Lobotomy

Lobotomy
Mechanic
Introduced	Tempest
Last used	Avatar: The Last Airbender
Reminder Text	Search graveyard, hand, and library for cards with a given name and exile them.
Scryfall Statistics
cards

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.

Description

Lobotomy effects are primarily 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. 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 by 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

Name	Cost	Original Set	What being lobotomized
Ancient Vendetta		Aetherdrift	Lobotomizes any card that is named, including lands, but only up to four copies.
Counterbore		Shadowmoor	Lobotomizes a countered spell.
Cranial Extraction		Champions of Kamigawa	Lobotomizes a nonland card of the 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 the 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.
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 the 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.
The Rise of Sozin		Avatar: The Last Airbender	Lobotomizes a card of chosen card name.
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.
Unmoored Ego		Guilds of Ravnica	Lobotomizes up to 4 copies of any card with chosen card name.

Related effects

Haunting Echoes removes all card, other than basic lands, from a graveyard and all copies of those cards from the library. It does not affect the hand, so it does not make it a full lobotomy.

Look at Me, I'm the DCI () "bans" a card of chosen card name for all players. This effect goes further than a lobotomy as it also affects sideboards and the battlefield. The exiled cards remain exiled until the match ends.

Grizzled Huntmaster and Unexpected Conversion are unique designs from Alchemy: Innistrad in how they lobotomize one's own library. They allow the player to remove ineffectual cards in hand and replace them with cards in the sideboard, essentially sideboarding mid-game. It does not affect the graveyard, so it does not make it a full lobotomy.