

Janice Rand triggers at the same moment Spock does, whenever your commander enters or attacks, and you choose which trigger resolves first. It matters because Janice reveals cards from the top until she finds a land, puts that land onto the battlefield tapped and sends everything she passed to the bottom of your library.

So if the top card is a spell you want Spock to cast, let his trigger resolve first, or Janice puts that spell on the bottom. If the top card is a land, let Janice go first. She takes that land, and Spock reveals the card under it, so you get the land and a shot at a free spell. Spock first would get you that land and then a second one from Janice, with any spells between the two sent to the bottom.

You only know the top card if something has shown it to you. Augur of Autumn and Oracle of Mul Daya let you look at it any time. With Retreat to Coralhelm out, a top card you can't see is a reason to let Janice go first, because her land triggers the scry and Spock reveals whatever you kept on top.

Choose the top card after the trigger, not before

Anything that arranges your library at the end of an opponent's turn, or in your upkeep, only picks your next draw, because the draw step comes before combat. The time to arrange it for Spock is once his trigger is on the stack. Brainstorm is an instant for exactly this. Draw three, then put back the two you choose, the one you want him to cast on top. Crystal Ball does a smaller version for a mana every turn. Ponder, the three Temples and Retreat to Coralhelm's scry set the top in advance, which is still worth having when nothing else is.

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu explores whenever he becomes tapped, and attacking taps him. Explore reveals your top card, puts it in your hand if it's a land and otherwise lets you put it in the graveyard, so when Sulu attacks beside Spock, let Sulu's trigger resolve first and bin a spell Spock couldn't cast.

Searching your library undoes all of this, because every search ends in a shuffle. In this list that's the four lands that fetch a basic (Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Fabled Passage and Tranquil Landscape), Cultivate, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Nature's Lore, the basic landcycling on Cold-Blooded Crew, and Captain Kirk, Boldly Going whenever he searches the library rather than your graveyard. Do the searching first and set the top after.

The four fetch lands have a second reason to wait. Each one counts as a name while it's on the battlefield, and the basic it finds only replaces that name if you don't already control a land with the basic's name. If you do, cracking it lowers Spock's count by one.

Untapped green for the first two turns

Forty lands is the right number for this commander, because a land is a fine thing for Spock to reveal and landfall pays off every one of them. What's wrong is the speed. Thirteen of the box's 40 always enter tapped, and three more, Canopy Vista, Prairie Stream and Sodden Verdure, enter tapped unless you control two or more basics. With eight basics in the box, you've drawn two of them by your fourth turn on the play in fewer than one game in five, and only about one in three even if every land that fetches a basic counts as one.

Five swaps deal with most of it. Three of the lands that tap only for colourless go: Temple of the False God, Reliquary Tower and Mutavault. Five spells in this list want two green mana, and a dual does more for them than a land that taps for colourless. Reliquary Tower's hand size matters less in a deck whose commander plays cards from the library rather than your hand. The three shock lands take those slots. Then Earth, Sector 001 and Risa, two of the box's four Planets, give way to Yavimaya Coast and Brushland. Both Planets make green but always enter tapped, and green is what the first two turns spend: Exploration, Lotus Cobra, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Nature's Lore and Growth Spiral all cost one or two and need it.

Lands that always enter tapped drop from 13 to 11, and the shock lands come in untapped whenever you'll pay 2 life. Green sources go from 28 to 29, blue from 27 to 28 and white from 26 to 27, gains of one each because Command Chair, which tapped for any colour, was counted before. Augur of Autumn wants two green on turn three, and on the play the list has them by then about 80% of the time, against 79% for the box.

The tapped lands that stay mostly pay their way. The three Temples scry as they enter, which sets Spock's next reveal. Irrigated Farmland, Rain-Slicked Copse and Scattered Groves can be cycled late, and each has two land types for the check lands and for Farseek. Seaside Citadel makes all three colours, and Shore Leave Planet is the land that turns into a second Spock.

Three cards Spock should never cast, and eight slow ones

Every card in the 99 is a possible reveal, so a card that's bad to cast for free costs more here than in most decks. Wrath of God is the clearest case. Cast off Spock's attack trigger, it destroys Spock, Janice Rand, Chief Kyle and the rest of what makes the deck run, so you'd almost always decline it and draw it. Austere Command stays, because two of its modes can spare your bigger creatures: destroy all creatures with mana value three or less, plus all artifacts or all enchantments, and Spock, Janice and Kyle survive it.

Echo of Eons has every player shuffle their hand and graveyard into their library and draw seven. The shuffle throws away whatever you set on top, and your three opponents each get a fresh hand. Merciful Mandate works like a Fog. On an opponent's turn it ends their combat, and when Spock reveals it during his own attack, untapping your attackers is all it can do.

The other eight are too slow for what they give back. Command Chair is six mana for a mana rock that enters tapped, and a rock doesn't add to Spock's count. Jefferies Tube costs one, then four more and a tap for each card it draws. Chief Montgomery Scott needs six mana and a tap to put one creature from your hand onto the battlefield, in a deck whose commander already puts cards into play for free. S.S. Botany Bay and Tribble Cluster do nothing for Spock or for landfall. Fleet Captain Christopher Pike spends a mana and his own tap to untap two creatures, or two mana and the same tap to tap two.

McCoy, Not a Bricklayer and Christine Chapel, Combat Medic are the box's two Doctors, and each mostly needs the other. McCoy's counters trigger when a Doctor enters, and after Chapel's own entry, most of the life that grows her comes from the lifelink McCoy gives your creatures with counters on them. Both go.

Nine spells above five mana, and why they stay

After the swaps, nine spells still cost six or more, and until you have six names those are the cards Spock draws rather than casts. Each one is worth drawing.

Sun Titan returns a permanent costing three or less from your graveyard when it enters and when it attacks, whether that's a fetch land you cracked or a Soulherder that died, and every blink in the list works on it as well as on Spock. Colossal Clone Master is the second Spock. U.S.S. Farragut, Bold Explorer puts a creature from your hand onto the battlefield with haste on every landfall, puts it on the bottom at the next end step and draws you a card when it does, and Spock and Janice Rand both make landfall happen outside your land drop. Ancient Greenwarden makes every landfall trigger happen twice, so M'Ress, Crew Coordinator makes four Officers a land.

Cold-Blooded Crew cycles for two into a basic when you need the land more than the 4/4. Lt. Arex draws three. Planet Killer is a 9/9 flier with indestructible, which Austere Command can't touch, and Austere Command itself is now the deck's only sweeper. Avenger of Zendikar makes nine.

The upgraded decklist

Spock and the 99 after the sixteen swaps, grouped by card type, with the box's own cards in the printings it ships. Hovering a name shows the card.

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“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

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FAQ

Does Commander Spock count each Forest as a separate land?

No. He counts names, so four Forests on the battlefield add one to his number, not four. Landing Party's 40 lands carry 35 different names, because the only names that repeat are its basics, so almost every land you play raises the count by one until you've doubled up on a basic.

Should Janice Rand's trigger or Spock's resolve first?

Both trigger when Spock enters or attacks, and you choose the order. If the top card of your library is a spell you want Spock to cast, let his trigger resolve first, because Janice sends every spell she reveals to the bottom. If the top card is a land, let Janice resolve first, so she takes it and Spock reveals the card under it. With Retreat to Coralhelm out, her land also lets you scry 1 before he looks.

Can Spock cast a sorcery or a creature on another player's turn?

Yes. A spell cast while his trigger resolves ignores the usual timing rules, so when Restoration Angel, Temporal Tribulation or The Guardian of Forever brings him back during an opponent's turn, the card he reveals can be a creature, a sorcery or anything else, as long as its mana value fits under your count.

How much does it cost to upgrade Landing Party?

About $42.61 for all sixteen adds, at the cheapest released printing of each on 29 October 2026. The three shock lands are $23.04 of that, with Breeding Pool the dearest card at about $9.24, and the other thirteen come to about $19.57. The box's new cards have no settled prices before release, so this page puts no total on the deck itself.

Does blinking Spock with Chief Kyle add commander tax?

No. When your commander is exiled you may move it to the command zone, but you don't have to. Leave Spock in exile and Chief Kyle returns him at the next end step. Tax only counts casts from the command zone, so it doesn't go up. The Guardian of Forever works the same way: leave him in the graveyard and he comes back.

Should Captain Kirk, Boldly Going lead Landing Party instead?

I'd keep Spock. Kirk also triggers on entering and attacking, but his trigger puts a basic land or Starship Enterprise into your hand, where Spock's casts a card for free, and after the swaps the list has four Spacecraft for Kirk's +3/+3, which they only get once they're stationed into creatures. In the 99 he's one more creature worth blinking, since each entry finds another land.

What bracket is the upgraded Landing Party?

Nothing in the box is a Game Changer, and none of the sixteen adds is one either, so the upgraded list sets no bracket floor. The card it most obviously lacks is Field of the Dead (~$24.88), which makes a 2/2 Zombie whenever a land enters while you control seven or more lands with different names, and with 35 names in 40 lands this deck gets there quickly. It's a Game Changer, though, so one copy would put the deck in Bracket 3.