Mind Knives MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	1997-05-01
Set symbol
Set name	Portal
Set code	POR
Number	100
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Rebecca Guay

Key Takeaways

Mind Knives provides dual utility: disrupting opponents’ hands while refilling your own.
Instant speed casting allows for strategic, game-altering plays at critical moments.
Graveyard synergies turn discards into accelerants for your strategy, enhancing play.

Text of card

Your opponent discards a card at random from his or her hand.

To dodge the unerring knife, one must be free of thought.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mind Knives enables players to potentially disrupt their opponent’s hand while also drawing a card, thus keeping your hand replenished and possibly gaining the upper hand in the matchup.

Resource Acceleration: By allowing you to discard a card, Mind Knives can indirectly contribute to graveyard-based strategies, effectively turning your graveyard into a resource that can accelerate your game plan.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Mind Knives at instant speed gives savvy players the opportunity to wait for the ideal moment to strike, be it during an opponent’s draw phase or after they have committed to a crucial spell, ensuring maximum impact on the game state.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Mind Knives forces a discard as part of its casting cost, which can be a setback if your hand is already depleted or if you’re holding onto key strategic cards.

Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost for Mind Knives includes both blue and black mana, which may not align well with decks that don’t run on a Dimir (blue-black) strategy, potentially restricting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Given Mind Knives sits at three mana, this can be considered steep for its effect, especially when looking at other options in the format that might disrupt opponents at a lower cost or offer additional benefits. Efficiency is key in fast-paced games, and there may be instances where Mind Knives doesn’t quite measure up.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Mind Knives shines as a flexible card that can seamlessly integrate into varied deck types. Its ability to handle both creatures and planeswalkers makes it a valuable addition to any player’s arsenal, covering multiple threats in-game.

Combo Potential: For those eager to explore synergies, Mind Knives sets the stage for powerful interactions. It pairs well with spells and abilities that benefit from casting multiple spells in a turn or from targeting opposing permanents.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state dominated by creature-centered decks or ones relying heavily on planeswalkers, Mind Knives provides a tactical advantage. It aligns with contemporary strategies, ensuring your collection is up-to-date and competitive.

How to beat Mind Knives

Mind Knives offers a strategic edge in Magic: The Gathering, providing targeted discard that disrupts opponents’ plans. Despite its potency, it can be circumvented by employing a resilient deck design with diverse threats and redundancy in spells. To effectively counteract Mind Knives, consider incorporating cards that benefit from discard, such as those with Madness, or those that retrieve cards from the graveyard, like Eternal Witness.

Moreover, decks that rely less on specific cards and more on a wide array of similar-function cards can diminish the impact of targeted discard. Playing instant-speed spells allows for flexibility, letting you wait until the last moment before committing to a play, reducing the chance for Mind Knives to disrupt your hand. Additionally, countering the spell directly with blue spells like Negate or Dovin’s Veto can nullify its effect, ensuring your game plan remains uninterrupted.

Overall, while Mind Knives can present a significant challenge, a well-prepared Magic: The Gathering strategy focusing on adaptability, recursion, and instant reaction will help maintain an edge and mitigate the disruptive capabilities of this compelling card.

Cards like Mind Knives

Mind Knives is another intriguing sorcery in the MTG realm, akin to cards that deal damage while offering additional utility. A card like Agonizing Syphon stands out for its dual-purpose: it not only deals damage but also allows you to gain life equal to the damage dealt. While Agonizing Syphon provides a potentially significant life swing, Mind Knives stands out for its uncanny ability to disrupt an opponent by forcing them to discard a card.

Another comparison can be made with Drill Bit, which exhibits the discard element found in Mind Knives, yet it’s more surgical, giving you the control to select the card your opponent discards. Although Drill Bit doesn’t deal damage, it compensates for this by costing less under certain circumstances. Moreover, one can’t overlook Blightning, a card that delivers a similar punch of damage combined with discard, targeting the opponent’s hand and life total simultaneously. Blightning, however, is locked into a multi-color identity, which can limit its inclusion into a variety of decks where Mind Knives might find a home more easily.

In the ecosystem of MTG spells that combine disruption with direct damage, Mind Knives carves out its niche. It balances cost with a focused strike on the opponent’s resources, ensuring that every cast whittles away at their defenses.

Cards similar to Mind Knives by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mind Knives MTG card by a specific set like Portal, 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 Mind Knives and other MTG cards: