Thought Prison
Artifact
Imprint — When this artifact enters, you may have target player reveal their hand. If you do, choose a nonland card from it and exile that card.
Whenever a player casts a spell that shares a color or mana value with the exiled card, this artifact deals 2 damage to that player.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Mirrodin
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #22755
Thought Prison enters, imprints a card from an opponent's hand, and then punishes that player 2 damage every time they cast a spell sharing a color or type with the imprinted card — a soft lock that compounds fast against mono-colored strategies. Five mana for a colorless artifact that doesn't immediately affect the board is a steep ask, and in most metas it sits too slow and too conditional to justify the slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Thought Prison is a curiosity — it can lock down a single opponent's most common spell type, but four opponents and a five-mana investment means three players ignore it entirely while the target simply sequences around it. Legacy and Vintage have no interest; those formats end before Thought Prison's drip damage accumulates to anything meaningful, and five mana doesn't exist in those game plans. Modern is the closest thing to a viable home, historically in janky prison shells, but even there it's been outclassed by cheaper, more reliable lock pieces. Thought Prison is legal in Oathbreaker as well, where the two-player dynamic makes the imprint effect more targeted, though the format's faster pace still makes five mana a hard sell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Thought Prison is deep bulk — the price reflects demand, which is minimal. Don't expect this to appreciate; it's a fixed uncommon with no competitive home and negligible Commander adoption.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.