Dofresh/Wizards of the CoastIn the early 1990s, the massive popularity of Richard Garfield’s tabletop card game Magic: The Gathering changed the world. It also created a slew of copycat trading card games, many of which, at least for a few years, became almost as popular as Magic. If you were hanging out in comic book stores or gaming shops after 1996, it wasn’t just Magic cards that were hot, but also the superhero-themed OverPower, the first run of Pokémon cards, and, from 1994 and onward, the Star Trek Customizable Card Game from Decipher Inc. And now, 31 years after Star Trek became a Magic-inspired card game, the boldly going franchise is going back to its gaming roots, with an actual Magic: The Gathering/Star Trek set of cards.Magic: The Gathering x Star Trek comes in 2026The Crystalline Entity, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as reimagined for Magic: The Gathering. | Wizards of the Coast/David AlvarezAs revealed by Wizards of the Coast, an entire set of new Star Trek cards for Magic: The Gathering will be released in November 2026, which is just in time for the 60th anniversary of the entire Star Trek franchise. This will likely be part of MtG’s Universe’s Beyond series, which has included cards from Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Doctor Who, and, most recently, Marvel.As with all MtG sets, the Trek universe will be reinterpreted by various artists, giving the new sci-fi cards a fantasy veneer, much like the Doctor Who release from 2023. Wizards of the Coast has made it clear that the Star Trek set will span the entire franchise, from The Original Series to The Next Generation and beyond. Captain Kirk and the crew of the original Enterprise as reimagined for Magic: The Gathering. | Wizards of the Coast/Josh NewtonPreview images from artists Dofresh, Remi Jacquot, Josh Newton, David Alvarez, and Raymond Swanland depict the classic USS Enterprise (with some SNW stylings), the Klingon Chancellor Gowron, Captain Kirk, the Crystalline Entity, and the Enterprise-D. This is obviously just a taste of what is to come. The inclusion of Gowron and the Crystalline Entity is a clear indication of just how many deep cuts this set will include.The Legacy of Star Trek’s First CCG A selection of early cards from the 1994 Star Trek Customizable Card Game. | Decipher Inc./Paramount PicturesWhile technically out of print, Decipher’s Star Trek Customizable Card Game had an incredible run from 1994 to 2006. Starting as a game that only contained cards from Star Trek: The Next Generation, each subsequent set expanded the universe, which eventually included all versions of Star Trek, from the feature films, to Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. It also eventually encompassed two distinct editions of the game, in which gameplay was streamlined and rebooted for the Second Edition in 2002.The gameplay of the Star Trek CCG may not have been as elegant as Decipher’s other MtG-inspired franchise, the Star Wars CCG, which launched in 1995, but it did represent a massive turning-point in franchise-connected card games. Thanks to MtG, the Star Trek CCG expanded, and created a proof-of-concept that complex card games in pre-established worlds could work.Given all of the history, Star Trek coming to MtG in 2026 is a nice full circle moment. The world of collectible card games may never be as innovative and brand-new as it was in the pre-internet early 1990s, but the return of Star Trek to small playable, cardstock objects is very much a moment to celebrate.The Star Trek CCG/Magic: The Gathering collaboration comes out in November 26.