Triskelion

Artifact Creature — Construct

Triskelion enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it.

Remove a +1/+1 counter from Triskelion: Triskelion deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

Discussion (46)

Gidgetimer on Meren, Mischievous Mortician

2 days ago

Damn, I was hoping to say "looks good" and be off.

When there are three counters (initially) you have to use 1 to do damage, and 2 to hit Triskelion. Each time after that you use 2 of the four to do damage and 2 on Triskelion. Native 1/1 plus Mikey buff means that he will be a 2/2 unless there are other things modifying the P/T. This is the same reason that the Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista combo needs a sacrifice outlet that many people don't mention.

As a tip, you also want to do the damage one point at a time and make the first two damage go to Triskelion. Then use the ones after that to kill opponents/opponents' creatures. This will negate instant speed exile unless your opponents have two sources initially or three sources after Triskelion has 4 counters. Once you have the two damage marked you can kill it in response to a Path to Exile by removing counters. If they try to Path in response to the first or second (after the first resolves) one targeting Trike, you can remove more counters to ping it down in response. If you do your damage to opponents first a Path can successfully exile Triskelion ending the combo.

I realize that most people will just scoop when they see the combo. In case someone doesn't, it is good to know the optimal play pattern so that they don't trip you up on minutiae and can't be tricky with instant speed exile.

Gidgetimer on Meren, Mischievous Mortician

2 days ago

There is a minor issue with the way you described your combo. Triskelion is a 1/1 and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed buffs it another +1/+1, so the Mike/Trike combo does 1 damage on the first iteration and 2 damage on each iteration after that since the first two activations are always pointed at Triskelion. I only mention this because if there are death triggers going on it may change some calculations.

bopple100 on good deck

2 days ago

i would suggest adding more tutors. also get rid of your bad zombies as this is an infinite combo deck and not a zombie tribal deck. zombies is more the subtheme. if you want to go into the zombie tribal deck consider adding more lords like Death Baron and Lord of the Accursed. other than that I would add some more staples in black aristocrats like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Viscera Seer, Bolas's Citadel, and Dictate of Erebos or Grave Pact. Also just good black cards are Diabolic Intent, Necropotence, Carrion Feeder, Deadly Rollick, Grim Haruspex, Grim Tutor, Bastion of Remembrance, Butcher of Malakir, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Imperial Seal, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, and Decree of Pain. also Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion is a good combo. looks like a good idea but i would get rid of all those 1-2 mana zombies that have no effect of the game. enjoy the deck!

Ardees on Chef Dina cEDH

1 week ago

FastNLow Well one of my heuristics when building a combo-oriented deck is that, unless the combo is highly easy to obtain and defend (e.g., the thassa oracle and Demonic Consultation combo, where blue counters protect any other counter or removal, and is achieved by a total cmc of 3), combo pieces should also be useful in addittion to being combo pieces. This is also the reason why I removed Witherbloom Apprentice and Chain of Smog, which required Dosan the Falling Leaf to ensure I would not end up with no ends and a fairly useless permanent (Witherbloom Apprentice).

Based on this, I have opted out of Triskelion because the card per se is not really that exciting, mostly because a very low reward for its mana cost. True, Triskelion and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed do not nee a sac outlet to enable the combo. However, if you simply add Phyrexian Delver and/or Body Snatcher, you're able to reanimate Protean Hulk to tutor for all the pieces you need (generally Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder). Body Snatcher is an amazing card - it also helps you get rid of Mikaeus or Hulk if they are both stuck in your hand, and to reanimate them right away with a sac outlet. Bare in mind that if you are looking for the Mikaeus+Ballista combo, you need at least one of these two, otherwise Mikaeus+Ballista only trigger infinite LTB and ETB (Ballista pings itself). You can see more about this synergy line on my deck I linked before. But going back to the main point, Ballista is a card that can remove on t1 or 2 some early ramp creatures, or some cards such as Esper Sentinel. Phyrexian Delver and Body Snatcher are enablers that are useful under different circumstances, and same with Viscera Seer and Carrion Feeder.

Of course, I'm talking from a Meren perspective. But as a Golgari, the synergy works for every deck developing around hulk (in fact, at times I win on the hulk combo line without even casting Meren during the whole game).

Hope this clarifies!

FastNLow on Chef Dina cEDH

2 weeks ago

@Ardees Thanks for the suggestions! I didn't really even think about practical uses for cards other than the hulk combo lines. Wouldn't Triskelion with Mikaeus be good also in cases where people are expecting Ballista?? Also I haven't played in a year so I wasn't sure on how often people see Witherbloom + Chain coming, thanks for letting me know. ;) And I forgot that Mindslicer existed, that and Dauthi would be great with Dina on the field (that's pretty gross tbh for those games that heading past turn 4)

Mtg_Mega_Nerds on Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. A Good …

2 weeks ago

Unless you put only Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion in the deck, Tutor them into the graveyard with Old Stickfingers then Victimize and win.

Neotrup on Doesn't Mikaeus And Walking Ballista …

2 weeks ago

I'd also like to point out that Triskelion does need to shoot itself twice, not just once, due to the +1/+1 from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. While that combo does still work, I've seen a number of players get the combo out, shoot a player twice and Triskelion just once and have it sit there waiting to die to try combing again.

Morthius on Unleash the power of the graveyard

2 weeks ago

But why does this work with Triskelion?