The Ultimate Guide to Archenemy

Last updated on October 3, 2024

Plots That Span Centuries | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

At this point, it's a rarity to play anything besides Commander for a casual Magic: The Gathering meetup. It’s Wizards' Official Format™ for casual play, and everyone’s almost guaranteed to have a Commander deck lying around.

But despite its popularity, Commander wasn’t always the main multiplayer format. Before most folks had even heard of building a 100-card singleton deck, WotC was producing multiplayer expansions for Magic in the form of Archenemy all the way back in 2010.

Archenemy takes the traditional four-player Magic game and flips it on its head; no longer do you need to worry about the politics at the Commander table; everyone has one definite goal to defeat the other side. Will you be able to overcome the power imbalance of the Archenemy’s schemes? Or will you fold one by one to their awesome power?

Take a look at this Archenemy format guide and let’s see if the format’s right for you!

What Is Archenemy?

All in Good Time | Illustration by Nic Klein

Archenemy is a multiplayer “one versus many” Magic format where players face off against an overpowering villain with access to a type of card called a “scheme.” One player is chosen to be the Archenemy, and they face off against the remaining players. Each turn, they activate a scheme card, an oversized card with a powerful effect. These schemes help balance the “one versus many” aspect of the format.

Who is Archenemy For?

Archenemy is for the players who want a little bit of storytelling in their Magic games. Everyone loves a classic tale of heroes facing off against insurmountable odds to seize victory from the jaws of defeat, and everyone loves playing the nefarious villain who tries to stop them. The second Archenemy MTG set featured Nicol Bolas as the Archenemy, though each preconstructed deck contained its own set of 10 scheme cards.

This format is for the players who’ve grown tired of the politics of free-for-all games, with no one interacting for fear of reprisal. Everyone has a clear opponent in Archenemy, and should spend all of their resources to defeat them. No more wishy-washy waffling: “Do I attack you? Will you attack me back? Ok, what if I attack them and then you don’t attack me?”

Lastly, Archenemy is for the collectors out there hungry for a complete collection of the rarely-seen oversized scheme cards; they're semi-difficult to acquire but an undeniable flex at the table if you have all 72.

Archenemy-Legal Sets

Archenemy was originally released with the Archenemy MTG set, an expansion of four “game packs” with 20 oversized scheme cards and one 60-card deck each. It was followed by 2017’s Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, another set of four decks with new scheme cards, and a new set has been announced for Duskmourn Commander. Duskmourn also updated the Archenemy rules.

While those listed above are the official Archenemy sets, the actual legality of the format depends on what you’ve appended it to. You could play games of Commander Archenemy, where you use the typical Commander banlist, or Standard Archenemy, where everyone’s deck must be Standard-legal (before the addition of the scheme decks, of course).

Archenemy Rules

Archenemy is a casual variant format that can be appended to any other multiplayer game of Magic. One player is elected as the “Archenemy,” and they gain access to a scheme deck of oversized scheme cards. The rest of the players are on a team and must defeat the Archenemy.

The Archenemy’s scheme deck is a deck of at least 20 scheme cards, with no more than two copies of any single card. The scheme deck exists in the command zone, and its cards never leave that zone when they’re “set in motion.”

The Archenemy begins the game with 40 life, while the other players begin with 20. The Archenemy always gets the first turn.

During each of the Archenemy’s turns, immediately after their first main phase begins, they reveal the top card of the scheme deck and set it in motion. This is an on-turn action and doesn’t use the stack, but the schemes “When you set this in motion” effect will. This scheme could be an effect that happens immediately, in which case it's resolved and then put face-down on the bottom of the scheme deck. Or, it could be an ongoing scheme, in which case it remains on the field until an ability causes you to abandon it.

The opposing team takes their turns simultaneously. Play continues from here until either the Archenemy or the opposing team is defeated.

Duskmourn Commander

Duskmourn Commander brings with it a few rules tweaks to help Archenemy port over to Commander.

First, since players already start with 40 life, the life of the Archenemy is increased to 60, and the opposing team shares a 60-life starting total. This small change smooths out the gameplay of using the Archenemy rules for the longer games of the Commander format. When the team of players each used their own life total, the “smart” thing for the Archenemy to do would be to focus on removing one player at a time. This wasn’t seen as fun for the Commander variant; anyone who’s been defeated first in a Commander game knows how you might not get another game going for 45 minutes while the remaining three players duke it out.

This does mean some of the scheme cards won’t function as well. Mortal Flesh Is Weak, for example, has no effect in this Archenemy variant. It’s not recommended that you play with these cards when using the new Duskmourn Commander rules.

Additionally, the Archenemy only needs 10 scheme cards in their deck, instead of the usual 20.

Supervillain Rumble

Archenemy also has an alternate format for a four-player free-for-all Supervillain Rumble, where everyone uses a scheme deck and each player is considered an Archenemy.

Archenemy Banlist

Archenemy has no specific banlist, but instead uses the banlist of the format it's been appended to. Playing a Commander Archenemy game? Use the Commander banlist. Using it with your Standard decks? Assume the banlist is for the current Standard season.

Can You Block For Each Other in Archenemy?

Any teammate can block an attacker from the Archenemy, regardless of which player was attacked.

What Happens If Your Teammate Loses in Archenemy?

The Archenemy only wins (and thus the team “loses”) when each member of the three-person team is defeated. If you’re not using the shared life total rules tweak presented in Duskmourn Commander, then you’ll still be in the game if one of your teammates loses.

What is a Scheme Card in Archenemy?

Scheme cards are special oversized cards that are used in decks of 20 for games of Archenemy. Scheme cards represent the long-reaching machinations of the Archenemy, villainous plots and dastardly plans they’ve set in motion over the course of years to foil their foes.

Scheme cards are used exclusively for Archenemy. They exist in the command zone, and are used in a face-down deck of at least 20 cards, or 10 cards for the Duskmourn variant. They are not permanents, they can’t be cast, and if a scheme would leave the command zone for any reason, it remains in the command zone. They have no subtypes, but may have a number of static, triggered, or activated abilities. As long as a scheme card is face up in the command zone, its static abilities affect the game, its triggered abilities may trigger, and its activated abilities may be activated.

During each of the Archenemy’s turns, at the beginning of their first main phase, they reveal the top card of the scheme deck and “set it in motion.” Most of the time, this triggers the effect on the card, which then goes onto the stack and resolves as normal. Then, the scheme is put face down on the bottom of the scheme deck and play continues as normal.

The exception to this is ongoing scheme cards. Ongoing is a supertype for schemes, and was introduced in Archenemy: Nicol Bolas. Ongoing schemes remain face-up and in play until an effect instructs you to discard or “abandon” them.

Best Scheme Cards

The scheme cards are all powerful effects that the Archenemy gets for free each turn, but some are clearly better than others.

All in Good Time is a free extra turn for the Archenemy. The only thing that could possibly make this better is if they were allowed to activate schemes during that turn.

Plots That Span Centuries gets you three schemes for the price of one (which, if you’ll recall, is nothing). Can you imagine getting this scheme, and then rolling it into a All in Good Time, Behold the Power of Destruction, and May Civilization Collapse all at once?

Tooth, Claw, and Tail is the best targeted removal on a scheme, and Dance, Pathetic Marionette could potentially mill out a creatureless deck.

Can You Play Archenemy in Commander?

You can play Archenemy in Commander easily. You have two options: You could follow the traditional rules, and just double the Archenemy’s life total while the other three players share a combined life total, or use the Duskmourn rules, where the Archenemy starts with 60 life and the opposing team shares a single pool of 60 life. In addition, the Duskmourn variant only requires a deck of 10 scheme cards.

Is There Commander Damage in Archenemy?

Commander damage is still applied in Commander-Archenemy games, and tracked for each commander separately.

Where to Play Archenemy?

Sadly, Archenemy isn’t available on MTG Arena, nor is it regularly available on MTGO. Your best bet to playing some Archenemy boils down to convincing your next Commander night pod to give it a go.

To play in real life, you don’t necessarily need to get an entire deck of scheme cards together. Many online tools can simulate a deck of scheme cards easily. I like to use Humpheh’s Archenemy Schemer for my games.

Example Decklists

The original Archenemy and Archenemy: Nicol Bolas products were sold as four individual preconstructed decks. Each deck was built around a supervillain-esque theme, with some light internal synergy but no guaranteed combos.

Building a deck specifically for Archenemy is an entirely different beast from playing with the precons, however.

Archenemy Decklist

Pestilence Demon | Illustration by Justin Sweet

The Archenemy’s deck should be appropriately Machiavellian. In my mind, this means removal elements and spells that damage each opponent and their board all at once. Most importantly, the Archenemy deck needs a way to defeat multiple opponents simultaneously.

This deck works by ramping hard in mono-black and sticking a Cemetery Gate with a Pestilence on the field to wipe the board over and over while keeping a blocker up on our side of the field. We’ll mitigate incoming damage with Urza's Armor and also take 0 damage from our own Pestilence. We’ll end the game with either a big Exsanguinate or Gray Merchant of Asphodel after chipping away at our opponents with the gradual Pestilence damage.

Teammate Decklist

Wojek Halberdiers | Illustration by Nic Klein

Building a deck specifically to play as one of the heroes facing down the Archenemy can also be a little complicated if you want it to be on-theme and interact with its allies.

The battalion mechanic seemed the best to build around for one of the teammate players’ decks. Battalion triggers whenever at least three creatures attack at the same time, and that includes your allies’ creatures. This makes it easier to trigger battalion consistently when you just need one extra saproling from your ally to get to three attackers.

Archenemy Products

Archenemy

The first Archenemy set was released in 2010. It included four preconstructed theme decks, each with a 20-card scheme deck. Each deck was designed to function as the Archenemy in addition to the teamed players. Game packs were sold for $19.99 USD.

The four “game packs” were:

• Assemble the Doomsday Machine: An Esper-colored () artifacts deck.
• Trample Civilization Underfoot: A Selesnya () deck built around counters and tokens.
• Scorch the World with Dragonfire: A Gruul () dragons deck.
• Bring About the Undead Apocalypse: A Rakdos () zombies deck.

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas

Archenemy received its second set in 2017 with Archenemy: Nicol Bolas. In contrast to the original Archenemy, the 2017 decks were designed with the teamed players in mind. In addition to the single Nicol Bolas-themed Archenemy deck, it included three decks themed around Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa as they squared off against the evil Elder Dragon.

Each box contained all four decks plus tokens, dice, a life tracker, and a rules insert, and the Nicol Bolas deck included 20 new oversized scheme cards. The entire set was sold together for $59.99 USD.

The four preconstructed decks were:

• Nicol Bolas: A Grixis () deck full of demons, zombies, and the 20 scheme cards.
• Gideon Jura: A mono-white deck with a “weenies” theme.
• Chandra Nalaar: A mono-red “red deck wins”/burn deck.
• Nissa Revane: A Simic-colored () deck with a lands theme,

Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander

Four Duskmourn Commander decks will be released on September 27, 2024. They’ll include new scheme cards and a rules adjustment to make Archenemy run smoother in Commander. We can assume they’ll be $60+ based on the recent pricing of Commander precon decks, and the expected value of getting your hands on some new scheme cards before anyone else.

Wrap Up

Mortal Flesh Is Weak | Illustration by Howard Lyon

Archenemy is one of the greatest multiplayer achievements in Magic. It comes from a time before Commander, when multiplayer casual games of Magic needed a lot of house rules and organization to be anything but plain ol’ free-for-all. It’s designed for 60-card Constructed decks, something that never happens anymore in casual formats. It also fights against the politics of EDH by giving every player a definite enemy for them to focus on; no more pulling punches just because you don’t want to make an enemy too early.

I’m going to be breaking out some Archenemy cards next time my playgroup gets together. I want to get them excited about it before September and the new-set-obsessions take hold and it becomes impossible to get a hold of any schemes. I hope you will too!

What are your favorite schemes? Do you have any ideas for decks specific to this format? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim's Twitter/X.

Thanks for reading, stay villainous!

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