Invasive Surgery MTG Card

Countering sorceries with Invasive Surgery disrupts opponent plans and can significantly deplete their resources. Delirium condition elevates its potential but requires careful graveyard management to activate fully. Though restricted to blue decks, its surgical precision against sorceries make it a unique control tool.

Invasive Surgery - Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)

Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)
2016-04-08 - Number 68

Invasive Surgery - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)

Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)
2023-03-21 - Number 76

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number SOI-68

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant
Abilities	Delirium

Text of card

Counter target sorcery spell. Delirium — If there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, search the graveyard, hand, and library of that spell's controller for any number of cards with the same name as that spell, exile those cards, then that player shuffles his or her library.

Cards like Invasive Surgery

Invasive Surgery stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a specialized tool for blue decks. This card is part of a family of counter spells that aim to disrupt opponents strategies. It bears a resemblance to the classic Dispel, both being low-cost instants that can counter certain spells, specifically sorceries in the case of Invasive Surgery, and instants for Dispel.

Difference comes with Invasive Surgery’s unique Delirium ability which, upon activation, allows you to search your opponent’s graveyard, hand, and library for any copies of the countered spell and exile them. While Negate serves a broader purpose by countering any noncreature spell, it lacks the potential graveyard disruption. Then there’s Spell Pierce, a flexible and low-cost option, but it does nothing extra beyond countering unless its target is worth the player’s additional mana investment.

While evaluating the choices, Invasive Surgery shines within its niche. It not only counters crucial sorceries but can also serve as a preventative measure against strategies relying on specific key spells, making it a valuable addition to decks that meet the Delirium condition.

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Invasive Surgery provides a unique type of advantage by allowing you to counter target sorcery spell. If you have Delirium, which isn’t difficult to achieve in the right deck, you get to search your opponent’s library, hand, and graveyard for any number of copies of that card and exile them. This disrupts future plans and diminishes your opponent’s resources significantly.

Resource Acceleration: While Invasive Surgery doesn’t directly accelerate your resources, it effectively slows down your opponent by countering key sorceries they need for their strategy. It gives you more time to develop your board and resources.

Instant Speed: Operating at instant speed is a hallmark of control and flexibility. Invasive Surgery allows for strategic planning as you can wait until your opponent has committed to their move, potentially wasting their mana for the turn when you counter their sorcery.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Invasive Surgery doesn’t force you to discard, the requirement to have Delirium – four or more card types in your graveyard – to achieve its full potential can feel like a discard constraint. Gathering the right card types can deplete your hand, impacting your gameplay significantly if you can’t sustain a substantial hand size.

Specific Mana Cost: Invasive Surgery necessitates blue mana, which may restrict its integration exclusively to blue or blue-inclusive decks. Players running multicolor decks without blue will not be able to take advantage of this counter spell, thus limiting its versatility across various deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although costing a single blue mana may seem economical, its Delirium condition to exile the countered spell if there are four or more card types in your graveyard could be a steep requirement. Other counter spells without such conditional triggers might effectively counter spells at a similar or lower mana cost, potentially offering more immediate and less conditional control.

Reasons to Include Invasive Surgery in Your Collection

Versatility: Invasive Surgery offers counterplay against sorcery spells, making it a strategic choice for decks that aim to disrupt opponent’s carefully laid plans. Its ability to target pivotal sorceries across various deck themes enhances its utility in your toolbox.

Combo Potential: For any deck that takes advantage of casting spells from the graveyard, Invasive Surgery can serve as a protective barrier, ensuring your strategies go uninterrupted while impeding others. Moreover, its Delirium condition can convert a simple counter into a library sweep.

Meta-Relevance: With spell-heavy formats and the prevalence of powerful sorceries, Invasive Surgery slots in efficiently as a sideboard card. Its low mana cost and the added graveyard-hate feature keeps it relevant in diverse competitive environments.

How to beat

Invasive Surgery is one of those unique blue spells in Magic: The Gathering that offers pinpoint disruption against sorcery spells. Its ability to counter a sorcery for a single blue mana makes it especially potent in formats where specific sorcery cards dominate. Unlike generic counterspells, you’ll need a different approach when Invasive Surgery is in play. Effectively navigating around it requires careful planning and a keen understanding of your opponent’s strategy.

Overcoming Invasive Surgery’s Delirium ability, which exiles all copies of the countered spell from the opponent’s deck, hand, and graveyard when triggered, depends on diversifying your threats. You can use instant-speed spells to minimize the risk of having your key sorceries disrupted. Alternatively, implementing cards that can’t be countered, or using abilities that grant your spells uncounterable properties, can nullify Invasive Surgery’s effect. Remember that playing around this card is about misdirecting and overextending your opponent’s counterspell capacity, so patience and strategic sequencing will be your allies in securing victory.

When considering your game plan against Invasive Surgery, bear in mind the types of decks it is commonly found in. Timing your spells and anticipating when your opponent might have it ready to intercept your sorceries will lead to your triumph on the battlefield.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Invasive Surgery MTG card by a specific set like Shadows over Innistrad and The List, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Invasive Surgery and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Invasive Surgery Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-04-08 and 2023-03-21. Illustrated by Steven Belledin.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2016-04-08	Shadows over Innistrad	SOI	68	2015	Normal	Black	Steven Belledin
2	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	SOI-68	2015	Normal	Black	Steven Belledin
3	2023-03-21	Shadows over Innistrad Remastered	SIR	76	2015	Normal	Black	Steven Belledin

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Invasive Surgery has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Commander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Invasive Surgery card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-04-08	Because you consider only the characteristics of a double-faced card’s front face while it’s not on the battlefield, the types of its back face won’t be counted for delirium.
2016-04-08	In some rare cases, you can have a token or a copy of a spell in your graveyard at the moment that an object’s delirium ability counts the card types among cards in your graveyard, before that token or copy ceases to exist. Because tokens and copies of spells are not cards, even if they are copies of cards, their types will never be counted.
2016-04-08	Invasive Surgery’s delirium ability isn’t checked until after the sorcery spell has been countered. If that spell is put into your graveyard, it will be counted.
2016-04-08	The card types in Magic are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal (a card type that appears on some older cards). Supertypes (such as legendary and basic) and subtypes (such as Human and Equipment) are not counted.
2016-04-08	The number of card types matters, not the number of cards. For example, Wicker Witch (an artifact creature) along with Catalog (an instant) and Chaplain’s Blessing (a sorcery) will enable delirium.