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Sorcery
Target player discards X cards at random.
Ban history
Random-hand-destruction X spell; restricted in 1994 and banned in 1996.
- Banned in Premodern
- On or before May 2018
- On earliest archived list; likely since 2012 founding
- Category
- Power
- Research
- Research confidence: Medium confidence
- First printed
- First printed in Limited Edition Alpha (5 August 1993); Premodern-legal via Fourth Edition.
Why it’s banned
Power level (no published rationale).
Official reason
No official reason published.
Community & historical context (not an official statement)
Analytical/community: with Dark Ritual and Mox Diamond, a turn-1 Mind Twist can empty a hand, which is both powerful and non-interactive (Draftsim). Restricted Aug 1994, banned in Standard and Type 1 in Feb 1996, on Extended's initial list (1997), restricted again in Vintage from 2000 until unrestricted in 2007; still banned in Legacy.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The story
Mind Twist (Alpha, 1993; in Fourth Edition) was restricted in 1994 and banned in both Type 1 and Type 2 in February 1996, then put on Extended's first ban list. Premodern's legal Dark Ritual and Mox Diamond make an early, game-ending Twist realistic, which community writers cite as the reason for the ban. It has been banned on every archived Premodern list; no official reason was published.
Premodern changes
- On listOn the earliest archived Premodern ban list.[6]
Other formats (Wizards)
Historical context, not Premodern decisions.
- VintageRestricted
- StandardRestricted
- VintageBanned
- StandardBanned
- LegacyBanned
- ExtendedBanned
- VintageRestricted
- VintageUnrestricted
Related cards
Dark Ritual
Mox Diamond- Hymn to Tourach
Sources
- Draftsim: The Premodern Ban List: All 33 Cards Banned (A.L. Walser, 2026-04-24) — community
- Premodern Chronicles: Premodern Banlist (2026) — community
- MTG Wiki: Banned and restricted cards/Timeline
- MTGBans.info per-card timelines (effective dates; site's AI-generated rationales NOT used)
- MTG Wiki: Legacy
- Wayback: premodernmagic.com/banned-watched/ 2018-05-06 (34 banned, 5 watched)
- Scryfall card data (printings, release dates)
- premodernmagic.com legal sets endpoint
Research as of 18 October 2026.
In our decks
Not in any of our curated decklists yet. Find similar cards.
Played in tournaments
Share of published Premodern decklists that play Mind Twist (main or sideboard): 4,173 lists from paper events and MTGO in the last 90 days, through .
Not seen in any of the 4,173 tournament lists from the last 90 days. Browse the meta.
Printings (11)
Every tournament-legal paper printing (no gold-border, World Championship or oversized cards). Hover or tap a row to preview that printing.
