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Start with Steel Overseer and Master of Etherium. They directly improve the artifact-creature board that The Borg Queen is designed to lead. Add Etherium Sculptor if you want a lower curve, Thopter Spy Network if you need cards and more bodies, Chief of the Foundry for another team-wide boost, or Cranial Plating for a more aggressive finish. This is a pre-release upgrade shortlist based on the published decklist and card roles—not a measured power ranking or playtest result. We Are the Borg is scheduled to release on November 13, 2026, so individual cards may be preorders until the deck is available.
At a glance
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Steel Overseer | Growing a board that survives multiple turns | Artifact creature; repeatable +1/+1-counter ability for your artifact creatures | Nov 2026 |
| 2. Master of Etherium | Immediate board-wide scaling | Artifact creature that boosts other artifact creatures | Nov 2026 |
| 3. Etherium Sculptor | Casting several artifacts in one turn | Artifact creature that reduces artifact-spell costs | Nov 2026 |
| 4. Thopter Spy Network | Card flow and a steady stream of flyers | Enchantment that creates flying artifact tokens and can draw cards when artifact creatures connect | Nov 2026 |
| 5. Chief of the Foundry | A wide board that needs another anthem | Artifact creature that boosts your other artifact creatures | Nov 2026 |
| 6. Cranial Plating | Turning one attacker into a fast finisher | Equipment that rewards a high artifact count | Nov 2026 |
“Best” here means best fit for a particular job in this deck, not a guaranteed win-rate order. The ranking is an editorial inference from the card roles and the published list.
What is the We Are the Borg deck trying to do?
We Are the Borg is a white-blue-black (Esper) Commander deck led by The Borg Queen. Wizards of the Coast describes the deck as strengthening artifact creatures and assimilating opposing creatures. Assimilation brings an opposing creature under your control as a Borg artifact creature with a +1/+1 counter, which makes artifact-creature payoffs especially relevant.
The released deck is scheduled for November 13, 2026. Wizards lists a 100-card ready-to-play Commander deck, 32 cards new to Magic, 10 double-sided tokens, a reference card and a deck box. Those product counts describe the contents of the regular edition; they are not evidence of tournament performance.
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Independent decklist counts published by KrakenTheMeta and TurnZero HQ identify 38 lands and 20 artifact creatures, including the commander. Treat those as composition observations when planning swaps. Removing a land or a mana source for a payoff can make an attractive upgrade less functional, especially in a singleton deck.
Which cards are already in the Borg precon?
Several cards that commonly appear on “artifact upgrade” lists are already in the box. Skullclamp, Unwinding Clock, Tempered Steel, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy and Talisman of Progress are listed in the official decklist. Do not buy those as additions unless you are replacing a damaged copy or building a second deck.
The list also already has major interaction, including Toxic Deluge, Anguished Unmaking and Dispatch, plus Academy Ruins for artifact recovery. That means your first purchases can concentrate on making the artifact board larger, cheaper to deploy or more capable of closing a game rather than duplicating removal.
1. Why is Steel Overseer the best first addition?
Steel Overseer is the clearest first purchase for a player who expects an artifact creature to remain on the battlefield for a turn cycle. It is itself an artifact creature, and its repeatable ability places +1/+1 counters on your artifact creatures. In a deck that can gain additional Borg artifact creatures through assimilation, one activation can improve several future attacks and blocks.
The card asks for patience: its value compounds only if it survives and you can untap with it. It is therefore stronger in a playgroup where creatures are not removed immediately and weaker at a table dominated by cheap, frequent sweepers. The deck already contains ways to produce a substantial artifact board, but Overseer gives that board a scaling plan rather than a one-time boost.
Prioritize it when your games stall after the first wave of creatures, when assimilated creatures arrive as undersized bodies, or when you want your token and nontoken artifacts to benefit from the same engine. Because it is an artifact creature, it also contributes to the deck’s artifact-creature density instead of replacing that plan with a purely noncreature effect.
2. When should you add Master of Etherium?
Choose Master of Etherium when you want an immediate anthem that also preserves artifact-creature density. It boosts your other artifact creatures as soon as it enters, so it does not require an activation or a full turn of setup in the way Steel Overseer does.
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Master is particularly attractive after assimilation has put several artifact creatures on your side. The larger the board, the more power its static boost represents. It also scales with artifact tokens, so a wide board can turn a modest-looking creature into a meaningful combat threat.
Its limitation is exposure: as a creature, it can be removed along with the rest of your board. If your group routinely clears creatures, consider whether the immediate boost is worth another creature slot, or whether Steel Overseer’s repeatable counters offer a better recovery plan. Master and Chief of the Foundry fill similar anthem roles; most lists need to decide whether they want both, not assume both are mandatory.
3. Is Etherium Sculptor worth adding for a faster curve?
Etherium Sculptor is the speed option. It is an artifact creature that reduces the cost of artifact spells, allowing a lower-curve build to cast multiple artifacts in a turn or deploy a payoff while still holding up interaction.
Cost reduction is not the same as producing colored mana. Sculptor does not replace Sol Ring, Arcane Signet or the three talismans already in the deck, and it does not solve a color requirement by itself. Think of it as making artifact spells cheaper after your mana base has supplied the required colors.
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Add Sculptor if your opening hands contain several artifacts but your turns are constrained by total mana. It is less compelling if your local games are slow and you already have enough time to cast one large spell each turn. Because it is an artifact creature, it remains on-plan with The Borg Queen and can benefit from the same creature-focused support as the rest of the board.
4. How does Thopter Spy Network improve cards and bodies?
Thopter Spy Network is the card-advantage and token engine in this shortlist. It is an enchantment, not an artifact creature, but it produces flying artifact tokens and can draw cards when your artifact creatures connect in combat.
That distinction matters. The Borg Queen’s artifact-creature payoffs do not automatically buff Thopter Spy Network itself, because it is not an artifact creature. The Thopters it creates are artifact tokens, however, so they can participate in artifact-count synergies and benefit from effects that improve your artifact creatures.
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Network is a good choice when your deck can attack reliably but runs out of cards after establishing a board. The flying tokens provide evasive pressure and additional bodies for future anthem effects. It is slower than a one-shot draw spell: you need the enchantment to remain in play, and the combat-damage card draw depends on connecting with artifact creatures.
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5. Should Chief of the Foundry join Master of Etherium?
Chief of the Foundry is a second anthem option that also counts as an artifact creature. It boosts your other artifact creatures and therefore rewards a broad battlefield of assimilated creatures, regular creatures and artifact tokens.
The practical comparison is immediate board impact versus redundancy. Master of Etherium and Chief both make a wide board stronger, so adding Chief is most useful when you want more copies of that effect or when your deck benefits from another creature rather than an enchantment or equipment. If you are trying to keep the curve low, check the total number of expensive creatures before adding another anthem.
A published upgrade package suggests removing Shore Leave Planet for Chief of the Foundry. That is not an automatic swap: Shore Leave Planet is a land, and the published decklist count is 38 lands. Cutting it reduces your mana sources, so only make that change after checking your own land count, mana curve and mulligan habits. A like-for-like creature or slower payoff is usually a safer first cut.
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Cranial Plating is the offensive alternative. It rewards a large artifact count and can turn one unblocked attacker into a substantial threat. This is useful when your board is already wide but games end before a long counter-building plan can take over.
Plating asks you to evaluate combat access. If opponents can consistently block your best attacker, the equipment may sit unused; if you can create evasive Thopters or assimilate creatures that open a path, its payoff improves. It also competes with cards that protect The Borg Queen, so an aggressive build should not assume that every protection slot is expendable.
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A suggested package proposes replacing Darksteel Plate with Cranial Plating. That is a real offense-versus-protection decision, not a universally correct upgrade. Darksteel Plate helps keep a key creature on the battlefield, while Plating tries to end the game faster. Choose based on whether your games are usually lost because you cannot deal enough damage or because your commander and board are removed.
How do these six upgrades differ in practice?
| If your problem is… | Start with… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your creatures are too small after the first turn cycle | Steel Overseer | Repeatable +1/+1 counters reward staying power. |
| You need power immediately after casting a creature | Master of Etherium | Its anthem works as soon as it enters. |
| You cannot cast enough artifacts each turn | Etherium Sculptor | Artifact-spell cost reduction lowers the curve. |
| Your hand empties while your board survives | Thopter Spy Network | It supplies flying artifact tokens and a combat-based draw engine. |
| You want another creature-based anthem | Chief of the Foundry | It boosts other artifact creatures while adding to the creature count. |
| You need a faster way to finish combat | Cranial Plating | It converts a high artifact count into concentrated damage. |
The first two additions are the safest general recommendations because they improve the deck’s stated artifact-creature plan without asking you to change its identity. The other four are specialization choices: speed, resources, redundancy or aggression.
What should you cut for the new cards?
Start with roles, not a predetermined six-card swap list. Play a few games with the published list and mark cards that are consistently too slow, redundant or irrelevant in your group. Then replace a card with another card that performs a similar job whenever possible.
- Protect the mana base. The reported starting list has 38 lands. Do not remove a land simply because an upgrade package did so; your own curve and mulligans may require every land.
- Keep artifact-creature density in view. The deck has about 20 artifact creatures including The Borg Queen by independent count. Replacing several of them with noncreature engines can weaken creature-based payoffs.
- Separate protection from offense. Cranial Plating is not a direct substitute for Darksteel Plate if your main concern is keeping the commander alive.
- Avoid buying cards already included. Skullclamp, Unwinding Clock, Tempered Steel, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and the three talismans are context cards, not upgrade targets.
- Keep interaction. Toxic Deluge, Anguished Unmaking and Dispatch answer problems that a larger artifact board cannot solve by itself.
For a conservative first update, add Steel Overseer and Master of Etherium, then remove the two weakest cards in your own list that occupy comparable creature or payoff roles. Add one of the remaining four only after identifying the specific problem it solves.
How does assimilation affect these upgrades?
Assimilation is the reason artifact-creature support is unusually valuable here. Wizards describes it as taking an opposing creature under your control as a Borg artifact creature with a +1/+1 counter. A creature gained this way can contribute to artifact counts and receive effects that apply to your artifact creatures.
Check the exact card text before making a claim about where a creature comes from. A TurnZero HQ analysis notes a discrepancy between Wizards’ short promotional paragraph, which refers to pulling creatures from opponents’ graveyards, and the printed-effect description it analyzes for The Borg Queen, which finds a creature via an opponent’s library. Other cards in the deck can assimilate from graveyards. Do not attribute every graveyard-assimilation effect to the Queen without checking the card image or current official list.
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Do Spacecraft receive artifact-creature buffs immediately?
No—not automatically. Wizards explains that Spacecraft begin as artifacts, and most need to be stationed before they become creatures; some never become creatures through station. An artifact payoff that specifically says “artifact creature” does not apply merely because a Spacecraft has the artifact type.
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When evaluating a new anthem or counter engine, check the exact type line and the current rules text of the Spacecraft involved. A Spacecraft may still count as an artifact for some effects while not receiving a creature-only boost. This distinction is especially important when deciding whether to add another creature anthem or rely on the deck’s noncreature artifact count.
Which edition should you buy?
The regular ready-to-play deck and the Collector’s Edition use the same decklist. Wizards describes the Collector’s Edition as the same deck in surge foil; it does not contain stronger cards or a different commander package. The published Collector’s Edition MSRP is $159.99 USD, but MSRP is not a live transaction price, and the available data does not establish a regular-edition price.
Buy the regular edition if you want the deck to play or upgrade. Choose the Collector’s Edition for its cosmetic treatment or collecting purpose, not for additional gameplay power. Because the deck is scheduled for November 13, 2026, listings before release may be preorders. Confirm that a listing is for the intended physical single, and check condition and printing before purchasing any upgrade card.
How we picked these six cards
The shortlist uses the published We Are the Borg decklist, Wizards’ explanation of assimilation and Spacecraft, and the roles described in a published six-card upgrade package. Selection criteria were:
- How directly the card supports artifact creatures and assimilated Borg creatures.
- Immediate board impact versus the setup time required.
- Whether it adds artifact creatures, creates tokens, draws cards or reduces costs.
- Whether it improves offense, resilience or the deck’s ability to keep making plays.
- How safely it can be added without cutting lands, mana rocks or essential interaction.
No trustworthy pre-release win rate, statistically validated ranking or hands-on test was available. These are reasoned role-based recommendations for a deck that has not yet released, not guarantees of performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I upgrade the deck before November 13, 2026?
You can preorder singles, but availability, price, condition and printing may change before release. Verify the current Wizards decklist and the exact card version when ordering, especially if a marketplace listing uses a similar name or a non-English printing.
How many of the six cards should I add at once?
Start with one or two cards that address a clear problem, then reassess the deck’s curve and artifact-creature count. Adding all six can crowd out lands, mana rocks, interaction and cards that enable assimilation.
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Does the Collector’s Edition have exclusive or stronger cards?
No. Wizards describes it as the same decklist with surge-foil treatment. Its higher MSRP is for the presentation and finish, not a different power level or additional gameplay cards.
What accessories are actually useful for this deck?
Commander sleeves and +1/+1-counter dice are practical additions because the deck tracks counters and creates artifact creatures. They do not change the deck’s card choices, so buy them only after securing the cards you intend to add.
Should I replace Darksteel Plate with Cranial Plating?
Only if your games are usually decided by insufficient damage rather than losing your commander or key creature. The swap trades protection for speed, so keep Darksteel Plate when survivability is the problem.
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