Source transparency: This Digest item is based primarily on reporting from Wizards of the Coast. TMF summarizes and interprets the news; original reporting remains credited and linked.
Kira Nerys, Firebrand gives Star Trek a new way to bring creatures into combat. Wizards revealed the three-mana red-white 4/3 in Gavin Verhey’s October 23 design article. Her key effect changes a creature’s entry: if you already control an attacker, your incoming creature arrives tapped and attacking instead of entering normally.
That distinction matters for deck construction. Kira does not need to give a new creature haste, because entering as an attacker bypasses the process of declaring it as one. Flash creatures and effects that create creature tokens during combat can therefore contribute immediately. The condition also leaves room for creatures entering after blockers have been declared. At that point, a defender normally cannot assign a fresh blocker to the new arrival, although removal and other interaction remain available.
There are two important limits. First, an attacker must still exist when the creature would enter. Removing your last attacking creature before an entry effect resolves switches off Kira’s replacement. Second, a creature that arrives attacking was not declared as an attacker. Its own attack trigger does not automatically fire, so a deck should distinguish combat-damage rewards and entry abilities from abilities that require the declaration of an attack.
Kira also temporarily increases the power and toughness of each other creature that enters under your control. That makes combat token production a natural direction: it supplies additional attackers and gives those newcomers an immediate boost. Her own trample offers a practical way to start combat, but she need not be the creature attacking to establish the condition. Do not assume that Kira’s ability affects her own initial entry before she is on the battlefield.
For Commander, this suggests a Boros shell with instant-speed bodies, repeatable token production and protection for the initial attacker. The weaknesses are equally concrete: a board wipe removes the engine, badly timed token creation misses combat, and Kira does not make every future attack-trigger creature work as hoped. This is a newly enabled construction to test, not evidence of tournament adoption or a guaranteed finish.
That distinction matters for deck construction. Kira does not need to give a new creature haste, because entering as an attacker bypasses the process of declaring it as one. Flash creatures and effects that create creature tokens during combat can therefore contribute immediately. The condition also leaves room for creatures entering after blockers have been declared. At that point, a defender normally cannot assign a fresh blocker to the new arrival, although removal and other interaction remain available.
There are two important limits. First, an attacker must still exist when the creature would enter. Removing your last attacking creature before an entry effect resolves switches off Kira’s replacement. Second, a creature that arrives attacking was not declared as an attacker. Its own attack trigger does not automatically fire, so a deck should distinguish combat-damage rewards and entry abilities from abilities that require the declaration of an attack.
Kira also temporarily increases the power and toughness of each other creature that enters under your control. That makes combat token production a natural direction: it supplies additional attackers and gives those newcomers an immediate boost. Her own trample offers a practical way to start combat, but she need not be the creature attacking to establish the condition. Do not assume that Kira’s ability affects her own initial entry before she is on the battlefield.
For Commander, this suggests a Boros shell with instant-speed bodies, repeatable token production and protection for the initial attacker. The weaknesses are equally concrete: a board wipe removes the engine, badly timed token creation misses combat, and Kira does not make every future attack-trigger creature work as hoped. This is a newly enabled construction to test, not evidence of tournament adoption or a guaranteed finish.
Original source: Trekking Through Design ↗Wizards of the Coast