The Top 15 Magic: The Gathering Archenemy Schemes For Any Season
By the MagicSAK Team (Hunter)
Archenemy is a unique, asymmetrical format that's been around since 2010, albeit with a few changes. Generally speaking, it involves three players on one team, and the Archenemy on the other, and the Archenemy plays a Scheme card each turn, which acts as a one-time or temporary boon that enables them to handle the three-headed giant they will face.
Initially, Archenemy was focused around standard, 60-card decks, and each player on the non-Archenemy team had separate pools of 20 life, while the Archenemy had 40 life and started with a deck of at least 20 unique Archenemy Scheme cards. That said, in Duskmourn (2024), Wizards of the Coast introduced a format called Archenemy Commander, which this article will place a slight emphasis on. The primary differences between OG Archenemy and Archenemy Commander are that both teams start with 60 life, and each player plays with a 100-card Commander-legal deck; the Archenemy starts with a Scheme deck containing at least 10 unique cards.
For the purposes of this article, I'm focusing on the more recent Archenemy Commander format, but most of these cards should be good in either Archenemy format. As with any normal Magic: The Gathering card, some of these Schemes might make more or less sense depending on the Archenemy's commander and deck; that said, I hope to provide you with a short list of 15 of the best Archenemy Schemes for most decks!
Personal tip: it's highly recommended that the Archenemy player says the title and description of each of these cards in their evilest voice for total immersion!
#15: You Exist Only to Amuse
This Scheme might be partially included because of the incredible artwork by WolfSkullJack, but also because it's useful for decks that want to attack, board wipe, ping for damage, etc. Both modes of this card are activated when you control six or more lands, which should hopefully not be an issue.
The first mode creates you a few 1/1 red Devil blockers/attackers, which can also be useful for sacrifice, pinging when they die, etc. More importantly, the second mode reduces your enemies' creatures to 1/1, which makes them ripe for removal with asymmetrically weak board wipes like Toxic Deluge, where you can pay only 1 life to remove most creatures your opponents control. Amusing!
#14: Your Plans Mean Nothing
Your Plans Mean Nothing might not scale as well with decks including things like graveyard recursion (where discarding might be more of a boon than a bummer), but because Archenemy tends to favor more low- to medium-powered decks, causing your opponents to have to reset their strategy on the fly can be crippling. Furthermore, they draw one fewer card (which is never a bad thing), and you can redraw seven cards, which is especially useful if you are low on cards. Always keep them on their toes so they can't plan for the pain you're bringing to the table!
#13: No Secret Is Hidden From Me
No Secret Is Hidden From Me might not be the most amazing scheme for decks with a lower Converted Mana Cost (CMC), but it can absolutely rip with the right deck. If you get to play this turn one, you have a chance of landing some six mana creature right off the bat; if your deck plays a lot of interaction, you very well might have a miss if this Scheme hits early on.
This is a great Scheme for decks laden with heavy permanents, and especially if you ramp quickly, as you can double the effect if you have six or more lands when this Scheme enters!
#12: Time Bends to My Will
There are a handful of Schemes that can give you an extra turn, and they generally have some kind of drawback. The drawback with this one is obviously that you don't get an untap step on your additional turn. However, you still get to play an additional Scheme on your additional turn, you still get an additional draw step, and any cards with "At the beginning of your upkeep...", "At the beginning of your end step...", or similar effects will trigger twice, which is awesome! `
#11: I Bask in Your Silent Awe
Speaking of extra turns, this one gives you something like an extra turn, with some strings attached. If your opponents absolutely need to cast something, they can only cast one spell each during their turn. In order to get rid of this heinous effect, they all have to agree to cast nothing for a whole turn; they'll still get things like upkeep and end step triggers, as well as attacks. However, if you can get them in the kind of scenario where they need to cast something (like protection), this Scheme will stay in play, severely limiting what they can do as a team!
#10: Power Without Equal
This Scheme is generally good for the card draw it provides, but can be especially powerful mid- to late-game, when you hopefully have more than 6 lands out; in that scenario, you can potentially cast some of your biggest game pieces for free. If you happen to already have a healthy hand size, worry not; draw away, because you have one turn with no maximum hand size.
#9: Know Evil
Know Evil is a nice little control piece. You'll often be playing against a few decks with different strategies, and this lets you work around that. Does someone have a strong body of creatures out? They can't attack now. Is someone looking to play impactful creatures, like maybe their commander? Oh no you don't. Maybe another opponent is playing control or other non-creature strategies? Not for one turn, they're not. I like this one for the flexibility it adds, and although you have no reason to politic with your opponents in Archenemy, it's fun to hear their groans as you dole out their punishments.
#8: Running is Useless
There are a handful of creature destruction Schemes, but they generally target one opponent or have some other kind of drawback. The drawback to this one is that you have to target creatures with different mana values, but I find that you can still often target most of the problematic creatures on your opponents' boards. Don't forget that tokens have a mana value of zero!
#7: Fear My Authority
If you're playing a deck with few creatures, this Scheme might not make sense for you; that said, playing as the Archenemy without as many creatures as you can muster would be a bold choice, as you're facing down the decks and creatures of three opponents.
Assuming you've got creatures out, it's relatively easy to keep this Ongoing Scheme in play. Paying 3 life generally won't be a make-or-break kind of decision when you start with 60 life, but giving a handful of creatures +2/+2 and fear can mean you're suddenly doing tons of damage. If you play a deck that cares about your graveyard, you can choose to discard cards to keep this Scheme going instead, and then reanimate/reuse the discarded cards later!
#6: Behold the Power of Destruction
Here's another Scheme focused on setting your opponents' board state back, but this time targeted at an individual opponent. It's not uncommon for one player to start popping off more than others, and this allows you to set them back to the stone age (minus their lands and anything granted indestructibility). It might not be fun for the player you target, but you're not here to make sure those peons have fun, right?
#5: Plots That Span Centuries
Featuring some of my favorite artwork on a Scheme card, this one can be a bit of a slow burn, but gives you the opportunity to play three Schemes on your next turn. In theory, this only gives you a net gain of one additional Scheme (the one you would have played instead of this one, as well as the one you'd play next turn, and the bonus one), but I find the unpredictability to be an additional boon. Your opponents gain one turn of no deleterious Scheme effects, at the risk of three random, possibly cataclysmic things happening on the next. It could be a one-sided board wipe, card draw, extra creatures... It's hard for them to plan around so many things happening at once!
#4: My Crushing Masterstroke
My Crushing Masterstroke can be a bit dependent on the decks you and your opponents are playing, but it's usually not a bad thing to effectively wipe their boards for one turn and pack yours with attacking creatures, mana rocks, etc. Better yet, attack with their creatures, and then use your board state to sacrifice as much as you can, leaving them with whatever remains!
#3: All in Good Time
This is my preferred "extra turn" Scheme, as you still get your normal upkeep, draw, untap, etc. You don't get to play a Scheme that turn, but this particular Scheme can have compounding effects and gives you a turn to breathe, ramp, build up for the next turn, etc. Pack these with some of the other extra turn Schemes, and you'll get quite a few more game actions than normal. The combination of the artwork and flavor text make it that much sweeter!
#2: No One Will Hear Your Cries
There's something deviously delicious about making people sacrifice their own creature. What if they had to sacrifice almost all of them? This Scheme does just that, generally leaving them with their remaining best creature. However, this neuters many commanders, removes their attackers/blockers, and can potentially be used for your benefit if you're running Blood Artist-style effects. It's a Board Wipe Lite!
#1: I Am Never Alone
This one depends a bit on your deck, as do most Schemes. However, it's almost never a bad thing to get a copy of your commander, especially early game, and you get to keep both the token and your actual commander, if it's out! Doubling up on commander effects can be a game changer, and it also lets you swing in early with a commander in attack decks, get around climbing commander taxes, etc. If nothing else, it's likely to draw out some removal spells that might otherwise target more important things you paid real mana for!
Afterthoughts
While this is not an exhaustive list of the best Archenemy Schemes, it offers some that are generally good in most Archenemy Scheme decks. There are others that might make even more sense in your Demon, Devil, Dragon, or Scarecrow tribals (some of these creatures are created by certain Schemes), and some that might work better for sorcery/instant-heavy decks, so make sure to build around your deck.
Also remember that you don't necessarily want only board wipe-adjacent Schemes; they'll be useful later in the game, but will have little effect on turn one or two. Conversely, extra turns and card draw will always be useful!
If you're ready to build your own Archenemy Scheme deck or look at decks other people have built, head on over to MagicSAK's deck builder, and then play a game using our built-in Archenemy game tracker, all for free!
-Hunter