Trophy Mage Control

[EunB]

TROPHY MAGE CONTROL

Introduction

Trophy Mage is a newly spoiled card from Aether Revolt that is the middle sister of Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage. Trophy Mage's ability let's her search out a wide variety of threat/lockpiece cards at 3CMC which give her the unique advantage of being able to be proactive or reactive depending on the situation and matchup.

Toolbox decks are always a lot of fun to pilot, and there are a lot of great disruptive and threatening artifacts at 3cmc which let you vary your angle of attack. Possible targets are listed below, but a few more powerful options include Forcefield, Ensnaring Bridge, any of the Swords, Vedalkan Shackles, Trinisphere, Staff of Domination, and Crucible of Worlds, to name a few.

Core Cards:

4 Trophy Mage
1-2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Crucible of Worlds
2+ Sword of X&Y, most likely inclusions being Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Vedalkan Shackles -- a contentious "core" since its stock has tanked since Abrupt Decay was printed, but it can still win the game on its own and being a searchable silver bullet is valuable

and that's it -- the focus of the deck is on the toolbox, which leaves a lot of room for innovation to surround it

Other Playable/Fringe 3cmc Artifacts:

Forcefield
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of War and Peace
Trinisphere
Shardless Agent
Etched Champion
Tangle Wire
Crawlspace
Culling Scales
Damping Matrix
Loxodon Warhammer
Master of Etherium
Metalworker
Pilgrim's Eye
Staff of Domination
Oblivion Stone
Sculpting Steel
Skill Borrower

Sample Decklist(s):

Stompy Shell by EunB

Artifacts: 15
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Forcefield
1 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Diamond
1 Vedalken Shackles

Creatures: 8
4 Trophy Mage
4 Phyrexian Revoker

Enchantments: 2
2 Trade Routes

Instants: 8
4 Impulse
2 Warping Wail
2 Dismember

Lands: 25
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
4 City of Traitors
10 Island
1 Academy Ruins
2 Inventors' Fair

Planeswalkers: 2
2 Tezzeret the Seeker

Sideboard: 15
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
3 Arcane Laboratory
2 Propaganda
1 Chill
2 Flusterstorm
2 Submerge
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Bribery

Explanation:

Three is a good number to pair with the sol lands of the format, so this list takes a couple pages from the stompy decks of the format with its fast mana and lokc pieces.

Alongside the Trophy Mages, big Tezz makes an appearance and can put in a lot of work tutoring out your silver bullets. Because all artifacts are cmc<3, he will never die searching something out.

Chalice of the Void and Phyrexian Revoker are two cards that heavily disrupt the opponent and are common turn 1 plays with the numerous moxes and sol lands. The manabase is built around hitting 3 mana as fast as possible, while also being resilient to Blood Moon and Wasteland.

Stompy lists historically are subpar at obtaining card advantage, but this list attempts to regain some of that with a few unique choices. Impulse has been a mainstay in blue-based stompy and likewise makes an appearance here, but the other spicy addition is Trade Routes which synergizes heavily with our City of Traitors and Crucible of Worlds. Warping Wail and Dismember round out the deck providing much needed removal and some countermagic.

Current sideboard is mainly theorycrafting. Padeem for any decay deck since we are ripe with targets, Arcane Lab for storm or Elves, Propaganda for any deck swarming us, Chill for burn, Flusterstorm for combo (still good despite disynergy with chalice), Submerge for Lands and BG decks, Spatial Contortion for Delver decks, and Bribery for S&T decks. Some grave hate probably belongs somewhere in here, with Leyline seeming the most appropriate (also letting us slot in a Helm of Obedience).

Match Ups to come soon.