Mind Drain

Sorcery

Target opponent discards two cards, mills a card, and loses 1 life. You gain 1 life. (To mill a card, a player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (14)

Saccox on Liliana's Friends (Budget)

2 years ago

Hi Cheiromancer,instead of Mind Rot, Demogorgon's Clutches or Mind Drain,?

Balaam__ on Altar of Despair

3 years ago

Thanks for the great suggestion, Icbrgr! I forgot that card existed. It definitely opens up a lot of potential options. I’ll sideboard it instead of Mind Drain for now, at least until I can find a spot for it.

Apollo_Paladin on Slow Drip

3 years ago

Also, there is literally zero reason to run Mind Rot when both Mind Drain and Inscription of Ruin are both arena-available choices; I agree with the above comment that it lacks synergy. Inscription is multifunctional so you could try that w/o giving up the discard completely if it's something you like.

FSims81 on No Cards or Creatures for You

3 years ago

DanMcSharp thanks for the suggestions. I forgot about Soul Shatter so I'll probably need to find a way to work it in. I did consider Rankle, just don't like what I'd have to remove in order to fit him in. Skull Raid is a possibility as obviously the card draw is good. Mind Drain won't ever be a dead card though because it is doing things besides forcing discard and Liliana doesn't care how the creatures get in the graveyard, just that they are there for her ultimate. I'll have to look and see what tweaks can be made

DanMcSharp on No Cards or Creatures for You

3 years ago

Hello,

Did you consider Soul Shatter to trigger Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip? Also, Rankle, Master of Pranks would also work really well to force both discards and creature sacrifices.

Your opponents often won't have many cards left to discard, if at all, so it would probably be safer to use Skull Raid instead of Mind Drain , or a combination of the 2, just so you don't end up with a dead card in your hand against your empty handed opponent.

Cheers!

Ninjew42 on No Cards or Creatures for You

3 years ago

Why use Mind Drain? Vicious Rumors is a better card IMO.

Balaam__ on Mind Robbers

3 years ago

Maybe Mind Drain? It might pair better with the other deck you mentioned, but it’s a lot cheaper as far as cmc is concerned.

Apollo_Paladin on Mono-Black Hand Hate (MTG Arena Build)

4 years ago

@ Profet93:

Every once in a while I do get overrun, but for the most part all of the Hand removal means I can pick away at an opponent's early plays rather than having to try and pick out the biggest overall threat. I can leave higher mana cost threats in an opponent's hand to be picked away later on by Mind Drain, Inscription of Ruin, and/or Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage.

The Creature/Enchantment destruction I have together here has proved quite effective in dealing with threats that manage to avoid being removed directly from Hand.

As far as win conditions, most games I win by using a combination of Davriel attrition and/or Nightmare Shepherd attacking once I've cleared the board/opponent's hand of threats. Also, for what it's worth I have two lifegain cards here: Mind Drain and Murderous Rider and while you are correct that it is not anywhere near enough for the amount of self-drain in this build, I find that I don't often have to self-drain all that much once I've established control of the board and hands.

Still, you make a valid point and I'd be lying if I said that sometimes this deck wasn't just completely overrun. Those seem to be pretty isolated cases though, and require a fairly solid "dream hand" from an opponent to pull off for the most part.

Out of curiosity, what all would you suggest to change to compensate for this? I'm open to ideas...