Take control

Control effects or mind control effects are effects which allow a player to seize control of an enemy card.

Controlled minions and locations are treated as belonging to the controlling player for all purposes. Minions 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. The ability of a controlled location can be immediately used after transferring to the opposing board.

Take 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 cards such as Secrets and Weapons instead of minions. As of Patch 27.2.2.184727, the only cards to feature this ability are Kezan Mystic, Kobold Stickyfinger, and The Harvester of Envy.

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 take 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

For Wild format listings, see Take control/Wild format

Comparison

As of Patch 27.2.2.184727, there are 15 control effects in the game:

• Eight belong to the priest class, two are rogue cards, one is a warlock spell, and the remaining 4 are neutral.
• The 8 priest effects are targeted, as is Treachery. The two rogue effects are random or determined by the opponent. 3 of the 4 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 and Kobold Stickyfinger targets Weapons. The Harvester of Envy can target anything. 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	Target	Duration	Conditions
Shadow Madness	Spell	Priest	3	Targeted	End of turn	Target has 3 or less Attack
Cabal Shadow Priest	Minion (Battlecry)	Priest	6	Targeted	Permanent	Target has 2 or less Attack
Mind Control	Spell	Priest	10	Targeted	Permanent	None
Mind Control Tech	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	3	Random	Permanent	Opponent has 4 or more minions
Sylvanas Windrunner	Minion (Deathrattle)	Neutral	6	Random	Permanent	Deathrattle is activated
Kezan Mystic	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	4	Random	Permanent	Opponent has a Secret in play
Entomb	Spell	Priest	6	Targeted	Permanent	Target will be shuffled to the player's deck
Potion of Madness	Spell	Priest	1	Targeted	End of turn	Target has 2 or less Attack
Embrace Darkness	Spell	Priest	6	Targeted	Permanent	Control shifts at beginning of player's next turn
Treachery	Spell	Warlock	3	Targeted	Permanent	None (but player's own minion)
Kobold Stickyfinger	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	5	-	Permanent	Opponent has a Weapon equipped
Cabal Acolyte	Minion (Spellburst)	Priest	4	Random	Permanent	Spellburst is activated, target has 2 or less Attack
Silas Darkmoon	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	7	-	Permanent	Swaps the outmost minions between both players
Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	10	Random	Permanent	19% chance to cast Mindflayer Goggles
Najak Hexxen	Minion (Battlecry)	Priest	4	Targeted	Until destroyed	None
Pirate Admiral Hooktusk	Minion (Battlecry)	Rogue	8	Random	Permanent	Choosing Take their Ship! from Hooktusk's battlecry, target is the highest-attack enemy minion
The Harvester of Envy	Minion (Triggered effect)	Priest	3	Pre-determined	Permanent	A copy of the target needs to be played
Kidnap	Spell	Rogue	2	Chosen by opponent	Until destroyed	Opponent plays a minion
Sylvanas, the Accused (Infused)	Minion (Battlecry)	Neutral	6	Targeted	Permanent	Must be Infused first

Trivia

• 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.