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Format | Legality |
1v1 Commander | Legal |
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Block Constructed | Legal |
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Casual | Legal |
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Limited | Legal |
Modern | Legal |
Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
Oathbreaker | Legal |
Pauper | Legal |
Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
Pauper EDH | Legal |
Planar Constructed | Legal |
Planechase | Legal |
Quest Magic | Legal |
Tiny Leaders | Legal |
Vanguard | Legal |
Vintage | Legal |
Trinket Mage
Creature — Human Wizard
When this enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost/mana value 1 or less, reveal that card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.








SaberTech on Animar enthusiasts!
3 weeks ago
The value of Trinket Mage really depends on what else you have for it to target besides the Ballista. I did run it at one point but that was back when I was also running Skullclamp, which I think is the main inclusion that makes Trinket Mage worth considering. If you are also running a number of cheap mana rocks like Chrome Mox and Mana Vault that can also help justify the inclusion. If you face a lot of graveyard decks and feel compelled to put in some artifact-based graveyard hate then that could be another reason to run Trinket Mage. It can also tutor for artifact lands, but generally you want as many of Animar's lands as possible to produce at least two different types of mana so the single-colour artifact lands aren't the best to include while the dual-colour artifact lands enter tapped, which you also want to avoid your lands doing if you can.
The reason why Transit Mage makes the cut despite also only having a few targets is because:
- Finding Ancestral Statue is more important to the deck. There are already a number of ways to get to the Ballista.
- Being able to go Imperial Recruiter -> Phyrexian Metamorph -> Transit Mage -> Ancestral Statue -> Rack up counters on animar then bounce Metamorph -> Metamorph copying Recruiter to get Walking Ballista is a super mana efficient line when Animar starts with just 2 counters.
Total mana cost for the line: RU + 4 life.
That line is way more mana efficient than the old line that required you to tutor up Spellseeker, have the Seeker tutor Neoform and then you Neoform the Seeker into Ancestral Statue. Transit Mage basically lets you get the same result for that stage in the line for just one blue mana, and it keeps the line to only using creatures so there are less commonly-used counterspells that can interrupt it.
greyninja on Animar enthusiasts!
3 weeks ago
SaberTech super appreciate the input!
I would not have thought about Shield-Wall Sentinel to find Drift of Phantasms. Interesting strat right there. Helps find the win for sure.
Trinket Mage could be in interesting include as well, to find Walking Ballista(?)
wozislightning on
Heavy Grinder
5 months ago
I have run Phenax basically since he came out. I like your brew! Here are a few things that work well for me.
Card draw is important: Fallowsage , Into the Story , and Visions of Beyond have put in a ton of work for me.
Combo potential: Intruder Alarm , Zellix, Sanity Flayer , and Undead Alchemist all seem to work well with what you already have.
Other: Gyruda, Doom of Depths has been an absolute powerhouse for me. Sheoldred
Flip has a decent body and is easy to flip. Silent Arbiter is also good against a lot of go wide decks. Trinket Mage may be small, but it can tutor up sol ring, Alter of the Brood, and Soul Guide Lantern depending on what you need - very versatile. Wight of Precinct Six can get enormous for only 2 mana.
Good luck and happy brewing!
Nixcron on
the very world of mill-ton jones
1 year ago
Traumatize + Elite Arcanist Mill big, mill half their library. Try Hidden Strings on a Wake Thrasher to take advantage of all the tap/untap's going on. Ensure a hit by enchanting with Aqueous Form. Also Trinket Mage would be a good fit.
nuperokaso on
Help me Man the Lux Cannons!
1 year ago
The big question is - what format is this deck trying to be and what is your budget? Obviously this will never be competitive, but if cards from any edition are allowed, you have hundreds of choices:
- Braided Net Flip - This is a Tumble Magnet with multiple advantages. It can stop Planeswalkers what the original magnet could not. It stops other activated abilities. It can draw a lot of cards. Note that once again, the other side can be untapped in reaction to the activation, so you'll have the effect twice.
- Manifold Key - Strictly better than Voltaic Key
- The Enigma Jewel Flip - another mana source for activated abilities. However, it legendary, so play at most one.
- Pithing Needle - stops problematic Planeswalker and can be found by a Trinket Mage
- Relic of Progenitus - stops graveyard strategies without hurting your deck. Even when the opponent doesn't have anything with graveyard, this can draw a card to replace itself. Can be found by a Trinket Mage
- Experimental Augury - reasonably cheap card selection that proliferates.
- Vesuva, Tolaria West - If you ever want more Locus Lands.
- Urza's Tower, Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Tower, Expedition Map - alternative mana base instead of Cloudpost.
- Moonsnare Prototype - One mana accelerator.
- Inventors' Fair is artifact tutor and a life gain on a land.
If you REALLY want to go all in on counters and play older cards:
- Hickory Woodlot, Saprazzan Skerry, Peat Bog, Sandstone Needle, Remote Farm are lands that produce two mana as long as you are able to proliferate each turn. Pentad Prism is an artifact that effectively produces mana when you proliferate.
nuperokaso on
Help me Man the Lux Cannons!
1 year ago
- I wouldn't play Pyroclasm. That card is dead against many decks such as Ramp, Control, Combo, even late game Midrange. It requires splash to additional color, and even kills your own stuff such as Mages and Myr tokens. Try replacing it with Necropede as I did.
- Precursor Golem seems like a bad choice. You yourself have no spell that could target it, so it's only disadvatage that opponent needs just one removal spell to destroy it.
- In my deck, I should have probably played 1 Surge Node. It can be found by Trinket Mage. Unlike proliferate, it can place charge counters even on artifacts that lost the last one. In my version, if I ever went to 0 counters with Tumble Magnet, it got permanently useless. Also turn 1 Node into turn 2 Everflowing Chalice and activation is great.
- Regarding win condition - don't play Eldrazi. Either play artifacts deck or Eldrazi deck. They have no overlap in synergies.
- Do you really need to play multicolor? The less colors you play the more nonbasic lands with relevant abilities you can play. Look for lands such as This could be played even colorless.
nuperokaso on
Help me Man the Lux Cannons!
1 year ago
Back when Scars of Mirrodin was in Standard, I had very similar deck: UG Proliferate . I will explain how my deck worked:
- The central card of my deck was the Everflowing Chalice. Without it I simply don't have enough mana to play the cards and abilities. As such, I played 4 Trinket Mage, 4 Ancient Stirrings to find them (literally the reason why I played those two cards) and 3 Voltaic Key to untap them for more mana. For me, it was absolutely imperative to find the Chalice, so I believe you should be playing more Trinket Mage.
- In my original build, I tried Semblance Anvil and Throne of Geth, but removed them as they cause card disadvantage. I had lot of mana, so I preferred expensive artifacts such as Contagion Engine that stay on board rather than cheap one-shot effects such as Ichor Wellspring.
- Tezzeret's Gambit was phenomenal - it both provides another Proliferate I was missing, and it draws cards, so you won't run out of steam later in the game. The phyrexian mana worked great - at the start of the game, I am willing to pay life, because I need speed. At the end of the game, you have little life but extra mana is good. It's million times better than the Trigon of Thought you are playing.
- I also played Prototype Portal, but it's actually a weak card. I started with 4, then went down until I played 1. It's slow - basically any game where you have mana and time to activate it three times to get to +1 card out of it was won anyway... However, there's a reason I play one - it enables you to go to stars should the game be locked. Imprinting Voltaic Key enables you to make a copy of Key, which will then untap the Portal. Withing five turns, you have thousands of mana and Keys, which enable repeated activation of all your artifacts.
- Sphere of the Suns is not best, but a reasonable play. I may have made a mistake to play 0. You don't want to draw multiple, but 1-2 may be a good call. It speeds you up and we both know the deck is slow. Mox Opal would be better if it weren't expensive.
- Voltaic Key is another really powerful card - it doubles your Everflowing Chalice mana, enables multiple activations of Contagion Clasp, Contagion Engine, Lux Cannon and Tumble Magnet. You can use the Key to untap Elixir of Immortality in response to it's activation to activate it multiple times and gain more life.
- Tumble Magnet was the "removal" in my deck. Not very good, but made the opponent's equipment useless.
- Golem Foundry was the win-condition of my deck, but it was simply horrible. I didn't want to play Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and the like, because it I get to 15 mana, I win anyway. If I don't get to that mana, Emrakul is a dead card.
- Finally I played Necropede, with 2-3 probably a better choice than 1. They provide early blocking against aggro decks, capable of destroying two creatures for just 2 mana. Just proliferate. However, unlike other removal spells, this won't be dead if opponent has nothing on board. If you ever score a hit, you can proliferate your opponent to death.
I had a lot of fun with the deck. It was cheap (Contagion Engine cost 50 cents back then), unique, and you had permanently things to do - placing counters was 50% of the game time. It had problems if the opponent played Planeswalkers such as Elspeth Tirel, burn spells or +1/+1 counters (since they cancel the -1/-1 counters and then you can't proliferate to kill enemy creatures).
scotchtapedsleeves on
Marchezzy says "Goonies Never Die!"
1 year ago
Welcome to the Cult of Marchesa!
I definitely agree that this deck doesn't have enough sac outlets. When other players start to realize the gameplan, they'll be removing every outlet they see. It's important to keep well stocked!
Add:
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Greater Gargadon is absolutely fantastic, opponents can't interact with it until it hits the field and by then you'll have drawn another outlet... hopefully.
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Viscera Seer is a must, you need all the 1 drop outlets you can get.
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Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is incredible. Free sac outlet that draws you cards AND is removal? Don't mind if I do.
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Trophy Mage is an easy tutor for both Ashnod's and Phyrexian altar. I run Altar of Dementia instead of Phyrexian altar, so I run Trinket Mage instead of trophy. This also helps me get out my 2 drop mana rocks in a pinch.
Subtract:
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Falkenrath Aristocrat has never hit for me, 4 mana for a flying outlet is fine, but she's never done well for me.
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Scorn-Blade Berserker is fine, but think of the timing their effect will be applied on. If you're sacrificing it for Marchesa, it'll be coming back on that end step. If you want to take advantage of backup, you'd have to sac the backed-up creature during that end step. Ideally we want to avoid doing this as you won't have that creature for the whole next turn.
You mentioned that your partner was constantly being left with no blockers for opponent's combat. That's a difficult line to tread, generally Marchesa isn't enormously aggro although it might seem that way. Your goal is to abuse ETB and LTB triggers for maximum value, swinging with creatures only if you have a sac outlet to reset them for the next person's turn.
Add:
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Kardur, Doomscourge can help with this massively as opponents won't be able to attack you for the next cycle. If he stays around until your next turn you can "flicker" him to goad everyone again!
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Reef Worm is a pet card of mine, it can generate a huge amount of bodies if you have a Thran Vigil or Uncivil Unrest out. Fantastic sacrifice fodder even if it doesn't have a counter on it
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Triskelion. You're playing Mikaeus, might as well finish up the combo
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Imposter Mech is quickly becoming my favourite card. Once you have Marchesa out you generally don't want to attack with her, so you can use her to crew this every turn! Last game I cast it I copied an Avacyn, Angel of Hope to give you an idea of the bonkers stuff you can pull off with it
Subtract:
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel Generally you don't want to be gaining life in this deck as you want to stay the dethrone target as long as possible. I've died a few times to my own hubris by not including lifegain, but the small amounts you'd be gaining with Gary in a Grixis deck don't make him worth it for me. Special exception to Kokusho, the Evening Star as 15 lifegain is backbreaking for your opponents.
That just about wraps up my thoughts, Marchesa can be pretty complex to play so feel free to reach out if you or your partner have any questions! Like I said, I don't generally play too aggro with my deck. Generally once opponents figure out what's going on you'll be getting a lot of removal thrown your way, but Marchesa is a super sticky commander, she won't leave if you don't want her too. Don't forget to sac in response to removal!
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