Singe-Mind Ogre MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Ogre Mutant
Released	2009-04-30
Set symbol
Set name	Alara Reborn
Set code	ARB
Power	3
Toughness	2
Number	45
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Daarken

Key Takeaways

Singe-Mind Ogre can provide a considerable advantage, filling your hand with strategic options.
Despite its strengths, having a specific mana cost and rarity can limit deck inclusion.
Its disruptive capabilities make it a worthy consideration for any MTG player’s collection.

Text of card

When Singe-Mind Ogre comes into play, target player reveals a card at random from his or her hand, then loses life equal to that card's converted mana cost.

Even the balmgivers of Bant couldn't heal the incurables, but sharing their torment helped.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Singe-Mind Ogre presents a potential card advantage by revealing the top four cards of your library and potentially putting a number of those cards into your hand. This feature ensures you won’t quickly run out of options, keeping your hand filled with possibilities.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly a resource accelerator, the ability to sift through your library can indirectly accelerate your access to vital resources. By carefully selecting which cards to put into your hand, you set yourself up for more strategic and efficient plays, contributing to resource optimization.

Instant Speed: Due to its nature as a creature card, Singe-Mind Ogre doesn’t operate at instant speed. However, the abilities it introduces to the game can have synergistic interactions with other instant-speed spells and strategies, providing indirect benefits during your opponent’s turns.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Singe-Mind Ogre mandates the reveal and discard of a creature card, which may not align with your hand’s composition, potentially nullifying its effectiveness when you most require board presence.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both black and red mana, its color-specific casting cost restricts adaptability, rendering it ill-suited for decks that cannot consistently generate both types of mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana—specifically, three generic and one hybrid black/red—Singe-Mind Ogre’s impact on the game, considering its specific conditions and outcomes, might not justify the investment when other cards offer more value and flexibility for the same or lower mana expenditure.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Singe-Mind Ogre’s unique ability to peek into opponents’ hands and potentially cause damage makes it a flexible addition to decks that thrive on information and punishment tactics.

Combo Potential: This card pairs well with strategies that capitalize on knowing the opponent’s hand, allowing for smarter plays and interactions with cards that benefit from damaging opponents.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where many decks focus on fine-tuned strategies, Singe-Mind Ogre offers an edge by disrupting opponents’ plans while also advancing your board state with its solid stats for its cost.

How to beat

Singe-Mind Ogre enters the battlefield with an effect that can swing the game by revealing cards from your deck and potentially causing life loss. To mitigate this, maintaining a low average mana value in your deck minimizes the impact of its ability. Cards like Duress or Inquisition of Kozilek can preemptively remove it from your opponent’s hand, ensuring the ogre never hits the board.

Another strategy involves utilizing instant-speed removals such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile. Deploy these spells right after the ogre is cast but before its ability resolves, effectively neutralizing the threat without incurring its detrimental effect. Additionally, having creatures with higher toughness on the field can also deter your opponent from attacking, nullifying the ogre’s offensive potential.

Control decks that run counterspells, like Mana Leak or Negate, can also prove effective against Singe-Mind Ogre by stopping it from entering play. Ultimately, by employing thoughtful deck building and strategic play, you can reduce the impact of Singe-Mind Ogre and maintain an advantage over your opponent’s attempts to leverage its ability.

Cards like Singe-Mind Ogre

Singe-Mind Ogre makes an interesting impression on the suite of MTG cards designed to manipulate life totals. A decent analogue to Singe-Mind Ogre is Painful Quandary, a card that not only hampers opponents by having them lose life but also presents a challenging decision—losing life or discarding a precious card. Though both cards aim at pressuring the opponent, Singe-Mind Ogre does so with a specificity in revealing a card, which is absent in Painful Quandary.

Taking a look at another counterpart, Hidetsugu’s Second Rite directly links to a player’s life total and can have a dramatic impact similar to pulling off Singe-Mind Ogre’s reveal condition. While Hidetsugu’s Second Rite requires the life total to be exactly 10 to be effective, Singe-Mind Ogre offers more flexibility in affecting the opponent at any life total provided the correct card is revealed. Nonetheless, the immediacy of the Second Rite’s effect can be more surprising compared to Singe-Mind Ogre’s reveal mechanic.

Overall, Singe-Mind Ogre holds its own by providing strategic intel and potential damage. In the realm of life total-based cards, it offers a unique mix of information gathering and the potential for a life total swing, setting it apart from other options in the game.

Hidetsugu's Second Rite - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Singe-Mind Ogre by color, type and mana cost

Orcus, Prince of Undeath - MTG Card versions

Blim, Comedic Genius - MTG Card versions

Rakdos, Lord of Riots - MTG Card versions

Wort, Boggart Auntie - MTG Card versions

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Singe-Mind Ogre MTG card by a specific set like Alara Reborn, 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 Singe-Mind Ogre and other MTG cards: