Thumbscrews MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact
Released	1997-10-14
Set symbol
Set name	Tempest
Set code	TMP
Number	312
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Charles Gillespie

Key Takeaways

Thumbscrews punishes opponents by disrupting their hand, potentially skewing the resource balance.
It offers instant speed activation for strategic flexibility during the opponent’s turn.
While versatile, Thumbscrews’ mana cost may limit its potential impact in fast-paced games.

Text of card

During your upkeep, if you have five or more cards in your hand, Thumbscrews deals 1 damage to target opponent.

"We will start small, I think." —Volrath

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Thumbscrews can disrupt your opponent’s hand by forcing them to discard, thereby giving you a tactical lead and potential card advantage as they lose resources.

Resource Acceleration: In decks designed to benefit from your opponents’ discard, Thumbscrews can work as a resource accelerator by enabling synergies with cards that trigger upon an opponent discarding or losing life from it.

Instant Speed: The ability to activate Thumbscrews at instant speed offers flexibility, allowing you to wait for the most opportune moment during your opponent’s turn to disrupt their strategy or in response to their actions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To utilize Thumbscrews effectively, players often have to let go of valuable cards from their hand, which might compromise their strategic options later in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Thumbscrews demands a precise arrangement of mana, including perhaps color-intensive requirements, making it less flexible and potentially challenging to cast in multicolored or color-hungry decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though Thumbscrews may present an interesting dynamic to gameplay, it carries a mana cost that, in some scenarios, might not proportionately reflect its impact on the board state, especially when compared to other card options with similar or lower costs.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Thumbscrews can be a useful tool in a variety of decks that aim to disrupt opponents’ strategies. It’s particularly effective in control decks that thrive on denying opponents’ resources and maintaining hand advantage.

Combo Potential: This card can synergize with strategies that focus on punishing opponents for having fewer cards or for certain card types. It can serve as a piece in a combo that amplifies the pain for opponents who are already struggling with limited options.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where players heavily rely on hand resources to execute their game plan, Thumbscrews can play a crucial role. Its ability to consistently apply pressure and force difficult decisions can shift the tide of a match in your favor, especially against decks that can’t easily rebuild their hand.

How to beat

Thumbscrews may not be the staple card in everyone’s MTG deck, but it can be quite troublesome when it’s on the battlefield. This artifact has the potential to chip away at an opponent’s life total, causing consistent damage every turn. To counteract the effects of Thumbscrews, it’s essential to have strategies in place that disrupt the card’s mechanics or remove it from play swiftly.

Consider employing removal spells to directly dispatch Thumbscrews. Artifacts in MTG are susceptible to a range of destruction cards, such as Naturalize or Shatter, which can be a direct and an efficient way to dismantle the opposing threats. Another vital strategy is to use card advantage and strategic play to outpace the incremental damage. Staying ahead with card draws and deploying creatures or spells that can threaten your opponent’s life total more aggressively can force them to divert resources, potentially making Thumbscrews less of a focal point in their gameplay.

In the arena of MTG, flexibility and adaptability are key. Countering Thumbscrews isn’t just about having the right cards but using them at the opportune moment to turn the tide of the match in your favor.

Cards like Thumbscrews

Thumbscrews, a unique piece in the puzzle of oppressive cards, takes its place among Magic: The Gathering’s tools for controlling the battlefield. When considering counterparts, Painful Quandary springs to mind, as it imposes a penalty on opponents when they cast spells. Although Painful Quandary’s effect is broader, affecting all spells, Thumbscrews targets the specific action of spell casting itself, constraining the opponent’s hand directly.

Black Vise is another card that shares with Thumbscrews the objective of punishing opponents for the size of their hand. However, Black Vise’s damage is based on the number of cards held during their draw step, while Thumbscrews inflicts a consistent loss during the upkeep, regardless of hand size. Then there’s Iron Maiden, which presents a similar concept to Black Vise but hinges on the opponent’s end step. It’s a small but pivotal distinction that affects the strategic deployment of these cards.

In sum, while each card has specific conditions and times of effect that cater to different strategies, Thumbscrews stands out due to its proactive approach of affecting the opponent every turn, making it a formidable tool in formats where maintaining a low hand count is crucial.

Cards similar to Thumbscrews by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Thumbscrews MTG card by a specific set like Tempest, 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 Thumbscrews and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Thumbscrews has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	It checks the number of cards in your hand at the beginning of upkeep, and if you have 4 or fewer cards in hand it will not trigger. It checks again when it resolves and will not deal damage unless you still have 5 or more cards in hand.