Lobotomy
Lobotomy refers to the act of exiling all (or any) copies of a card generally from target player's hand, library and graveyard. It alludes to the effect of its namesake, the Tempest card Lobotomy[1], and occasionally are called extraction effects after Surgical Extraction.
Description
Lobotomy effects are primary centered in black—flavored as permanently messing with people's minds. Blue also used to be getting a decent amount, but nowadays it is solely to be found in black.[2] Urza's Destiny had a lobotomy cycle that was reprinted in Betrayers of Kamigawa. The effect is primarily a sideboard anti-combo effect, as against most decks removing one specific card is ineffectual, whereas combo decks dedicate resources towards finding particular cards. Recently, more aggressively costed Lobotomy effects are accompanied with a clause that grants the target a bonus (usually a card, sometimes a creature) if one of the named cards were in the hand. This design recognizes that the extra mana that it costs is not worth the potential for card parity by catching the card in hand.
The most famous cards are Extirpate and Surgical Extraction.
List of lobotomy cards
Last Updated for Wilds of Eldraine
Name | Cost | Original Set | What being lobotomized |
---|---|---|---|
Counterbore | Shadowmoor | Lobotomizes a countered spell. | |
Cranial Extraction | Champions of Kamigawa | Lobotomizes a nonland card of chosen card name. | |
Crumble to Dust | Battle for Zendikar | Lobotomizes a nonbasic land. | |
Deadly Cover-Up | Murders at Karlov Manor | Lobotomizes a chosen card from a graveyard. | |
Deicide | Journey into Nyx | Lobotomizes an enchantment if it's also a God. | |
Dispossess | Amonkhet | Lobotomizes an artifact of chosen card name. | |
Eradicate | Urza's Destiny | Lobotomizes a nonblack creature. | |
Extirpate | Planar Chaos | Lobotomizes a chosen card, other than a basic land, from a graveyard. | |
Grizzled Huntmaster | Alchemy: Innistrad | Lobotomizes a creature from your hand and deck. | |
Haunting Echoes | Odyssey | Lobotomizes all cards, other than basic lands, from a graveyard. | |
Infinite Obliteration | Magic Origins | Lobotomizes a creature of chosen card name. | |
Invasive Surgery | Shadows over Innistrad | Lobotomizes a countered sorcery spell if the player has enabled Delirium. | |
Kotose, the Silent Spider | Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty | Lobotomizes a chosen card, other than a basic land, from an opponent's graveyard | |
Lobotomy | Tempest | Lobotomizes a chosen card, other than a basic land, from a hand. | |
Lost Legacy | Kaladesh | Lobotomizes a nonartifact, nonland card of chosen card name. | |
Memoricide | Scars of Mirrodin | Lobotomizes a nonland card of chosen card name. | |
Necromentia | Core Set 2021 | Lobotomizes a card other than a basic land of chosen card name. | |
Pick the Brain | Shadows over Innistrad | Lobotomizes a chosen nonland card from a hand if the player has enabled Delirium. | |
Quash | Urza's Destiny | Lobotomizes a countered instant or sorcery spell. | |
Reap Intellect | Dragon's Maze | Lobotomizes chosen up to X nonland cards from a hand. | |
Scour | Urza's Destiny | Lobotomizes an enchantment. | |
Shimian Specter | Future Sight | Creature that lobotomizes a chosen nonland card from a hand when deals combat damage to that hand's player. | |
Slaughter Games | Return to Ravnica | Lobotomizes a nonland card of chosen card name. | |
Sowing Salt | Urza's Destiny | Lobotomizes a nonbasic land. | |
Splinter | Urza's Destiny | Lobotomizes an artifact. | |
Stain the Mind | Magic 2015 | Lobotomizes a nonland card of chosen card name. | |
The End | Wilds of Eldraine | Lobotomizes a creature or planeswalker. | |
The Stone Brain | The Brothers' War | Lobotomizes up to 4 copies of any card with chosen card name. | |
Surgical Extraction | New Phyrexia | Lobotomizes a chosen card, other than a basic land, from a graveyard. | |
Test of Talents | Strixhaven: School of Mages | Lobotomizes a countered target or instant spell. | |
Thought Hemorrhage | Alara Reborn | Lobotomizes a nonland card of chosen card name. | |
Unexpected Conversion | Alchemy: Innistrad | Lobotomizes an instant or sorcery from your hand and deck. | |
Unmoored Ego | Guilds of Ravnica | Lobotomizes up to 4 copies of any card with chosen card name. |
Acorn cards
Name | Cost | Original Set | What being lobotomized |
---|---|---|---|
Look at Me, I'm the DCI | Unglued | Lobotomizes a card of chosen card name to all players (including their sideboards and the battlefield). The exiled cards remain exiled until the match ends. |
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 1, 2017). "Amonkhet Talking, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.