Mind control effect

Mind control effects or control effects are effects which allow a player to seize control of an enemy minion. Controlled minions are treated as belonging to the controlling player for all purposes, can be directed to attack its former allies and owner, and will immediately be transferred to the controlling player's side of the battlefield, to the far right of the board.

Mind control effects are some of the most notorious effects in the game, and are most commonly associated with priests.

Far more rarely, take control effects can steal control of un-activated Secrets instead of minions. As of Kobolds and Catacombs, the only card to feature this ability is Kezan Mystic.

Notes

• Control is generally a permanent state change, and as such cannot be changed through Silences, Return effects or other means. The exceptions to this are Shadow Madness and Potion of Madness, which grant temporary control of a minion through a one-turn enchantment.
• If a player activates a mind control effect when their side of the battlefield is already full (i.e. they have the maximum 7 minions), the mind controlled minion will be instantly destroyed. Any Deathrattle that activates as a result of this will trigger as if their opponent still controlled the minion. It is often a good idea for a player to choose to intentionally destroy one of their own minions in order to be able to seize control of one of their opponent's, especially by sacrificing a weak minion in order to gain control of a very powerful one.
  • A similar effect occurs when a Secret is controlled and there is no "room" for it due to an identical secret being active already: A secret is destroyed instead of stolen if all active enemy secrets are duplicates of friendly ones.
• As with summoning effects such as Mirror Image and Feral Spirit, mind controlled minions will always join the board on the far right. Anticipating this can allow for superior placement of minions, important for positional effects. When planning to summon other minions that turn, the player can use the timing of the mind control effect to allow them to determine the final placement of the mind controlled minion. For example, a player with a Shieldbearer already on the board may take control of a Flametongue Totem, before then summoning a Sludge Belcher to the right of it, thereby ensuring the Totem's is placed between the two minions, making the most of its buff.
• Minions that have just been mind controlled are normally exhausted for one turn and cannot attack, just as with minions that were summoned that turn.
  • Shadow Madness and Potion of Madness do not cause its target to be exhausted, allowing it to attack - the effect only lasts until end of turn, and would otherwise be nearly useless.
  • Charge affects mind control exhaustion just as it affects summoning exhaustion - minions with that ability can attack on the same turn they are mind controlled.

Cards

All mind control effects available in Standard format are listed here.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Mind Control	Free	Spell		Priest	10			Take control of an enemy minion. Nominated as "Spell Most Likely to Make Your Opponent Punch the Wall."
Mind Control Tech	Rare	Minion	General	Any	3	3	3	Battlecry: If your opponent has 4 or more minions, take control of one at random. Mind Control technology is getting better, but that's not saying much.
Shadow Madness	Rare	Spell		Priest	4			Gain control of an enemy minion with 3 or less Attack until end of turn. You can rationalize it all you want, it's still a mean thing to do.
Cabal Shadow Priest	Epic	Minion	General	Priest	6	4	5	Battlecry: Take control of an enemy minion that has 2 or less Attack. You never know who may be secretly working for the Cabal....
Embrace Darkness	Epic	Spell		Priest	6			Choose an enemy minion. At the start of your turn, take control of it. Once you both get comfortable, darkness is actually pretty snuggly.
Treachery	Epic	Spell		Warlock	3			Choose a friendly minion. Your opponent gains control of it. Never look a gift minion in the mouth.
Showing all 6 cards

Wild format

 This section contains information exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Entomb	Common	Spell		Priest	6			Choose an enemy minion. Shuffle it into your deck. It's perfectly safe as long as you remember to put in air holes.
Potion of Madness	Common	Spell		Priest	1			Gain control of an enemy minion with 2 or less Attack until the end of the turn. You'd be insane NOT to drink it!
Kezan Mystic	Rare	Minion	General	Any	4	4	3	Battlecry: Take control of a random enemy Secret. They pretend to be wise and enlightened, but they mostly just hate to be left out of a secret.
Sylvanas Windrunner	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	6	5	5	Deathrattle: Take control of a random enemy minion. Sylvanas was turned into the Banshee Queen by Arthas, but he probably should have just killed her because it just pissed her off.
Showing all 4 cards

Comparison

As of Knights of the Frozen Throne, there are 10 control effects in the game:

• Six belong to the Priest class, one is a Warlock spell, and the remaining 3 are neutral.
• The 6 priest effects are targeted, as is Treachery, while the 3 neutral effects select targets randomly. The conditions to use the neutral effects are harder to meet / more complex than the priest effects, and are more easily played around.
• Kezan Mystic targets Secrets. The rest target minions.
• Treachery gives one of the player's minions to the opponent. The rest take something from the opponent.
• Mind control effects are present across all card rarities, and are about evenly split between minion abilities and spells.

The spell Mind Control is the most expensive and powerful of the options, as the only one that takes immediate, targeted control of any enemy minion in play without using a combination card. This sets mind control effects apart from other removal abilities like destroy and transform, which are represented by a greater number of cards and are in many cases easier to play than mind control.

Card	Type	Class	Cost	Maximum Attack	Target	Duration	Conditions
Cabal Shadow Priest	Minion (Battlecry)	Priest	6	2	Targeted	Permanent	Target has 2 or less Attack
Embrace Darkness	Spell	Priest	6	Any	Targeted	Permanent	Control shifts at beginning of player's next turn
Entomb	Spell	Priest	6	Any	Targeted	Permanent	Target will be shuffled to the player's deck
Kezan Mystic	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	4	-	Random	Permanent	Opponent has a Secret in play
Mind Control	Spell	Priest	10	Any	Targeted	Permanent	None
Mind Control Tech	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	3	Any	Random	Permanent	Opponent has 4 or more minions
Potion of Madness	Spell	Priest	1	2	Targeted	End of turn	Target has 2 or less Attack
Shadow Madness	Spell	Priest	4	3	Targeted	End of turn	Target has 3 or less Attack
Sylvanas Windrunner	Minion (Deathrattle)	Neutral	6	Any	Random	Permanent	Deathrattle is activated
Treachery	Spell	Warlock	3	Any	Targeted	Permanent	None (but player's own minion)

Trivia

• As of Knights of the Frozen Throne, five new mind control cards have been added since the release of Hearthstone: Kezan Mystic, Entomb, Potion of Madness, Embrace Darkness, and Treachery.
• Control is one of the few minion properties which are not displayed anywhere on the minion or in their text, instead being indicated by the side of the board on which the minion appears.

References

	Cards
By type	Hero card Minion Spell Weapon
By class	Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior
By minion type	All Beast Demon Dragon Elemental Mech Murloc Pirate Totem General
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By card set	Basic Classic Journey to Un'Goro Knights of the Frozen Throne Kobolds & Catacombs The Witchwood
	Hall of Fame Naxxramas Goblins vs Gnomes Blackrock Mountain Grand Tournament The League of Explorers Whispers of the Old Gods One Night in Karazhan Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary