Pointed Discussion

Such a pity this card is only capable of returning black creature cards.
Getting a card superior to Raise Dead/Disentomb wouldn't have hurt, would it?

This + Undertaker in a madness/tog deck.

They did this cuz everyone loved Basking Rootwalla's free madness cost. Then they realized that any colour madness deck (U/G for example) would be able to play it and restricted it. Oh well.

Only good if you play a pure black deck but it is still not bad if you are playing 2 colors.

well black is the new madness color anyways. pity it can't bring back gathan raiders or basking rootwalla though (both in my monoblack madness haha)

I'm waiting for some silly card that turns instants in graveyards into creatures so I can make a pointless loop with this.

If you discard two cards, say, can you discard a black creature first then this, pay the madness cost and bring the creature back to hand? Or are they considered discarded at the same time?

Its plain effect is worse than Raise Dead, but it's countered by the fact that Madness allows you to play it at any time. Instant-speed graveyard card grabs aren't the most useful thing in the world, but they aren't bad. Also, it's worth noting that this card can return more than just mono-colored creatures, e.g. you could return your Psychatog, if you were the sort of sick deviant person to be playing with a Psychatog in the first place.

@djflo: As far as I understand, because the discard would be a cost both cards are considered discarded immediately with the same "timestamp", meaning you decide which one gets placed in the graveyard first. Once that happens, then replacement effects (e.g. Madness) come into play. The replacement effect places the spell on the stack "the next time you could play an instant," i.e. AFTER the cards have already been discarded, meaning that yes, you could bring the black creature you just discarded back to your hand. I think. I'm not a DCI Judge.

MADNESS!

Black creatures only can make this card less than favorable, but oh wait, for one mana: Darkest Hour

For anyone looking for a strictly better Raise Dead/Disentomb, take a look at Ghoulcaller's Chant.
IMO it's not so much worse than the cards mentioned above. Raise Dead effects are undeniably useful, but you don't see them getting a lot of play outside drafts/limited, not even in casual, so spells such as this ( with a more specific niche) end up been played more than the originals.

I may be opening a Pandora box by asking this but Is there any legal difference between discarding a card for a Spellshaper ability and discarding for a madness mechanic? There are tons of cards that say Discard a card but one goes on the stack and the other doesn't. Does using it together double or cumulate the effect?

Free creature retrieval when used as fuel for spellshapers?
...
I can only pack four, right?

Each Time Spiral card was an homage to at least one previously printed card.

This card is referencing Raise Dead.

Duh, Faithless Looting. Run a black creature unearth/discard deck with cards like Sedraxis Specter, Nyxathid, and Rotting Rats. Win with cards like Lingering Souls and the Rack. Last week's Building on a Budget column did just that.

No matter what it does... hey, -cost madness. One can't complain....

Wow... so I can discard a creature to Lotleth Troll, and then discard Call to the Netherworld to get it back and get two +1/+1 counters for essentially 1 card and zero mana? Wow.

@RiftenBlack
no, because this card is not a creature

@ C0nker4...
Creature cards that are not in play are not affected by darkest hour.

Combos well with Psychatog