Descent into Madness
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a despair counter on this enchantment, then each player exiles X permanents they control and/or cards from their hand, where X is the number of despair counters on this enchantment.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Avacyn Restored
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #22857
Descent into Madness is a slow-burn symmetrical attrition engine that eventually strips every player's board and hand to zero — including yours. The catch is the clock: it does nothing the turn it resolves, and the cumulative upkeep means you need a plan to either exploit the parity or break it entirely.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Descent into Madness sees essentially zero play in Legacy, Vintage, or Modern — formats where games end too fast for a five-mana enchantment with a delayed payoff to matter. Commander is its only real home, where the multiplayer attrition angle is relevant and games go long enough for cumulative upkeep to actually win a board state. Even in Commander, it's a niche piece: you want it in a dedicated shell that either breaks parity through tokens or graveyard recursion, or locks the table out through stax before the enchantment resolves. Outside that narrow lane, the symmetrical sacrifice is punishing to run.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Descent into Madness is deep bulk — accessible for any budget and easy to pick up as a throw-in. The price reflects real limited demand; this is a build-around that never crosses over into generic-good-stuff territory, so don't expect the floor to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.