Shade of Trokair MTG Card

Shade of Trokair’s suspend offers future board advantage and resource flexibility at a minimal upfront cost. Requires precise mana and a higher investment, limiting its versatility across varied MTG deck builds. Vital for combos and meta play, it boasts tactical return timings and synergy with other cards.
Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Shade
Abilities Suspend
Power 1
Toughness 2

Text of card

: Shade of Trokair gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Suspend 3— (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)

Cards like Shade of Trokair

Shade of Trokair offers MTG enthusiasts a unique twist on the theme of resurrection and flexibility within the game. It stands alongside other cards like Mourning Thrull, which also provides lifelink and a potential for growth through its enhanced version. However, Shade of Trokair differs with its own resilience, able to return to the battlefield via its suspend mechanic.

Comparing it to another peer, Benalish Cavalry, Shade of Trokair showcases a more complex strategic potential. While Benalish Cavalry is straightforward with first strike, the Shade allows players to strategize the timing of its suspension and return, paving the way for unexpected comebacks. Drudge Skeletons is another card in the lineup boasting a similar resurrection ability. Although the regeneration of Drudge Skeletons offers a direct method to save itself from death, it lacks the surprise element and undelayed power boost that Shade of Trokair’s suspend feature can provide.

Ultimately, while evaluating cards with self-preserving qualities, Shade of Trokair carves out its niche with the ability to enter the fray when least expected, potentially buffed and ready to shift the game’s momentum. It reflects the depth of strategy and forethought intrinsic to MTG play.

Mourning Thrull - MTG Card versions
Benalish Cavalry - MTG Card versions
Drudge Skeletons - MTG Card versions
Mourning Thrull - MTG Card versions
Benalish Cavalry - MTG Card versions
Drudge Skeletons - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Shade of Trokair offers the flexibility of recurring card advantage through its suspend ability. Suspend this card from your hand for just one white mana and wait for three turns to potentially swing the game’s momentum in your favor without spending additional resources on casting costs.

Resource Acceleration: Once the suspend period is over, Shade of Trokair can join the battlefield ready to contribute. This time-delayed arrival allows players to manage their resources effectively and plan ahead, setting up a strategic position for future turns or freeing up mana to use on other impactful spells.

Instant Speed: The inherent nature of the suspend mechanic often likens to an instant-speed quality benefit. Although you cast it at sorcery speed, the actual moment Shade of Trokair comes into play can be at an opportune time, potentially disrupting your opponent’s strategy as if you had a surprise up your sleeve.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing this card doesn’t come without a penalty. Each time you want to bolster its power, you’re required to discard a precious land card. This can put you at a significant disadvantage, particularly when you’re struggling to keep a good hand size for optimal play.

Specific Mana Cost: Shade of Trokair demands a precise white mana to cast. This requirement may narrow its utility only to decks that run heavily on white mana or are tailored to a white mana curve, possibly excluding it from more diverse mana base decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that’s on the higher end for its base stats, Shade of Trokair might not be the most mana-efficient creature in a game where tempo can mean the difference between victory and defeat. As a result, players might opt for creatures of a similar cost that provide immediate board impact without further investment.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Shade of Trokair is a flexible addition to decks that focus on mana efficiency and resilience. Its ability to gain suspend counters provides opportunities to play around opponent’s turns, making it a tactical play in different phases of the game.

Combo Potential: In combination with cards that manipulate time counters or benefit from creatures entering the battlefield, Shade of Trokair can create powerful synergies. Its return from suspension can trigger various effects that are crucial for combo strategies.

Meta-Relevance: Given its potential to scale with the game’s progression and the ability to evade certain removal spells while suspended, Shade of Trokair can be a smart inclusion in a meta that favors longevity and incremental advantages.

How to beat

Shade of Trokair presents an intriguing challenge on the battlefield with its gradually increasing strength in Magic: The Gathering. Unlike other creatures that have a static power and toughness, Shade of Trokair can become much more formidable thanks to its ability to gain +1/+1 until end of turn for each {W} mana spent. However, defeating this creature requires strategy and precision.

Timing is key when facing off against Shade of Trokair. Instant-speed removal spells are particularly beneficial, as you can wait for your opponent to invest mana into boosting the Shade’s power before you respond. This not only negates their turn’s investment but also their mana. Sorcery speed removal works as well, but ensure you use it before they gather enough resources to make the Shade a serious threat. Counterspells can be effective as well, preventing Shade of Trokair from ever hitting the board if you can anticipate and counter their summoning spell.

Overall, the key lies in preemptively disrupting your opponent’s plans with removal or mitigation tactics. Considering the potential mana investment they may make in this creature, eliminating Shade of Trokair effectively can leave your opponent at a notable disadvantage, strategically and resource-wise.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Shade of Trokair MTG card by a specific set like Planar Chaos and Time Spiral Remastered, 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 Shade of Trokair and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Shade of Trokair Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2007-02-02 and 2021-03-19. Illustrated by William O'Connor.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12007-02-02Planar ChaosPLC 182003NormalBlackWilliam O'Connor
22021-03-19Time Spiral RemasteredTSR 422015NormalBlackWilliam O'Connor

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Shade of Trokair has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2021-06-18 A creature cast using suspend will enter the battlefield with haste. It will have haste until another player gains control of it. (In some rare cases, another player may gain control of the creature spell itself. If this happens, the creature won’t enter the battlefield with haste.)
2021-06-18 As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored.
2021-06-18 Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18 Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2021-06-18 If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18 If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18 If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep.
2021-06-18 If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18 If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled.
2021-06-18 If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18 If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18 Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
2021-06-18 The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid.
2021-06-18 When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18 You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18 You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.