Bag of Tricks MTG Card
2021-07-23 - Number 306
2021-07-23 - Number 37
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Artifact |
Key Takeaways
- Enables significant card advantage by placing creatures directly onto the battlefield, bypassing costs.
- Instant speed activation of Bag of Tricks disrupts opponents and controls game flow.
- Requirement to discard and specific mana costs may limit its applicability in diverse decks.
Text of card
, : Roll a d8. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card with mana value equal to the result. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Bag of Tricks grants access to a powerful selection from your deck, putting the revealed creature card directly onto the battlefield. This bypasses regular casting costs and draws, a significant leap towards winning the card advantage war.
Resource Acceleration: By not spending mana on the creature card obtained through Bag of Tricks, you effectively accelerate your available resources. This allows you to deploy other spells sooner, increasing the pace of your game plan and overwhelming your opponent with more actions per turn.
Instant Speed: The ability to activate Bag of Tricks at instant speed adds an element of surprise, permitting strategic plays that can disrupt the opponent’s tactics. You can wait until the end of their turn to utilize Bag of Tricks, keeping mana open for responses and maintaining a reactive stance to control the flow of the game.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One downside of Bag of Tricks is a mandatory discard action to activate its effect. For players who may already be at a card disadvantage, this requirement can further deplete their hand, possibly hampering their game progress and limiting their options on subsequent turns.
Specific Mana Cost: Bag of Tricks comes with a particular mana cost that may not seamlessly fit into every deck archetype. Since it requires specific types of mana for activation, this card might not be the best choice for decks that are not aligned with the required mana colors or that have a mana base with a different focus.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: When assessing the benefits against the required investment, Bag of Tricks could be considered expensive. The mana cost to get it on board is non-negligible, which means it can impact your tempo, especially in the early game where efficient mana usage is critical. Other options may offer similar effects with less impact on your mana curve.
Reasons to Include Bag of Tricks in Your Collection
Versatility: Bag of Tricks is a multifaceted card that effortlessly fits into a variety of deck archetypes. Its ability to generate creatures ensures that it has a place in almost any deck aiming for board presence or looking to benefit from creature-based synergies.
Combo Potential: The card shines in its capability to unlock numerous combo opportunities. It can be an intrinsic part of engine combinations, providing essential creature tokens that can be exploited for various effects, sacrifice fodder, or as triggers for enter-the-battlefield abilities.
Meta-Relevance: In a game that changes with each set, Bag of Tricks maintains its relevance. As metagames typically ebb and flow between fast, aggressive decks and slower, control-style play, the flexibility offered by Bag of Tricks ensures it can adapt and remain a useful tool in many competitive environments.
How to Beat
Bag of Tricks presents itself as an intriguing addition to the arsenal of surprise elements in a Magic: The Gathering player’s deck. It provides a unique ability to cheat creatures onto the battlefield, akin to the functionality of cards like Quicksilver Amulet or Elvish Piper. However, unlike these alternatives, Bag of Tricks’ randomness can be both a boon and a bane, demanding strategic manipulation of creature probabilities in your deck.
Counterplay against Bag of Tricks revolves around managing the creature game. Cards that allow for graveyard manipulation, such as Bojuka Bog or Grafdigger’s Cage, can prevent the most powerful creatures from being unexpectedly cast. Similarly, instant-speed removal or counter spells are paramount when facing this card. Tools like Swords to Plowshares or Counterspell can effectively negate the surprise element by dealing with the creature as it enters or before Bag of Tricks’ ability resolves.
In essence, a strategy to surpass the unpredictability of Bag of Tricks involves maintaining control over the flow of creatures and being prepared with responsive measures. Disrupting graveyard synergy and keeping removal or counters in hand are key. This approach can neutralize Bag of Tricks’ impact, demonstrably improving your matchup against decks that rely on it for sudden board advantage.
Cards like Bag of Tricks
The allure of Bag of Tricks in Magic: The Gathering lies in its adaptability and surprise factor. This card echoes the functionality of other trickster-themed cards such as Vedalken Orrery, which permits casting most spells any time you could cast an instant, giving players the element of surprise. Bag of Tricks differs by providing a creature-oriented approach, allowing you to cheat creatures onto the battlefield through its dice-rolling mechanic.
Bag of Tricks can also be likened to Aether Vial, another artifact that favors creature deployment without paying mana costs. Aether Vial, however, offers repeatability and a gradual build in power, contrasting Bag of Tricks’ single use and random outcome from its dice roll activation. Then there’s the comparison with Quicksilver Amulet, enabling creature plays at a reduced and consistent cost, bypassing timing restrictions much like Bag of Tricks, albeit without the gamble of randomness.
All things considered, Bag of Tricks adds a unique spin to MTG gameplay, offering a mix of unpredictability and potential value through its creature-summoning capability that strategically aligns with certain deck types. The card can be a powerhouse in the right setup, especially where the element of chance can be tilted in the player’s favor.
Cards similar to Bag of Tricks by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Bag of Tricks MTG card by a specific set like Forgotten Realms Commander and Forgotten Realms Commander, 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 Bag of Tricks and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Bag of Tricks Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2021-07-23 and 2021-07-23. Illustrated by Jakub Kasper.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-07-23 | Forgotten Realms Commander | AFC | 306 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jakub Kasper | |
| 2 | 2021-07-23 | Forgotten Realms Commander | AFC | 37 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jakub Kasper |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Bag of Tricks has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Bag of Tricks card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-07-23 | An ability that tells you to roll a die will also specify what to do with the result of that roll. Most often, this is in the form of a “results table” in the card text. |
| 2021-07-23 | An effect that says “choose a target, then roll a d20” or similar still uses the normal process of putting an ability on the stack and resolving it. Choosing targets is part of putting the ability on the stack and rolling the d20 happens later, as the ability resolves. |
| 2021-07-23 | Dice are identified by the number of faces each one has. For example, a d20 is a twenty-sided die. |
| 2021-07-23 | Dice used must have equally likely outcomes and the roll must be fair. Although physical dice are recommended, digital substitutes are allowed, provided they have the same number of equally likely outcomes as specified in the original roll instruction. |
| 2021-07-23 | Even if you reveal the entire library this way, putting it on the bottom in a random order doesn't count as “shuffling” the library. |
| 2021-07-23 | If you do not have a creature card in your library with mana value equal to the result, you will reveal your entire library and then put the entire library back in a random order. |
| 2021-07-23 | Some abilities, like that of Pixie Guide and Barbarian Class, replace rolling a die with rolling extra dice and ignoring the lowest roll. The ignored rolls are not considered for the effect that instructed you to roll a die, and do not cause abilities to trigger. For all intents and purposes, once you determine which dice count, any extra dice were never rolled. |
| 2021-07-23 | Some effects instruct you to roll again. This uses the same number and type of dice as the original roll, and that roll will use the same set of possible outcomes. |
| 2021-07-23 | Some effects may modify the result of a die roll. This may be part of the instruction to roll a die or it may come from other cards. Anything that references the “result” of a die roll is looking for the result after these modifications. Anything that is looking for the “natural result” is looking for the number shown on the face of the die before these modifications. |
| 2021-07-23 | The instruction to roll a die and the effect that occurs because of the result are all part of the same ability. Players do not get the chance to respond to the ability after knowing the result of the roll. |
| 2021-07-23 | Tournament events have more specific rules regarding dice and die-rolling. For more information, please see the most recent version of the Magic Tournament Rules at https://wpn.wizards.com/en/document/magic-gathering-tournament-rules. |
| 2021-07-23 | While playing Planechase, rolling the planar die will cause any ability that triggers whenever a player rolls one or more dice to trigger. However, any effect that refers to a numerical result will ignore the rolling of the planar die. |
