The art really struck home with me. Simple, yet immensely creepy. Of all the masterpieces of Magic: The Gathering, I dare say this is my favourite. The card itself isn't bad either.
thegatekeeper
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
some of the best are ive ever seen XD
boneclub
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(21 votes)
TL;DR: Look at target player's hand and cast a spell from it with their mana.
At first I wondered "so what prevents my opponent from tapping his lands in response?". But of course the mana stays in the pool even after word of command resolved. T_T Except if that opponent got a lot of instants or mana sinks.
ThoughtsAreFree
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(11 votes)
Word of Command 10/4/2004 "If used with a card that allows your opponent to search his or her library, you do not get to look through that player's library. You get to name a legal card for them to take. If it is in the library, they take it. If not, you name another card. Repeat until you name one that they have. Remember that even on-resolution decisions are made by Word of Command's player."
Mindslaver 12/1/2004 "You can see everything that player can see but you normally could not. This includes that player's hand, face-down creatures, and any cards in his or her library that he or she looks at."
With the errata using the wording 'control target player', and the fact that both of these cards do so, it seems an inconsistency that the Player casting Word of Command can't look at all cards the Player he or she is controlling could. 'Control target player' is great, but only if it means the same thing everywhere.
GainsBanding
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
I gave it a shot, but the dude just had creatures in his hand. That didn't help me any.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
That's really just Eater of the Dead lurking back there. Come on out you abomination you
OverfiendSurprise
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
there are a lot of ways this can go wrong:
1) they only have creatures 2) they only have counterspells and you didn't respond to anything 3) they only have spot removal and you responded to the only target 4) they respond and tap out producing useless mana with dual lands 5) they are playing something like Stax or Lands and everything in their hand scares you
Play with duress, thoughtseize, or any other {B} hand revealer or not at all. even then it's still a risky card to mainboard :/ split second would fix some problems, but also create more by pushing it over the edge into the land of OP cards that Jace, the Format Breaker is the president of. a place where the sky rains nerd tears and 43 lands is as common as the herp >.<
Deepfried-Owls
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
This art is amazing.
It may even be better than polar bear in an intense blizzard.
Jesseman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
This is all you see when a chocolate man is behind you...at night
blink182zombies
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
This is a nice and kind of ironic answer to those Hive Mind decks that run Pacts in Legacy. It's also fun against Zoo, because you can make them Path to Exile their aggressive creature if you don't have any creatures out.
JFM2796
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Why are there little black lines where the rules text would be?
drpvfx
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I have a couple of these.
While they are nowhere near as fun as Mindslaver, they are more useful.
It's a great card for baiting out counterspells- they either counter this, or you'll cast something to tap their lands so they can't counter you.
Then cast something they would *want* to counter, like Channel :-D
The art is just a close up of the interior of the original Howling Mine art.
Psychrates
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Not many other black spells control an opponent's spell-casting, especially for 2B. Splashed properly, it's never seen coming.
flipsyalec
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
How does the new text work with additional costs on spells such as Goblin Grenade?
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Legacy, mono-black control. This card is MBC. Accept no imitations!
The other MBC card that is MBC is Nether Void. Nobody seems to remember that one exists, either :)
idrinkyourmilkshake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He sees what you did there...
Totema
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Um... I think Oracle somehow made the rules text more confusing than how it's printed...
Kazabet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Artist: So, what kind of art you thinking? Designer: Something very... commandish but more proactive! Artist: -_-
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I need 4 copies for all of my black decks. Then 4 more for all my other decks, and black mana sources for those other decks.
car2n
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Inspiringly lazy art.
MasterOfParadox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Let me attempt to translate this;
Word of Command BB Instant Target player reveals his hand. Choose a spell. Until end of turn, you may tap lands and use mana in that players mana pool to cast that spell. You may choose that spell's targets.
Oi. That's... Ok, I guess. I can see some very good uses for it.
ColdTroller
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is so horrendously underused its not even funny. There's been times where this card has been better for me than a time walk.
WarioMan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So turns out they changed the rulings on this card. You CAN now look through their library if you force them to tutor or fetch something...
Comments (27)
Look at target player's hand and cast a spell from it with their mana.
Mindslaver 12/1/2004 "You can see everything that player can see but you normally could not. This includes that player's hand, face-down creatures, and any cards in his or her library that he or she looks at."
With the errata using the wording 'control target player', and the fact that both of these cards do so, it seems an inconsistency that the Player casting Word of Command can't look at all cards the Player he or she is controlling could. 'Control target player' is great, but only if it means the same thing everywhere.
1) they only have creatures
2) they only have counterspells and you didn't respond to anything
3) they only have spot removal and you responded to the only target
4) they respond and tap out producing useless mana with dual lands
5) they are playing something like Stax or Lands and everything in their hand scares you
Play with duress, thoughtseize, or any other {B} hand revealer or not at all. even then it's still a risky card to mainboard :/
split second would fix some problems, but also create more by pushing it over the edge into the land of OP cards that Jace, the Format Breaker is the president of. a place where the sky rains nerd tears and 43 lands is as common as the herp >.<
It may even be better than polar bear in an intense blizzard.
While they are nowhere near as fun as Mindslaver,
they are more useful.
It's a great card for baiting out counterspells-
they either counter this, or you'll cast something to tap their lands so they can't counter you.
Then cast something they would *want* to counter, like Channel :-D
And yes, Isochron Scepter is a great combo here.
It's also fun on a Panoptic Mirror.
The other MBC card that is MBC is Nether Void. Nobody seems to remember that one exists, either :)
Designer: Something very... commandish but more proactive!
Artist: -_-
Word of Command BB
Instant
Target player reveals his hand. Choose a spell. Until end of turn, you may tap lands and use mana in that players mana pool to cast that spell. You may choose that spell's targets.
Oi. That's... Ok, I guess. I can see some very good uses for it.