Trash for Treasure MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Trash for Treasure offers significant board advantage by upcycling graveyard artifacts.
  2. Enables early deployment of impactful artifacts, boosting resource progression.
  3. Demands strategic timing for sorcery speed advantage, despite no instant play.

Text of card

As an additional cost to play Trash for Treasure, sacrifice an artifact. Return target artifact card from your graveyard to play.

Goblins generally have two possessions: one per hand.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: A remarkable aspect of Trash for Treasure is its ability to swap a less valuable artifact from your graveyard for a more potent one on the battlefield. This exchange can often result in a significant upgrade in your asset quality, enhancing your overall board presence.

Resource Acceleration: This card facilitates strategic plays by allowing the revival of high-cost artifacts early in the game. By sacrificing a low-cost artifact, you can accelerate your resources and bring a game-changing artifact into play much sooner than through regular mana progression.

Instant Speed: Noteworthy about Trash for Treasure is its sorcery speed, which strategically dictates the timing of its use. While not at instant speed, the calculated deployment of this spell can circumvent typical summoning sickness limitations, offering immediate impact with artifacts that have tap abilities or static effects that alter the state of the game. Planning its use during your turn before unleashing a significant artifact can catch opponents off guard, creating a pivotal shift in the game’s momentum.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Trash for Treasure card necessitates that you discard an artifact to utilize its ability. This can put you at a significant disadvantage, especially if your hand is already artifact-scarce or if the artifacts you hold are crucial to your game strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Trash for Treasure’s activation requires both colorless and red mana, making it inherently less flexible. Decks that do not run on a red mana base will find it challenging to incorporate this card seamlessly into their game plan.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The card’s cost is three mana – two colorless and one red. While the ability to swap a cheaper artifact for a more powerful one is enticing, the casting cost is somewhat hefty. In many situations, players may opt for alternatives that offer lower cost solutions or more immediate impact on the board state.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Trash for Treasure offers a unique ability to swap an artifact you control for one in your graveyard, opening up numerous strategic plays across various deck archetypes that focus on artifact manipulation.

Combo Potential: This card serves as a key component in artifact-based combo decks, allowing players to resurrect powerful artifacts at a critical moment, often swinging the game in their favor.

Meta-Relevance: With the ever-shifting landscape of competitive play, having Trash for Treasure in your arsenal ensures you’re prepared to combat decks that heavily rely on graveyard interactions, making it a tactically sound choice.


How to beat Trash for Treasure

Confronting Trash for Treasure can be a pivotal moment in any MTG match. This potent sorcery allows a player to replace a less valuable artifact on the battlefield with a more powerful one from the graveyard, potentially turning the tide of the game. It’s a unique effect that can catch many off guard if they’re unprepared. But with strategic planning and the right cards, you can counteract Trash for Treasure’s impact and maintain your stronghold in the game.

A key tactic is to employ instant-speed artifact removal like Abrade or Disenchant. Deploying these just after your opponent sacrifices an artifact but before the new one is put into play disrupts their strategy and conserves your battlefield position. Additionally, leveraging graveyard control cards such as Relic of Progenitus can eliminate potential targets for Trash for Treasure, rendering the spell useless. And remember, cards with substitution effects, such as Pithing Needle, can preemptively shut down the activated abilities of any problematic artifacts your opponent might aim to cheat onto the field.

Ultimately, the art of beating Trash for Treasure lies in anticipation and disruption, ensuring that you are well-prepared to spoil your opponent’s plans to capitalize on their graveyard’s hidden treasures.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering MTG requires an intricate understanding of card interactions and deck-building finesse. If you’ve found the strategic insights on Trash for Treasure enlightening, remember that applying such knowledge to your gameplay is key to dominating the battlefield. The card’s potential to flip the game with a single, well-timed swap is immeasurable, proving to be a dark horse in artifact-centric decks. Curious to explore further how Trash for Treasure can revolutionize your deck? Visit us and discover comprehensive strategies, expert guides, and deep dives into MTG mechanics to elevate your deck-building skills and outmaneuver your opponents in every duel.


Cards like Trash for Treasure

Exploring the depths of artifact recursion in Magic: The Gathering, Trash for Treasure is a standout card with its unique spin on reanimation magic. It’s often likened to other cards that share its ability to return artifacts from the graveyard to the battlefield, such as Goblin Welder. While the Welder is a creature with a repeatable effect, Trash for Treasure, as a sorcery, offers this potent swap only once but does not limit its use to your turn.

Another comparable card is Daretti, Scrap Savant, which boasts a similar ability within its arsenal of planeswalker powers. Daretti, however, provides additional value through its versatility and multiple abilities, though it does come at a higher casting cost than Trash for Treasure. Both cards push forward the strategy of artifact manipulation, but they differ significantly in their role within a deck’s structure and their impact over multiple turns.

These comparisons highlight that while there are several options for artifact revival and manipulation in Magic: The Gathering, Trash for Treasure carves out its niche by offering a balanced mix of cost, immediacy, and potency—attributes that can turn the tides of a game when played at the opportune moment.

Goblin Welder - MTG Card versions
Daretti, Scrap Savant - MTG Card versions
Goblin Welder - Urza's Legacy (ULG)
Daretti, Scrap Savant - Commander 2014 Oversized (OC14)

Cards similar to Trash for Treasure by color, type and mana cost

Stone Rain - MTG Card versions
Game of Chaos - MTG Card versions
Evaporate - MTG Card versions
Steam Blast - MTG Card versions
Goblin Offensive - MTG Card versions
Desert Sandstorm - MTG Card versions
Arc Lightning - MTG Card versions
Pillage - MTG Card versions
Search for Survivors - MTG Card versions
Searing Rays - MTG Card versions
Rupture - MTG Card versions
Tundra Fumarole - MTG Card versions
Browbeat - MTG Card versions
Erratic Explosion - MTG Card versions
Threaten - MTG Card versions
Sizzle - MTG Card versions
Hammer of Bogardan - MTG Card versions
Fiery Gambit - MTG Card versions
Flamebreak - MTG Card versions
Panic Attack - MTG Card versions
Stone Rain - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Game of Chaos - Ice Age (ICE)
Evaporate - Homelands (HML)
Steam Blast - Battle Royale Box Set (BRB)
Goblin Offensive - Urza's Saga (USG)
Desert Sandstorm - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Arc Lightning - Battle Royale Box Set (BRB)
Pillage - Arena League 2000 (PAL00)
Search for Survivors - Prophecy (PCY)
Searing Rays - Invasion (INV)
Rupture - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Tundra Fumarole - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Browbeat - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Erratic Explosion - Planechase 2012 (PC2)
Threaten - Tenth Edition (10E)
Sizzle - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Hammer of Bogardan - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Fiery Gambit - Mirrodin (MRD)
Flamebreak - Darksteel (DST)
Panic Attack - Ninth Edition (9ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Trash for Treasure MTG card by a specific set like Mirrodin and Commander 2016, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Trash for Treasure and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Trash for Treasure Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2003-10-02 and 2021-05-27. Illustrated by Lars Grant-West.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12003-10-02MirrodinMRD 1092003normalblackLars Grant-West
22016-11-11Commander 2016C16 1362015normalblackLars Grant-West
32020-08-07Double Masters2XM 1482015normalblackLars Grant-West
42021-05-27Historic Anthology 5HA5 142015normalblackLars Grant-West

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Trash for Treasure has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
GladiatorLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Trash for Treasure card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2020-08-07 The artifact that you sacrifice is sacrificed after determining the total cost to cast Trash for Treasure. Its abilities may affect that cost.
2020-08-07 Trash for Treasure can't target the artifact that you sacrifice to pay its additional cost.
2020-08-07 You can't sacrifice an artifact to generate mana to pay towards Trash for Treasure's cost and also to pay its additional cost.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks