Chains of Mephistopheles

[Phantom]

I come to you gents, hat in hand, begging for some help. I wanted to test Chains of Mephistopheles in the sideboard of my Dark Viper deck (aggro rock basically) and had some pretty basic questions about the card.

1) How exactly does it work? I'm not clear on a players choice if they draw more than one card a turn (do they have to discard, or can they simply mill their library?) and how it affect my discard spells (if at all).

2) What decks does it screw and how well does it screw them? (I've heard that it's a bitch for both Thresh and Solidarity)

3) Any additional tips on playing it or playing while it's out?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[3eowulf]

Chains of Mephistopheles
1B (2), Enchantment
If a player would draw a card except the first one he or she draws in his or her draw step each turn, that player discards a card instead. If the player discards a card, he or she draws a card. If the player doesn't discard a card, he or she puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Illus. Heather Hudson

1) If someone tries to draw additional cards, (for each card) he has to discard a card. If he does, he then can draw. If he can't discard (empty hand) he mills his library (and doesn't draw).

2) It screws any deck that relies on card drawing. In particular it makes Brainstorm the worst card ever.

3) You can find better hosers in legacy's huge cardpool. Still, you can use it to screw decks that rely on drawing alot, and abuse it with cards that add cards to your hand (i.e. Dark Confidant).

[Anarky87]

Pretty much everything he said. If they would draw any cards beyond the first of their turn, they must first discard. Brainstorm ending up being:

"Play Brainstorm>Discard a card and draw your first>Discard a card and draw the second card>Discard a card and draw your third>Put two cards back."

It really hoses any draw based deck. Solidarity really taking a hit, as I tested it in the SB for The Rock before Gencon and they pretty much couldn't win with it on the board. I also boarded them in along with 3 Hymn to Tourach to really tip the match in my favor. There were very few post-board games that I lost. It's an excellent card for DV's SB in my opinion.

[Tacosnape]

As for 3, it's really ridiculous with Forget and Cephalid Coliseum.

It's also good with cards like Fact or Fiction and Life From The Loam, which get card advantage without actually drawing cards.