Lobotomy

Sowing Salt Instance

Re: your response the other day that red doesn't get Lobotomy effects for lands and artifacts. Is Sowing Salt still okay?

It was a bend to make a cycle work. We do that from time to time.

Artifacts Bend / Break Cycles Lands Lobotomy Red Sowing Salt

Banishment Card Origins

RE: Banishment Cards - Not only lobotmy is in flavor but wasn't the first card to have done this *was* called Lobotomy?

Yep.

Banishment Flavor Lobotomy

Banishment Card Flavor

I'm curious... why are the "banishment" cards (cards that exile all copies of a certain card from your opponent's deck, like Lost Legacy, Dispossess, and Infinite Obliteration,) black cards? I might be misunderstanding the ability, but to me from a flavor standpoint it feels like the cards are being banished or locked away, which feels like something white would do more than something black would do. Any chance you could help clarify how this ability fits into the color pie?

The ability is flavored as a lobotomy. I’m ripping the knowledge of the spell out of your head. It’s pretty black.

Banishment Black Color Pie Colors Dispossess Flavor Infinite Obliteration Legacy Lobotomy Lost Legacy The Exile Zone White

Telepathy Effects Representation

Telepathy has long been one of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy tropes. In MtG, I see effects like it in blue and black, with cards like mind rot, unhinge, mind sculpt, reap intellect, and future sight. If it isn't a colour-pie flavour violation, or even if it is, in a telepathy-heavy plane, how would it show in the other colours?

Telepathy is Magic is represented by seeing the opponent’s hand. Mental attacks can be shown through milling (memory loss), discard (brain damage) and Extract-like spells (lobotomy).

Black Blue Colors Discard Flavor Future Sight Lobotomy Mill Mind Rot Mind Sculpt Reap Intellect Spells Unhinge Your Hand

'Forget' Keyword Idea

Suggestions for a mill keyword remember the library is your memory, which is why we have card names like Lobotomy. So I suggest "Forget". Try it out: "Forget 10 cards."

What do people think of forget? Note that it would probably be written as “Target player forgets N cards.”

Card Names Keywords Lobotomy Mill The Library

Milling Mechanics

Seeing as mono blue can mill but mono black cannot, how do you justify blue/black cards that do nothing but mill (like Glimpse the Unthinkable), or where the only other thing they do is also something that mono blue does but mono black doesn't (like Psychic Strike)?

Black is secondary at milling and every once in a while gets to do straight milling. Usually it does lobotomy/extract going after specific cards in the library but in a pinch it can straight mill.

Black Blue Dimir (U/B) Glimpse the Unthinkable Lobotomy Mill Psychic Strike Secondary The Library

Milling vs. Discarding

Flavor-wise, milling and discard are both associated with mental trauma. How are they different?

One is making you forget things you are conscious thinking about (discard). The other is making you forget things you know in your memory even though you’re not thinking about them right now (mill). For example, I ask you what you had for lunch. You answer. I then hit you with a discard spell. I ask again. You don’t know. With mill, I just made you forget most of your memories of 2006. With lobotomy spells, by the way, I choose what I make you forget.

Discard Flavor Lobotomy Mill Spells

Slaughter Games Design

What about Slaughter Games (other than the name and mana cost) is red? I love the card, and pretty much any kind of lobotomy effect for that matter, but those effects have always been dimir-colored. It feels like it was made as a Dimir card, then design decided they weren't doing the uncounterable cycle in Gatecrash and just slapped a Rakdos name and mana cost on it with no consideration for flavor or color pie. What gives?

The “can’t be countered” is the red part.

Color Pie Colors Dimir (U/B) Flavor Gatecrash Gates Lobotomy Mana Rakdos (B/R) Red Slaughter Games

Black's Color Pie

Is it just me, or is black's slice of the color pie shrinking FAST. It seems like today, black is "creature removal, cards for life, life draining, discard." Some occasional tutors too, but black feels REALLY pigeonholed right now. Any efforts internally to re-expand what black can do?

Granting intimidate, lifelink, deathtouch and (every once in a while) haste. Regenerating creatures. Power boosting. Power & toughness boosting through sacrifice or shade ability. Land destruction. Lobotomy (milling away specific cards from within the library). -X/-X to single creatures and sometimes to all creatures. Making creatures “can’t block”. Regrowing creatures. Reanimating creatures. Protection from white (and sometimes green). Rampant Growthing swamps. Power shrinking of opponents. Token making (usually 2/2 zombies). Making opponents lose life. I’m not quite sure why you think black is pigeonholed.

Black Color Pie Colors Creatures Deathtouch Discard Green Haste Intimidate Lands Lifelink Lobotomy Mill Protection Sacrifice Shade The Library Tokens Tutoring White Zombie

Search And Exile Effect

Is any colour primary in searching and exiling copies of cards? Or is it used at a higher rarity so it different colours get in on the action?

Black is primary in what we in R&D call the “lobotomy” effect.

Black Colors Lobotomy Primary Rarity