Transgress the Mind MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Abilities | Devoid |
| Released | 2015-10-02 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Battle for Zendikar |
| Set code | BFZ |
| Number | 101 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Cynthia Sheppard |
Key Takeaways
- Provides hand disruption by exiling significant threats, gaining an upper hand in control matchups.
- Demands specific mana and targets, which could limit usage in fast-paced or varied decks.
- Efficient against meta decks with higher mana curves, maintaining its relevance.
Text of card
Devoid (This card has no color.) Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it with converted mana cost 3 or greater and exile that card.
"Fear of the unknown can be a wonderfully innocent thing, relatively speaking." —Anowon, the Ruin Sage
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Transgress the Mind offers strategic hand disruption, letting you pinpoint and exile a crucial nonland card from your opponent’s hand. This can effectively diminish their tactical options and give you a clearer path to victory.
Resource Acceleration: By forcing your opponent to discard a card with a converted mana cost of 3 or greater, you’re able to slow down their game plan and resource development. This disrupts their curve and tempo, potentially setting back their critical turns.
Instant Speed: Despite being a sorcery, the low casting cost means it can easily fit into your curve, allowing you to proactively clear the way for your subsequent plays while still developing your board or holding mana for other responsive actions.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: An essential aspect to consider with Transgress the Mind is the reliance on targeting an opponent’s hand. While it allows you to exile a crucial card, the requirement that the card must have a converted mana cost of 3 or greater means you cannot always hit the intended target, especially against low-curve aggressive decks.
Specific Mana Cost: Transgress the Mind demands a specific combination of mana – one black and one colorless. This necessity can potentially hinder deck flexibility, particularly in multi-colored decks that may struggle with precise mana-fixing in the early game stages where disruption is crucial.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing two mana may seem modest, but in the fast-paced world of MTG, especially in Standard or Pioneer formats, the speed of your disruption spells is key. There are alternative one-mana spells that might not exile but still offer efficient disruption, presenting a quicker albeit less permanent solution to your opponent’s hand.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Transgress the Mind is a flexible option for any black-inclusive deck that aims to disrupt opponents early on. Its ability to exile nonland cards with converted mana cost 3 or greater makes it a solid choice for control or midrange strategies.
Combo Potential: Not only does it disrupt your opponent’s hand, but it also fuels graveyard-based strategies, serving as a catalyst for effects that benefit from cards being exiled.
Meta-Relevance: With many decks relying on key cards that have higher mana costs, Transgress the Mind stays relevant, efficiently dealing with threats before they can be played and shaping the match in your favor.
How to Beat Transgress the Mind
Transgress the Mind presents an interesting challenge in Magic: The Gathering as a way to disrupt your opponent’s strategy. This potent spell not only allows a peek into their hand but can also exile a card with converted mana cost 3 or greater. To effectively tackle Transgress the Mind, it’s important to diversify your hand with cards of varied costs, especially lower-cost spells. This minimizes the hit your hand takes, keeping your more valuable resources safe.
Another method is to utilize cards with flash, allowing you to cast spells on your opponent’s turn. This can reduce the impact of Transgress the Mind by giving you the opportunity to play key cards before your adversary has the chance to remove them. Moreover, keeping an eye on graveyard synergies is vital. Cards that benefit from or return from the graveyard can offer a way around the exile effect, maintaining your momentum even if a treasured card is plucked from your grasp.
In essence, adaptation and foresight are your best tools when facing Transgress the Mind. By anticipating it and adjusting your playstyle accordingly, you can nullify its potential and maintain control over the flow of the game.
Cards like Transgress the Mind
Transgress the Mind holds its own in the arsenal of hand disruption spells in Magic: The Gathering. It’s often compared to cards like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, which allow players to extract valuable information and critical pieces from the opponent’s hand early in the game. Though these options come at a lower mana cost, Transgress the Mind targets a unique range within the spectrum, digging into the opponent’s hand for cards with converted mana cost of 3 or greater, which circumvents potential early game threats that other low-cost spells might miss.
For those looking into the void of their opponent’s strategy, there’s Duress, a spell that’s cheaper than Transgress the Mind but limited to noncreature cards only. The distinction is crucial, as Transgress can upset an opponent’s creature-based strategies that Duress would overlook. Alternatively, we have Despise, which flips the script by allowing players to target creatures and planeswalkers exclusively, but again missing out on the broader stroke afforded by Transgress.
In essence, Transgress the Mind finds its niche by offering a strategic compromise, situating itself as a tool adept at preempting significant threats that gives seasoned players an edge in the nuanced dance of MTG hand disruption.
Cards similar to Transgress the Mind by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Transgress the Mind MTG card by a specific set like Battle for Zendikar, 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 Transgress the Mind and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Transgress the Mind has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Transgress the Mind card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-08-25 | A card with devoid is just colorless. It’s not colorless and the colors of mana in its mana cost. |
| 2015-08-25 | Cards with devoid use frames that are variations of the transparent frame traditionally used for Eldrazi. The top part of the card features some color over a background based on the texture of the hedrons that once imprisoned the Eldrazi. This coloration is intended to aid deckbuilding and game play. |
| 2015-08-25 | Devoid works in all zones, not just on the battlefield. |
| 2015-08-25 | If a card loses devoid, it will still be colorless. This is because effects that change an object’s color (like the one created by devoid) are considered before the object loses devoid. |
| 2015-08-25 | Other cards and abilities can give a card with devoid color. If that happens, it’s just the new color, not that color and colorless. |
