This seems like a fairly roundabout way to mill
someone. Does it really matter that they're
pitching their hand if they get to draw a new
one? The real appeal here is the fact that
everybody draws a new hand the size of whoever's
hand was the biggest. Play this when you're the
lowest on cards in hand for an easy boost in
hand size. Trouble is, you're playing blue and
black-- you'll probably be drawing cards and
making your opponent discard, so will you really
have fewer cards than your opponents?
You will if you do a lot of bouncing. Bounce
spells also make it easier to Cipher this
spell-- bounce their blocker, then make them
discard it! It's like Recoil is Standard-legal
again!
For some reason, this card always reminds me of
the "Downside Up" level from The Matrix: Path of
Neo, a very underrated game. I like how it's a
lot more versatile than it looks - you can use
it as a library-attacking weapon, a way to
search for combo pieces, or just to mess with
everybody else at the table. The cipher mechanic
has a very build-your-own-creature vibe to it,
and while this is probably not the absolute most
powerful card from that subset, it does give you
choices, and choices are good.
Today's card of the day is Whispering Madness
which is a four mana Blue and Black with Cipher
that has each player discard their hand then
draw cards equal to the greatest number of cards
a player discarded. While this does have
some value to a draw with drawbacks theme or
mill, giving your opponent cards in most
situations is a bad idea. It can be
combined with unblockable attacks and card draw
effects to have a major impact on a library, but
it is riskier than more direct methods and
harder to stabilize as a win condition. Overall
it is playable, if a bit erratic, and may find a
few decks built around it in Casual or even
Legacy formats.
In Limited this is a roll of the dice with every
use as even casting the effect with no cards in
hand can still benefit the opponent if they draw
a useful card. Not worth a first pick
unless it is a personal preference of play and
is generally best left in the sidedeck for
Sealed.
Welcome to another great day of reviews here at
Pojo.com! This time we are looking at Whispering
Madness out of Gatecrash! Whispering Madness is
a rare black and blue sorcery that costs two
generic, one black, and one blue mana.
Whispering Madness says each player discards
their hand, and the draws cards equal to the
highest number discarded this way. Whispering
Madness has Cipher, which means after it
resolves, you can encode a creature with it,
effectively granting the creature this ability
for dealing combat damage to a player.
Whispering Madness was one of the first cards revealed for
Gatecrash, and I knew right then and there that
combos were going to be prevalent, and that
Dimir was going to be a strong force. So far, I
haven't been too far wrong, but am surprised
that it isn't making huge strides in top tier
play as of right now.
Any time you are forced to dump your hand can be annoying.
But forcing your opponent to do that same helps
out, especially if you knew something in their
hand was going to be problematic. The other
advantage is if your opponent has more cards
than you, you are effectively just tossing a few
to gain more. This of course creates more
options. And then of course, encoding a creature
makes it happen again every time it hits an
opponent.
The best thing about Cipher is the amount of
Unblockable creatures that are floating around,
and many are happily in Standard at the moment.
But the best choice at the moment has to be
Invisible Stalker. He comes out early, cannot be
blocked, and your opponent can't target him. He
is hands down the best choice for being Ciphered
in my opinion.
