Cool Blue Creature for the TMD set

[Lockdown]

Original Wording:
Hypnotic Mage
3UU
Creature - Wizard
Hypnotic Mage is unblockable.
Whenever Hypnotic Mage deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals his hand.  Choose a card and remove it from the game.  Until end of turn, you may play this card as though it were in your hand.
1/1

Current Wording:
Hypnotic Mage
3UU
Creature - Wizard
Hypnotic Mage is unblockable.
Whenever Hypnotic Mage deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals his hand.  Choose a card and remove it from the game.  Until end of turn, you may play this card as though it were in your hand.
1/1

What do you think?  Too powerful?  As I understand it, the ability for you to play cards from your opponents hand before has never been tried.  Is this too powerful?  Come on everybody, tell me your comments.

EDITS:

[Razvan]

I like it, but at 5 mana... the Archivist seems like a bargain then. Even if this thing is unblockable.

I would make it 2UU for a 1/3 or something, or maybe 1UUU. Sorta like an Ophidian, with a minor discard ability, since generally, the card you get, will be inferior to the one you would draw.

An interesting card though.

[Jacob Orlove]

This makes the opponent effectively lose one card of your choice each turn, in addition to giving you the chance to play that card. That's stronger than Archivist.

I'd definitely like to see this lose the unblockability.

[Lockdown]

hrm... one vote too powerful, one vote too weak... I'll have to side with Orlove though.  I had been considering making it so that as long as the card was removed from the game, you could play it, but that's probably wayyy to powerful.  If it loses the unblockability, it's probably going to need to be tougher/cheaper though.  More suggestions?

[Mixing Mike]

Perhaps giving it an evasion ability would be better. You know, something like flying.

[Nantuko Rice]

Orlove, it's 5 to cast. So earliest, it'll proabbly come out around turn 3 in type 1. Then it'll die to something like swords, fire/ice, active lavamancer, etc.

I think it's an interesting  "cool" blue card. It seams well costed IMO and it's ability is new unique and cool.

Your opponent loses a card, and you gain a card. Look at Syphon Mind... and that's the best comparison I could come up with it. At one more mana, I doubt it's weak body would survive more than one turn.

Sometimes you gotta push the power level of cards. Eternal Witness is Regrowth and Savannah Lions combined at the uncommon level.

[dandan]

I think that it would be more interesting if they got the card back if you didn't cast it. Then the flavour of the ability is that you cast the spell from their memory and cast spells fade from memory as opposed to Black's discard which is forcibly removing your thoughts.
This is weaker so I'd suggest upgrading to ability to triggering off any damage to a player not just combat damage. That isn't a big difference either. I guesss you might just get away with reducing the CC to 4 if you change the ability from discard and use to merely use of an opponents card.

[Laurie Cheers]

I agree. That way you can't just take the most powerful card each time; to make a lasting effect, you have to take a card that you can play.

This is a very interesting card. The double-blue mana cost is a problem, though: if you want to be able to play everyone's cards, you need a five-colour deck...

[dandan]

In fact you would just steal land and then cast spells. This thing hitting would be nasty if you don't find an answer fast. However at 5cc (or possibly 4cc) for a 1/1 it is fragile enough not to be a problem.

[Laurie Cheers]

Assuming you can keep it in play, it would get maybe 1 land. After that they're going to start dropping their lands as soon as they draw them.

[dandan]

One land is probably enough to allow you to cast many of the spells you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Flavourwise you want this to make spells available to you but grabbing a land adds an excellent strategic element as well as enabling the spell casting.

However a 1/1 for 5 mana with such an ability is underpowered IMHO as 'discard or steal' is far more powerful than 'steal or return'. It could go to 2UU.

[Guardian]

Would it be possible to change the unblockable thing and either allowing to cast the spell using any color of mana or up the CC to 6 and play the card without paying the mana cost?

[Shadow-Walker]

Id say that its fine as is.  I wouldnt want to raise the cc even if it did allow the spell to be played for free.

[Jacob Orlove]

Orlove, it's 5 to cast. So earliest, it'll proabbly come out around turn 3 in type 1. Then it'll die to something like swords, fire/ice, active lavamancer, etc.

Thousands of cards are unplayable in type 1. That doesn't stop them from being playable or broken in other formats.

I do like the temporary stealing, but this is starting to sound like a red card.

[Matt]

Maybe it could be more like that merfolk Mike Long designed that no one plays anymore.

[dandan]

I don't think the ability to play a card that is in an opponent's hand is very Red. Red has the power of chaos, messing with spells (retargeting, borrowing permanents). Black has the power to attack the mind, filling it with horror resulting in a subsequent loss of memory (discard).

I suggested changing the ability to RFG, play or return at EOT as it is distinct from Black's discard and would not function as a Blue Duress. It would also allow the CC of the card to drop to 4 which would make it far more playable.