| Set: |  Legacy |
|---|---|
| Type: | Spell |
| Spell school: | Shadow |
| Class: |  Priest |
| Rarity: |  Rare |
| Cost: | 3  |
| Abilities: | Take control |
| Wiki tags: | Triggered effect |
You can rationalize it all you want, it's still a mean thing to do.
Shadow Madness, full art
Shadow Madness is a rare priest spell card, from the Classic set. It allows the priest to take control of an enemy minion with 3 or less Attack.
How to get
Shadow Madness can be obtained through Classic card packs, through crafting, or as an Arena reward. Regular Shadow Madness can also be obtained through the Highest Rank Bonus chest at the end of a Ranked season, or as a first-time reward for first time reaching Silver 10 or Gold 10 in Ranked mode.
| Card | Crafting cost | Disenchanting |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Madness | 100 | 20 |
| Golden Shadow Madness | 800 | 100 |
Notes
- Deathrattle effects of the controlled minion will trigger for its new controller's benefit if it dies on that side of the battlefield.
- Transforming the controlled minion will cause the resulting minion to be permanently under the priest's control.
Recombobulator is a common choice for this. - A return effect used on a minion afflicted with Shadow Madness causes the card to be returned to its new controller's hand, not its original controller's. This makes the change of possession permanent - when re-cast, the minion will not return to its original controller's side.
- Shadow Madness temporarily transfers control of the minion through an enchantment which is removed at the end of the turn. Silencing the minion will therefore immediately return it to its original owner.[1]
- Any end of turn triggered effects possessed by the controlled minion will trigger prior to it returning to its owner.[2] This allows the stealing player to benefit from any such effects possessed by the stolen minion, such as Young Priestess or Imp Master.
- When the minion returns to its previous owner's side of the battlefield, it will return to the far right of the board. This can be used to strategically mis-place minions with positional effects, such as
Flametongue Totem or Wee Spellstopper, weakening enemy strategy or rendering other minions vulnerable. - Any ongoing effects possessed by the minion will transfer to the priest's side of the board for as long as the minion is under their control. This can be used with minions such as Raid Leader to weaken the enemy board and strengthen the priest's board, allowing for very favourable trades.
- If the originally controlling player's board is filled after a minion is stolen (e.g. via Haunted Creeper's Deathrattle) and is full at the end of the currently controlling player's turn, the stolen creature will destroy itself instead of returning to its original side of the battlefield.
- When Power Overwhelming is cast upon a minion currently stolen by Shadow Madness, it may not destroy the minion at the end of that turn, but instead might wait until the end of the originally controlling player's turn. The minion's original owner would therefore get the chance to make use of it for one more turn, including the +4/+4 effect. Whether or not this happens is determined by the hidden Player ID determined randomly at the start of the match: Only Player_ID 2 will fall victim to this effect; Player_ID 1 will return the minion and then see it immediately destroyed as expected. This discrepancy is assumed to be a bug.[3]
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Strategy
Shadow Madness is a very tactical card, capable of being used to great effect. Unlike permanent mind control effects like Mind Control, minions that are affected by this card are not exhausted, but can be used by the priest that same turn.
One common tactic is to use the controlled minion to attack another, hopefully destroying both minions. This effectively grants removal for two minions with only one card.
When using return cards such as Ancient Brewmaster to permanently seize control of a Shadow Madness'd minion, the target can ideally be used to attack before being returned to the hand, since any damage taken by it will be cancelled when it leaves the battlefield.
Can also be very useful for removing a powerful taunt minion in order to allow your minions to directly attack the enemy hero or an important minion.
As with all mind control effects, any abilities or events that occur while the minion is controlled will treat the controlling player as the minion's owner. This includes deathrattles and other card text effects.
Trivia
Artist
Patch changes
- Unknown alpha/beta patch: Name changed from "Dark Command" to "Shadow Madness".
References
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-09-11).
- ↑ Hearthstone Mythbusters Episode 2
- ↑ Hearthstone Science, NightKev, & Patashu (2015-07-18). The Dominant Player Bug (Shadow Madness+Power Overwhelming and more).
- ↑ Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Building the Fire (UK). (2013-03-19).