Use this, then hit them with Crosis, the Purger. If you have the mana for it (Not hard, only 1 more than playing Crosis. You just need {B}{B}{B}, but that's still not difficult), you can kill two colors from their hand.
Or against monocolor, if they manage to make your Crosis more interested in his bellybutton than the enemy, then you can simply hit them with this.
If you are in multiplayer, you can swing at one person with Crosis and hit the other person with this, too.
...It is totally meant to go with Crosis.
izzet_guild_mage
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Heh, I have a friend who will scoop to this card consistently :P
Revelation666
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'd hate to have this card dark ritual'd out on turn 1 or 2 against me while I'm playing a mono-colored deck.
KicktheCAN
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The art is awkward in the magic card frame.
QuietK
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Given black's difficulty in dealing with anything that isn't a creature, discard is one of the best ways to get around this weakness. And this card? Worst case scenario, you get rid of a few cards, none perhaps particularly frightening, but you also get the chance to look at their hand and anticipate what they might do.
Flopfoot
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Flavor text from Dryden on a Magic card = win
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i cast this with a dark ritual on turn two last night in a three person ffa. my opponent lost his entire hand and sat there for a few turns until he played some blue draw spells. he was pissed that i didn't target our other friend... next time don't play mono-blue.
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When I started, I thought this was the most epic spell in the world. I thought this because I thought lands counted as permanents of their colour (swamps are black, mountains are red, etc.). I mean, it makes the colour: I still don't understand why it isn't a colour (if anyone has an answer, I'd really appreciate it :D)
But even without discarding lands, this could discard a whole hand or nothing. It's worth a chance sometimes. Also also, if Telepathy is out, you can decide when it's better to play.
Obviously, your opponents can see your hand if Telepathy is out, and craft their hand to work around Persecute. Maybe they'll go all-out with their cards. Who knows.
One way or another, it's Duress' big brother. Could be better than Mind Sludge, or could be not. It's a situational card.
patronofthesound
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ferlord
Not so obvious. Telepathy only affects opponent's hand.
futte
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why did this ever get printed??? Ridiciously overpowered.
I absolutely love this card in my blue-black discard deck. I use it with stuff like Liliana's Caress, Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, and Duskmantle Guildmage to continuously punish my opponent. I gave this card 4.5 instead of 5, though, because it can either be so overpowered that it takes the fun out of it OR so useless against a multi-colored deck that you get nowhere. (As mentioned, the best way to overcome the multi-colored deck issue is to add Painter's Servant--I just toss in Jace's Archivist to make it easy to get what I need while still draining my opponent's deck.) I've also used Persecute to make cards like Avatar of Woe playable in all of 3 turns.
Comments (19)
Remember, the color is named on resolution, not on casting.
Step 3: Duress x2
Step 4: This card
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit!
Or against monocolor, if they manage to make your Crosis more interested in his bellybutton than the enemy, then you can simply hit them with this.
If you are in multiplayer, you can swing at one person with Crosis and hit the other person with this, too.
...It is totally meant to go with Crosis.
But even without discarding lands, this could discard a whole hand or nothing. It's worth a chance sometimes. Also also, if Telepathy is out, you can decide when it's better to play.
Obviously, your opponents can see your hand if Telepathy is out, and craft their hand to work around Persecute. Maybe they'll go all-out with their cards. Who knows.
One way or another, it's Duress' big brother. Could be better than Mind Sludge, or could be not. It's a situational card.
Not so obvious. Telepathy only affects opponent's hand.
T2 Swamp tap ring Painter's Servant tap 2x swamp's Dark Ritual PERSECUTE
T3 profit >:)