DespiseHow it works & interactions with other cards

What Despise Does

Despise is a targeted discard spell that focuses exclusively on two permanent types: creatures and planeswalkers. When you cast this spell, you choose a single opponent as the target. Upon resolution, that player must reveal their entire hand to you, and you select one card that matches the allowed types to be put into their graveyard.

How it Resolves Step by Step

First, you cast Despise by paying one black mana and choosing an opponent. When the spell resolves, the chosen opponent reveals their hand so all players can see it. You then check if there are any creature or planeswalker cards present. If there are, you choose one, and the opponent discards it. If the hand contains neither type, the spell finishes resolving with no further effect, though you still gained the advantage of seeing their cards.

Common Mistakes

A common error is attempting to discard an artifact, enchantment, or sorcery card; Despise only targets creatures and planeswalkers. Furthermore, because it is a sorcery, you cannot cast it during an opponent's draw step or in response to them casting a creature. You must play it during your own main phase when the stack is empty.

When to Play It

The best time to cast Despise is during the very early turns of the game. Stripping a high-impact creature or a disruptive planeswalker from your opponent's hand on turn one can completely derail their strategy and give you the information needed to plan your future turns effectively.

Interaction examples

Setting Up the Graveyard

Reanimate

You can use Despise to target an opponent and force them to discard a powerful creature card. Once that creature is in their graveyard, you can cast Reanimate to bring that creature onto the battlefield under your own control, turning their threat into your weapon.

Anticipating the Search

Demonic Tutor

If an opponent uses Demonic Tutor to search their library for a specific creature or planeswalker, you can cast Despise on your following turn. Since you know they just added a card to their hand, Despise allows you to remove that specific card before they have the mana to cast it.

Basic Hand Disruption

On turn one, you cast Despise. Your opponent reveals a hand containing two lands and a creature. You choose the creature, forcing them to discard it, leaving them with no early-game pressure and allowing you to see that they are currently short on resources.