Madman
Madman | |
---|---|
Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | No |
Set | Dark Ages |
Illustrator(s) | Claus Stefan |
Card text | |
+2 Actions Return this to the Madman pile. If you do, +1 Card per card in your hand. (This is not in the Supply.) |
Madman is a one-shot Action card from Dark Ages. You can only get it by playing a Hermit, and you return it to the Madman pile as soon as you use it once.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- This card is not in the Supply; it can only be obtained via Hermit.
- When you play it, you get +2 Actions, return it to the Madman pile if you can (this is not optional), and if you did return it, you draw a card per card in your hand. For example if you had three cards in hand after playing Madman, you would draw three cards.
- Normally, nothing will prevent you from returning Madman to the Madman pile, but you may fail to due to playing Madman twice via Procession, Throne Room (from Dominion), or King's Court (from Prosperity).
- So, for example, if you Procession a Madman, you will get +2 Actions, return Madman to the Madman pile, draw a card per card in your hand, get another +2 Actions, fail to return Madman and so not draw cards the second time, fail to trash Madman, and then gain an Action card costing exactly if you can.
Other Rules clarifications
- Since Madman is not in the Supply, the Madman pile being empty does NOT count towards the three-pile end-game condition.
Strategy Article
For Madman strategy, see the article on Hermit.
It's evident that Madman does not play nice with handsize attacks. If you get Militia'd and then play Madman, the Madman will only give you +2 Cards, +2 Actions - it's okay but not that great, since you can only use the Madman once.
Of course, the opposite is true if you can increase your handsize with some kind of Non-terminal draw. If you can get half your deck in hand with at least one remaining action, Madman will draw your whole deck into your hand. Two Madmen would only need one quarter of your deck to start.
Madman certainly does play well with +Buy; it's clear that a few Madmen is a straightforward way to get a huge hand, but without +Buy, a huge hand can only do so much for you. The difficulty of buying a Hermit, buying nothing on a turn where you play the Hermit, and then finally drawing the Madman is too high for the payoff to be just one single Province.
Perhaps a Madman megaturn is a reasonable thing to aim for. Its combo with Market Square is a highly unusual quasi-megaturn strategy.
Synergies/Combos
- Market Square
- +Buy
- Non-terminal draw, whether by Laboratory-type cards, or a combination of Village and Terminal draw cards.
- Duration cards that increase your hand size (like Wharf or Enchantress)
- Expedition
Antisynergies
Alternate versions
Digital version for Dominion Online
German Version by HiG
Trivia
In other languages
- Dutch: Krankzinnige
- Finnish: Kylähullu (lit. village idiot)
- French: Fou
- German: Verrückter
- Japanese: 狂人 (pron. kyōjin)
- Korean: 미치광이 (pron. michigwang-i, lit. lunatic)
- Russian: Безумец (pron. byezumyets)
- Spanish: Loco
Secret History
Madman started as an Intrigue card for . At first it was +2 Actions, +3 Cards, trash this; then I moved it to the large version of Alchemy, which at the time was planning on having a hand-related sub-theme, and changed it from +3 Cards to doubling your hand size, because hey, that's cool. Then of course I moved it to Cornucopia when Alchemy ended up being small and Cornucopia took on the hand theme. Then Cornucopia lost that theme, but this card left first; it was too strong. What would happen was Bill Barksdale would be losing, and moaning about it, and he'd buy a Madman, because what other chance did he have, ugh, ugh, ugh. And then he'd buy two more. And he'd have a turn where he played all three and drew his deck and bought out the Provinces. It seemed like a card still worth doing; it just had to be harder to get them. And so it is.