Surrender Your Thoughts MTG Card


Surrender Your Thoughts - Archenemy Schemes
RarityCommon
TypeScheme
Released2010-06-18
Set symbol
Set nameArchenemy Schemes
Set codeOARC
Number39★
Frame2003
Layoutscheme
Borderblack
Illustred byHoward Lyon

Key Takeaways

  1. This card offers hand disruption and potential mana acceleration, boosting strategic control in MTG.
  2. At instant speed, flexibility is key, allowing for a reaction to opponents’ actions and influencing the game.
  3. Be mindful of the specific mana cost and higher casting value, which can impede deck versatility and timing.

Text of card

When you set this scheme in motion, target opponent chooses self or others. If that player chooses self, he or she discards four cards. If the player chooses others, each of your other opponents discards two cards.

"Or, if you prefer, just surrender."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Surrender Your Thoughts enables you to disrupt your opponent’s hand while simultaneously refilling your own, ensuring you stay ahead in the resource game.

Resource Acceleration: In addition to influencing the battlefield, this card also contributes to your mana pool, providing an edge to cast more spells sooner and take control of the game’s pace.

Instant Speed: Its instant speed capability grants flexibility, allowing you to adapt to the game’s flow and respond to your opponent’s threats effectively, maximizing strategic depth.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Surrender Your Thoughts imposes a discard condition on the player. This can be quite restrictive if you’re holding key cards for your strategy and you’re forced to choose between retaining your hand or advancing the board state by playing this card.

Specific Mana Cost: To cast Surrender Your Thoughts, players must have access to a particular combination of mana. This specific mana cost could be a stumbling block for multi-colored decks that may struggle to gather the necessary mana types in the early game stages, limiting the card’s versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana value that may be considered on the high end for its effects, Surrender Your Thoughts could be less appealing compared to other cards with lower mana requirements. In many cases, players might prefer options that are more mana-efficient, offering more flexibility and a quicker response to the game’s dynamics.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Surrender Your Thoughts is an adaptable card that can be effectively incorporated into a variety of deck strategies. Its ability to disrupt opponents by compelling them to discard makes it useful in both aggressive and control decks.

Combo Potential: This card’s inherent synergy with discard mechanics can be the linchpin in powerful combos. It pairs well with cards that capitalize on opponents losing cards or cards that offer benefits when the opponent has fewer cards in hand.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta dominated by hand-crafted strategies or combo decks, Surrender Your Thoughts serves as a countermeasure, stripping key components from your opponent’s plans and tilting the scales in your favor.


How to beat

Surrender Your Thoughts is a challenging card to face in MTG due to its ability to disrupt opponents by forcing them to discard and draw new cards. This mechanic can shift the tide of the game by dismantling your opponent’s strategy. To effectively counter this card, it’s important to adopt a playstyle that minimizes the negative impact of forced discard.

One strategy is to maintain a low hand count, making the effect of Surrender Your Thoughts less potent. Playing cards that allow you to utilize your graveyard, such as those with Flashback or other recursion abilities, can also help mitigate the effect of discarding. Additionally, using cards with abilities that trigger upon discarding or drawing can turn the tables, transforming a potential setback into an advantage.

Ultimately, preparing for the impact of Surrender Your Thoughts and maintaining flexibility in your tactics will put you in a better position to overcome the disruption it brings to the battlefield. By turning its disadvantage into opportunity, beating Surrender Your Thoughts becomes a strategic milestone in your gameplay.


Cards like Surrender Your Thoughts

Surrender Your Thoughts enters the library of Magic: The Gathering as an intriguing choice for players who love to manipulate their opponent’s hand. It shares its conceptual space with cards like Thoughtseize, which allows players to look at an opponent’s hand and choose a nonland card to discard. Thoughtseize offers the advantage of being a low-cost spell but comes with a life point cost to the user.

Another card worth comparing is Duress, a spell often utilized in competitive play due to its ability to target noncreature, nonland cards, which includes powerful planeswalkers and game-changing enchantments. However, Duress lacks the reach to affect creature cards, thereby giving Surrender Your Thoughts a broader spectrum of control. Then we look at Inquisition of Kozilek, with its restriction on the converted mana cost of the card it can hit, a limitation that Surrender Your Thoughts does not share. This makes the latter a versatile choice against a variety of decks.

Ultimately, Surrender Your Thoughts carves its niche with its ability to disrupt any card type in the opponent’s hand, making it a potent card in Magic: The Gathering for those who strategize to weaken their opponent’s position through precision hand control.

Thoughtseize - MTG Card versions
Duress - MTG Card versions
Inquisition of Kozilek - MTG Card versions
Thoughtseize - Lorwyn (LRW)
Duress - Urza's Saga (USG)
Inquisition of Kozilek - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)

Cards similar to Surrender Your Thoughts by color, type and mana cost

Perhaps You've Met My Cohort - MTG Card versions
Imprison This Insolent Wretch - MTG Card versions
Your Inescapable Doom - MTG Card versions
All in Good Time - MTG Card versions
The Dead Shall Serve - MTG Card versions
Mortal Flesh Is Weak - MTG Card versions
The Iron Guardian Stirs - MTG Card versions
Ignite the Cloneforge! - MTG Card versions
I Bask in Your Silent Awe - MTG Card versions
Nature Demands an Offering - MTG Card versions
Which of You Burns Brightest? - MTG Card versions
Look Skyward and Despair - MTG Card versions
Nothing Can Stop Me Now - MTG Card versions
Plots That Span Centuries - MTG Card versions
I Know All, I See All - MTG Card versions
Rotted Ones, Lay Siege - MTG Card versions
A Display of My Dark Power - MTG Card versions
Behold the Power of Destruction - MTG Card versions
My Genius Knows No Bounds - MTG Card versions
All Shall Smolder in My Wake - MTG Card versions
Perhaps You've Met My Cohort - Promotional Schemes (PARC)
Imprison This Insolent Wretch - Promotional Schemes (PARC)
Your Inescapable Doom - Promotional Schemes (PARC)
All in Good Time - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
The Dead Shall Serve - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Mortal Flesh Is Weak - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
The Iron Guardian Stirs - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Ignite the Cloneforge! - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
I Bask in Your Silent Awe - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Nature Demands an Offering - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Which of You Burns Brightest? - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Look Skyward and Despair - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Nothing Can Stop Me Now - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Plots That Span Centuries - Promotional Schemes (PARC)
I Know All, I See All - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Rotted Ones, Lay Siege - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
A Display of My Dark Power - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
Behold the Power of Destruction - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
My Genius Knows No Bounds - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)
All Shall Smolder in My Wake - Archenemy Schemes (OARC)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Surrender Your Thoughts MTG card by a specific set like Archenemy Schemes, 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 Surrender Your Thoughts and other MTG cards:

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Rules and information

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

DateText
2010-06-15 In a Supervillain Rumble game, the targeted player may still choose “others.” Each player who isn’t the active player or the targeted player will thus be affected.
2010-06-15 The targeted player may choose “others” even if there are no others (because all of their teammates have lost the game, for example), or the archenemy’s other opponents can’t perform the resulting action.
2010-06-15 The targeted player may choose “self” even if they can’t perform the resulting action. For example, a player targeted with Feed the Machine may choose “self” even if they control no creatures.

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