But if you find that the Magic attribute has no in-game effect that supports your concept and design, cut it with extreme prejudice!

I think this will have to happen!

I would always to the simpler, forcibly adding a mechanisms just for the sake of keeping a variable, then you should "cut it with extreme prejudice!" as he said
*idea poping*

Or, you can replace it with a more all-around stat like Creativity. This stat fit well with Minecraft, and it can influence all the action tied to crafting (quicker, better crafted item), using non-fighting-items (more hp healed when using a potion, the lava you keep in your pocket will burn longer), gathering (you gather more ressources from a same tree/ground/whatever)

Investing in the creativity skill tree would allow to unlock new blueprints.

This would make sense, but would be hard to do - Elves and Dwarfs are classic names, while something other than mage would be tough...
(And come to think of it, I feel like mage would be too pointed to magic, even though I think I'll be removing magic from the available stats... unless I added several perks and traits allowing mages being better at magical skills/items.... idk! So what name would be good?

You can always pick a classic race which is often tied to magic or the use of magic item, like Fairy, Leprechaun, Goblin, Golem, etc...

Or use the base name of a famous sorcerer to make a new race name, the name of the famous sorcerer should be enough to get what this race is about, and it could bring some originality. But the name sometimes can not being altered to be a race name without sounding silly. (I'm thinking about Merlin or Morganne from the Round Table, Faust, etc...)