haHA! You used to have a typeless, colorless 2/2, but now all you have is an Exalted Angel! WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW?
OR: you can hose warbreak trumpeter.
holgir
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This is so limited to limited to limited ... ooops, no use left!
But speaking seriously, why can't this turn up your own creatures, would that be overpowered?
True_Smog
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
A spell that helps your opponet ?! oh come on !
Laguz
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(8 votes)
Terrible cards have the same appeal as terrible movies
Zoah
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Umm.... It might have some effect... on something....
I guess it dose force your opponent to use an ability prematurely, or (if the actual creature is weaker) it might weaken your opponents monster...
Oh, who am I kidding? */2
Not quite the very worst, but pretty close.
True_Mumin
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(11 votes)
Word fail me. I cannot accurately describe the astonishing assness of this piece of crap. It helps your opponent. It's just... it's unbelievable.
Great synergy with a paper shredder, my opponents can't fathom the power half the time. *long pause* Where's the negative star button?
-2/5 if I could.
Dregrage
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The only situation i found in which this thing kinda "useful" are when you make a Scornful Egotist pop out.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Use with Ixidron because 2/2 creatures are too hot to handle?
metalevolence
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(13 votes)
WAIT GUYS GIVE THEM AN UNSTABLE HULK BROKEN COMBO BROKEN COMBO
Hibron
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
When I first saw this, I was like: WOW! I can play exalted angels cheaply!
Then I saw that it targeted opponents.
Oskar_Thundershield
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
why help opponent to face up?
WeeWaaWeeWaa
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I believe that this card is severely underrated. Look what you can do with Fatal Mutation. This is going to be imprinted on Isochron Scepter.
5/5
Duskdale_Wurm
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Crappish.
0/5
Belz_
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Should've destroyed a face-down creature instead... but then all you need is Shock.
Carnophage_4ever
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@weewaaweewaa
Much better to wait your opponent to pay the morph cost and then play fatal mutation on the creature... anyway, this pitiful combo is double colour, costs 3. Like a very sucky Diabolic Edict, Deathmark, Doom Blade, Lightning Bolt, etc. Anyhow, even Fatal Mutation is a sideboard at best.
Saikuba
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
What you do is donate an expensive morph creature to your opponent, cast break open, then steal it back with control magic or something similar. Completely pointless, but very hilarious.
Your.Chubby.Buddy
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Whoa, talk about a card that withstands the test of time. I can see this card being a vintage maindeck four of. I mean its certainly playable at one colorless one red, and at INSTANT speed! Morph is such a huge part of the vintage metagame that being able to turn your opponents 2/2 threats into worthless vanilla 13/13's is pretty useful. Plus you gain valuable insight as to what your opponents deck might look like, which is the key to success. 5 stars
Tiggurix
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
So bad it's absolutely hilarious, kind of like a Wood Elemental.
The_Trendkill
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
If there is a lower-rated card on Gatherer, I am unaware of it.
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(9 votes)
That is in fact a Vampire Cephalid. Sunlight is anathema to it; hence its reaction.
Thus, that barbarian has the right idea.
KikiJikiTiki
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
Give them your face-down, smash it, take it back? 1. Bazaar Trader 2. Play your guy face down & give with the trader 3. Threaten, Break Open, then take permanently with the trader.
This solves the question of what does a face-down morph creature look like? Apparently it is merely the creature covered in a stone casing. Which raises the question: Why the hell is Akroma, angel of Fury covered in stone a 2/2 vanilla creature?
Radagast
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Wonderfully horrible. Helps your opponent win in most cases and costs you a card and mana.
Wow, that Akroma, Angel of Fury would've cost me 6 mana! But instead, you paid 2 and gave it to me 3 turns early without me paying any mana! Thanks!
Superllama12
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Killer against Scornful Egoist...-1/-1 permanently for 2 mana...if your opponent is playing with Scornful Egoist...
Ava_Adore
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
i do like the flavor text and the picture, and the flavor, maybe i could cut them out and slap em on another card, and then cook whats left and pour it on another card to keep the flavor in, but apart from that uuuh wtf
blindthrall
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The worst card in Magic? I don't think it deserves it's crown. First, it's niche. Most whippersnappers have no idea what morph is. Second, it was created to punish people who just couldn't stand the idea of not knowing what a card is-which I approve. Third, it's easy to fix. "Destroy that creature if it's CMC is six or greater." This would have seen play if that was the case. It's just not aggressively unplayable enough for me.
busdude
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The lowest rated card on Gatherer, definitely a contender for the worst card ever. Only possible use could be to kill an opponent's Blistering Firecat, or something like that.
Yoktes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
would you believe it if i said that in the same old packs booster draft i got this and ember shot and my friend got storm crow?
land_comment
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is broken. Krosan cloudskraper. Oh, wait, it's not target player...
Imperialstonedragon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
the best part about such cards are the hilarious comments
DysprosiumJudas
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
I don't see how you can't love this disgusting little card. The flavor is amazing, and when you consider how this card actually works, the little mental image of a barbarian "breaking open" something and finding out what a ridiculous mistake that was just fits in perfectly. I love this card and I couldn't imagine a single worse card. I mean, even hilariously inefficient creatures like Wood Elemental are built with the design of ultimately hurting your opponent, whereas this one is actually spending a card and some mana to help your opponent. I mean, think about it: there are probably a total of two obscure situations where this would be helpful (I guess someone's blocking with a Headhunter and is threating to kill your x/2 creature or something? But even then you'd be better off with some other instant designed for that kind of scenario), every other use of this card actually HELPS your opponent win the game.
And, to top it all off, this card absolutely relies on a small, forgettable design mechanic that has long since fallen off the map of MTG. So you'll never even have the chance to help out an opponent.
Wizards quite literally couldn't have constructed a worse card. The beautiful flavor of this card just work together with the bad design to make me wonder if this was on purpose. If so, bravo Wizards, but I warn you: try and outdo yourself on this one and i think you'll find your options limited to some Unset silliness.
Phantom_of_the_FNM
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This would actually be, well, at least not as bad, if it cantripped. It would still be bad, but I might play it in Onslaught limited. In a sideboard. against crazy morph decks.
Morgrath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I can see it being useful against Willbender, Mischievous Quanar, blue morphers with conditional instant-style 'turned face up' abilities. But still, no way is this worth anything outside limited besides sweet flavour text.
Ferlord
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Oh no. You made me turn over my card. Now i don't need to pay the Morph cost.
At the time, this card was still pretty bad. Rarely did morphing creatures get a negative effect when morphed (unless referring to Scornful Egotist).
And now, since Morphing is obsolete, it makes it worse.
nimzo
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The missing part is "Draw a card".
sonorhC
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
@Morgrath: Yeah, those, or things with "when this does combat damage to a player" that your opponent might surprise you with after you block the wrong thing. That was probably the intention behind this card, to act as a countermeasure to things like that. But what they really should have done was something like "Look at target face-down creature. You may turn that creature face-up.". Or maybe add a cantrip and restrict it to creatures an opponent controls.
JFM2796
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If it is the Scornful Egotist then it serves as saying -1/-1 until end of turn. I think that is the only scenario where this card is beneficial in any way.
JudgeDoom
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
So how will this work with the new double sided cards in innistrad? Could this finally have a use now?
ICEFANG13
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
@JudgeDoom
I am no judge, but transformed cards aren't face down, they are transformed, they aren't the same thing
ax_morph
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I thought I could use this until I read 'opponent'.
Bleh.
luca_barelli
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Here it is folks: the worst card in the game. Pay 2 mana to help your opponent.
silverpaw
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is not to bad, it's main use is like a counter spell. You have it side boarded and if you play against a deck that is a morph deck that has a chain set up with the morphs or if the morphs are used for counter spells. This has a very limited use and unless you know someone would play a morph deck then I would not even bother. Though it does bring up question if it can be used on double sided cards.
Decent in limited with Spy Network if your opponent dares to run Unstable Hulk. The power of this card lies in not letting your opponent decide when and where to morph his/her creatures, which is actually quite good when you think about how many of the morph creatures' effects only lasted until end of turn. People who ran Root Elemental could be forced to flip it when they had no cards in hand or when they didn't have any fatties in hand (Spy Network and to some extend 7th ED Telepathy when not playing limited).
It did what it was supposed to at the time. I've seen worse, but still 1,5/5 because it's just not good any more.
This is a very useful card. You can do a ton of awesome things with it! Here's a handy list: 1. Collect a ton and make a bonfire! 2. Trick some newbie into thinking this is really good and have them play it against you! 3. Use it as bedding for your small animal pet. 4. Give it as a birthday gift to someone, freeing you from getting them a real one. 5. Play it against people to make friends. 6. Play it against people to make amends after Kokushoing them in multiplayer. 7. Recycle it to make environmentalists happy. 8. Memorize the artist's name and use it to confuse people. 9. Go to FNM, pretend you think it's the best card ever, and count how many people roll their eyes at you. 10. Shred it and use it as confetti!
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Like many other terrible cards in this game, this card is great if you're your own opponent.
To those of you doubters out there, I have one thing I hav- ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD EGOTIST.
ItsJustBrenton
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I was about to vouch for this card, thinking "who doesn't wanna flip their morph creatures for 2, especially the expensive ones"
Then I saw it only affects opponents cards.
...Uh. R&D? Ya dun goofed.
Doaj
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I demand a reprint!
UncreativeNameMaker
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
Most cards with a rating of <1 are simply overcosted. This is one of the few that would still be a terrible card even if it cost . You don't even have the option to cast it unless your opponent has face down creatures. When you do get to use it, it will almost always help your opponent. And even in the few cases where it actually would do something in your favor, you'd still be much better off with a Shock.
Tynansdtm
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I think that the only morph creature usually run in commander decks is a Willbender. So, there. Niche use. Also, if they had Willbender and two mana, they can just hit you in the face with your own Shock, whereas there's no use in redirecting this.
And just a ruling: Transform creatures cannot be turned face down or up. Though they can be exiled face down. This is something I don't agree with.
shotoku64
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Aw, you ruined the surprise...
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Overpowered. Should've been a sorcery. :P
infernocookie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I did it! I thought of a way to use this card. okay you have a red deck with all morph creatures. you could have creatures from other colors too if you want. and you're playing against a deck that steals your creatures until the end of turn. so a couple turns into the game you put out atowering baloth for the 3 colorless. than your opponent steals it with a mark of mutiny or a threaten after he attacks use your break open and you have a 7/6 that you had no intention of ever legitimately morphing. But........................... Break open still really sucks.
vantha
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Unreal how horrible this card is. There is absolutely no circumstance in which you want to Un-morph a creature for an opponent. Someone at WoTC should really think about the name of this card, Break Open, wouldn't it make more sense to Destroy target faced down creature? Or even change the wording Turn target faced down creature Face up, at least that way you can reduce the Morph cost of your own creatures.
This card had to have been a joke, but its missing the Punchline.
EGarrett01
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Even the artist couldn't figure out a way to paint so it didn't look like the guy was doing something stupid. He's releasing an octopus-monster from some kind of stone prison. Good job idiot.
Infernaldarkness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
PEOPLE! DO NOT RATE THIS CARD BECOZ GIVING IT A RATE OF 0.5 WOULD ACTUALLY RAISE THE RATING! jk this card is just horribly made. . .
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Actually, the top commentor's Items #5 and #6 are EXACTLY why I think I want a nice, shiny FNM Promo of this card ^_^
Does anyone remember Mark Rosewater's "Goblin of the Goblins" article previewing Rise of the Eldrazi? It had a Goblin Button tribal theme, I believe XD This card is THE BIG RED SHINY GOBLIN BUTTON OF DOOM. DO NOT PRESS IT.
Honestly, Red has almost Zero cards suitable for Group Hug decks, and this fits ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY in those! :D
"Hey guys, I have Break Open! Feel free to attack me but the guy to my left has a Morph Deck. Any guesses what his facedown card might be? Squee wants to know, preciouses! So go ahead, attack me, I dare you :) "
Use #11: Pretend you are playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Play it on a friend's Morph Card in Multiplayer and have them say "YOU JUST ACTIVATED MY TRAP-MONSTER!"
Use #12: Play it in REAL Yu-Gi-Oh!, by playing it in an Unhinged Booster Draft, via Booster Tutor, to activate some random person in the room's Trap Card.
Use #13: Attempt and fail to run out of "You just activated my Trap Card!" jokes.
konokono
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I've seen Wood Elemental Decks I've seen Sorrow's Path Decks I've seen Mudhole Decks I have not seen a Break Open deck
immelmann
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Attempting to fix this card..
Break Open , instant
Turn target face-down creature face up. Break Open does 4 damage to you.
This way you could use it to accelerate your own game/ morph in an emergency for the morph effect, and has a history of being reckless and gambling with damage.
Aquillion
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
You can put it on an Isochron Scepter, then turn all of your opponent's cards face up!
Also: Effective vs. Scornful Egotist. Clearly this is one of the strongest cards ever printed.
More seriously... this card is one of the few totally-unsalvageable cards in the game. Aside from letting it flip your creatures (which would totally change what it does), there's no real hope for it. Even if it was a cantrip and cost one mana, it'd suck. It could exile the target creature and it still wouldn't be any good.
It should be rated lower. There are actual creatures rated lower than this currently, which is ridiculous; no matter how bad Face of Fear or Bog Hoodlums are, they can still attack and block, even if at an outrageous price. This card is just useless; most of the time you simply can't play it, and even when you can, you'd never want to. The rare situations where it might help you, you have no way of knowing whether it will or not (and it probably won't.)
So Break Open keeps those effects from gaining value on you.
So not useless, but still sucks; why again wouldn't red just Shock the face-down creature?
EvilDarkVoid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
After so long, I have found the truth! The real reason that this card's rating is so low is because it is a hard counter t-ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD EGOTIST!
NARFNra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@EGarrett01
It's the morph creature shell. He's bashing open the morph creature. You see the morph creature in the art of most creatures with it, it's supposed to be what they look like morphed. You can see it in a few other cards.
bfellow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is good when my opponent plays his turn 2-3 2/2 morph creature, and you really really want to see if its red Akroma or not.
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I ate this card. Not 'hate', I literally cooked one and ate the entire thing. It was a dare. It didn't taste great, even with hot-sauce.
I am with 'metalevolence' here. I think this card's best use is to Bazaar Trader your opponent a face-down Unstable Hulk, then break it open to get an extra turn.
T1: Mountain, anything. T2: Bazaar Trader T3: Morphed hulk, trade it to your opponent T4: Break open.
Its slow, clunky, and convoluted, but its as good as I can come up with. I may try to make this into a deck.
This card isn't about flipping your opponent's morphed creature. It's about learning what it is. It's like a card that reads "Look at target opponent's hand. That player must cast a spell from their hand without paying its mana cost if able." The benefit is in revealing what it is, not in flipping it. Flipping it is an unfortunate side effect. You'd cast it under similar circumstances that you'd play a discard spell when your opponent has an instant you know they can play in their hand. Forcing an action now can be invaluable. Of course, shock forces your opponent's hand much more effectively, which is why this card should have had a cantrip or something.
talcumpowder0046
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
AMAZING CARD RUN 60!!!!!
CFLuke
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well, if you're playing against someone that you know uses Blistering Firecat, it could actually be useful by requiring them to sacrifice the creature without attacking. They were both printed in the same set, after all. But, then, maybe not as useful as Shock
HuntingDrake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If this ever made a Voidmage Apprentice's controller counter their own spell, it was all worth it.
Comments (81)
OR: you can hose warbreak trumpeter.
But speaking seriously, why can't this turn up your own creatures, would that be overpowered?
I guess it dose force your opponent to use an ability prematurely, or (if the actual creature is weaker) it might weaken your opponents monster...
Oh, who am I kidding? */2
Not quite the very worst, but pretty close.
Player 2: Okay. Krosan Cloudscraper.
Player 1: O_O
-2/5 if I could.
GIVE THEM AN UNSTABLE HULK
BROKEN COMBO BROKEN COMBO
Then I saw that it targeted opponents.
5/5
0/5
Much better to wait your opponent to pay the morph cost and then play fatal mutation on the creature... anyway, this pitiful combo is double colour, costs 3. Like a very sucky Diabolic Edict, Deathmark, Doom Blade, Lightning Bolt, etc. Anyhow, even Fatal Mutation is a sideboard at best.
Thus, that barbarian has the right idea.
1. Bazaar Trader
2. Play your guy face down & give with the trader
3. Threaten, Break Open, then take permanently with the trader.
I like the Unstable Hulk idea better.
And, to top it all off, this card absolutely relies on a small, forgettable design mechanic that has long since fallen off the map of MTG. So you'll never even have the chance to help out an opponent.
Wizards quite literally couldn't have constructed a worse card. The beautiful flavor of this card just work together with the bad design to make me wonder if this was on purpose. If so, bravo Wizards, but I warn you: try and outdo yourself on this one and i think you'll find your options limited to some Unset silliness.
It would still be bad, but I might play it in Onslaught limited. In a sideboard. against crazy morph decks.
At the time, this card was still pretty bad. Rarely did morphing creatures get a negative effect when morphed (unless referring to Scornful Egotist).
And now, since Morphing is obsolete, it makes it worse.
I am no judge, but transformed cards aren't face down, they are transformed, they aren't the same thing
Bleh.
STEP 2: Isochron Scepter/Panoptic Mirror imprinting Break Open
STEP 3: Isochron Scepter/Panoptic Mirror imprinting Backslide
STEP 4: Bazaar Trader/Donate
STEP 5: ?????
STEP 6: PROFIT!!!
Can be used to give Ixidron -1/-1 and turn Scornful Egotist from a 2/2 to a 1/1!
BROOOOOKEN!
It did what it was supposed to at the time. I've seen worse, but still 1,5/5 because it's just not good any more.
1. Collect a ton and make a bonfire!
2. Trick some newbie into thinking this is really good and have them play it against you!
3. Use it as bedding for your small animal pet.
4. Give it as a birthday gift to someone, freeing you from getting them a real one.
5. Play it against people to make friends.
6. Play it against people to make amends after Kokushoing them in multiplayer.
7. Recycle it to make environmentalists happy.
8. Memorize the artist's name and use it to confuse people.
9. Go to FNM, pretend you think it's the best card ever, and count how many people roll their eyes at you.
10. Shred it and use it as confetti!
Then I saw it only affects opponents cards.
...Uh. R&D? Ya dun goofed.
And just a ruling: Transform creatures cannot be turned face down or up. Though they can be exiled face down. This is something I don't agree with.
This card had to have been a joke, but its missing the Punchline.
Does anyone remember Mark Rosewater's "Goblin of the Goblins" article previewing Rise of the Eldrazi? It had a Goblin Button tribal theme, I believe XD This card is THE BIG RED SHINY GOBLIN BUTTON OF DOOM. DO NOT PRESS IT.
Honestly, Red has almost Zero cards suitable for Group Hug decks, and this fits ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY in those! :D
"Hey guys, I have Break Open! Feel free to attack me but the guy to my left has a Morph Deck. Any guesses what his facedown card might be? Squee wants to know, preciouses! So go ahead, attack me, I dare you :) "
Use #11: Pretend you are playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Play it on a friend's Morph Card in Multiplayer and have them say "YOU JUST ACTIVATED MY TRAP-MONSTER!"
Use #12: Play it in REAL Yu-Gi-Oh!, by playing it in an Unhinged Booster Draft, via Booster Tutor, to activate some random person in the room's Trap Card.
Use #13: Attempt and fail to run out of "You just activated my Trap Card!" jokes.
I've seen Sorrow's Path Decks
I've seen Mudhole Decks
I have not seen a Break Open deck
Break Open
Turn target face-down creature face up. Break Open does 4 damage to you.
This way you could use it to accelerate your own game/ morph in an emergency for the morph effect, and
Also: Effective vs. Scornful Egotist. Clearly this is one of the strongest cards ever printed.
More seriously... this card is one of the few totally-unsalvageable cards in the game. Aside from letting it flip your creatures (which would totally change what it does), there's no real hope for it. Even if it was a cantrip and cost one mana, it'd suck. It could exile the target creature and it still wouldn't be any good.
It should be rated lower. There are actual creatures rated lower than this currently, which is ridiculous; no matter how bad Face of Fear or Bog Hoodlums are, they can still attack and block, even if at an outrageous price. This card is just useless; most of the time you simply can't play it, and even when you can, you'd never want to. The rare situations where it might help you, you have no way of knowing whether it will or not (and it probably won't.)
Aphetto Exterminator,
Aven Liberator,
Bloodstoke Howler,
Chromeshell Crab,
Defender of the Order,
Dermoplasm,
Frontline Strategist,
Voidmage Apprentice,
Willbender,
Woodcloaker.
So Break Open keeps those effects from gaining value on you.
So not useless, but still sucks; why again wouldn't red just Shock the face-down creature?
It's the morph creature shell. He's bashing open the morph creature. You see the morph creature in the art of most creatures with it, it's supposed to be what they look like morphed. You can see it in a few other cards.
I am with 'metalevolence' here. I think this card's best use is to Bazaar Trader your opponent a face-down Unstable Hulk, then break it open to get an extra turn.
T1: Mountain, anything.
T2: Bazaar Trader
T3: Morphed hulk, trade it to your opponent
T4: Break open.
Its slow, clunky, and convoluted, but its as good as I can come up with. I may try to make this into a deck.
"Look at target opponent's hand. That player must cast a spell from their hand without paying its mana cost if able."
The benefit is in revealing what it is, not in flipping it. Flipping it is an unfortunate side effect. You'd cast it under similar circumstances that you'd play a discard spell when your opponent has an instant you know they can play in their hand. Forcing an action now can be invaluable.
Of course, shock forces your opponent's hand much more effectively, which is why this card should have had a cantrip or something.
A few that BegleOne missed:
Daru Sanctifier
Nantuko Vigilante
Skinthinner
Then there's Bazaar Trader / Mischievous Quanar / Pact of the Titan / Break Open, if Hive Mind isn't Johnny enough for you.