As a player since early '94, I have no doubt (even during my youth) seen the game of Magic evolve drastically over the years. But a player would have to lack a philosophical understanding of the game NOT to see this as a 5 STAR card. It is, w/o offering card or mana advantage, the best in the game. I love Inquisition of Kozilek, and understand that depending on ur deck and ur opponents, it COULD BE better... but in a deck where denying a 4 cast being dropped off of the strength of multiple dark rituals, lotus pedals, and the like, or even certain planeswalkers (ie most) This is unrivaled, and as said by someone (sorry don't recall name) earlier on post. It is VERY unlikely a "strictly" better 1-cc 'discard' spell will ever see print.("Tho I could see it 8 10 years down the road...but even THAT is unlikely. Either way, for needing to protect OR dispose of cards... THOUGHTSEIZE is the way to go.
Posted By:
supafly13
(9/5/2011 9:33:01 PM)
I think I'd rather open 30 dollars of Lorwyn boosters than shell for this, TBH :/
Great card. A bit too great. I hate when that happens. I'm not made of money!
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(9/14/2011 5:32:58 PM)
Goddamn Modern... this card is up to $30 a piece now. Understandably, since for 2 life it can mean the difference between a hand your opponent took and one they would have mulliganed. Especially painful after they mulligan too haha.
Posted By:
EternalPhi
(9/19/2011 3:16:57 PM)
Rated lower then duress because it costs 60X more then it. (according to star city prices)
Posted By:
acemanner
(10/3/2011 3:29:48 PM)
I personally have to think your stubborn if you find duress better than this, strictly speaking, this hits SO SO much, it's usable against any deck, true inquisition does work better against aggro (decks like merfolk always pack 3 or less costing creatures, in that case, you can side some or all of your thoughtseizes), it doesn't diminish what this card can do. Any discard/pox deck should run 4 if they have access to it
Posted By:
Lord_FarkwadtehThird
(10/3/2011 7:55:51 PM)
The only thing better than getting a big nasty creature out of someone's hand on the first turn is taking control of it the next.
Guess you'll be getting that 5 life back when you're swinging with their Baneslayer on third turn.
Posted By:
jfre81
(11/2/2011 3:44:27 AM)
RE-PRINT! Would that be asking too much? =/
Posted By:
Silence9
(1/19/2012 3:14:49 PM)
Some people say that Inquisition of Kozilek is a better choice than this card, mainly because there is no loss of life. I disagree. Why? 3 words: Force of Will. That card is in TONS of decks in legacy, right? Wouldn't it be nice if your reanimator deck could remove that wrench in your plan?
In other words - turn one: Dark ritual, thoughtseize (grab their force), entomb, reanimate. Done.
Now, go through that exact same scenario, but with inquisition instead of thoughtseize. Still think it's the better card, or did I get you to do the smart thing and jump on the thoughtseize bandwagon?
Posted By:
friendtoall17
(1/31/2012 10:44:02 AM)
Here is why this card is so impressive
a) It has a casting cost of 1 Black Mana (The only improvements would be either 1 colorless or 0)
b) Causes your opponent to discard a card (Ability 1 --> Opponent loses an option)
c) You chose which card your opponent discards (You stab your opponent --> Find the heart --> Shutdown)
d) You get to see your opponents hand for free (Ability 2 --> Plan your strategy)
f) "Thoughtseize" can stop first turn combos
e) "Thoughtseize" combs extremely well with other cards (Bullets "a" through "f")
In my opinion this is Black's "Force of Will".
The loss of 2 life is an attempt to balance this card, but it's still overly efficient.
Furthermore, Lands rarely ever kill vs. everything else.
Posted By:
Lotosblume
(3/8/2012 10:11:15 PM)
Why do people think this is broken? It's a very nice card, but its far from broken. It's only as good as the cards you get to pull with it. It's abysmal in certain matchups, and great in others.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(4/18/2012 2:53:56 AM)