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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Mind Shatter
Morningtide


Reviewed April 9, 2008

Constructed: 2.89
Casual: 3.13
Limited: 3.33

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Mind Shatter

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.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 2.5/5
Limited: 3/5

DeQuan
Watson

* Game Store Owner
Wednesday - Mind Shatter

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.

Limited: 3/5
Constructed: 3/5


Jeff Zandi

 7 Time Pro Tour Veteran

Player since 1994

Level II DCI Judge

Member of the Texas Guildmages

Mind Shatter


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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