Sandcrafter Mage
Creature — Human Wizard
When this creature enters, bolster 1. (Choose a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control and put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Dragons of Tarkir
- Price
- $0.02
- EDHREC rank
- #28127
Sandcrafter Mage enters the battlefield and puts a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control — that's a one-time, one-counter payoff stapled to a 2/2 body for three mana. The rate is too slow and too shallow for any format that has better options, which is all of them.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Sandcrafter Mage is legal everywhere except Standard, but legal doesn't mean playable. In Commander, +1/+1 counter synergies have access to engines like Hardened Scales and Doubling Season that make a single entering trigger feel embarrassing by comparison. Pauper is the one format where redundant bodies at common occasionally matter, but even there the three-mana slot demands more than one counter on cast. Across Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, Sandcrafter Mage simply doesn't exist as a consideration.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.02 bulk tier
At $0.02, Sandcrafter Mage is deep bulk — the price of a card nobody is actively seeking out. That floor is stable because the card won't spike, but stable-at-nothing isn't a reason to pick it up.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.