Legality
| Format | Legality |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
Printings View all
| Set | Rarity |
| 2010 Core Set | Rare |
| Tenth Edition | Rare |
| Ninth Edition | Rare |
| Anthologies | Rare |
| Fourth Edition | Uncommon |
| Revised Edition | Uncommon |
| Unlimited Edition | Uncommon |
| Collector's Edition | Uncommon |
| International Collector's Edition | Uncommon |
| Limited Edition Beta | Uncommon |
| Limited Edition Alpha | Uncommon |
| Promo Set | Rare |
Combos Browse all
Hypnotic Specter
Creature — Specter
Flying
Whenever Hypnotic Specter deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card at random.
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Hypnotic Specter Discussion
MTGApprentice2016 on
Neheb no cards
2 weeks ago
How is the deck playing for you? Ive always found discard to be hard to build around in EDH unless you were making use of the wheels on the bus and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Hypnotic Specter, Liliana's Caress, Abandon Hope, Banshee of the Dread Choir, and Hymn to Tourach all seem like solid includes for your deck. There are many, upon many black cards with the discard theme, these are just the ones that stood out to me on a quick search.
StoryArcher on
Backer in Blacker
3 weeks ago
Thanks again for lending your expertise to my ongoing efforts to 'catch up' with Modern Magic.
The primary appeal of Arena was, of course, to have a little fun with Phyrexian Obliterator, which was why I made it the 61st card in the deck. I've bounced it back to the 'maybe' board for optimization purposes. I've also replaced Go for the Throat with Hero's Downfall... I was wondering why Dismember would be recommended ahead of it = is it because of the -5/-5 affect being able to overcome the Indestructible trait?
The intent behind Surgical Extraction was less going after redundancy in a deck, or even lands for that matter, and more about using in conjunction with an early Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize to cripple combo decks or ferret out sideboard options. Is that really not a good main-decking strategy?
Your suggestion regarding fetch lands got me to thinking - if I'm going to have them in there anyway, this deck seems woefully short on its ability to deal with non-creature artifacts, and I find the versatility and potency of Kolaghan's Command to intriguing to ignore. Obviously its inclusion would disavow my mono-black purity, but that's life, eh? Just not entirely sure where to slip it on, and whether or not the additional commitment of resources necessary to dip red would be worthwhile.
It seems after a cursory glance that there is some very strong, very commonly used anti-graveyard sideboard cards today, so one of the things I was considering doing (something from my old side-boarding days) would be to include enough cards of a certain type to shift my deck away from that theme... effectively countering what I anticipated their initial sideboard to be. That may be overthinking it in the modern era but it won me quite a few games back in the day. What are you thoughts on that?
Planeswalkers are something that I have zero familiarity with - they were included in my 'maybe' board as a reminder to look into them. Your recommendation Liliana, the Last Hope seems ideal in that regard, though again I'm not sure where I'd put her.
Its funny you mention the old-school mono-black, as that was absolutely my wheelhouse. I was the first in my local environment to find and make use of the value of Necropotence (along with Lake of the Dead when it followed), and even before that it was Dark Ritual, Hymn to Tourach and Hypnotic Specter all day. The only deck I ever had as much success with was a Land Destruction theme I put together who's unconventional (at the time) backbone was using Millstone and Orcish Spy to filter land out of the opponent's draw.
At any rate, I appreciate your continued insights and hope - perhaps foolishly - to return the favor at some point.
kalyanmanning23 on
Mono-black Discard
2 months ago
This deck looks similar to a deck called 8-rack, which uses the cards The Rack and Shrieking Affliction instead of creatures to win the game.
If you're sold on using creatures, I personally think Nezumi Shortfang and Hypnotic Specter are too slow. Possible replacements are Pack Rat and Gurmag Angler.
In your discard package, Raven's Crime is superior to Cry of Contrition, since it lets you discard extra lands for value, and by the time a creature haunted by Cry dies, your opponent most likely will be empty-handed.
I also think more removal is necessary, and since your curve is low, you can cut 1-2 lands for it. Fatal Push is very good, as are Dismember and Victim of Night.
If you're not on a budget, Liliana of the Veil would be excellent here, but she is very expensive.
Hope that helped!
GearNoir on
Pre-Mirrodin MonoB Discard
2 months ago
A the pre-Morrison restriction is a bit rough on Rack-like decks but, a few suggestions (I'm formulating off of a set list from a wiki, sorry if some suggestions are incorrect):
Wheel of Torture instead of Megrim
I like the inclusion of 4 Hypnotic Specters, it can be a beast. Definitely don't be afraid to benefit from traditional 8-Rack style though by going creatureless.
You do have the option of Ensnaring Bridge, though I realize it doesn't necessarily fit your budget focus.
Sun Droplet could be a useful stalling strategy if you foresee a long match.
You could use Pox, but I'm not so sure how much it would benefit you as much as just simply changing your strategy.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
MTGApprentice2016 on The Touch of Bolas deck ...
2 months ago
Hypnotic Specter I don't know how that changed on me.
BuckWylde on
2 months ago
Dig the deck, always liked both mono black and discard. Dunno if he still plays, but Hypnotic Specter fits the rack theme and gives you something to eat fairies.
n0bunga on
3 months ago
Hypnotic Specter is also in the running for an Alesha target. But I'm a softy for it as a card.
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