Can you hear that ominous music? That evil laughter in the air? It can only mean one thing: Archenemy is coming back to MTG. After a seven-year hiatus, the unique 3v1 MTG format is making a return in Duskmourn, and bringing with it a whole new batch of Archenemy Schemes. These are the cards that make it possible for a single player to defeat three opponents. They provide powerful effects for free every turn, and can often totally cripple your opposition, ample as it is.
Before the new kids on the villainous block arrive, we thought it’d be worth looking at the very best Archenemy Schemes we’ve seen in MTG so far. Not necessarily the most powerful Schemes, mind you. Archenemy is as much about playing a part as it is playing Magic, so flavor will be contributing a lot here. Of course, power is a big part of any good villain, so we will still be considering it. All of that said, let’s get into it!
5 | Time Bends To My Will
- Type: Scheme
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When you set this scheme in motion, take an extra turn after this one. Skip the untap step of that turn.
We’ll start things off with a bit of a sneak peek. Time Bends to My Will is actually one of the Archenemy Schemes we’ll be getting in Duskmourn. It was revealed early, alongside I Will Savor Your Agony, and it’s a real doozy of a Scheme. Basically, it’s a Savor the Moment that you get for zero mana. You get an extra turn, but can’t take full advantage of it because your permanents don’t untap. That downside is far less relevant in Archenemy than it is in regular play, however.
Firstly, because starting a new turn as the Archenemy means you get to set a new Scheme in motion. This means that, at minimum, Time Bends to My Will draws you a card and replaces itself. It also interacts extremely well with Vigilance creatures, since those will be able to swing again on the extra turn regardless. Upkeep triggers, such as those on the Eldraine Court cycle, will also get an extra hit.
It’s no secret that taking an extra turn is one of the most powerful things you can do in Magic. It should be no surprise, then, that this is one of the best Schemes around. If the rest of the Duskmourn Schemes are this good, then we’re in for a deliciously evil treat come September.
4 | Power Without Equal
- Type: Scheme
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When you set this scheme in motion, draw three cards. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn. If you control six or more lands, you may cast up to three spells from your hand without paying their mana costs.
Speaking of universally powerful effects, how about drawing cards and cheating permanents into play? These are things that every deck loves to do, and Power Without Equal can provide you with exactly that. The name alone is probably reason enough for the card to make the list, but thankfully its effect matches up to it and then some.
Ancestral Recall plus a temporary Reliquary Tower effect is a great baseline to start with here. It gives you a ton of options and some extra time to use them. Every good villain should have plenty of tricks up their sleeve, after all. If you subscribe more to the ‘brute force’ school of villainy, however, then this Scheme has you covered as well. Cheating any three nonland permanents from your hand into play can be absolutely devastating, especially in a Ramp or Reanimator deck stuffed with big creatures.
Sure, you need six lands to get the full benefit here, but you’ll never be unhappy drawing three in the early game. Ultimately, Power Without Equal is a ‘best of both worlds’ Scheme. It’s great early, it’s great late, and it’s great in pretty much every deck. Plenty of Schemes are more situational, and can even hurt you more than help you, but that’ll never be the case with this one.
3 | Know Evil
- Type: Scheme
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When you set this scheme in motion, until your next turn, up to one target opponent can’t attack with creatures, up to one target opponent can’t cast creature spells, and up to one target opponent can’t cast noncreature spells. You can’t choose any player as a target more than once.
From a pure flavor perspective, this may be the best Scheme of them all. Know Evil lets you reenact the classic ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ image at your Archenemy table, by restricting the actions of each player for a turn. Shutting down attacks, creatures, and noncreatures at will, this is a Scheme that really rewards you for getting into the headspace of a villain.
Since you can only choose each player once, you’ll need to pay close attention to their decks and play styles to get the most out of this Scheme. As you play, you’ll need to keep a catalog of each opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the moves they’re most likely to make on the turn this comes down. If you choose well, Know Evil can essentially be a full turn skip for all three of your opponents, which easily puts it in the upper echelons of power when it comes to Archenemy Schemes in MTG.
This is a Scheme that takes full advantage of the unique features of the Archenemy format, providing an extremely flavorful experience for everyone at the table. It also adds that lovely personal touch, since you get to choose the victims of each curse yourself. As a perfect fusion of power and flavor, Know Evil is a stone-cold Archenemy classic.
2 | Your Inescapable Doom
- Type: Ongoing Scheme
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: (An ongoing scheme remains face up.) At the beginning of your end step, put a doom counter on this scheme, then this scheme deals damage equal to the number of doom counters on it to the opponent with the highest life total among your opponents. If two or more players are tied for highest life total, you choose one.
If ever there was a card name that demanded to be followed up with a booming ‘Mwa-ha-ha!’ when read out, it’s this one. Your Inescapable Doom is an Ongoing Scheme, which are Schemes that stick around and influence play for multiple turns. This is unlike the other single-use Schemes on this list. Most Ongoing Schemes have a condition that causes them to leave at a certain point, but Your Inescapable Doom, appropriately enough, does not.
This means that, once this Scheme is in play, it’s in play for good. It will trigger its effect every turn for the rest of the game. What is that effect, I hear you ask? Why, endlessly-scaling burn damage, of course! Each turn, this Scheme gets a Doom counter, then deals damage equal to its Doom counters to your opponents’ life total. It is quite slow, but the inevitability here is still quite strong.
With this Scheme out, as long as you can stall, you will win the game eventually. You can even do so fairly quickly too, with the help of Proliferate cards to get more Doom counters. There’s something really satisfying about relying on this Scheme as your primary win condition, but it can also supplement any kind of creature or burn-based strategy very nicely indeed.
1 | My Crushing Masterstroke
- Type: Scheme
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When you set this scheme in motion, gain control of all nonland permanents your opponents control until end of turn. Untap those permanents. They gain haste until end of turn. Each of them attacks its owner this turn if able.
Anyone who knows Archenemy at all will not be surprised by this top pick. My Crushing Masterstroke is so absurdly powerful that it blows considerations of flavor out of the water. This is the Scheme that exemplifies the raw power of the Archenemy role better than any other. Essentially, this is a free Insurrection: an eight-mana sorcery that still sees Commander play because stealing every creature at the table for a turn is just that good.
It’s actually even better than Insurrection since it steals all nonland permanents, not just creatures. Key enchantments, mana rocks, and planeswalkers all come with you for a turn when this Scheme triggers. You may only be able to attack players with their own creatures the turn this goes off, but you’ll likely have plenty of other options too thanks to the wide net this card casts.
In addition to being a premium finisher you can just stumble into on a given turn, My Crushing Masterstroke is also pretty flavorful, too. The player attack restriction gives it the feel of turning each player’s allies against them, which is deliciously evil. The ‘Crushing’ part is on point too; chances are the game will be over if you land this Scheme against any kind of opposing board presence. Of all the Archenemy Schemes in MTG, this is easily the best, and most evil, of the bunch.
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