Thoughtseize

Sorcery

Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.

Combos

• Quicken + Thoughtseize
• Dreadhorde Arcanist + Thoughtseize

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

Daveslab2022 on Budget Death's Shadow Help!

1 week ago

Without the fetches, shocks and Thoughtseize, you’ll almost never be down to a low enough life total to ever even cast shadow as a 1/1. If you ever play against U/W control (which is already a tough matchup) you would quite literally never get below 13 life, as the ONLY damage you have to yourself is Dismember which has virtually 0 targets against them.

Daveslab2022 on estoner

1 week ago

A mulligan is not like folding in poker…. If you fold in poker, you are done for the round. You do not get to play this round of poker, while everybody else at the table finishes the hand.

In mtg if you mulligan, do you just sit an watch everybody else play the game while you do nothing? No. You shuffle up and draw and play like normal.

If mulligans are ANYTHING similar to poker, it’s like in 5 card draw when you give some cards from your hand back to the dealer for a new set of cards.

And why does MTG NEED to reward you by winning by a huge margin? And how would you even determine that? If i win when I’m at 1 life why does it matter? Why should I get more points if I beat you at 20 life? That doesn’t make sense.

In mtg, life is a resource just as much as the cards in your hand are. The only thing you are incentivizing is that cards like Thoughtseize get worse because they take life from you, and cards like Soul's Attendant get worse because “they increase the margin of victory.

You can win in MTG in more than 1 way, so the margin of victory is literally impossible to determine. Would all COMP REL events have dozens of judges going around to determine the exact amount of points each person wins after EVERY GAME?? That just isn’t practical dude. I don’t think you’re really thinking this through from any other standpoint than your opinion that you want something changed.

legendofa on Waste not, want not, greed not

1 month ago

How are you using Pain Magnification? I see the intent of turning damage into discard, but none of your sources deal 3 damage at a time. As an example, if an opponent discards two cards to Teferi's Puzzle Box while you have Liliana's Caress out, it deals 2 damage twice, not 4 damage once.

Outside of that, this is really nice. As another suggestion, you could use some 1-mana discard. Anything from Duress to Inquisition of Kozilek to Thoughtseize, depending on available budget.

Chasmolinker on Mono Black Nighthawk

1 month ago

Hey mememan3310. First off, welcome back!

Some amount of removal is always necessary. Combo and Flying can be tough match-ups for Mono Black without enough discard/removal. 3-4 Fatal Push and 1-2 Murderous Rider are good options with 1-2 copies of Infernal Grasp I like 6-8 hard removal spells as Mono Black is typically a Mid-Range deck. Don't sleep on Gelatinous Cube either. I've stolen plenty of games with that card.

I would stick with 4 Duress and probably cut Agonizing Remorse since the only thing you really need to hit with discard in Mono-black are Non-creature spells. If you want something more versatile, Thoughtseize is your best option.

Sword-Point Diplomacy is a cute card draw spell, but they probably just let you draw the lands or irrelevant cards, (i.e. creature removal against planeswalkers). I personally prefer Sorin the Mirthless or Reckoner Bankbuster for card draw. Unwilling Ingredient is another pet favorite of mine although probably not what you should be running.

I know a lot of people run Evolved Sleeper The card just doesn't resonate with me. It often dies to removal after you've already sunk your mana into it. It reminds me of Hexdrinker in that it can be great if you max it out but getting there uninterrupted is difficult to pull off. I prefer Concealing Curtains  ^Flip and Knight of the Ebon Legion in the 1-drop spot.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Invoke Despair are two really solid finishers in Mono-Black. If you can swing Liliana of the Veil and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse you won't be disappointed.

There are so many good cards in Mono-Black that it is tough to squeeze everything in sometimes. 22 Lands seems too low. A single Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Field of Ruin, and Hive of the Eye Tyrant are worth looking at as utility lands. I'd try to get 24-25 lands in there since most of the powerful Mono-Black spells fall in the 3+ MV range.

PurePwnage on Nimble Obstructionist Vs Tale's End

1 month ago

I tend to fixate on mana efficiency and card selection that aligns with your decks mana curve. Tale's End is lower to the ground and can stop early game fetch land and plainswalker activations and trades fairly evenly with counter magic. Nimble Obstructionist seems pretty good on the surface because it provides an "instant speed" evasive body, but unless there's a way of cheating it in early it's a T3 or later at best. Which IMHO seems very clunky for the same reasons the even more powerful Vendilion Clique fell out of favor in modern. If a 3/1 flyer with flash and a Thoughtseize like effect isn't played in modern mainboards/sideboards, I question the value Nimble holds in the limited available sideboard slots. Pithing Needle seems really only valuable in terms of shutting down plainswalkers because it can only be cast on your turn and your opponent can react to it entering the battlefield. It's the one Mana difference that makes Tale's End much more flexible and versatile than Nimble Obstructionist.

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Magus of the Owls

1 month ago

Haha, I admit I gave almost no thought to interaction except in the sideboard :) Even Thoughtseize was originally just a way to lose life, but I figured a little disruption would be helpful as well.

I didn't look for win conditions other than the magus, but your turn 1 win has me stumped! What's the win condition?

wallisface on Control monoblack in need for …

1 month ago

It’s hard to figure out what to suggest because i’m not sure what cards are available to you, and your current cards give no clear-indicator of budget.

Normally for a black deck i’d suggest filling your 1-mana slots with stuff like Fatal Push, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Cling to Dust. Black 1-mana creatures are normally pretty awful, so its often better-value to just make sure your opponent can’t make any progress.

In any case, with 23 lands, your ideal mana curve probably looks something like:

• 10-12 1-mana cards

• 12-16 2-mana cards

• 8-10 3-mana cards

• 3-4 4-mana cards

Ouroboros_47 on Everything you own, ends up beating you

2 months ago

Some better discard would be Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. If you have no restrictions for cards Hymn to Tourach is an option. Liliana of the Veil is a better planeswalker. If you want more ways to steal your opponents' stuff besides Tergrid there are a few fun options Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Nightveil Specter, or Thief of Sanity.