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Comment by Cielos

At the moment, you can even pull Legendary cards from your opponent's deck. I pulled Tirion Fordring during the match from my opponent.

Comment by Cryder

100% chance to draw one or more epics/legendaries

Comment by TegoZanduba

Just in case others don't read the card text like me. This pulls cards from the opponents deck, not his hand. Unlike Mind Vision which copies a card from their hand.

Comment by Xinhuan

This card copies 2 cards from the opponent's deck and puts them into your hand.

Game Mechanics

Your opponent does not lose any cards, despite the word "steal" in the card name.
Your opponent does not know which cards are copied. However, he can track the card positions of the copied cards in your hand.
"Opponent's deck" refers to the remaining cards that he hasn't drawn yet. It does not copy any cards that are in the other 3 zones: Battlefield, Hand and Graveyard.
Thoughtsteal will always copy 2 different cards from your opponent's deck. For you to copy 2 copies of the same card (from 1 Thoughtsteal), your opponent's deck must contain 2 copies of that card.
If your opponent has no cards left (draw pile/library size is 0 for MTG players), Thoughtsteal copies nothing.
If your opponent has 1 card left, Thoughtsteal only copies 1 card. It does not copy that 1 card twice.
If you cast Thoughtsteal from a full hand of 10 cards (your hand goes down to 9 cards), only 1 card is copied.
If you cast Thoughtsteal from a full hand of 10 cards, and have an Gadgetzan Auctioneer in play, your hand first goes down to 9 cards, Auctioneer then triggers and draws a card (back to 10 cards), and finally Thoughtsteal copies nothing since your hand is full.
You can copy AI-only cards and use them against the AI, for example bosses in Naxxramas. (Source: Ben Brode)
If your opponent has a Fel Reaver when you cast Thoughtsteal, it will trigger and burn (up to) 3 cards first. This may leave your opponent's deck with less than 2 remaining cards to copy.

Game Mechanics of "goldenness"

If you used a non-golden Thoughtsteal, the "goldenness" of the copied cards will follow the "goldenness" of the original cards. This may give you a tiny advantage. For example, if you copied a golden Lava Burst, then witness your opponent playing a non-golden one, he must be running 2 copies of that card in his deck, one golden and one plain. For this reason, top players do not mix golden/plain copies of a card in their decks, you either run both copies golden, or both plain.
The copied cards are always golden if you used a golden Thoughtsteal. The original "goldenness" of your opponent's cards are irrelevant. This may tip off your opponent as to which cards were stolen. For example, if you used a golden Thoughtsteal, and stole a Sen'jin Shieldmasta, it will be golden. If you play this golden card, your opponent can assume with high probability that it is one of the stolen cards because very few players have unlocked a golden Sen'jin (rewarded at reaching Level 59 with the Rogue hero). The strikeout-ed portion is no longer true with the introduction of the "Created by Thoughtsteal" text below a copied card.
These game mechanics actually make using plain Thoughtsteals stronger than golden ones. It can be partially fixed by patching it such that plain Thoughtsteals will always steal plain cards.

Additional Notes

You gain insight into his deck on cards that may not have been revealed to you yet.
You can make certain inferences (both as the Priest, and as the opponent playing against the Priest) in a non-arena scenario. For example, if you are a Druid and you have already drawn/used 2 Swipes, and the Priest plays Thoughtsteal, you know he cannot copy a Swipe. Likewise, if you are a Priest and you copy a Swipe, and you know he already played a Swipe earlier, you will know his hand currently doesn't contain a Swipe, but he can draw one later.
You CAN copy useless cards. For example, Deadly Poison - the Priest class currently does not have weapons - In this example, it would be useless unless you also copy a Weapon.
Thoughtsteal is frequently compared to the Mage's Arcane Intellect because it has the same Mana cost and Draw Power, except that the former doesn't perform Deck Thinning. Arcane Intellect is arguably the better spell because it is usually better to draw cards from your own deck.

Trivia

Thoughtsteal used to actually steal cards from your opponent's deck. However, this was too frustrating to play against and it was nerfed. (Source: Eric Dodds, "Hearthstone: 10 Bits of Design Wisdom", Game Developer's Conference 2014. Skip to 29:10 of the video.)

Comment Replies

Answer to redjarman: If your opponent only has one card left in his deck, you only copy that 1 card. That is, you only get 1 card, not 2 of the same card.
Answer to Ragowit: If your opponent only has 1 Swipe in his deck, you can only copy 1 Swipe per Thoughtsteal. If you have 10 cards in your hand when you play Thoughsteal, you only copy 1 card instead of 2.

Comment by Hetax

Imba card, must be the most epic one..
Insight and able to loot 2 cards of ones choise.... does it get better then that? I dont think so xD

Comment by Codiax

The golden version of this cards generate 2 golden cards, even if both cards from the oponent's deck were normal to begin with.

Comment by Jazzycakes2

Did this twice to a warlock and I ended up getting 4 Soulburns.

So in my hand I had 4 Soul Burns and 1 Ysera.

I cast a soulburn thinking "Meh 25% chance I'll lose Ysera"

Betting doesn't always pay off.

Comment by jasonyck

Spent 3 mana and get 2 cards always a decent move. However, you must make sure that opponent's card is useful when put into your hand. If you got Sense Demons from a warlock, that will be epic fail. In any other case it worth the cost.

Comment by mateor

Best Priest card!

Comment by Gotnov

I am not certain, but I believe this card can give you two copies of a card which the opponent has only one of in their deck. I had only one Pyroblast and the Priest Pyroblasted two of my minions, a War Golem and one other minion. I'm pretty sure it was two Pyroblasts and not a Pyro/Fireball.

Comment by Chifen

Beware! Automatically takes the strongest cards when used against you and the most useless cards when used by you.

Comment by m0rningstar

Just had this incredibly unlucky game against a priest.
Had 8 hp left, two 9/9 Molten Giants with taunt on the board.
He had nothing on board, topdecked Thoughtsteal, and managed to gain two Soulfires from my deck.

This card can do miracles.

Comment by Whoisthiscook

Had pretty nice luck in a game vs a Rogue. Played this card twice and both times one of the cards I received was Bloodmage Thalnos. Not that it really helped me win the game but still pretty fun.

Awesome card, acts as a "wild card" and you get to do combos otherwise impossible.

Comment by Anirn

Given the small pool of cards Hearthstone has to offer, Thoughtsteal is one of the best fit-to-any-deck card for Priest right now. No matter what deck you build - aggro, control or end game - you can always get a game changer from Thoughtsteal. Even though it looks like RNG, it is still one card for two which can get you ahead of your opponent given that you play it in the right time. In aggressive decks, this card cannot really hurt your tempo.

Thoughtsteal is a bit saver version of Mindgames , as paying 4 to get a 1 or 2 cost minion can be a bit tempo loose. Yes it can get you ahead if you put out Ragnaros or other strong minion early game - round 4 - but in early game the removals of any class are in game, unlike the end rounds. As for that I consider Thoughtsteal better choice, giving you opportunity to choice the right moment to put in game the treasury you got.

Comment by Anirn

Given the small pool of cards Hearthstone has to offer, Thoughtsteal is one of the best fit-to-any-deck card for Priest right now. No matter what deck you build - aggro, control or end game - you can always get a game changer from Thoughtsteal. Even though it looks like RNG, it is still one card for two which can get you ahead of your opponent given that you play it in the right time. In aggressive decks, this card cannot really hurt your tempo.

Thoughtsteal is a bit safer version of Mindgames , as paying 4 to get a 1 or 2 cost minion can be a bit tempo loose. Yes it can get you ahead if you put out Ragnaros or other strong minion early game - round 4 - but in early game the removals of any class are in game, unlike the end rounds. As for that I consider Thoughtsteal better choice, giving you opportunity to choice the right moment to put in game the treasury you got.

Comment by dudemanword

You can thoughtsteal other priest's thoughtsteals
Yo dawg I hear you like thoughtsteal...

Comment by carpinttas

One of the best cards in the game, no doubt.

Comment by yzq85

Consider running Auchenai Soulpriest together with this card. Against heroes who have minions/cards with targeted healing, you might just end up copying those cards, and with the Soulpriest, do some serious damage.

Comment by Shrikesnest

Weird interaction I ran into today: if you Thoughtsteal a Rogue's Preparation, it does not reduce the cost of Mind Control. Are there any other class cards that don't work with Priest cards that anybody knows of?

Comment by joonjoon819

Famous for always stealing a Deadly Poison when used against a Rogue.

Comment by Jathro

Something I've noticed while playing this against Rogue. Playing this card doesn't seem to count as a card played for combo purposes. In other words, you would have to play Thoughtsteal, then something else to play a card with combo and get the combo effect.

Links

Thoughtsteal

	Spell

Priest

3

Copy 2 cards from your opponent's deck and put them into your hand.

"What do you get when you cast Thoughtsteal on an Orc? Nothing!" - Tauren joke

Stats

This card is used in 42.59% of all Priest decks.

Thoughtsteal

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