Lay Bare the Heart

Sorcery

Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonlegendary, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

9-lives on Creeping Death

1 year ago

Perhaps Lay Bare the Heart as a budget option for hand removal?

9-lives on

3 years ago

LeaPlath Well, depends on what deck I'm facing. I don't always know first turn what deck I'm facing, but I have Agonizing Remorse to help me with that. I could also have Lay Bare the Heart as well if needed. If I see what cards they have in their hand, I might be able to know what they are doing. Also, using Watchers of the Dead I could see what two cards they save in their graveyard so I can get an idea of what they are running. But, of course, that's kind of a bad thing, since those two cards will be saved from removal. I would have to be an expert at the game, though, to know all the deck builds.

^-^;

Combos are what I'll have a hard time breaking with my toolbox deck but I think I can do it if I have enchantment and artifact removal and counter instants and sorceries, I'll be good.

TriusMalarky Bring to Light is a tutor card that costs 5 mana, optimal all different colors, for one use. If I use my Grim Tutor I can generally pay 3 mana, and then get a 2 mana or 3 mana card, and without using multiple colors, and still spend just as much or 1 more mana casting both the card and the tutor. Although, Bring to Light would cost me 5 mana of all different colors for at most a 5 mana card, which could be or not be a good thing. I don't plan on running rainbow, and a grim tutor can be just as useful in lower mana cost cards. Also, Niv Mizzet is prohibitive in the sense that it requires me to run a ton of color pairs, and those would be very difficult to run with a manabase of budget mana cards and non-shocklands (those aren't budget friendly at all!). I also might never play this deck, just messing around with an idea that when Pioneer MTG Arena comes out I might test on it. I know that 'MTG' game has pioneer on it, but I can't buy the cards I want unless I use some website that has trading bots, and I don't want to do that.

I mean, it doesn't have to be a perfect deck to run it, and to be honest, I just want a taste of what something like this can do. When I look on youtube for toolbox decks, even the word 'toolbox' doesn't come up, haha. I don't think there are many toolbox decks on this website either, when you define toolbox as running as much tools against anything as much as possible. I have a really weird mixture of cards in this deck that I don't think anyone has attempted yet.

9-lives on

3 years ago

But don't you think that 27 cats is enough, TriusMalarky?? I'd rather cut some cats and get more lands. Remember that this is also a token deck, so Pride Sovereign would greatly benefit when there are a lot of tokens of 1/1 lifelink cats which also get buffs.

Pride Sovereign in numbers of 2 is really useful with Blessed Alliance, and can generate tokens on his own. I am using Regal Caracal for tokens as well. I have 4x Anointed Procession for a reason. I've usually had great success using tokens in my cat deck. I also have 1xSundering Growth for its populate ability not to mention it will be useful if I ever need a artifact or enchantment removed, which will most likely be hard to draw this card, but regardless I believe it will be used often in games.

The reason I don't have many Feline Sovereigns is because I traded one for Unbreakable Formation. This balances out my ability to have +1/+1 with a creature and instant. But does the Feline Sovereign only give +1/+1 when its on the battlefield, or not?

I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks Birthing Pod is really nice. But I don't think I could use that to eternalize adorned pouncer or anything like that; the only card it would work on is Regal Caracal when paying 4 or 3 mana and 2 life for making a 5 mana creature. And Karn, the Great Creator is only useful if I'm running lots of artifacts. And what is CoCo? With Ajani's Pridemate if I have a lot of 1/1 lifelink cat tokens, and attack with those using Encircling Fissure, I can buff him up so much it will be very useful to have Setessan Training and/or Angelic Gift.

Adorned Pouncer is very expensive mana-wise when you eternalize it, so it will be late in the game when I use it. Same goes for Fleecemane Lion. And Bronzehide Lion is expensive for making a single creature indestructible when I can use something like Unbreakable Formation for 1 more mana cost while buffing my entire army. Yes, they're good for 3/3 for 2 mana, but regardless I have other cards for that. For instance, Prowling Serpopard is very useful against blue counter heavy decks, covering my entire army with their ability, and is a 4/3 for 3 mana.

Angelic Gift is a must if I'm facing flying decks or if there are decks that don't have fliers or reach so I can deal direct damage, and on top of that it functions as a 2 mana cost draw 1. Just think if I used that on a Eternalized Adorned Pouncer!

What I need are tutors or something that allows me to pick out what I need for whatever occasion; that's how a good toolbox deck would work. Perhaps splashing black for Agonizing Remorse and Lay Bare the Heartand Grim Tutor??? Hand control is great when you know what cards are best in their hand, and Grim Tutor is currently the best tutor in Pioneer, I think.

marowak_city on Tricksters in Arms - Dimir Rogues

3 years ago

Just gonna say that Mind Drain seems really Bad. Yes I understand that filling your opponent's graveyard is important, but this is an aggro deck, so mind rot type effects are just not what you want to be doing. Discard spells like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek have traditionally been good because you take the best card out of your opponent's hand, and even then two mana versions like Agonizing Remorse and Lay Bare the Heart have been reserved for midrange decks and sideboards

shadow63 on Castigate or Tidehollow Sculler?

4 years ago

Kitesail Freebooter is an option if you need a flyer. Despise or Duress are hyper budget options Lay Bare the Heart is slightly less effective then castigate but also less mana intensive. Harsh Scrutiny offers a acry effect. Brain Maggot is effective another tidehallow sculler

Cardshark0000 on Rakdos Discard Control (Pioneer)

4 years ago

@chrclgry: You're right that I initially included Sweltering Suns because it could be cycled, but after playing it a few times I've only cycled the card once. Anger of the Gods is likely the better option.

@the__odysseus: I initially had Collective Brutality in the list, but I found that the card's discard mode was too limited in practice. Somebody else might find that they prefer how it plays over some of the other cards I've included, but my personal preference is to not play it.

Small deck update: I've been playing against a lot of planeswalker-heavy decks recently, so I'm replacing the two copies of Lay Bare the Heart in the main deck with Transgress the Mind . This also helps in matchups against green decks packing Veil of Summer .

Thanks for the feedback!

Cardshark0000 on Rakdos Discard Control (Pioneer)

4 years ago

Wow, I missed the fact that Murderous Rider also hits planeswalkers; that's more than enough to warrant testing it out. Thanks! I think Dreadbore definitely still has a place in the sideboard at the very least, given how well it plays with Chandra, Acolyte of Flame and Goblin Dark-Dwellers , but removal which can be recurred with Kolaghan's Command is never a bad thing.

As for Davriel, I've considered adding him, but I've found the targeted discard provided by Doomfall , Despise , Duress , and Lay Bare the Heart to be more useful than some extra damage throughout most of the game -- Particularly when it can be flashed back with Chandra. I'll still give him a shot though.

bitterblossom125 on

4 years ago

Decided to throw in Selfless Spirit . I do not like cards that are obvious targets for removal and don’t accomplish anything if they get removed, particularly in this deck which runs so few other targets to bait the removal on. However I don’t mind running these types of cards if they do something our deck needs (see Dark Confidant ). In this case selfless spirit is one of very few mana-efficient answers to boardwipes. If I can run Thoughtseize mostly for boardwipes I should run this too.

Cutting Cabal Therapy . It had to go. The token we sacrifice is worth about a mana, so its effectively as mana efficient as Lay Bare the Heart , which sucks.

Considering Mirror Entity more and more. Maybe I am talking myself out of a good card but:

A. he will almost always get removed

B. Not excited about my opponent losing a removal spell that probably wouldn’t affect us anyway.

C. Feels bad to pay 3, do nothing, lose tempo, and go down a card.

C. Winning faster is always nice but winning fast is not something our deck struggles with so is he really worth the downside?