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Whispering Madness
Sorcery
rare
Each player discards their hand, then draws cards equal to the greatest number of cards a player discarded this way. Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.)
Card Kingdom
CardmarketSemantic Tags
Benefits from discarding cards — madness, Waste Not effects, Oskar strategies.
A permanent or ability that lets you discard cards for value or at will.
A keyword ability that allows a player to cast a double-faced card transformed from the graveyard. See rule 702.146, “Disturb.”
A card that makes a strategy possible or consistent without being the payoff itself.
Benefits all players or gives opponents choices/resources. Political strategy.
Forces opponents to discard cards from their hand. Targeted discard, mass discard, and discard-or-pay effects.
Forces opponents to discard cards from their hand. Targeted discard, mass discard, and discard-or-pay effects.
Draw-then-discard or discard-then-draw effects that improve hand quality without net card advantage.
A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card they discard. See rule 702.35, “Madness.”
Makes all players discard their hand and draw a new one. Named after Wheel of Fortune.
Format Legality
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Printings (2)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander 2016#229 | rare | · | · | · |
| Gatecrash#207 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Concepts
Related Rules
After resolving a madness triggered ability (see rule 702.35), if the exiled card wasn’t cast and was moved to a public zone, effects referencing the discarded card can find that object.
Madness
Madness is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with madness is in a player’s hand. The second is a triggered ability that functions when the first ability is applied. “Madness [cost]” means “If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but exiles it instead of putting it into their graveyard” and “When this card is exiled this way, its owner may cast it by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If that player doesn’t, they put this card into their graveyard.”
Casting a spell using its madness ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.
After resolving a madness triggered ability, if the exiled card wasn’t cast and was moved to a public zone, effects referencing the discarded card can find that card. See rule 400.7k.
Cipher
Cipher appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two abilities. The first is a spell ability that functions while the spell with cipher is on the stack. The second is a static ability that functions while the card with cipher is in the exile zone. “Cipher” means “If this spell is represented by a card, you may exile this card encoded on a creature you control” and “For as long as this card is encoded on that creature, that creature has ‘Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may copy the encoded card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.’”
The term “encoded” describes the relationship between the card with cipher while in the exile zone and the creature chosen when the spell represented by that card resolves.
Rulings
Each player draws cards simultaneously. If this causes a player to draw more cards than are left in their library, that player will lose the game. If this causes all players to do so, the game is a draw. (In multiplayer games, multiple players drawing from an empty library will cause those players to lose although the game may continue.)
You’ll draw cards before deciding which creature (if any) Whispering Madness will be encoded on.
The exiled card with cipher grants a triggered ability to the creature it’s encoded on. If that creature loses that ability and subsequently deals combat damage to a player, the triggered ability won’t trigger. However, the exiled card will continue to be encoded on that creature.
If the creature leaves the battlefield, the exiled card will no longer be encoded on any creature. It will stay exiled.
The spell with cipher is encoded on the creature as part of that spell’s resolution, just after the spell’s other effects. That card goes directly from the stack to exile. It never goes to the graveyard.
If the spell with cipher doesn’t resolve, none of its effects will happen, including cipher. The card will go to its owner’s graveyard and won’t be encoded on a creature.
If you want to encode the card with cipher onto a noncreature permanent such as a Keyrune that can turn into a creature, that permanent has to be a creature before the spell with cipher starts resolving. You can choose only a creature to encode the card onto.
If you choose not to cast the copy, or you can’t cast it (perhaps because there are no legal targets available), the copy will cease to exist the next time state-based actions are performed. You won’t get a chance to cast the copy at a later time.
You choose the creature as the spell resolves. The cipher ability doesn’t target that creature, although the spell with cipher may target that creature (or a different creature) because of its other abilities.
You cast the copy of the card with cipher during the resolution of the triggered ability. Ignore timing restrictions based on the card’s type.
The copy of the card with cipher is created in and cast from exile.
If another player gains control of the creature, that player will control the triggered ability. That player will create a copy of the encoded card and may cast it.
If a creature with an encoded card deals combat damage to more than one player simultaneously (perhaps because some of the combat damage was redirected), the triggered ability will trigger once for each player it deals combat damage to. Each ability will create a copy of the exiled card and allow you to cast it.