Psychic Surgery MTG Card


Psychic Surgery - New Phyrexia
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment
Released2011-05-13
Set symbol
Set nameNew Phyrexia
Set codeNPH
Number44
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byAnthony Francisco

Key Takeaways

  1. Peeking at your opponent’s deck when they shuffle offers strategic exile opportunities to disrupt their gameplay.
  2. While not impacting mana directly, Psychic Surgery can delay your opponent’s plans, indirectly favoring you.
  3. Its reactive ability ensures immediate disruption, aligning seamlessly with control and mill deck strategies.

Text of card

Whenever an opponent shuffles his or her library, you may look at the top two cards of that library. You may exile one of those cards. Then put the rest on top of that library in any order.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Psychic Surgery enhances your strategy by allowing you to peek at your opponent’s deck whenever they shuffle it, granting you the chance to exile strategic cards and potentially weaken their game plan.

Resource Acceleration: Though Psychic Surgery itself isn’t a direct source of mana acceleration, interfering with your opponent’s deck organization can indirectly speed up your own resource allocation by hindering theirs.

Instant Speed: As an enchantment, Psychic Surgery does not operate at instant speed; however, its triggered ability reacts instantly to your opponent’s shuffle, ensuring you don’t miss the chance to disrupt their strategy.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Psychic Surgery triggers on an opponent’s shuffle, which is dependent on the opponent’s actions and can lead to inconsistent utility.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both blue mana, it necessitates a dedicated color commitment, potentially excluding it from various multi-color deck strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that includes two specific mana, it competes for the slot against other impactful two-drop cards, possibly hindering its inclusion in some deck lists.


Reasons to Include Psychic Surgery in Your Collection

Versatility: Psychic Surgery seamlessly integrates into control and mill decks by not only disrupting an opponent’s strategy but also providing information about their upcoming plays, adapting to multiple game situations.

Combo Potential: This card excels in combination with effects that shuffle the opponent’s library, offering consistent disruption and the opportunity to impede crucial tutor effects, aligning with intricate and calculated game plans.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames with a high prevalence of fetchlands or tutoring mechanisms, Psychic Surgery’s consistent interference makes it a potent tool, turning an opponent’s search effects into a liability.


How to beat Psychic Surgery

Psychic Surgery is a unique enchantment that disrupts opponents by meddling with their deck whenever they shuffle. Its ability to exile cards from the top of a player’s library and potentially remove a valuable counter or threat can be a game-changer. However, this card can be outmaneuvered by adopting diligent shuffling habits and using shuffling sparingly. Cards that allow you to draw or manipulate the top of your deck without shuffling, such as Brainstorm or Sensei’s Divining Top, can effectively circumvent Psychic Surgery’s disruptive potential.

Moreover, relying on tutoring cards that put cards directly into your hand or onto the battlefield, such as Eladamri’s Call or Tooth and Nail, reduces the necessity to shuffle your library, thus decreasing Psychic Surgery’s impact. It is also worth noting that employing graveyard retrieval spells like Eternal Witness can help recover important cards that might be exiled. Ultimately, by minimizing shuffling and employing strategic card selection, you can reduce the effectiveness of Psychic Surgery and maintain control over your deck’s order and contents.


Cards like Psychic Surgery

Psychic Surgery from Magic: The Gathering offers a unique twist on library manipulation and disruption. Its closest relatives in terms of capability might be cards like Lantern of Insight and Codex Shredder which also allow players to peek at and influence opponents’ decks. Though distinct, Psychic Surgery stands out. Unlike Lantern of Insight, which grants both players insight into the next card to be drawn, Psychic Surgery only targets opponents and triggers upon shuffles – a common occurrence in many MTG formats.

Another card worth noting is Shadow of Doubt. While Psychic Surgery hinders opponents by sniping cards off their library after shuffles, Shadow of Doubt can outright cancel any search, a similar, yet more immediate disruption. On the other hand, Psychic Surgery’s persistent effect can provide ongoing control over an opponent’s deck, offering potential advantage every time a shuffle occurs. Then there’s Stranglehold, a card that stops opponents from searching libraries altogether, which has a more preemptive impact compared to the reactive nature of Psychic Surgery.

Assessing these cards, one appreciates Psychic Surgery’s role in a strategic setup designed to subtly dismantle an opponent’s gameplay over time, distinguishing itself in the category of disruptive MTG artifacts and enchantments.

Lantern of Insight - MTG Card versions
Codex Shredder - MTG Card versions
Shadow of Doubt - MTG Card versions
Stranglehold - MTG Card versions
Lantern of Insight - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Codex Shredder - Return to Ravnica (RTR)
Shadow of Doubt - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Stranglehold - Commander 2011 (CMD)

Cards similar to Psychic Surgery by color, type and mana cost

Copy Artifact - MTG Card versions
Invisibility - MTG Card versions
Power Leak - MTG Card versions
Phantasmal Terrain - MTG Card versions
Creature Bond - MTG Card versions
Stasis - MTG Card versions
Lifetap - MTG Card versions
Power Artifact - MTG Card versions
Psychic Venom - MTG Card versions
Venarian Gold - MTG Card versions
Soar - MTG Card versions
Flooded Shoreline - MTG Card versions
Dance of Many - MTG Card versions
Teferi's Veil - MTG Card versions
Legacy's Allure - MTG Card versions
Chill - MTG Card versions
Buoyancy - MTG Card versions
Mana Maze - MTG Card versions
Psionic Gift - MTG Card versions
Immobilizing Ink - MTG Card versions
Copy Artifact - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Invisibility - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Power Leak - Summer Magic / Edgar (SUM)
Phantasmal Terrain - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Creature Bond - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Stasis - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Lifetap - Intl. Collectors' Edition (CEI)
Power Artifact - Antiquities (ATQ)
Psychic Venom - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Venarian Gold - Legends (LEG)
Soar - Mirage (MIR)
Flooded Shoreline - Visions (VIS)
Dance of Many - Masters Edition III (ME3)
Teferi's Veil - Weatherlight (WTH)
Legacy's Allure - Tempest (TMP)
Chill - Tempest (TMP)
Buoyancy - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Mana Maze - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Psionic Gift - Odyssey (ODY)
Immobilizing Ink - Odyssey (ODY)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Psychic Surgery MTG card by a specific set like New Phyrexia, 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 Psychic Surgery and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Psychic Surgery has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2011-06-01 If your opponent’s library has one card in it and they are instructed to shuffle that library, Psychic Surgery will trigger. You may’ exile the one card in that library.
2011-06-01 In most cases, Green Sun’s Zenith instructs you to shuffle your library twice. Although shuffling that library only once is an acceptable shortcut, Psychic Surgery’s ability will still trigger twice.
2011-06-01 You look at the top two cards of that library as the triggered ability resolves. That happens after your opponent is done shuffling.

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