4Trick, Manskittle’s Canadian Highlander Deck!

Canadian Highlander* Artifact Combo Competitive Infinite Combo UB (Dimir)

Manskittle

Artifact (35)

• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Engineered Explosives
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge
• 1x Executioner's Capsule
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Grindstone
• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Mox DiamondGC
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Time Vault
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x TrinisphereGC
• 1x Voltaic Key
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman
• 1x Witching Well
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Land (29)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 5x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Tolarian Academy
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Watery Grave

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Artificer's Intuition
• 1x The Antiquities War

Creature (12)

• 1x Dimir Infiltrator
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 1x Painter's Servant
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Treasure Mage
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Urza, Lord High ArtificerGC
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Dimir Machinations
• 1x Duress
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Imperial SealGC
• 1x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Reshape
• 1x Thoughtseize

Instant (8)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Dizzy Spell
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Perplex
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Whir of Invention

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Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Blightsteel Colossus
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Sundering Titan
• 1x Walking Ballista

Artifact (2)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Vedalken Shackles

Instant (5)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Force of WillGC
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Negate
• 1x Thirst for Knowledge

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Blackmail
• 1x Tinker
• 1x Transmute Artifact

Land (1)

• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell ValeGC

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Manskittle, or SirEripmav, here. Welcome to the world of artifacts, to the world of wonder and power, to the world of mindslaver lock and infinite turns.

4Trick is a deck based around four "Trick" Mages: TRinket Mage, TReasure mage, TRibute mage, and TRophy mage. These four cards allow us to combine the playstyles of vintage time vault, modern blue tron, and legacy tezzerator into a list tha can both grind out games and combo kill as early as turn 1. The deck's basic strategy is to play as a toolbox deck, tutoring for the exact pieces that beat the opposing strategy, and then use that to buy time to play our treasure mage targets, or combo kill with painter's servant-grindstone, time vault-key or time vault-voltaic servant. The deck plays as a combo control deck, and it's many lines are not for the faint of heart! Now, let us delve into how this deck came to be.

An Introduction Show

3Trick was one of, if not, the first deck I made when I entered Canadian Highlander. After hearing about a format with cards all the way from vintage to standard with decks like lotus storm and flying men, I knew I had to get into the format with something of my own. Intially I wanted to play doomsday, but struggled to find a list I really found was mine. I was disillusioned to the idea of playing my favorite 3 mana sorcery, and instead turned to cards I thought had to be good in such a high powered format - the Trick Mages. Given the linear nature of most canadian highlander decks, I thought that a toolbox strategy would do particurally well, given that the proper tutor targets and pieces of the toolbox can just end games. And boy, have I been satisfied with this list.

Now, to discuss strategy, and the points spread of the deck.

Them Points Tho Show

This deck has been through a ton of different iterations and point spreads. There is only one card that is necessary.

• Time Vault, 7 Points - One of the main win conditions of the deck, as well as a super fun card. It's hard to go wrong with this card in an artifact combo shell, and you aren't really playing 3Trick without this card. Trinket Mage for Voltaic Key, or really any artifact tutor for Voltaic Servant, make this card way too easy of a win condition.

That leaves us with four points. What are our potential options?

• Demonic Tutor, 4 Points - A very strong card in a toolbox combo deck. I wouldn't argue with you if you decided to run this card, although I would rather play other, slightly less pointed cards.
• Dig Through Time, 1 Point - Another great, srong card in the archetype. A toolbox deck getting to pick the best two of 7 is really good - but most cards going into the graveyard are those we want to reuse. Getting 6 non-artifacts in the graveyard is much harder when you can't run 4 of every on color fetch.
• Mana Drain, 1 Point - As much as this card is insane in the deck, 25% of our poins on a counterspell is harsh.
• Moxen/Soul Ring, 3 Points/4 Points - These cards are straight insane in the list, and are incredibly tempting to play. Like Demonic Tutor, I could definitely see running these, but again, 3 is alot of points.
• Tinker, 3 points - Recently cut from my list, it is very tempting to run this. A list with blightsteel should definitely run this card, I just don't like the dead draw.
• Transmute Artifact, 1 Point - Another card originally in the list, this was cut to make room for other, slightly better pointed cards. Very strong card, and the drawback is negligible in my list.
• Vampiric Tutor, 2 Points - This card, like demonic, is insane in the toolbox combo shell of this list. The extra points for instant speed aren't especially strong in this low-counterspell list, though.
• Mana Crypt, 4 Points - Surprisingly, playing 6 drops can be hard. Mana crypt makes them much easier to cast, but it also is impossible to play in the deck now. Oops. guess we have to play other cards. I wonder what could be worth it...
• Mana Vault, 1 Point - This card is very close to being an autoinclude in the deck, but frankly we just have better points for the deck right now. If any points get changes, I could see this floating in.

Whew! Now that we have talked about why all of these insane cards aren't in the deck, let's talk about the cards that are.

• Imperial Seal, 1 Point - Tutoring is insane in magic, especially when tutoring stops your opponent's strategy or wins the game. I don't think I need to sell you on how powerful 1 point is for a tutor in this deck.
• Wishclaw Talisman, 1 Point - Wowowow, Throne of Eldraine really warped this deck. This card not only combos with the key effects the deck already runs (although if you already have a key this should probably be finding vault), it also is an artifact we can tutor for. It is also just a demonic tutor, and there has never been an easier 1 point for a deck. Don't ever undervalue how good this card is.
• Tolarian Academy, 1 Point - Wow, read this card. And for 1 point? Yes please! This is an effect we would easily play for 2, or even 3 points. It allows our most explosive hands as well as is an insane land to tutor for with all of our ways to find it.

(A Guide to Tutoring and Matchups coming soon to a TappedOut near you!)

UPDATE: Given the current situation as well as my college semester being over, this primer is getting a major overhaul. The majority of the work on the actual decklist has been done, and now it is simply working on makeing this primer as great as possible for you amazing people!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Card Score	11 / 10
Legality	This deck is not Canadian Highlander legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.28
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink