The best discard decks are filled with discard spells and discard creatures galore. Black is the most popular Discard color, but we’ve included picks including blue, green, red, and white as well!
Read on below and explore our complete list of the best MTG cards with discard effects!
Rankle, Master of Pranks
The first card on our list is a real trickster type, and he loves to force opponent discards: Rankle Master of Pranks. This legendary Faerie Rogue creature comes into play with Flying and Haste, as well as 3 power and 3 toughness.
Whenever he deals damage? Choose one of the following:
- Each opponent discards 1 card
- All enemies lose 1 life and draw a card as well
- Each player sacrifices 1 creature
As you can see, when it comes to the opponent discard ability, Rankle is quite easily “the man.” Hence, he sits at the number one spot on our list!
Type: Legendary Creature
CMC: 4
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Dimir Cutpurse
Wanna see a pile of opponent discard creatures? Fewer cards get the job done better than our second pick.
Dimir Cutpurse is a rare creature Spirit of blue and black mana. When he deals damage to a player the player discards and you get to draw an extra card from the top of your deck.
For three mana? This is one of the best discard creature spells in the game, period.
Type: Creature
CMC: 3
Rarity: Rare
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Speaking of the best discard creature spells in MTG, Nath is another great choice. That said, this Elf Warrior requires a full five mana to cast.
If you play commander format, this legendary creature makes an excellent leader. At the beginning of your turn, a target player must discard a card at random.
Plus, when opponents discard a card, you also get to spawn a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token onto the field.
In combination with this guy’s base power and toughness of 4/4, it’s one of the better discard spells for a powerhouse discard deck.
Like Dimir Cutpurse, fewer cards create a stack of discard creatures and spells than Nath
Type: Legendary Creature
CMC: 5
Rarity: Rare
Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
Want to force the discard ability to the maximum? If so, you need the legendary creature Elder Giant in your next discard decks. As far as creatures go, Kroxa is beyond a good card.
This big fella comes into the battlefield with an Escape cost of CMC 4. That means you need to exile several cards and pay extra mana in addition to the original casting cost… or sacrifice the card as soon as it’s on the board.
The beautiful thing? If you can afford to get this Elder Giant onto the field, everyone discard a card. Plus, every time it attacks, all opponents discard cards.
In the case, the opponent can’t discard a card? They get to lose, not one life or two life, but three life instead!
That is what you call some serious opponent discard card advantage. Few discard spells come close, especially in discard decks that are creature heavy.
Type: Legendary Creature
CMC: 2
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Despise
The Uncommon black Sorcery spell, Despise, allows you to look at an opponent’s hand.
You also get to choose a Planeswalker or creature card from the hand and the opponent discards it immediately.
It may be short and sweet, but for one mana you really won’t find a stronger card advantage. That said, it won’t fill the opponent’s graveyard or deal combat damage either.
Type: Sorcery
CMC: 1
Rarity: Uncommon
The Eldest Reborn
The Eldest Reborn is an interesting Uncommon Enchantment Sage card with a casting cost of four mana plus one black land.
It comes into play with three lore counters. At the end of each turn, you must remove a counter. When all the counters are gone the card is also a goner(and goes to the graveyard).
When the card is on the board, its effects more or less dictate the board state: over the course of the next three turns:
- Each other player sacrifices 1 Planeswalker or creature they own
- Everyone discards 1 card
- You get to put a target Planeswalker or creature on the battlefield under your control, from the graveyard
Honestly, it’s pretty sus that this card isn’t Mythic Rare, let alone at least Rare!
Type: Enchantment
CMC: 5
Rarity: Uncommon
Burglar Rat
The Burglar Rat is another really great example of a peon discard creature that rocks an opponent discard card advantage.
When this Rat enters the battlefield, each other player discards 1 card.
For one of only a few two mana discard creatures that exist, stacking a few of these into your next discard deck is a great way to whittle away at the opponent’s hand.
As far as these Rat creatures go, if you want to peck away at the opponent’s hand all game long, you can’t lose with 3 or 4 of these in your deck. Just make sure you pack plenty of black mana so you cast them steadily as you draw them.
Type: Creature
CMC: 3
Rarity: Common
Syphon Mind
Besides Dark Ritual, Syphon Mind is maybe one of the most famous black spells thought up by Wizards of the Coast Llc. It’s also very surprisingly a common card, not Uncommon or even Rare… a fact more than likely derived from its medium-high mana cost.
When you bring this Sorcery into play for four mana, each opponent discards 1 card from their hand. You, on the other hand, get to draw an extra card for each card discarded from.
If you manage to slip a few of these into play, it’s a great way to cause major hand disruption with each opponent. If you’re packing a few discard creatures and other cards of the same nature, you should have no problem smoking most decks.
Type: Sorcery
CMC: 4
Rarity: Common
Pox
This three mana black Sorcery spell should be found in any major league discard deck, and one word can describe it: sacrifice. MTG cards present a lot of various services, abilities, and unique qualities, but this one goes beyond most.
This discard spell is a classic of the highest quality: Pox forces each player to lose a third of their life and then discard a third of their hand. This card is a sign of victory.
It also forces them to go on to sacrifice a third of their lands and creatures as well. As far as discard abilities go, this card takes things way beyond the typical. After you draw this card, you’ll swiftly take control of the game.
Type: Sorcery
CMC: 3
Rarity: Rare
Mind Slash
Mind Slach is an Uncommon black Enchantment that costs 3 mana to cast. It’s also one of the oldest discarding type cards in MTG history, dating back to 1993.
The ability of the enchantment? Looking at an opponent’s hand and choosing a card from it. The player of course then must discard it.
The only remote downside to the card’s ability is that it can only be played at any time a sorcery could be played. But, that’s ok, because for every great ability an MTG car possesses, there’s always at least one drawback.
Type: Enchantment
CMC: 3
Rarity: Uncommon
Oppression
Speaking of awesome vintage discarding type MTG cards, Oppression is one that surely deserves a place in your deck. So far, this Enchantment created more discarded cards than just about any MTG card in the game.
With Oppression on the board, whenever an opponent plays spells, of any sort, they have to discard a card from their hand.
If you ask us, it’s one of the best discard spells of a nonland card status, period. When this card comes into the game, it’s a clear sign to opponents that they better tap and call it quits or prepare to discard at least one random card per turn.
Type: Enchantment
CMC: 3
Rarity: Rare
Curse of the Bloody Tome
A mono blue Enchantment Aura Curse, Curse of the Bloody Tome actually enchants a player, not a creature or permanent.
At the beginning of the enchanted player’s turn, the player discards 2 cards from the top of their deck straight into their graveyard.
So, technically, this card could be a mill card, or a discard card, but the bottom line is that it ends up with 2 cards in the graveyard, not in the opponent’s hand.
Type: Enchantment
CMC: 5
Rarity: Common
Compulsive Research
One of the only other nonblack cards to make our list is Compulsive Research, a blue Sorcery with a casting cost of just CMC 3.
When you play it, an opponent must draw three cards and then discard two cards. However, said player may skip the discard step if they drew at least one land card.
If you’ve got tricks up your sleeve, and want to mill yourself, there is one of the best discard spells to use on yourself!
Type: Sorcery
CMC: 3
Rarity: Common
Monomania
The last card on our list is a Rare black Sorcery; Monomania. It costs five mana to cast, and when it comes into play a target opponent chooses a card in their hand to keep and discard the rest.
It’s one of the best discard Sorceries in the game for forcing multiple cards out of a player’s hand in one move.
Talk about a cruel way to quickly stack up a pile of opponent discarded spells!
Type: Sorcery
CMC: 5
Rarity: Rare