We Are the Borg Upgrade Guide: Best Borg Queen Upgrades

The Borg do not negotiate, and your Commander deck should not have to either. We Are the Borg is one of the four Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Commander precons, bringing an Esper-colored artifact army to the table under the command of The Borg Queen. Its strategy revolves around strengthening artifact creatures, assimilating opposing forces, and turning a growing collective into an overwhelming battlefield presence.

The precon already includes some surprisingly powerful reprints, including Unwinding Clock, The Immortal Sun, and Toxic Deluge. However, there is still plenty of room to improve its consistency, creature production, and ability to recover after a board wipe.

The best way to upgrade We Are the Borg is to focus on artifact creature tokens, efficient artifact payoffs, and reliable card draw. Rather than rebuilding the deck from scratch, we’ll identify ten practical upgrades, explain which cards can make room, and explore how far the Borg Collective can go with a bigger budget.

How Does We Are the Borg Play?

The Borg Queen provides a powerful incentive to fill the battlefield with artifact creatures. Her ability to give your artifact creatures +2/+2 turns even modest bodies into legitimate combat threats, while her assimilation ability introduces another way to expand your forces.

That combination makes We Are the Borg different from a conventional artifact value deck. You are not simply trying to assemble expensive artifacts or generate unlimited resources. You want a board full of creatures that benefit from the Queen’s presence, supported by enough card advantage to keep the Collective growing.

The original deck already understands this identity. Cards such as Tempered Steel reward a wide artifact battlefield, while Skullclamp helps convert expendable creatures into additional cards. Unwinding Clock also offers considerable potential, particularly when paired with artifacts that have useful activated abilities.

The biggest opportunity is making these individual pieces work together more consistently.

The 10 Best Cards to Add to We Are the Borg

These upgrades prioritize synergy with the Borg Queen rather than simply adding expensive Commander staples. Several are useful even when your commander is unavailable, which is particularly important for a creature-focused deck that can otherwise struggle against repeated removal.

1. Sai, Master Thopterist

Every artifact spell becomes an opportunity to create another flying artifact creature. That is exactly what We Are the Borg wants, especially when the Queen is making those otherwise modest Thopters significantly more threatening.

Sai also provides an additional way to convert artifacts into cards, giving the deck another source of value when the battlefield becomes crowded. He supports both the aggressive and resource-oriented sides of the strategy without requiring you to build around a complicated combination.

2. Efficient Construction

Efficient Construction offers another way to build a flying artifact army simply by playing the artifacts your deck already wants to cast.

Unlike a creature-based token producer, this enchantment can survive many conventional creature board wipes. That makes it a useful way to rebuild after opponents clear the battlefield, while the tokens it produces benefit directly from the Borg Queen’s anthem effect.

3. Steel Overseer

The Borg are at their most dangerous when every creature contributes to a collective threat. Steel Overseer reinforces that theme by distributing +1/+1 counters across your artifact creature army.

Its activated ability also makes Unwinding Clock more interesting. Because Steel Overseer is an artifact creature, the Clock can untap it during each other player’s untap step, potentially allowing several activations across a full turn cycle.

4. Sharding Sphinx

Flying artifact creatures dealing combat damage can quickly turn into additional Thopters with Sharding Sphinx on the battlefield.

The card rewards exactly the kind of wide combat strategy that the Borg Queen encourages. Although six mana is a significant investment, the Sphinx can take over games when opponents lack enough flying blockers or immediate removal.

It is particularly attractive for a more combat-oriented build that wants to win through overwhelming numbers rather than infinite combos.

5. Thought Monitor

One of the easiest ways for an artifact deck to run out of momentum is to deploy its hand and then fail to find more action. Thought Monitor helps address that problem.

Affinity for artifacts can make it inexpensive, while drawing two cards replaces resources immediately. It also happens to be a flying artifact creature, allowing it to benefit from the Queen’s power boost and participate in your offensive plan.

6. Losheel, Clockwork Scholar

Losheel, Clockwork Scholar gives We Are the Borg two valuable forms of support. Preventing combat damage to attacking artifact creatures helps preserve your army, while the card-draw ability rewards continued artifact creature development.

Losheel is especially appealing in multiplayer games where attacking profitably can be difficult. Rather than forcing your creatures into unfavorable exchanges, she helps maintain pressure while keeping additional cards flowing.

7. Master of Etherium

A large artifact battlefield makes Master of Etherium a naturally powerful addition. Its size scales with your artifact count, and it provides another boost to your other artifact creatures.

The important detail is redundancy. Your entire army should not depend on the Borg Queen remaining on the battlefield. Master of Etherium gives you another way to maintain a threatening board after your commander has been removed.

8. Cyberdrive Awakener

Sometimes an artifact deck accumulates plenty of resources without enough creatures to finish the game. Cyberdrive Awakener can change that immediately.

When it enters, your other artifact creatures gain flying, and your noncreature artifacts become 4/4 artifact creatures until end of turn. With the Borg Queen already in play, those newly animated artifacts can benefit from her +2/+2 bonus as well.

This is one of the most explosive finishing options available to the deck, especially after several turns of developing mana rocks and other utility artifacts.

9. Organic Extinction

We Are the Borg already contains Toxic Deluge, but a creature-heavy artifact strategy benefits from removal that can preserve its own battlefield.

Organic Extinction destroys all nonartifact creatures, leaving your artifact creature army intact. Its improvise ability also allows your existing artifacts to help pay for the spell.

Against opponents relying on conventional creature decks, that asymmetry can create a decisive opening for the Collective.

10. Roaming Throne

Roaming Throne is a more specialized upgrade, but its ceiling is extremely high. Choosing an appropriate creature type allows it to duplicate triggered abilities of other creatures of that type.

In a Borg-focused build, this can amplify relevant Borg triggers, including the Borg Queen’s triggered assimilation ability. It does not double her static +2/+2 bonus, so its value depends on how many meaningful triggered abilities your final list contains.

That makes it an excellent candidate for a more dedicated typal version of the deck rather than an automatic inclusion in every artifact build.

What Should You Remove? 10 Cards to Cut from We Are the Borg

We Are the Borg already includes several valuable Commander staples, so the goal is not to remove every card without direct artifact creature synergy. Instead, we want to improve token production, card advantage, and combat pressure while preserving enough mana acceleration and protection to deploy The Borg Queen consistently.

These ten cards are all included in the original precon, and each proposed replacement supports a more focused artifact creature strategy.

These changes deliberately preserve Swiftfoot Boots, Commander’s Sphere, and Wayfarer’s Bauble. Protecting your six-mana commander and maintaining sufficient acceleration are more important than maximizing artifact synergies at every opportunity.

There are still tradeoffs. Cutting Disallow and Bitter Triumph reduces your ability to answer opposing threats, while replacing Thoughtcast sacrifices efficient card draw for a more specialized typal payoff.

For most players, we recommend starting with Sai, Master Thopterist, Efficient Construction, Steel Overseer, Thought Monitor, and Master of Etherium. These upgrades strengthen the deck’s core artifact creature strategy without requiring an extensive rebuild.

If your playgroup uses a lot of removal or fast combo strategies, retain more interaction and make fewer changes to the original list.

Best Budget Upgrades for We Are the Borg

You do not need to spend heavily to make the Collective more dangerous. The most useful budget upgrades are generally cards that produce additional artifact creatures, improve card flow, or make your existing army stronger.

Efficient Construction, Sai, Master Thopterist, and Master of Etherium are excellent cards to investigate first. Their usefulness comes from repeatable synergy rather than a single spectacular effect, and they can improve multiple turns of gameplay.

Thought Monitor and Losheel, Clockwork Scholar are also strong priorities. Both help the deck avoid the familiar precon problem of committing several cards to the battlefield without having enough resources to continue playing after opponents respond.

Prices will fluctuate around the Star Trek release, so it is worth comparing the cheapest available printings before purchasing. Older versions of established artifact staples may be more economical than any newly themed alternatives.

For a first round of upgrades, focus on approximately five changes rather than replacing ten cards immediately. This makes it easier to identify which improvements actually affect your games.

Higher-Budget Upgrades: How Powerful Can the Borg Become?

Once the basic artifact engine is working consistently, We Are the Borg has access to several powerful cards that can push the deck beyond typical precon-level games.

Anointed Procession

Doubling creature token production makes cards such as Sai, Master Thopterist and Sharding Sphinx considerably more threatening. This is especially valuable because the Borg Queen’s anthem rewards the number of artifact creatures you control.

Anointed Procession is not an artifact itself, but the increase in token production can easily justify that exception in a dedicated token build.

Mondrak, Glory Dominus

Mondrak, Glory Dominus provides another token-doubling effect, this time attached to a creature. The possibility of making Mondrak indestructible also offers a measure of resilience.

Unlike artifact creature payoffs, Mondrak does not directly benefit from the Borg Queen’s artifact-specific anthem. Its purpose is to make the token engines surrounding your commander substantially more productive.

Urza, Chief Artificer

For players who want to lean further into artifact creature production, Urza, Chief Artificer is an especially thematic addition.

His end-step ability creates a Construct artifact creature token whose size scales with your artifact count. Over multiple turns, these Constructs can become serious threats, particularly when supported by the Queen and other anthem effects.

Urza can also serve as an alternative commander if you eventually decide to rebuild the deck around broader artifact synergies instead of Borg assimilation.

Cards You Should Keep from the Original Precon

Not every upgrade requires replacing a card. We Are the Borg already includes several excellent staples that deserve to remain in the deck.

Unwinding Clock is one of the most interesting cards in the entire precon. Untapping your artifacts during each other player’s untap step becomes increasingly valuable as you add activated artifact abilities. It can also improve access to mana from artifact mana sources during opponents‘ turns.

The Immortal Sun provides multiple forms of advantage, including additional card draw, cheaper spells, and a creature anthem. Its restriction on planeswalker loyalty abilities can also be relevant in certain matchups.

Skullclamp remains a Commander staple for good reason. The deck can use it to generate card advantage from expendable creatures, although the Queen’s +2/+2 bonus means your smallest artifact tokens may no longer die automatically when equipped.

Toxic Deluge gives you an efficient reset button when opposing creature strategies become too threatening. Even though it can destroy your own board, having access to flexible mass removal is essential in Commander.

Morphic Pool is another welcome inclusion. Reliable multicolor mana is particularly valuable in Esper decks, and there is little reason to replace a strong land merely for the sake of making more upgrades.

Together, these reprints provide a solid foundation that reduces the amount of money needed to improve the deck.

Three Ways to Build an Upgraded Borg Deck

The Borg Queen supports more than one direction, and choosing a clear identity will help prevent the deck from becoming an unfocused collection of individually powerful artifacts.

Artifact Creature Swarm

This is the most natural extension of the original precon. Add efficient token producers, artifact creature anthems, and ways to make your creatures difficult to block.

Sai, Master Thopterist, Efficient Construction, Master of Etherium, and Cyberdrive Awakener all fit this approach. The plan is straightforward: develop your battlefield, protect your important engines, and finish opponents with a large combat step.

This is the version we recommend for most players upgrading the precon for the first time.

Borg Typal and Assimilation

If the Star Trek flavor is your main reason for buying the deck, you can focus more heavily on its original Borg creatures and assimilation effects.

This direction keeps the Queen’s identity front and center, while cards such as Roaming Throne can strengthen relevant creature-type triggers. The goal is not necessarily to produce the largest possible artifact army, but to maximize the interactions that make the Borg unique.

It may be less efficient than a fully optimized artifact strategy, but it preserves much more of the precon’s original personality.

Esper Artifact Value

A third option is to shift toward a more traditional Esper artifact shell. Cards such as Thought Monitor, Urza, Chief Artificer, and Unwinding Clock support a longer game based on accumulating resources.

This build can sacrifice some of the Borg-specific flavor in exchange for stronger standalone cards and more resilient value engines. It is particularly attractive in playgroups where games regularly continue well beyond the first major board wipe.

Is We Are the Borg Worth Upgrading?

We Are the Borg has an appealing foundation for anyone who enjoys artifact creature decks. The Borg Queen provides a clear combat-oriented payoff, and the precon already includes several strong reprints that would otherwise occupy a meaningful portion of an upgrade budget.

Its main challenge is balancing aggression with consistency. A battlefield full of artifact creatures can become frightening with the Queen in play, but the deck still needs ways to produce new threats, draw additional cards, and recover when opponents remove its key pieces.

Fortunately, these weaknesses are relatively straightforward to address. A handful of token generators and card-advantage engines can make the deck feel substantially more cohesive without abandoning the Star Trek theme.

Our recommendation is to start with Sai, Master Thopterist, Efficient Construction, Thought Monitor, Master of Etherium, and Cyberdrive Awakener. Together, they improve the deck’s ability to create creatures, maintain resources, and convert a developed artifact battlefield into a winning attack.

Resistance may be futile, but a few carefully chosen upgrades can make the Borg Collective considerably more convincing.

For the complete original 100-card list, see the official Wizards of the Coast Star Trek Commander decklists. You can also explore our Star Trek Commander Decks overview and Star Trek Mechanics Explained guide for more information about the release.