I'm lovin the card and the art.
By the way: I love how this guy can say shit, but I can't say assassinate.
OMFGrhombus
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(10 votes)
There's a reason you don't see "Draw seven cards" on too many cards these days.
zk3
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Pretty great how you don't shuffle your graveyard or library, and you get your hand back, and you can activate when you have more mana, and how your opponent is basically milled 7 unless you didn't tap out for instants or drew Force of Will.
Atali
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@ Doom Lich: That is, of course, the reason Memory Jar was banned in Urza Block *before* the set was released.
Doom_Lich
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Hehe, Liliana's Caress/Megrim says:
"Better burn those cards fast, 'cause that's gonna huuuuuuurt! :D
@Atali: I realize why it was banned, I was pointing out a way to crack it just a little further open.
Bursama
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
My friend runs this in his artifact deck. This card says in his deck: {T}: Mill all opponents 7 cards and put next 7 cards from your library on the game. Sol Rings, Ornithopters, Mana Crypts, Master of Etheriums... This card is BROKEN adn SICK.
Guest1008149122
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
One of the best cards ever made and no surprise it was banned before the block came out. Has won me many a game in my Black/Blue Megrim deck and for that it gets a 5.
mlanier131
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can you use this at your opponents end step and keep the cards until your endstep?
Demonic_Math_Tutor
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
By the time i realized the combo with Megrim, this was already banned. Dammit wizards!
Gelzo
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(8 votes)
When I hear a card is broken, sometimes I really have to take a look and think before I can understand why it's broken.
For this card, I have to wonder how they could have not realized it was broken.
Oh well. If back then they could let something like Time Walk slip, I guess this isn't as egregious.
Tetsu_tora
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
works nice with prototype portal...well, I guess nice is relative. It sucks WAY MUCH to be on the receiving end of multiple jars.
Max_Glycine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@igniteice: But if you use the ability during the opponent's end step, the next end step doesn't begin until you end your turn, right? If I understand it correctly, if you activate it during the end step, the triggering event (the beginning of said step) has already happened, so you wait until your own end step, which is the next one. Can anyone confirm?
Most people think to use Mindslaver with Academy Ruins. Especially for multiplayer, I prefer Memory Jar. Recurring Jars over and over is nasty, and I don't even run the combo with Megrim. That would just be too cruel.
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
But it costs 5 mana!!! Tournament games never last 5 turns, so it can't be borken!!!!
Yeah right, it says "draw 7," everyone who sees it knows that basically every draw 7 effect is borken in half
Arachnos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hurts pretty bad in combo with Megrim, especially in Two Headed Giant where it can deal up to 28 damage at once to your opponents if they don't manage to get rid of the cards fast enough.
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One thing I'm wondering with this card is that at any point of this effect, will you have 0 cards in your hand?
This may seem like an easy question, however, I'm wondering if Psychosis Crawler will die if I played this ability.
JinnTolser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Isn't this card on the reserved list? If so, then why is it okay to reprint this but not the other cards on the list?
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This really should have been "at the beginning of each player's next end step, that player discards his or her hand yadda yadda yadda". It would still probably be broken (instant win with the drawn cards is not out of the question), but it'd give your opponent a chance to take advantage of the situation rather than just being "lol, in addition to the broken effect, mill 7 off my opponent!" against a lot of decks.
WhereDidItGo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@Ferlord:Technically yes, but it doesn't matter because your hand is empty while the effect is still resolving, and state-based actions (like "dying due to 0 toughness") aren't checked until a spell's entire effect has finished resolving. In short, your Crawler survives.
@Max_Glycine: You're right. "At the beginning of the next end step" effects don't trigger until, well, the beginning of the next end step. This is true even if you activate the ability during an end step. Igniteice is wrong about the discarding anyways, since you only discard during your own cleanup step, and even then only if your hand is over your max hand size.
@JinnTolser: Because this isn't really reprinted in the strictest sense of the word. Yes, it's been printed again, but it's still banned in pretty much every format ever, which sorta defeats the purpose of making it easier to obtain. The only players this will affect are the casual ones, and their playgroups will probably hate them for it.
Anyways, the card itself is an obvious 5/5. It also serves as a useful barometer of how skilled a player is: the newbies see it and think of combos, while the experienced players see nothing but raw card advantage.
krauser-gogetthegirl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
MARO: no my mojo!
BongRipper420
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Forget the broken ability, I'm giving this card a 5/5 for the art alone. I'd definitely say this is among the best art this game has produced.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
IMO this should have had new art: The Urza's Destiny set symbol (which conveniently happens to be the BAN HAMMER) smashing into the Memory Jar, showing how it got 'broken' in the first place :)
That would have been Epic, but slightly Un-set style. Oh well. :p
Ancestral_Forget
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This is the answer to so many trivia questions.
Q: What is a mythic rare on the reserved list? A: Memory Jar.
Q: Which card from Urza's Block was so broken it was banned, but never got any tournament play? A: Memory Jar (because it was banned before released)
Arguably most of the reserved list would have been printed as mythic, excluding stuff like Homarid Shaman
igniteice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@mlanier131 No, the card says at the beginning of the next end step, not the beginning of your next end step. If you tapped this during your opponent's turn, you would be forcing yourself to discard seven cards (minus any instants you could manage to play).
@Max_Glycine Correct. If you used this after the beginning of the end step of your opponent's turn (e.g., not before it during the second main phase), then the next 'beginning of the end step' would be yours. Essentially there is only one 'beginning of' the end step, and as long as you do anything after that, the next end step is your own. I incorrectly read mlanier's comment as him casting this before the end step, not after it.
How did they not realize this was broken? Did they just not test these cards at all back then?
Presumably someone simply didn't notice that most opponents would have no chance to use the cards it gave them (making it a one-sided seven-card draw), but seriously, how do you overlook that?
ninjadave26
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What happens if you copy the ability? A friend did this the other day and no one was sure what would happen. Thanks for any help
mtgraptor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Copying this ability won't help you much. You will exile your hand to draw 7, which you will then exile again to draw 7. At end of turn you will discard your hand to return the other 7 drawn cards, which you will then discard again to return your original hand. You will only be able to cast instants before you exile your first 7 drawn or before discarding them
gut.gemacht
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can anyone make the argument of why you wouldn't include this in a commander deck?
TheKazu
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The original top-down design, it was designed to match the art provided to them: A broken jar.
Comments (33)
WHAT THE SHIT WIZARDS.
It's like Christmas came early! Yay!
By the way: I love how this guy can say shit, but I can't say assassinate.
"Better burn those cards fast, 'cause that's gonna huuuuuuurt! :D
@Atali: I realize why it was banned, I was pointing out a way to crack it just a little further open.
For this card, I have to wonder how they could have not realized it was broken.
Oh well. If back then they could let something like Time Walk slip, I guess this isn't as egregious.
"Hmm, which hand to keep..."
Yeah right, it says "draw 7," everyone who sees it knows that basically every draw 7 effect is borken in half
This may seem like an easy question, however, I'm wondering if Psychosis Crawler will die if I played this ability.
@Max_Glycine: You're right. "At the beginning of the next end step" effects don't trigger until, well, the beginning of the next end step. This is true even if you activate the ability during an end step. Igniteice is wrong about the discarding anyways, since you only discard during your own cleanup step, and even then only if your hand is over your max hand size.
@JinnTolser: Because this isn't really reprinted in the strictest sense of the word. Yes, it's been printed again, but it's still banned in pretty much every format ever, which sorta defeats the purpose of making it easier to obtain. The only players this will affect are the casual ones, and their playgroups will probably hate them for it.
Anyways, the card itself is an obvious 5/5. It also serves as a useful barometer of how skilled a player is: the newbies see it and think of combos, while the experienced players see nothing but raw card advantage.
That would have been Epic, but slightly Un-set style. Oh well. :p
Q: What is a mythic rare on the reserved list?
A: Memory Jar.
Q: Which card from Urza's Block was so broken it was banned, but never got any tournament play?
A: Memory Jar (because it was banned before released)
Arguably most of the reserved list would have been printed as mythic, excluding stuff like Homarid Shaman
No, the card says at the beginning of the next end step, not the beginning of your next end step. If you tapped this during your opponent's turn, you would be forcing yourself to discard seven cards (minus any instants you could manage to play).
@Max_Glycine
Correct. If you used this after the beginning of the end step of your opponent's turn (e.g., not before it during the second main phase), then the next 'beginning of the end step' would be yours. Essentially there is only one 'beginning of' the end step, and as long as you do anything after that, the next end step is your own. I incorrectly read mlanier's comment as him casting this before the end step, not after it.
Presumably someone simply didn't notice that most opponents would have no chance to use the cards it gave them (making it a one-sided seven-card draw), but seriously, how do you overlook that?
Its safe to say they met that goal.