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Moxonomy

Psychotic Episode

Sorcery1 generic manaBlack manaBlack mana

A surgical edit rather than a haymaker. Where Coercion and Thoughtseize tear a card out for good, this only buries one: the chosen card goes to the bottom of the library, a spot that is in practice deep enough to be gone for most of the game but not technically exiled or destroyed. The trade for that softness is reach. Revealing the top card of the library alongside the hand means the choice extends past what the opponent is holding into the next thing they would draw, so a freshly tutored answer or a drawn-for-the-turn bomb can be stripped before it ever reaches hand. The discard clause is what turns the design from fair-rate sorcery into something genuinely awkward to play against: madness lets it sidestep the sorcery clock entirely. Pitch it to a discard outlet (a wheel, a looter, a rummaging effect) and the spell recasts for one less mana at the moment of discard, which means it can fire on an opponent's turn after they draw or tutor a card, once you have priority. That window is the whole reason to run it over a cleaner duress effect: it converts a slow, reactive-by-no-means spell into a tool that punishes a card the moment it surfaces, top of library or in hand, before it can be deployed.

Psychotic Episode (tsr)
TSR · #132common
Pricing
Normal: $0.09
Foil: $0.41
Oracle Text

Rules text

Target player reveals their hand and the top card of their library. You choose a card revealed this way. That player puts the chosen card on the bottom of their library. Madness 1 generic manaBlack mana (If you discard this card, discard it into exile. When you do, cast it for its madness cost or put it into your graveyard.)
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
Legal
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
Legal
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

1 set
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