Officious Interrogation MTG Card
2024-02-09 - Number 222
2024-02-09 - Number 314
2024-02-10 - Number 222s
2024-02-10 - Number 222p
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Instant |
| Abilities | Investigate |
Key Takeaways
- Disrupts opponent’s plans by exiling a nonland card from their hand, gaining valuable information.
- Offers adaptable play styles fitting various decks with its instant speed and peek ability.
- Demands strategy with its hand discard requirement and specific mana cost for balanced gameplay.
Text of card
This spell costs more to cast for each target beyond the first. Choose any number of target players. Investigate X times, where X is the total number of creatures those players control.
No guest was permitted to leave before being questioned in an Azorius verity circle.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Officious Interrogation offers a unique insight into your opponent’s hand while allowing you to select and exile a nonland card from it. This not only disrupts your opponent’s strategy but also serves as a potential information gain, keeping you well-informed about the threats and resources at their disposal.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly impacting mana resources, the card provides an indirect acceleration by potentially stripping away key pieces of your opponent’s game plan. This slowdown can give you the breathing room needed to deploy your own resources more effectively, maintaining the tempo in your favor.
Instant Speed: The ability to cast Officious Interrogation at instant speed grants you the flexibility to react during your opponent’s turn. Timing the spell perfectly can thwart their immediate plans, and its quick execution allows you to keep mana available for other responses should the need arise.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Officious Interrogation card mandates a player to discard another card to activate its potent ability. While this can be part of a strategic play, losing a card from your hand might leave you at a disadvantage, especially when your options are already scant.
Specific Mana Cost: Officious Interrogation carries a specific mana requirement that is not colorless, thereby restricting its inclusion to deck builds that can support its mana type. This makes it less versatile and potentially a dead card in a hand that lacks the right mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: When considering the impact of the ability against its mana cost, Officious Interrogation may appear less favorable. It demands a significant amount of mana, which could be allocated to casting a creature or another spell with an immediate and more substantial effect on the game state.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Officious Interrogation, primarily due to its low mana cost and instant speed, is a flexible addition to various deck styles. This card’s ability to peek into an opponent’s hand and exile an unwanted spell is adaptable to control, midrange, and even some aggressive tactics that value knowledge of the opponent’s plans.
Combo Potential: This magic card exhibits solid synergy with strategies that manipulate an opponent’s hand or benefit from having information about their upcoming plays. It can combo with cards that punish opponents for discarding or set up plays knowing what threats or responses are temporarily neutralized.
Meta-Relevance: As the game environment frequently involves bluffing and strategic planning, Officious Interrogation holds its ground by providing a countermeasure against surprise spells and key pieces in an opponent’s arsenal, allowing for smarter and more informed plays that can be pivotal in tight matches.
How to beat
Officious Interrogation is a unique piece in the puzzle of Magic: The Gathering, posing a challenge for players with its peek and punish mechanic. To tackle this card effectively, it’s crucial to adjust your gameplay strategy. Firstly, consider diversifying the threats in your hand to minimize the impact of the card’s reveal ability. Having a balance of land and non-land cards can reduce the potential advantage your opponent gains from Officious Interrogation.
Another approach is to utilize instant-speed spells and abilities to react in the window before the card’s effect resolves. This can often subvert your opponent’s attempts to gain an edge. Additionally, graveyard retrieval mechanics can be a saving grace, allowing you to recover important cards sent there due to Officious Interrogation’s effect. Prioritizing the removal of this nuisance through direct destruction or bounce spells can also prevent its recurrent activation, safeguarding your hand’s integrity throughout the match.
Ultimately, by being proactive and maintaining a keen awareness of your deck’s capabilities, you can navigate the disruptive waters that Officious Interrogation presents and maintain control over the duel.
Cards like Officious Interrogation
Officious Interrogation is a distinct card in Magic: The Gathering, offering targeted opponent hand disruption. Akin to the well-known Duress, this card lets you peek at an opponent’s hand and choose a non-creature, non-land card to discard. Differing from Duress, Officious Interrogation also lets you surveil if your opponent has more cards in their hand than you do, adding a strategic layer to your gameplay.
Thoughtseize is another staple in the realm of hand disruption, granting more freedom by allowing you to pick from any non-land card at the cost of 2 life. While it doesn’t provide the surveil bonus, the broader range of possible discards can be crucial in many scenarios. Then there’s Inquisition of Kozilek, featuring a conditional discard dependent on the cost of the card in question and without a life loss, although it doesn’t survey the opponent’s hand like Officious Interrogation does.
Assessing these alternatives, Officious Interrogation finds its niche – disrupting while sculpting your next draw. This balancing act makes it more than just a discard spell, offering insights into forthcoming threats and ensuring your next moves are as informed as they are decisive.
Cards similar to Officious Interrogation by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Officious Interrogation MTG card by a specific set like Murders at Karlov Manor and Murders at Karlov Manor, 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 Officious Interrogation and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Officious Interrogation Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2024-02-09 and 2024-02-10. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2024-02-09 | Murders at Karlov Manor | MKM | 222 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Borja Pindado | |
| 2 | 2024-02-09 | Murders at Karlov Manor | MKM | 314 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Eliz Roxs | |
| 3 | 2024-02-10 | Murders at Karlov Manor Promos | PMKM | 222s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Borja Pindado | |
| 4 | 2024-02-10 | Murders at Karlov Manor Promos | PMKM | 222p | 2015 | Normal | Black | Borja Pindado |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Officious Interrogation has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Standardbrawl | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |