"Thoughtseize" is a black sorcery spell printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Lorwyn." For any control deck using black, Thoughtseize is a perfect card to have for the most part. This is perhaps one of the most interesting black sorcery spells printed in Magic the Gathering let alone in the Lorwyn block. In a sense, this is somewhat on par with the black sorcery spell known as "Duress."

The converted mana cost for Thoughtseize is one. You will need one black mana to play Thoughtseize. For what Thoughtseize can do, the converted mana cost is well worth it. You only have to pay one black mana for a spell that could potentially mess up an opponent early in the game. Keep in mind that Thoughtseize is a sorcery spell and can only be played during your turn.

What does Thoughtseize do in the first place?

When you cast Thoughtseize, you can pick a target player. That player reveals his/her hand to you. Out of the cards in his/her hand, you get to pick a nonland card. That player discards the card from his/her hand and into the graveyard. You lose two points of life as a result.

For a low costing spell that lets you pick a nonland card from an opponent's hand, two points of life is but a small price to pay. You can get rid of an instant spell, a sorcery spell, an enchantment spell, a creature spell, an artifact spell, or a planeswalker spell. For only two points of life, you can get rid of any one of those cards from an opponent's hand. Because of this, Thoughtseize is an extremely handy card for the most part.

There are ways you can milk this ability. You will need two specific cards to do so. The first card will you need is called "Megrim." Megrim was reprinted for the "Magic 2010" core set. With Megrim on the battlefield, your opponents will suffer two points of damage whenever they discard a card. You play Thoughtseize and make an opponent discard a card from his/her hand. Doing so triggers the ability of Megrim. In turn, the opponent will suffer two points of damage via Megrim for discarding a card from his/her hand when you played Thoughseize.

The second card you will need is "Wound Reflection." Wound Reflection doubles the amount of life points that your opponents lose in the process. In this respect, the opponent would lose an additional two points of life. Damage equals loss of life but not the other way around. With these cards working together, you can use Thoughtseize to make an opponent discard a card form his/her hand, make him/her suffer two points of damage with Megrim, and lost an additional two points of life with Wound Reflection.

Overall, Thoughtseize is a great card alone. When working with other cards on the battlefield, Thoughtseize does become an impressive black sorcery.

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