Yes, it's as good as people say. There is the
whole issue of "the more lands you get to pay X,
the less likely your opponent has X cards to
discard", but it's really unimportant here. Most
players do keep around two or three cards in
hand throughout the game, and if you can make
them pitch their whole hand, so much the better.
Aim for around half their hand, rounded up, and
the fact that they have to choose randomly
should knock their plans out quite nicely.
Constructed- 4
Casual- 3.5
Limited- 4.5
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Mind Shatter
My jaw hit the floor the first time I saw the
"new Mind Twist." It hasn't found a suitable
deck yet in constructed play, but I have to
believe that an effect this powerful is only
waiting for its moment. Yes, the extra black
mana hurts, but I think we all agree that the
original Mind Twist was way over the power
curve, and even a Mind Shatter played with
"only" X=2 or 3 can be game-ending.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 3/5
Arcane
Mind Shatter
Constructed: Still unsure of the power of this
card. My instinct tells me that it’s less
powerful than a lot of people would hope it is.
This is not Mind Twist and we don’t have access
to Dark Ritual anymore to power out a
devastating hit. A base cost of three mana to
make your opponent discard one random card is
hard to make me excited about, not when I can
pay one and 2 life to take the card I want out
of it. Yes it scales upward and gives you the
potential to strip an entire hand of cards but
putting lots of mana into this means that many
turns have passed making it useless against most
aggro decks, not to mention the fact that most
control decks will have a counter to stop it.
Causal: Mind Twist is going to be a better
option here, but since it’s an old card that you
may not have access to this card can be a
reasonable alternative. Some players love trying
to horde cards in their hand to avoid being left
vulnerable to mass removal, and this can punish
them for that behavior (while Damnation can
punish them for the opposite, a win-win
situation for you). Combos well with cards like
Geth’s Grimoire or Megrim to make a heavy mana
investment worth more cards for you or damage to
your opponent.
Limited: Using one card to stop many is a big
boon to an opponent in limited games. And the
disadvantages I talked about earlier about
having to wait are actually a massive advantage.
Late game most players are only holding fat
creatures and removal, which makes hitting their
hand and forcing a discard not only card
advantage but a power advantage that can be hard
to come back from. Having said that though, this
card does nothing to influence the board as it
stands, making it not that great to draw when
you’re on the back foot.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
The Missing
Linc
-Balding
for just over 5 years
-Playing MTG for just over 10
Mind Shatter
A card that many have compared to mind twist.
Only one more to make it work. Unfortunately
there are much better discard options nowadays.
This can be a good late game play but I would
only see one or two in a deck at the most. Now
"Quicken" this, and we might have something.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
PsychoAnime
#1
Magic Noob in Canada since 2002
Mind Shatter
In constructed, I would just use Stupor in
additional to the array of discard effects out
there. This is only good in the later game where
X is large, but by that time your opponent
should be out of cards or you have already lost
anyway.
In other formats, this could easily randomly
empty an opponent's hand. In limited, there's
much less discard effects out there making this
more valuable.
I like this card. I'm just not sure where it
fits in right now. I've seen a few players
playing 1-2 in their decks. It's a completely
fair and balanced card. It's powerful, without
being too fast or format dominating. I'd expect
to see this card played more when Time Spiral
block rotates out of standard. But who knows,
with Shadowmoor around the corner, this card
could turn out to be something big.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3
Swordmaster13
Wednesday's
card is Mind Shatter. This card for two black
mana and x of however much you want to spend
makes your opponent discard x cards. If you want
your opponent to discard one or two cards, you
have cheaper alternatives, but for three or
greater, you couldn't go wrong. Black doesn't
have much in the way of mana acceleration unless
you want to dig into the old days of Oddysey
Block and Cabal Coffers or even farther back to
Dark Ritual, but the early this can go off, the
worse you can make it for your opponent.
Mind Twist was such an amazing bomb card, back
in the day, that it was one of the earliest
cards to be restricted and then banned. I was
SURE that Mind Shatter would enjoy an immediate
and stunning popularity, but so far, it has not.
The world of Magic is simply a different place
than it was when Mind Twist was in half the
decks in 1994. Today, decks are faster and more
focused, oh, and there’s no fast mana from Moxes,
Black Lotus or even Dark Ritual. Still, there is
bound to be a place for a card that can
efficiently eliminate the opponent’s hand in one
stroke. I think Mind Shatter is well priced at
XBB. The cards are ripped from your opponent’s
hand are taken at random, making this card
dangerous even when you can’t afford to spend
enough mana to get all of his cards. When I have
drafted this card, I have ended up leaving it
out of the deck, I don’t think it is a great
card for limited play, but probably the not the
worst either. Constructed is where I hope to see
Mind Shatter shine. I think it would have been
an all-star in the blue/black control decks.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.0
v0rac10u5
Mind Shatter
Mind Shatter is just a little too slow in
constructed. In limited, it can absolutely
destroy your opponent on turn five or six, often
leaving them with no hand at all.
ˇ
Constructed: 2
ˇ
Casual: 2
ˇ
Limited: 3
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