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"Gibbering Descent" is a black enchantment spell printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Future Sight." This is a rather interesting enchantment spell that could really mess up an opponent's game. Being on the receiving end of Gibbering Descent a few times, I have found this to be one of the most irritating and frustrating enchantment spells. This is perhaps one of the cards in Magic the Gathering that I had absolutely detested being on the receiving end of. So far, Gibbering Descent is good for a black control deck. With the right combination of cards, you can find much use out of Gibbering Descent.
The converted mana cost for Gibbering Descent is six. You will need two black mana and four colorless mana to play Gibbering Descent. However, it does not seem to be worth the six mana to play Gibbering Descent. While Gibbering Descent can annoy the daylights out of your opponent, it does not really do much. You would need certain cards on the battlefield to get extra use out of Gibbering Descent.
However, there is a lower alternative "Madness" cost of two black mana and two colorless mana. You can pay this if you have to discard it from your hand. There are two ways this can happen. One would be that you have more than seven cards. The other method would be a spell or ability that makes you discard a card. In that respect, you can the madness cost if you have to discard it. Instead of discarding it, you get to play it.
What does Gibbering Descent do in the first place?
When Gibbering Descent is on the battlefield, players lose one point of life and discard a card from his/her hand at the beginning of their respective upkeep steps. Should Gibbering Descent be played on the battlefield early in the game, you should be able to annoy the daylights out of your opponents.
There is this additional effect called Hellbent. In respect to the Hellbent effect for Gibbering Descent, you skip your upkeep step if you have no cards in your hand.
There are means to milk that ability for all it is worth. One would be to play another Gibbering Descent or two. In this respect, players would lose three points of life and discard three cards from their hands during their respective upkeep steps. This is one method of exploiting the ability of Gibbering Descent.
Another method would be using "Megrim." Whenever your opponents discard a card from their hands, they suffer two points of damage from Megrim. Combined with Gibbering Descent, your opponents would lose three points of life. Keep in mind that damage equals loss of life points but not the other way around.
The third method would be using "Wound Reflection." Wound Reflection simply doubles how many life points your opponents lose. If you combine all three methods together, you can get good use out of Gibbering Descent's main ability. It would trigger the effects of Megrim and Wound Reflection. In a matter of turns, you could wipe out a good number of your opponents.
Overall, Gibbering Descent alone would not really be at all that impressive. It can serve as a means to frustrate opponents early in the game. But, you can use this with other cards to cause more damage.
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"Gibbering Descent" is a black enchantment spell printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Future
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