Magic: The Gathering Archenemy For Beginners (2025)
By the MagicSAK Team (Hunter)
Introduction
Ever wanted to feel like a supervillain facing down a group of heroes in Magic: The Gathering? That's exactly what Archenemy offers - a thrilling multiplayer format where one player becomes the all-powerful Archenemy, wielding devastating schemes against a team of opponents.
Whether you're new to MTG or a seasoned player looking to try something different, Archenemy offers a unique twist on multiplayer Magic. In this guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know to play your first game, from basic rules to setup, strategy tips, and how to build your first scheme deck, as well as why you might use our deck builder and Archenemy game companion.
One thing to note is that there are effectively two official flavors of Archenemy: the original Archenemy, which revolved around the Standard format, and Archenemy Commander. Both modes involve 1v3 gameplay, with the lone individual as the titular Archenemy, but some specifics separate them, which we'll detail below.
What both Archenemy-related modes share in common is that there is one Archenemy facing down three opponents, who are on one team. The thing that allows the Archenemy to survive (and maybe dominate) this onslaught is the deck of Scheme cards. Schemes come in two varieties, as denoted by their type line:
Scheme cards are single-use cards that give the Archenemy some kind of boon. They often include things like destroying your opponents' permanents, drawing cards, creating creatures, and much more. Some examples:
Ongoing Scheme cards have an ongoing effect that ends when a certain thing happens. For example, Reality is Mine to Control acts as a waiting, one-time spell duplicator. If you're about to play a super-impactful spell or game piece (maybe a Gary, Merchant of Asphodel, for example), you can double it by abandoning the Scheme! However, once it's abandoned, the effect is used up and gone for good. Some other examples:
Archenemies play a Scheme card from their deck at the beginning of each of their turns, they always go first, and they still draw a card on their first turn.
The other players (sometimes called "heroes") play their turn at the same time, and they can block for each other, but there are some differences for how they play Archenemy vs. Archenemy Commander.
Now that we know what Scheme cards and the general rules are, let's dive into the details of the differences between Archenemy and Archenemy Commander!
Archenemy
Key details:
- Everyone has 60+ card Standard-legal deck
- Archenemy has 20+ card Scheme deck
- Each non-Archenemy player starts with 20 life
- Archenemy starts with 40 life
- If one non-Archenemy player dies, cards they own are removed from the game
Archenemy Commander
Key Details:
- Everyone has 100 card Commander-legal deck
- Archenemy has 10+ card Scheme deck
- The non-Archenemy team starts with 60 life
- The Archenemy starts with 60 life
- The non-Archenemy players take shared damage
- The Archenemy can target one opponent, but if unblocked, their shared life total goes down
What do you need to play?
In order to play either Archenemy format, you need 4 people. For Archenemy (OG), you need four Standard-legal 60 card decks and one 20+ card Archenemy Scheme deck, which you can create here on MagicSAK's deck builder! You'll obviously need things like life counters, which will soon be integrated into MagicSAK's game interface. Other than that, I recommend your Archenemy player bring their best evil voice for reading the titles, and flavor text of each Archenemy Scheme card!
As a rule of thumb, I recommend playing with semi-casual (bracket 2-3, for whatever that's worth) decks, as this is generally a more casual format. These games generally take less time, but they're not built for decks that pop off and secure a win on turn 1, 2, or 3.
First Time Archenemy? Read Here
Being the Archenemy for the first time is both exciting and daunting, as you have both the opportunity and burden of facing down three players and their potentially challenging decks.
Generally, I'd recommend lower-power decks in the bracket 2-3 range. The reason for this is that when playing higher-powered decks, the chance for an early game-winning combo can defeat the purpose of Archenemy, and lower-powered decks are likely to lose the game to even a similarly-powered Archenemy.
Once you've chosen your Standard or Commander deck for Archenemy, you can build your MagicSAK Archenemy Deck! You can even play the Archenemy deck on our website, with lots of tools (like life counters and dungeons) to be added soon. That said, let's give a few quick tips on building an Archenemy Scheme deck:
- Build for your format: there are some Schemes that are Commander-only, like I Am Never Alone. Keep that in mind, as these will do nothing in a non-Archenemy Commander game!
- Don't only put in "winning" Schemes: there are some schemes that mention things like "... do this thing only if you control 6 or more lands." They generally have powerful effects, but if your Scheme deck only has cards like these, chances are good that you'll miss out on these effects in the first few turns of the game, as you won't have enough lands! Similarly, if you only play board-wiping Schemes, you'll likely whiff on the first few turns.
- Not all Schemes are built the same: Let's be honest: if every Magic: The Gathering card was ultra-powerful, then none of them would be. This also applies to Archenemy Schemes, and as such, there are some mediocre Schemes in there. Don't just choose the top 10-20 alphabetically, and instead look at some of our guides or popular Scheme cards to get an idea of what might be most valuable!
- MOST IMPORTANTLY, build around your commander: Some Schemes might do things like creating creature tokens. If your commander seeks to mill everyone to death, that might not work for your win strategy. Other Schemes might do things like letting you play extra lands for one or more turns, but if you already have tons of ramp, that may not be super beneficial to you. Consider your deck, its weakspots, and how it might be further empowered by the proper Schemes!
Sample Turns
Archenemy Turn
The Archenemy starts by flipping over a Scheme card from their facedown Scheme deck, and then immediately follows the instructions on that card (no instants or abilities can be played during this step). If the Archenemy flips over an Ongoing Scheme card, the effect goes into play immediately, and continues until the "abandon this scheme" criteria is met.
Then, the Archenemy goes through their usual upkeep phase, first main phase, combat phase, second main phase, and end step. EZ PZ!
"Heroes" Turn
The heroes go through all of the normal M:TG phases simultaneously. The only caveat is that they cannot share resources; they can't share mana, sacrifice each other's creatures, etc. Outside of sharing life total and being able to block for each other, they pretty much function as separate players.
How to Win
The Archenemy wins by lowering the life total of the opposing team to 0; in OG Archenemy, they need to individually kill each other player, but in Archenemy Commander, they have to kill the entire team as a whole. The Archenemy can also win through other means, like commander damage (21 or more damage dealt by your commander), milling the heroes' decks (all 3 of them) to 0, or more specific stuff like Triskaidekaphile.
The hero team can win in similar ways; lowering the Archenemy to 0 health, or alternate wincons!
Conclusion
Archenemy is one of my favorite formats, and I hope this helps you and your pod get into it! There are many intricacies to the format, and it takes some practice to find balance in power levels, as well as how they interact with your Archenemy deck and Scheme deck. Be sure to check out some of our guides to building Scheme decks, as well as our Scheme deck builder and Archenemy Scheme player! Embrace being the bad guy!