[SCD] Trinket Mage

There might very well be a SCD thread for Trinket Mage already, but there have been a ton of updates to the format.

With DKA, another new tool will be available to use Trinket Mage with: Grafdigger's Cage. Add to that EE which is already good against Tempo (0, 1, and 2 are all relevant), Maverick (1 and sometimes 2 & 3), Stoneblade (2 primarily).

He fit in nicely with CB and Top as a tutor and as an additional 3 drop. In the right color combinations, he could be a "Terror" or "Disenchant" with the Alara spellbombs.

He can tutor for the creature side of Phyrexian Dreadnought, or even Cursed Scroll for some added damage output/board control.

Trinket Mage typically finds himself put into control lists looking for some tutorable card advantage. Does this card have enough muster to be utilized more readily for a fluctuating metagame?

Another card that is insane right now to tutor up is Cursed Scroll. It destroys Delver.dec that aren't packing Goyfs/Tombstalkers and is really good against Maverick bypassing MoR.

The only slight awkwardness is that most control decks want to have a full grip of cards in hand instead of nothing, but the Trinket mage package could be good in a Ensnaring Bridge/Thopter form of control using Tops to manipulate cards rather than having pure card advantage.

Then the overall use of Trinket Mage/Top/EE/Cursed Scroll/Bridge seems to be a little more synergistic and you can opt for a Thopter control shell with Etutors supplementing the GDC Sideboard plan

Unless you're playing Tombs/Cities this guy is likely to be too slow.
There's a reason he's not being played atm.
imo Faerie Stompy is the only shell he really shines in.

I had been trying to make him work in controllish decks for a while, but he seemed supbar to several other options, so I eventually gave up on him.

It seems like Stoneforge Mystic has trumped Trinket Mage. The mage is slower, and he only searches for utility cards. Stoneforge Mystic just gets equipment and then proceeds to win the game with it. Batterskull gives you a ton of card advantage, board stabilization, and it even protects itself. That is what control decks need.

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Originally Posted by Malchar

It seems like Stoneforge Mystic has trumped Trinket Mage. The mage is slower, and he only searches for utility cards. Stoneforge Mystic just gets equipment and then proceeds to win the game with it. Batterskull gives you a ton of card advantage, board stabilization, and it even protects itself. That is what control decks need.

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Seems like there a lot of decks that would way rather wait for SFM to assemble Voltron than get blown out by EE. The real answer is play both; most of SFM's targets are out of EE range, and even those that aren't (jitte, i guess germ tokens if it matters) are arguably only as effective as EE would have been anyway.

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Originally Posted by TsumiBand

Seems like there a lot of decks that would way rather wait for SFM to assemble Voltron than get blown out by EE. The real answer is play both; most of SFM's targets are out of EE range, and even those that aren't (jitte, i guess germ tokens if it matters) are arguably only as effective as EE would have been anyway.

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I've been playing with 1 Trinket Mage, 1 EE and 1 SD.Top in my UWr BladeControl deck for some time. While it's true that the Mage can be slow and clunky sometimes, the fact that it just adds a virtual copy of the two cards plus being a beater makes it very good. It also gives you the opportunity to play a Crypt in the board for extra value.

I've been playing a Trinx sideboard in my legacy faeries deck for a while now, with these:

2x Trinket Mage
1x Engineered Explosives
1x pithing Needle
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Basilisk Collar


That's seven slots, leaving 8 more for the sideboard (well, seven once I add Grafdiggers Cage.) I have found that he has done well as a flexible metagame hater. I've even tried maindeck Trinket Mages along with Cursed Scroll and I agree with Metalworker about the conflict between control decks wanting a full hand and having the repeatable removal/damage from Scroll. It ended up being a fairly 'meh'.

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Originally Posted by TsumiBand

Seems like there a lot of decks that would way rather wait for SFM to assemble Voltron than get blown out by EE. The real answer is play both; most of SFM's targets are out of EE range, and even those that aren't (jitte, i guess germ tokens if it matters) are arguably only as effective as EE would have been anyway.

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I think Trinket Mage is more reactionary while SFM is much more aggressive in terms of what their tutor functions as. Since the meta is skewed towards the temp aggro decks, control has a tough time slowing the game down to where Trinket Mage can work well.

I had a lot of success running a Trinket Mage package in a CounterTop shell. People would constantly criticize the card but it really did everything I could ask for.

I've found good use for him in a control-oriented PainterStone combo deck. He provides value by fetching Grindstone, as well as Sensei's Divining Top for fixing and Tormod's Crypt for those pesky decks that run Emrakul main, he beats for 2, chump blocks and sacrifies to Cabal Therapy. You can't do much better than that. And if you run Repeal he also does most of that all over again!