I bet they had this card without the "sacrifice" clause. As in, whenever someone cast a spell with the same name as something exiled with mindreaver, counter it.
That would seem impossibly broken, but Heroic doesn't work with mill. You either have to go full mill and have token targeting spells, or go more voltron-y with token mill. Either way, you're better by just playing Mind Sculpt or Hedron Crab.
One way or another, this isn't a good rare. Even in limited, it'll find little comfort in this set.
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
Easily the worst rare in the set. Grimoire Thief wasn't broken, was he?
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Samuel L. Jackson?
djh119
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
Inspiration makes sense. Wasting spells on a guy you want to sacrifice doesn't.
Wow this card is so... situational and... bad? - Heroic means you need to play targeted stuff in it - which is not what you want t do if you use this card. - 2/1 means he dies vs. even vs 1/1 tokens. - Counterspell manacost in addition to the sacrifice.
Grimoire Thief wasn't that great to start with. This card is worse on several levels.
0/5 stars 1/5 if you care about having two mana symbols
Trygon_Predator
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
How desperate are you to get an additional devotion? Certainly not that much. Has my vote for worst rare of the set. At least Culling Mark can still accomplish things (poorly, but it can).
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
hidden strings? using it with cipher cards that keep your opponents creatures locked down so you can move through. i guess is the way to go. not as bad as one might think, just not ideal.
Jaykru
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I feel like this card would have been cool if his heroic ability just milled and the counter/sac ability worked with the graveyard... Not like it would have been THAT playable.
Zenzei
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The funniest thing is, despite this card being just awful, it will probably see tournament play in blue devotion builds at some point. Got to get them mana symbols afterall.
1: The cards are exiled face-up instead of face-down, which means that the opponent will always know which cards you're able to counter.
2: It costs instead of just to counter the spells exiled with it.
3: It counters only one spell exiled with itself, instead of all of them. Rarely relevant, but still not a point in its favour.
4: It's only a 2/1, instead of a 2/2 like the Thief was.
And in addition to that, people have rightly pointed out that there are few Auras one would want to put on this guy, though Fate Foretold is one of them.
That said, Grimoire Thief was an excellent card, and I think this guy could still find a home in some mill decks.
HuntingDrake
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
In fairness, Voidmage Prodigy and Grimoire Thief are pretty popular, and Mindreaver doesn't have to turn sideways to mill.
Opened two of this guy in the prerelease... I immediately went home to rethink my life.
Lord_Skoonie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can potentially punish your opponent who keeps their card on top when they scry, but mill would work just as well.
Marzen64
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I got two of these during the pre-release. TWO.
I was sad.
enjoy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You gotta use temporary target cards like hidden strings to not lose value XD. It's really narrow, but you could use it in a mill deck? The problem is that he sacs himself and if the cost for countering isn't very cheap as well as having a heroic ability. Of curse, if he didn't sac himself, he would be nuts
MojoVince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is not a mill card and i may open this as i opened two Trait Doctoring of the only 20 boosters i bought from dragon maze ... Maybe i'm gonna play them tageted with the trait mouhahaha... No activation cost would have make him playable by the way and maybe exile 4 of 5 cards instead of 3.
kittendaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Its ability could just read "Add a blank to your rare slot in draft or sealed." Two pre-releases and two of these guys (and a Hero's Podium). Pretty disappointing rare. Bestowing on him and then saccing him to counter something is a non-bo :P
deggdegg
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
And the award for "crap rare of the set that I'm probably gonna pull 8 of" goes to...
Artsy_Wumpus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Someday (but not soon) this will be a Doomsday for storm decks...
anotherfan321
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Of course, I end up with one of these as my prerelease rare. If it only cost one U to sac it, I might've run it in my Heroic Mono-U wizards casual deck. But right now, Daring Apprentice.
Krysto
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Ok, so there has to be some way to break this guy. Suggestions I'm thinking of either revolve around Precursor Golem, or Mirrorweave and Radiate. Neither of which is cheap enough to be as broken as Grimoir can get.
How about a Storm Deck terminating in something to target him? There are plenty more storm options beyond Grapeshot that this guy could plausibly break including: Ground Rift, Astral Steel, Temporal Fissure, and Scattershot.
TexasDice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
OH, you'll go right into the "strictly worse"-cube from LRR.
I still did pretty damn good with this card, Ephara's Enlightenment and Hero of Iroas during a draft. This card would definitely be a lot more playable without the mana cost for countering the spell. Sacrificing something you wasted at least one enchantment on is already a big cost, it's not like you will counter any good spells with this card anyway.
Purplerooster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Coolio effect, but using resources to activate heroic for an on board counter that is very easily to play around is not the pay off we deserve.
Awesome play: Knowing what card is on top of your library off of a scry, opponent plays that card, you activate heroic with an instant targeting your self to exile that card, and then you counter it!
MSU_Iced_Z
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So far I have the most copies of this of any rares from the set, so I'm pretty depressed. lol But I just wanted to comment and commend Krysto on the first good idea I've heard. That storm deck sounds at least interesting enough to awaken my inner Johnny and keep me from burning this card.
An excellent target for other great rares like Trait Doctoring.
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is like a puzzle with no answer. I want to find something to like, but I can't. As others have said, mill is an all in strategy that doesn't have any spells that work with this. Evanescent Intellect feels like it was printed to combo with this, but both cards are awful. The combo of exiling face up and paying to activate kills this as a control strategy.
I've used this card in limited and actually won a few of my matches due to it. I used it in combination with floodtide serpent , fate foretold, and counter/bounce spells. Obvoiusly, the counter ability was useless in this format since most people only had 1 or 2 copies of the same card, but I was able to mill some of their win conditions and in one case I milled their entire deck with it. Definitely not the strongest card.
cotf1692
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Maybe you are playing Theros block constructed and are desperate to make some kind of U/B mill stall deck with other defensive heroic/inspired creatures so you use things like Retraction Helix or Necrobite until something worth countering happens? He is two devotion! Why do I have so many of him ;-;
Phelplan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmmmm... This is so close to Grimoire Thief, but they wanted to make it different. I think he would have seen standard play if he got this in addition to everything else: , Sacrifice Mindreaver: Put target permanent card exiled with Mindreaver on the battlefield under your control. This way he is not broken, still not as good at what Grimoire Thief does as the thief itself, but with an additional pricey but worthwhile option. Either that or let him exile more cards than Grimoire Thief, how about 5?
Comments (34)
That would seem impossibly broken, but Heroic doesn't work with mill. You either have to go full mill and have token targeting spells, or go more voltron-y with token mill. Either way, you're better by just playing Mind Sculpt or Hedron Crab.
One way or another, this isn't a good rare. Even in limited, it'll find little comfort in this set.
- Heroic means you need to play targeted stuff in it - which is not what you want t do if you use this card.
- 2/1 means he dies vs. even vs 1/1 tokens.
- Counterspell manacost in addition to the sacrifice.
Grimoire Thief wasn't that great to start with. This card is worse on several levels.
Contender for the worst rare of this set!
Good because this card is just as bad.
0/5 stars
1/5 if you care about having two mana symbols
Has my vote for worst rare of the set. At least Culling Mark can still accomplish things (poorly, but it can).
1: The cards are exiled face-up instead of face-down, which means that the opponent will always know which cards you're able to counter.
2: It costs
3: It counters only one spell exiled with itself, instead of all of them. Rarely relevant, but still not a point in its favour.
4: It's only a 2/1, instead of a 2/2 like the Thief was.
And in addition to that, people have rightly pointed out that there are few Auras one would want to put on this guy, though Fate Foretold is one of them.
That said, Grimoire Thief was an excellent card, and I think this guy could still find a home in some mill decks.
Hmm...
False Demise
Fool's Demise
Spitting Image
Rite of Replication
Cackling Counterpart
Stolen Identity
Tempt with Reflections
Fated Infatuation
I was sad.
It's really narrow, but you could use it in a mill deck? The problem is that he sacs himself and if the cost for countering isn't very cheap as well as having a heroic ability. Of curse, if he didn't sac himself, he would be nuts
Maybe i'm gonna play them tageted with the trait mouhahaha...
No activation cost would have make him playable by the way and maybe exile 4 of 5 cards instead of 3.
Suggestions I'm thinking of either revolve around Precursor Golem, or Mirrorweave and Radiate. Neither of which is cheap enough to be as broken as Grimoir can get.
How about a Storm Deck terminating in something to target him? There are plenty more storm options beyond Grapeshot that this guy could plausibly break including: Ground Rift, Astral Steel, Temporal Fissure, and Scattershot.
Awesome play: Knowing what card is on top of your library off of a scry, opponent plays that card, you activate heroic with an instant targeting your self to exile that card, and then you counter it!
Storm decks have Grapeshot, Dragonstorm, Tendrils of Agony and Brain Freeze. I don't care if it exiles, this isn't good enough to see play with storm.
This way he is not broken, still not as good at what Grimoire Thief does as the thief itself, but with an additional pricey but worthwhile option.
Either that or let him exile more cards than Grimoire Thief, how about 5?