Star Trek Officially Replaces Picard's Next Generation Crew In Universes Beyond

Published Oct 28, 2026, 7:13 AM EDT

James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC.

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There's absolutely no doubt that Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the best sci-fi series of all time, proving that there is still plenty of appeal for the franchise to a more modern audience. So much so that many of the crew on that show have since secured their place alongside the greats from the Original Series in terms of longevity and popularity.

Picard is obviously the biggest of those, and he's about to take center stage once again in the upcoming Universes Beyond release, that sees Star Trek appear in Magic: The Gathering for the first time. Interestingly, while he will be joined by plenty of different figures from the franchise, several of his own crew won't be there, as Wizards of the Coast make a major decision about who is best to accompany him.

As first reported by CBR, Captain Picard is set to serve as the primary Commander in the upcoming Federation Fleet deck, one of four Commander Decks that will be released as part of the set. Specifically, the card you're looking for is Jean-Luc Picard, Luminary, which allows players to draw a card whenever a 3-cost Historic enters. He also has a secondary ability that lets him put a +1/+1 counter on a creature and two Charge counters on a Spacecraft whenever a second card is drawn each turn.

Interestingly, the rest of the deck features key Starfleet figures from various different crews in the franchise as a whole. From Deep Space Nine, he's ably assisted by Ezri Dax, Julian Bashir, Rom, Leeta, and Vic Fontaine, while he also gets to draw on the prowess of Captain Janeway, Harry Kim, Kes, Seven of Nine, Tuvok, B'Elanna Torres, and Tom Paris from Voyager.

That said, there are plenty of characters from The Next Generation who will be able to join the proverbial party in the deck, including Beverly Crusher, Ambassador K'Ehleyr, Dr. Pulaski, Guinan, Data, Data's cat Spot, Miles O'Brien, Geordi La Forge, Ensign Ro, Troi, William Riker, Reginald Barclay, Worf, and Sonya Gomez.

There are obviously several very notable figures from several major Star Trek shows that haven't shown up as part of this list. Chances are a lot of them may appear in the Spock-led Commander Deck, which has already been announced, though we're still waiting on confirmation on what cards are going to make up that one.

The upcoming Star Trek collaboration is notably wider than several recent efforts from Wizards of the Coast, including The Hobbit, and it should be a great way to get involved with the game for the first time if you haven't already.

The approach with Universes Beyond is largely to do just that, serving as a gentle introduction to Magic: The Gathering for those who are already fans of other franchises. It must be working reasonably well, as there have now been dozens of examples, all of which have done a really solid job of translating their various inspirations into card game form.

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  Jean-Luc Picard

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  Commander William T. Riker

Star Trek: The Next Generation follows Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D as they embark on interstellar explorations, seeking out new worlds and civilizations.