Psychic Vortex MTG Card

Enhances draw capability, fueling hands for strategy execution and diverse plays within suitable MTG decks. Create graveyard synergy by discarding, aiding specific deck themes that capitalize on this interaction. Maintaining instant-speed play while drawing additional cards gives you a stronger position during each turn.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Abilities	Cumulative upkeep
Released	1997-06-09
Set symbol
Set name	Weatherlight
Set code	WTH
Number	50
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Steve Luke

Text of card

Cumulative upkeep— Draw a card At the end of each of your turns, sacrifice a land and discard your hand.

"Tolaria floats upon a wheel of fortune." —Ertai, wizard adept

Cards like Psychic Vortex

Psychic Vortex stands out in the MTG universe as a unique enchantment with several layers of abilities. When evaluating cards akin to Psychic Vortex, we can look at Teferi’s Puzzle Box for comparison. Like Psychic Vortex, Teferi’s Puzzle Box reshuffles players’ hands each turn. However, Puzzle Box does so without the downside of sacrificing land, which is a significant point of difference.

Another card worth mentioning alongside Psychic Vortex is Forgotten Creation. They share the concept of discarding and drawing, maintaining a cycle of card flow. Forgotten Creation allows for a fresh hand each turn, yet doesn’t involve the same cumulative upkeep cost found in Psychic Vortex. This distinction is vital as it influences long-term strategy and resource management.

While analyzing these cards, it’s imperative to understand that Psychic Vortex’s combination of recurring card draw coupled with the downside often caters to more niche strategies in deck building. It’s a trade-off that could offer tremendous advantage or pose a challenge, depending on the game state and deck synergy.

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

Collective Restraint - MTG Card versions

Delusions of Mediocrity - MTG Card versions

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Psychic Vortex offers a unique approach to drawing cards. At the beginning of each of your draw steps, instead of pulling just one card, you get the chance to draw an additional card, thus doubling your potential to access more options and answers from your deck. This is especially beneficial for decks that thrive on having a full hand.

Resource Acceleration: Although Psychic Vortex requires a discard at the end of your turn, this can synergize with strategies that benefit from having cards in the graveyard, effectively turning a discard requirement into a resource acceleration tool. This can seamlessly integrate with strategies involving reanimation or graveyard synergies, providing indirect acceleration to your game plan.

Instant Speed: While Psychic Vortex itself isn’t at instant speed, it allows you to keep up other instant-speed interactions without losing momentum. Since the extra draw happens during the draw step, you can enjoy more options while still holding mana for counterspells, removal, or other instant-speed tricks. This ensures that your turns are highly efficient, fully leveraging the tempo of the game in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The upkeep cost of Psychic Vortex compels players to pitch a card from their hand, which can rapidly deplete valuable hand size and lead to a precarious position if the game drags on.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both blue and white mana, Psychic Vortex demands a dedicated color combination. This specific mana cost can restrict deck building options, making it less versatile for inclusion in decks that run multiple colors or lack a proper mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, including two color-specific symbols, Psychic Vortex is on the higher end of the mana curve for enchantments that yield incremental card advantage. There are alternatives in MTG that might deliver equivalent or better benefits for the same or less mana investment, making it less economical in a tightly contested game.

Reasons to Include Psychic Vortex in Your Collection

Versatility: Psychic Vortex offers a unique blend of card draw and discard mechanics, making it a flexible addition to decks that thrive on cycling through their library or harnessing the power of the graveyard.

Combo Potential: This card creates opportunities to build around discard and draw synergies. It pairs well with effects that negate the downside of discarding your hand or cards that benefit from having a high card turnover.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where games go long and maintaining a hand size is critical, Psychic Vortex can provide the consistent card advantage needed to outpace opponents. Its capacity to potentially alter the tempo of the game makes it a card to consider in the current meta.

How to beat

Psychic Vortex is a unique enchantment card that’s known to give players a mixed feeling of fortune and dread. With its ability to draw an additional card at the beginning of your draw step at the cost of discarding your entire hand at the end of the turn, it presents a risky yet potent draw strategy. Additionally, the requirement to sacrifice a land each turn if there are no cards in your hand adds to the delicate balance when playing with or against this card.

Overcoming the potential advantage that Psychic Vortex provides to your opponent relies on a straightforward strategy – rapid depletion of their hand and disruption of their board state. Cards with hand disruption abilities force the opponent to discard cards, which undermines the Vortex’s card draw benefit. Simultaneously, spot removal or mass land destruction can hinder the Vortex user’s ability to maintain the land sacrifice requirement, putting them at a severe disadvantage. Consistent pressure and targeted disruption are effective means to stifle your opponent’s attempts to capitalize on the Psychic Vortex’s risky rewards.

To sum up, although Psychic Vortex can be a powerful draw engine that tempts players with its card advantage, employing a plan that disrupts the opponent’s hand and resources can effectively mitigate the benefits of this challenging enchantment.

Where to buy

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

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Psychic Vortex has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2008-04-01	Psychic Vortex’s cumulative upkeep ability has you draw cards as a cost. If you choose to do so, and some or all of those draws are replaced by replacement effects, you are still considered to have paid the cumulative upkeep cost.
2008-04-01	You may choose to draw cards to pay the cumulative upkeep cost even if the number of cards you’d have to draw exceeds the number of cards in your library. If enough of those draws are replaced by replacement effects so you don’t actually attempt to draw a card with an empty library, everything’s fine. However, if you do attempt to draw a card with an empty library this way, Psychic Vortex will remain on the battlefield but you’ll lose the game as a state-based action as soon as the cumulative upkeep ability finishes resolving.