Hypnotic Specter

Creature — Specter

Flying

Whenever Hypnotic Specter deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card at random.

Discussion (50)

Lil_Kalki on Threnody for the Victims of Dementia

1 week ago

lyonhaert,

Goodness, Rings of Brighthearth has a LOT going for it, I’ll say, but the price tag sort of strikes a heavy blow against it. I’d also need a place to cut into for it which doesn’t fudge up the smoothness of flow that the deck already maintains. Any suggestions on that front? I’d like to hear a good selection... maybe 3 or 4, and with reasoning behind the choices for potential cut, if that’s okay? Note that Yahenni, Undying Partisan is already out ( Bog Initiate has replaced them), and Hypnotic Specter is on his way out as well for the Plaguecrafter .

Thank you again for the suggestions and support. It means a lot to have this sort of counsel!

lyonhaert on Threnody for the Victims of Dementia

1 week ago

Lil_Kalki,

Mirage Mirror , one of my favorite pet cards!

I would probably also end up picking Bog Initiate if I were running Ashnod's Altar , too. I ran the pair for a bit, but I'm going a bit of a token fuel route with Pawn of Ulamog / Sifter of Skulls with Dross Harvester and Pitiless Plunderer . Initiate also helps with Ancient Tomb / Sol Ring / Temple of the False God , of course.

"My opponent’s don’t tend to have a shortage of blockers..." In light of that, some alternatives to Hypnotic Specter : Liliana's Specter or Plaguecrafter , and work with Sangromancer all the better.

Also Vesuva could replace a Swamp, not just one of your nonbasics, because if nothing else it can be a Swamp. But of your nonbasics, Path of Ancestry only supports 4 of your cards, including Chainer, for only a rare scry 1. Has Ash Barrens been useful? I run fetchlands because of Rings of Brighthearth and it would turn that into ", discard Ash Barrens: Search my library for 2 Swamps and put them in my hand, shuffle library".

With three sources of "no maximum hand size", do you ever aim Sadistic Hypnotist at yourself as a discard outlet, or do you just not encounter a need to pitch something from your hand?

mrdehring on

1 month ago

Kessig Cagebreakers is another way to make creatures from a full graveyard.

Pitiless Plunderer makes you some treasure for those creatures you are sacrificing.

Poison-Tip Archer is another Blood Artist style creature

With all the creatures you have that will just die to sac outlets, you may consider Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos

The weaker cards in your deck appear to be:

Bloodmist Infiltrator you can find better, and repeatable sac abilities ** Viscera Seer

Desecration Demon from my experience, when an opponent gets to choose they always choose the option you didn't want them to take.

Orzhov Racketeers discard doesn't really seem like a thing this deck is doing and the creature has a high cmc for this effect ** Hypnotic Specter

Silhana Wayfinder LOTS of better ways to search; especially in black.

Vicious Conquistador probably just going to make everyone at the table annoyed early and a really bad card late.

Hope this helps with your build. You have some good synergy here. There are better versions of some cards you are playing, but you seem like you have a solid base.

MutinyMate on Karnie Rigged

2 months ago

Cool deck man! Looks like you're into discard quite a bit here. Definitely wouldn't want to mess with what you like, but I can absolutely name a few cards for mono black that are better when graveyards are huge. Here are a few in no particular order. All of these should be on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

Nyxathid , Nighthowler , Hypnotic Specter , Liliana's Reaver , Shrieking Affliction , Persecute , and Isochron Scepter . That last one is a bit steeper, but it would let you reuse instant and sorcery cards for even more constant discarding.

Good luck with the building!

PEBKAC on OSMonoBlack

2 months ago

oldschoolmtg

Mono-black aggro deck with transformational sideboard. Who cares about matchups anyway?!

For transformation, this is probably the best option:

-4 Bad Moon
-3 Hymn to Tourach
-1 Nightmare
-4 Stone-Throwing Devils
-2 Hypnotic Specter
-1 Black Knight

Enral on Threnody for the Victims of Dementia

3 months ago

Lil_Kalki I see that you have a small discard subtheme..I get that stealing creatures from opponents by making them discard is fun but honestly I think concentrating on reanimating your own creatures and having the option of stealing later is much better. I would cut Hypnotic Specter and maybe add another sac outlet or ETB value creature. You do have kokusho and gary which can gain you ridiculous amount of lives already so I do think that sangromancer is redundant but it's really up to you. Good luck!

SynergyBuild on ♤That empty feeling♧

4 months ago

Well, when going for the CMDR kill, Mesmeric Orb is the card of dreams, where other cards aren't bad, like Vicious Rumors, they don't do enough to warrant me wanting their inclusion without the commander.

What should be kept is a lot of tutors, to fetch different cards, as well as a lot of ramp. Then a reasonably large hand disruption package, and finishing the deck off with some combos, and cards that do a ton to swing the board in your favor.

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Unsure of your budget, and the power level you want, here are the cards I would add to increase the competitiveness of the deck:

Lands: Ancient Tomb, Gemstone Caverns, Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats

(On a budget? Do nothing with the lands!)

Tutors: Demonic Tutor, Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, Grim Tutor, Cruel Tutor, Demonic Consultation.

(On a budget? Mastermind's Acquisition, Diabolic Tutor, Dark Petition, Behold the Beyond, Demonic Collusion, Demonic Consultation, Diabolic Revelation, Increasing Ambition, and Insidious Dreams)

Ramp: Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mind Stone, Thought Vessel, Charcoal Diamond, Lotus Petal, Everflowing Chalice, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Coldsteel Heart

(On a budget? Mind Stone, Coldsteel Heart, Charcoal Diamond, Everflowing Chalice, Coalition Relic, Fractured Powerstone, Prismatic Lens, Fractured Powerstone, Thought Vessel)

Draw: Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, and Asylum Visitor (can top cards you don't want to discard), Library of Leng (tops cards you don't want to discard again... but in a different way), Necropotence

(On a budget? Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Library of Leng, Asylum Visitor, Necropotence, Ancient Craving)

Stax: Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Lodestone Golem, Damping Matrix, Chains of Mephistopheles, Trinisphere, Tangle Wire, Smokestack, Pox, Liliana of the Veil

(On a budget? use control elements like Doom Blade, and removal in black instead of stax, some of the more budget stax is okay, but generally the more layered stax the better, so the less the worse each is. Removal is a good replacement.)

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Drops:

Vicious Rumors, Abyssal Nocturnus, Fell Specter, Guul Draz Specter, Herald of Anguish, Hypnotic Specter, Liliana's Reaver, Myojin of Night's Reach, Needle Specter, Scythe Specter, Sewer Nemesis, Stronghold Rats, Wei Night Raiders, Whispering Specter, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Darksteel Plate, Ordeal of Erebos, Raiders' Wake, Bontu's Last Reckoning, Anvil of Bogardan, Putrefaction, Painful Quandary, Megrim, Fraying Omnipotence, Rise of the Dark Realms, Torment of Hailfire, Liliana Vess.

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Not sorry about the long comment ;)

cdkime on Luminarch Acsension & Liliana's Caress... ...

4 months ago

I played around with Liliana's Caress effects in a Modren setting and really tried to make that card work. Liliana's Caress does nothing on its own and demands a lot of support to function properly. It's a dead play when you drop it on turn 2; then you need to have forced discard in hand, or mediocre creatures like Hypnotic Specter; then you need to make sure they actually have cards in hand.

Ultimately, this is a deck I optimized and optimized. Right up to the point where I optimized Liliana's Caress right out of the deck and realized I had accidentally recreated 8-Rack.