Assimilate is the Borg keyword action in Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek. It puts a creature card onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter, and the creature becomes a Borg artifact creature that loses its other creature types. Three cards have it as of October 21, 2026, and each one steals from a different zone: a graveyard, a library or exile.
Card text as listed on Scryfall on October 21, 2026. Wizards has not published the Star Trek release notes yet, so rulings marked as SparkMTG's reading update when they do.
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What is assimilate in MTG?
Assimilate is a keyword action, a verb like scry or mill, and Wizards' Star Trek mechanics article (October 20, 2026) describes it as the action that "brings one of your opponent's creatures over to your side." The reminder text on The Borg Queen and Borg Cube reads, word for word:
"(To assimilate a card, put it onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter. It's a Borg artifact creature and loses all other creature types.)"
Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest prints a shorter version: "(Put it onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter. It's a Borg artifact creature and loses all other creature types.)"
The mechanics article lays out two versions.
A card that is not on the battlefield (in a graveyard, a library or exile) goes onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter, as a Borg artifact creature.
A creature already on the battlefield changes control to you first, then gets the +1/+1 counter and becomes a Borg artifact creature. No revealed card uses this version yet.
In both versions the creature keeps its supertypes (legendary stays legendary), its other card types (an enchantment creature becomes an enchantment artifact creature) and its non-creature subtypes. Only the creature types go, replaced by Borg. That matches an existing rule: an effect that makes an object a "[creature type] artifact creature" keeps its other types and replaces its creature types (CR 205.1b).
Assimilate key facts
What it is: a keyword action, not a keyword ability. A creature never "has" assimilate.
Cards with it: three. The Borg Queen (TRC #1, the We Are the Borg face commander), Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest (TRC #197, the black Welcome Deck) and Borg Cube (TRK #227, a mythic in the main set).
Main home: the We Are the Borg Commander deck, Esper, led by The Borg Queen. MSRP $74.99, or $159.99 for the Collector's Edition (Wizards, Collecting Star Trek). The full decklist is still unrevealed: Wizards' decklist page (October 20) says the Borg list comes "in the future." Our guide to all four Star Trek Commander decks covers the other three.
Packs too: Borg Cube is a main-set mythic, so assimilate can turn up in Play Boosters and at prerelease, not only in the Borg deck.
Dates: prereleases November 6 to 12, MTG Arena November 10, tabletop release November 13, 2026 (Wizards). On October 16, Wizards said North American Commander decks, We Are the Borg included, may arrive after November 13. Play Boosters and Prerelease Packs are on track. Collector Boosters also hold the actor-signed chase cards, and our Star Trek signed cards list covers every one.
Official rules: the Comprehensive Rules effective September 25, 2026 have no assimilate entry, and the Star Trek release notes are not out (checked October 21, 2026). They usually arrive about a week before prerelease.
Which cards have assimilate?
Three cards, seven printings on Scryfall as of October 21, 2026. The keyword is the same on all three. What changes is where the card comes from.
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Card | Cost and type | Steals from | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|---|
{4}{W}{U}{B}, legendary 4/4 Borg Noble, artifact creatures you control get +2/+2 | A library. Whenever she enters or attacks, a target opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a creature card, and you assimilate it. The rest go to the bottom in a random order. | We Are the Borg face commander (TRC #1, plus a second treatment at TRC #5) | |
{4}{B}{B}, legendary 1/4 Borg Noble, artifact creatures you control get +2/+0 | A graveyard. When she enters, assimilate target creature card from an opponent's graveyard. | Black Star Trek Welcome Deck (TRC #197), plus a convention promo printing | |
{5}{W}{B}, mythic artifact Spacecraft, affinity for artifact creatures, station 12+: a 6/6 and artifact creatures you control have flying | Exile. Whenever it enters or attacks, assimilate a creature card exiled with it. If you cannot, exile up to one target creature. | Main set (TRK #227), plus TRK #475 and the Beam Me Up Bundle promo (#555) |
Two Queens, two cards. "The Borg Queen" and "Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest" are different cards with different colors and different zones. Copy that says "the Borg Queen takes a creature from a graveyard" is describing Perfection Manifest, not the commander.
The set also has Borg cards that do not assimilate but make assimilated creatures better, since every assimilated creature is an artifact creature:
Bio-Asset Allocator (rare, TRC): artifact creatures you control drain each opponent for 1 whenever they attack.
Hive Mind Coprocessor (uncommon, TRK): artifact creatures you control can pay 1 life to draw a card when they deal combat damage to a player.
Collective Drone (uncommon, TRK): its power equals the number of artifact creatures you control.
Assault Drone (common, TRK): artifact creatures you control get +1/+0.
Organic Avulsion Unit (uncommon, TRK): {2} gives your artifact creatures menace until end of turn.
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How does assimilate work, step by step?
The Borg Queen (library)
The trigger goes on the stack and targets an opponent. It triggers when she enters and again every time she attacks. The opponent is the target, not a card, so a creature card's hexproof or ward never matters.
The opponent exiles from the top of their library until a creature card appears. If their library has no creature card, they exile all of it, nothing is assimilated, and the exiled cards go to the bottom in a random order. (SparkMTG's reading)
You assimilate that creature card. It enters under your control with a +1/+1 counter, as a Borg artifact creature. With The Borg Queen's +2/+2, it is 3 power and 3 toughness bigger than its printed size.
The rest of the exiled cards go to the bottom of that player's library in a random order.
It does not join the attack. A creature that enters during combat is attacking only if the effect says so (CR 508.4), and The Borg Queen's text does not. It also has summoning sickness (CR 302.6).
Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest (graveyard)
The trigger targets a creature card in an opponent's graveyard. With no legal target, it does nothing.
Everyone can respond. If that card leaves the graveyard first (exiled by graveyard hate, for example), the target is illegal and the trigger does nothing (CR 608.2b). The Queen stays on the battlefield either way.
The card enters under your control with the +1/+1 counter already on it. It is never on the battlefield without it.
It becomes a Borg artifact creature. It adds the artifact type and the Borg creature type and loses every other creature type. Name, colors, mana value, other card types, supertypes and abilities stay.
Its enters triggers fire for you. You control it as it enters (CR 110.2), so its own "when this enters" abilities, and your "whenever an artifact enters" and "whenever a creature enters" payoffs, trigger under your control.
It has summoning sickness (CR 302.6).
It stays yours until it leaves the battlefield. Then it goes to its owner's graveyard, hand or exile as a new object with no memory of being Borg (CR 400.7).
Borg Cube (exile)
It enters as a noncreature artifact. A Spacecraft becomes an artifact creature only once it has at least as many charge counters as its station number (Wizards, Star Trek mechanics). Borg Cube needs 12.
The enters trigger exiles. Nothing is exiled with it yet, so "if you can't" applies and you exile up to one target creature. Any creature: an opponent's, or your own.
Station it to 12. Tap your other creatures to add charge counters equal to their power (CR 702.184a). At 12 it is a 6/6 and your artifact creatures have flying.
The attack trigger assimilates. When it attacks, you assimilate the creature card it exiled. That card enters under your control, not attacking.
The next attack exiles again. With no creature card left exiled with it, the next attack trigger exiles up to one target creature, and the attack after that assimilates it. Exile, then steal, then exile.
Assimilate examples
Example 1: stealing a Titan from the graveyard. An opponent's Grave Titan died to a board wipe. You cast Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest and target it. Grave Titan enters under your control as a 7/7 Borg artifact creature (6/6 plus the counter), and the Queen's "Artifact creatures you control get +2/+0" makes it a 9/7. Its enters trigger gives you two 2/2 black Zombie tokens. The tokens are regular Zombies, not Borg, because only the assimilated creature changes type.
Example 2: the response. Same board, but your opponent holds Relic of Progenitus. With the trigger on the stack, they exile all graveyards. The Titan is gone, the trigger does nothing, and you are left with a 6-mana 1/4. The graveyard version is only as good as what is left when the trigger resolves.
Example 3: the commander's attack. The Borg Queen attacks. The target opponent exiles a land, then a removal spell, then Craterhoof Behemoth. Craterhoof enters under your control as a Borg artifact creature, and its enters trigger gives every creature you control trample and +X/+X, where X counts your creatures, Craterhoof included. Craterhoof itself is not attacking, because it entered after attackers were declared. Your attackers get the full pump anyway.
Example 4: the flicker trap. You assimilated a creature and later blink it with Ephemerate to reuse its enters trigger. Ephemerate returns the card "under its owner's control", so it goes back to your opponent as a normal, non-Borg creature. Blink your own cards, not the ones you stole.
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Assimilate rulings and edge cases
Wizards has not published the Star Trek release notes yet (checked October 21, 2026), and the current Comprehensive Rules (effective September 25, 2026) have no assimilate rule. Each ruling below cites the existing rule it rests on. Where the answer depends on how a new card reads, it is SparkMTG's reading until the release notes say otherwise.
Colors do not change. A red creature you assimilate is still red. Assimilate changes types only. (Wizards, Star Trek mechanics)
Card types and supertypes stay, creature types are replaced. An enchantment creature becomes an enchantment artifact creature. A legendary Human Wizard becomes a legendary Borg. (Wizards, Star Trek mechanics, CR 205.1b)
Changelings end up as only Borg. Changeling grants every creature type, then assimilate's type change strips all but Borg. (SparkMTG's reading)
The legend rule still applies. If you assimilate a legendary creature and already control one with the same name, you keep one (CR 704.5j).
Tokens cannot be assimilated from a graveyard, a library or exile. A token in any zone other than the battlefield ceases to exist (CR 111.7, 704.5d). If Borg Cube exiles a token, the token is gone, and the Cube's next attack exiles a new target instead.
The stolen creature does not enter attacking, even when The Borg Queen or Borg Cube assimilates during an attack (CR 508.4).
Commanders are rare, but possible. A commander in a graveyard or exile can be moved to the command zone by its owner, and almost everyone does (CR 903.9a). If one is left there and you assimilate it, it is still that player's commander (CR 903.3), so combat damage it deals counts as commander damage from that commander. The Borg Queen's library version finds a commander only if its owner let it go to the library. (SparkMTG's reading)
Borg Cube's exiled card is tied to that Cube. If Borg Cube leaves the battlefield and comes back, it is a new object, and the creature the old Cube exiled stays in exile for good (CR 400.7, 607.2a). (SparkMTG's reading)
If you leave the game, the stolen creatures leave with you. In multiplayer, when you lose or concede, objects you control but do not own are exiled. If the owner leaves the game, their cards leave the game with them (CR 800.4a).
The control-changing version is still unrevealed. The mechanics article explains it, but no card that assimilates a creature on the battlefield has been shown, so how long that control lasts is unconfirmed.
How does assimilate interact with common Commander effects?
+1/+1 counter doublers: a creature that enters with a counter counts as having a counter put on it (CR 122.6), so Doubling Season doubles it and Hardened Scales adds one. Both are green, so they fit a custom Borg build, not the Esper precon. Proliferate adds more.
Clones and token copies: a Clone of an assimilated creature copies the printed card only. It is not Borg, not an artifact, and has no counter, because the type change and counters are not copiable values (CR 707.2). The same goes for Blade of Selves tokens.
Blink: the creature returns under its owner's control, as in Example 4.
Sacrifice and death triggers: it dies like any creature, so your Blood Artist style triggers fire. It then goes to its owner's graveyard, where Perfection Manifest can take it again.
Graveyard hate: Rest in Peace empties the graveyards Perfection Manifest needs. Grafdigger's Cage stops creature cards in graveyards and libraries from entering, which stops Perfection Manifest. It does not stop The Borg Queen or Borg Cube, because their cards are already in exile when they are assimilated. (SparkMTG's reading)
Artifact removal: an assimilated creature is an artifact, so Vandalblast and other artifact removal hit it.
Federation: Star Trek's Federation ability word counts creature types among non-Borg creatures you control, so anything you assimilate stops counting toward it (Wizards, Star Trek mechanics).
How to beat assimilate
The Borg deck steals the best creature it can find and then makes it bigger. Each answer below names which of the three cards it stops.
Answer | Stops | Why |
|---|---|---|
Kill The Borg Queen before she attacks | The Borg Queen | Her trigger fires on enters and on every attack. Every turn she survives to attack is another creature for the Borg. Commander tax makes the second cast cost 9. |
All three | "If a nontoken creature would enter and it wasn't cast, exile it instead." An assimilated card is never cast. (SparkMTG's reading) | |
Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus in response | Perfection Manifest | Empty the graveyard with the trigger on the stack and it does nothing (CR 608.2b). |
Perfection Manifest only | It stops creature cards in graveyards and libraries. The Borg Queen and Borg Cube assimilate from exile. (SparkMTG's reading) | |
Perfection Manifest, The Borg Queen's enters trigger, and the stolen creature's own enters trigger | They stop triggers from creatures entering. The Borg Queen's attack trigger still works, and Borg Cube enters as a noncreature artifact, so its enters trigger still works. (SparkMTG's reading) | |
Artifact sweepers: Vandalblast overloaded | Everything already assimilated | Every assimilated creature is an artifact, and so are The Borg Queen and Borg Cube. |
Bounce: Cyclonic Rift overloaded | Everything already assimilated | A stolen card returns to its owner's hand. Your creature comes home. |
Kill Borg Cube before it reaches 12 charge counters | Borg Cube's steal | Below 12 it is not a creature and cannot attack, so it never reaches the assimilate half. Artifact removal hits it at any time. |
The detail that bites: the card the Borg take from a library or exile was never targeted. Hexproof, ward and protection on the stolen creature do nothing. The answer has to hit the Queen, the Cube or the stolen creature after it lands.
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Building We Are the Borg around assimilate
The full We Are the Borg list is not out (Wizards, October 20), so these tips work from the face commander and the revealed Borg cards. The We Are the Borg upgrade guide has the swaps and prices.
Make The Borg Queen attack safely. Her best trigger is the attack trigger, so evasion is the engine. Borg Cube at 12 charge counters gives every artifact creature flying, and Organic Avulsion Unit gives them menace. A 4/4 commander that is a 6/6 under her own anthem still needs to survive the swing.
Count artifact creatures, not Borg. The Borg Queen, Assault Drone, Collective Drone and Borg Cube's affinity all count artifact creatures. Steel Overseer and Master of Etherium count every assimilated creature too.
Station Borg Cube with fresh steals. Station taps another creature as a cost and does not use that creature's tap symbol, so a creature that just arrived can pay it (CR 302.6, 702.184a). (SparkMTG's reading)
Loop Perfection Manifest with a sacrifice outlet. Sacrificing a stolen creature sends it to its owner's graveyard, which is an opponent's graveyard, where Perfection Manifest can take it again. Ashnod's Altar and Altar of Dementia also fill graveyards.
Reanimation that already fits Esper: Sepulchral Primordial takes one creature from each opponent's graveyard, Grave Betrayal brings back each creature an opponent loses with a +1/+1 counter, and Reanimate, Animate Dead and Rise of the Dark Realms can target any graveyard. None of these assimilate, so their creatures do not become Borg or artifacts.
Copy the Borg, not the stolen creature. Blade of Selves and clone effects copy the printed card, so a copy of an assimilated creature is not an artifact and gets no anthem from the Queen (CR 707.2). Point copy effects at The Borg Queen or a real Borg.
Watch the bracket. Cyclonic Rift and Smothering Tithe, both picks in the upgrade guide, are on the Game Changers list (Scryfall, October 21). Two of them is fine at bracket 3. Count before game night.
Join the Collective
Join the Collective first surfaced as a leak. Scryfall now lists it (TRC #20, rare, {5}{W}{W} sorcery) with the same text Draftsim reported on October 9: "Destroy all creatures. Create X 1/1 colorless Borg artifact creature tokens, where X is the number of nonartifact creatures destroyed this way." Scryfall gives no preview source, so confirm it against Wizards' card image gallery (October 30) before calling it official.
It does not assimilate anything. The detail that bites is unchanged: assimilated creatures are artifacts, so they die to it and do not add to X. Your Borg go down with everyone else, and only nonartifact creatures, yours and your opponents', come back as 1/1 Borg tokens.
Is assimilate good?
Yes, in Commander, and the commander version is the strongest of the three. The Borg Queen steals on entering and on every attack, from a library that cannot be emptied in response the way a graveyard can, and her +2/+2 anthem makes each steal bigger. Her cost is the risk: seven mana, three colors, and she has to survive combat. Perfection Manifest is a 6-mana 1/4 that can whiff on an empty graveyard. Borg Cube is the slowest, since it needs 12 charge counters before it can attack, but its enters trigger is removal on its own.
What deck uses assimilate?
The We Are the Borg Commander deck is built around it: Esper, led by The Borg Queen, with Borg artifact creatures that buff each other the way Slivers do. Assimilate also appears in the black Welcome Deck (Perfection Manifest) and in Play Boosters (Borg Cube). In North America, Wizards says the Commander decks may arrive after the November 13 release, so check with your store before prerelease. Compare all four precons in our Star Trek Commander decks guide. Still deciding which Star Trek precon to buy? Our ranking puts all four side by side. The other three decks have their own guides: Federation Fleet, Landing Party and Klingon Fury.
Where can you play assimilate cards?
Star Trek comes in two parts. Wizards' Collecting Star Trek page says the main set (TRK) "is legal in all formats," and the Commander cards (TRC) are legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage. That puts assimilate in Standard for the first time through Borg Cube (TRK #227). The Borg Queen and Perfection Manifest are TRC cards, so they stay in Commander and the eternal formats. Every date through 2027 is on our MTG release calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What does assimilate do in MTG?
Assimilate puts a creature card onto the battlefield under your control with a +1/+1 counter, and it becomes a Borg artifact creature that loses its other creature types. A second version, not yet on any card, takes control of a creature already on the battlefield. The Borg Queen assimilates from a library, Perfection Manifest from a graveyard and Borg Cube from exile.
Which cards have assimilate?
Three as of October 21, 2026: The Borg Queen (the We Are the Borg commander), Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest (the black Welcome Deck) and Borg Cube (a mythic in the main set). The full We Are the Borg decklist is still unrevealed and may add more.
Can assimilate steal my commander?
Rarely. A commander that goes to a graveyard or exile can be moved to the command zone by its owner, and most players do. If it stays there and gets assimilated, it is still that player's commander, so its combat damage counts as commander damage from that commander. The Borg Queen only finds a commander that is in the library.
Does the assimilated creature's enters ability trigger for me?
Yes. It enters under your control, so its "when this enters" abilities trigger for you, along with your own artifact and creature enters payoffs. Torpor Orb and Hushbringer stop those triggers.
Does a creature assimilated during an attack join the attack?
No. The Borg Queen and Borg Cube assimilate when they attack, but the stolen creature enters after attackers were declared and is not attacking. It also cannot attack until your next turn, because it has summoning sickness.
What happens when an assimilated creature dies?
It goes to its owner's graveyard as a normal card. It is no longer Borg or an artifact and has no counter. Because that graveyard belongs to an opponent, Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest can take it again.
Does assimilate work with Doubling Season?
Yes, based on current rules. A creature that enters with a +1/+1 counter counts as having a counter put on it, so Doubling Season doubles it and Hardened Scales adds one. Both are green, so they do not fit the Esper precon without a color change.
Is assimilate in Standard?
Yes, through Borg Cube. Wizards says the main Star Trek set is legal in all formats, and Borg Cube is a main-set card. The Borg Queen and Perfection Manifest are Commander-set cards, legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage.
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Sources: Wizards: Star Trek mechanics (October 20, 2026), Wizards: Star Trek Commander decklists (October 20, 2026), Wizards: Collecting Star Trek, Wizards: Star Trek Welcome Decks, Wizards: Star Trek product delays in select regions (October 16, 2026), Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026, Scryfall: assimilate card search, Scryfall: The Borg Queen, Scryfall: Borg Queen, Perfection Manifest, Scryfall: Borg Cube, Draftsim: Join the Collective leak. Card text as listed on Scryfall through October 21, 2026. Rulings marked as SparkMTG's reading hold until the official release notes publish.
SparkMTG is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved or endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is the property of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Paramount.