Conspiracy Spoilers and Set Information

Last updated on December 26, 2024

Dack Fayden | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Conspiracy was a unique Magic set, designed to be played as its own separate multiplayer game mode. The set was specifically designed to be drafted, including some cards that wouldn’t make as much sense for a classic Constructed environment. It also included a unique Conspiracy mechanic that added different ongoing effects to the game.

Conspiracy proved to be a big hit with players and spawned a sequel set, Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Though Wizards has experimented with other multiplayer games since with things like Explorers of Ixalan or Game Night, I personally think Conspiracy is one of if not the best bespoke multiplayer experience that isn’t Commander.

Here's everything you need to know about Conspiracy from both a gameplay and lore standpoint!

Conspiracy Basic Information

Power Play | Illustration by Matt Stewart

Set Details

Set Symbol
Set Code	CNS
Number of Cards	210
Rarities	89 Commons, 68 Uncommons, 43 Rares, 10 Mythics
Mechanics	Will of the council, Parley, Dethrone, Conspiracies, Draft-Matters

Important Dates

About the Set: The Story

The story for Conspiracy was told over the course of four articles posted on Magic’s website. Each story focused on one or more of the major characters that were introduced in the set, including Selvala, Brago, Marchesa, Muzzio, and Grenzo.

The first story article, Betrayal by Nik Davidson, introduces Selvala and Brago as they’re having dinner together. It details their past work to promote their ideals and better the High City of Paliano for all its citizens.

When the story starts, Brago is old and dying, his body kept alive only by the Magic of his priests. Selvala criticizes him for what he’s allowed himself to become. Brago asks Selvala to kill him, as he can no longer die a natural death. Selvala agrees, but Brago hints with his last words that she will regret it. After Selvala leaves, Brago reappears as a spirit, prepared to rule Fiora for eternity.

The next story, The Black Rose by Matt Knicl, introduces Marchesa as she verbally spars with a political rival, Ervos. The story essentially just serves to set up how clever Marchesa is and how seemingly untouchable she is thanks to her plans within plans and many levels of security. The story ends when Ervos poisons himself to frame Marchesa, but it’s revealed she expected this move, too.

Like Cogwork by Matt Knicl introduces Muzzio, Visionary Architect and builds up the many rumors that have circulated about his secret dealings. He’s suspected of killing those who get in his way, but it’s later revealed that Muzzio has never directly killed anyone. Instead, he has secretly installed recording devices in every construct in the city, allowing him to receive information on most of its residents. He uses this information to sabotage his rivals, allowing himself to become elected vice-chancellor of the Academy at High Paliano. This is hinted to be one step of his plan for the future, which is left vague.

The final story article, Blood Will Have Blood by Shawn Main, starts with an imprisoned Selvala being taunted by her jailer, Grenzo. Grenzo offers her freedom in exchange for an unknown task. Though she isn’t keen on working for Grenzo, Selvala does want a way out of the dungeon and allows Grenzo to lead her through his extensive undercity.

Grenzo leads Selvala to Muzzio’s workshop and asks her to kill Muzzio for him to prevent the spread of Muzzio’s machines. Selvala refuses, and instead threatens Grenzo, but is interrupted by an attacking automaton. Grenzo escapes, leaving Selvala behind in Muzzio’s library.

Selvala grabs a stack of Muzzio’s books and begins spreading them throughout the undercity, leading Muzzio’s constructs into Grenzo’s sewers. She hopes that the ensuing battle between the two factions will reveal their existence to the world, ensuring neither will be successful in their schemes for power.

The story of Conspiracy continued in its sequel set, Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Some of the characters from the set have also recently appeared in Outlaws of Thunder Junction or OTJ's Alchemy supplement, including Marchesa, Selvala, and Grenzo.

Conspiracy Mechanics

Will of the Council

Will of the council is an ability word for effects that have players vote on a card’s outcome.

For example, Tyrant's Choice forces players to choose between losing life or sacrificing a creature. The outcome of these cards is determined by a majority vote or a tie. This isn’t to be confused with the council’s dilemma mechanic on cards like Expropriate, which instead gives an effect for every individual vote.

Will of the council first appeared in Conspiracy. For the most part, this is the only set the mechanic appeared in, but it did return on a few cards from the Lord of the Rings Commander preconstructed decks.

Parley

Like will of the council, parley is an ability word that was designed specifically for Conspiracy. It describes abilities that have every player show the top card of their deck, then gives its controller some sort of effect or benefit for each revealed nonland card. After that, each player draws a card. This can be seen on cards like Selvala, Explorer Returned and Woodvine Elemental.

Parley was only printed on five cards in Conspiracy, and nearly as many have been printed since in Commander precons for more recent sets like Murders at Karlov Manor and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

Dethrone

Dethrone is a triggered ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature when it attacks the player with the most life, or tied for most. This is another keyword ability that first appeared in Conspiracy.

While it hasn’t been added to many new cards, several of the original cards with detrone have been reprinted in Commander products, like Scourge of the Throne and Dack's Duplicate.

The only unique card printed since Conspiracy with dethrone is Park Heights Maverick from Streets of New Capenna Commander.

Conspiracy

Conspiracies are a card type unique to Conspiracy and its sequel set Conspiracy: Take the Crown. They’re placed in your command zone at the beginning of the game and have ongoing effects that last the entire game.

Examples include Backup Plan, which allows you to draw an extra starting hand, and Advantageous Proclamation, which allows you to have a smaller deck than normal and means you can build more efficiently.

A subset of conspiracy cards have the keyword ability hidden agenda. These cards are placed face down in your command zone instead of face up. When you play them, you secretly choose the name of a card. You may then flip it face up and reveal the name of your chosen card when it best suits you.

When drafting Conspiracy or Conspiracy: Take the Crown, you can have as many conspiracies as you want in the command zone. These cards were designed specifically for the Limited environment of the Conspiracy sets, so despite having a black border, they aren’t playable in any Constructed format since they’re banned in Commander, Legacy, and even Vintage.

Draft-Matters Abilities

Because Conspiracy was specifically meant to be drafted, some cards had abilities when you drafted them.

For example, Aether Searcher reveals itself and the next card drafted. Then, when you played this card during a game, you could search for the card you drafted after it and cast it without paying.

All of Conspiracy’s Draft ability cards were colorless cards, which meant they wouldn’t give too much away about what colors you were drafting. This allowed them to offer you a boon during the draft without giving too much information about your deck for other players to plan around.

Conspiracy Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolor

Colorless

Lands

Notable Cards

Altar of Dementia

Altar of Dementia is a popular card in sacrifice decks since it's a free and repeatable sacrifice outlet that can be activated at instant speed. This artifact‘s inclusion in Conspiracy is also notable because this set was the first to reprint Altar of Dementia since its initial printing in Tempest. That means it hadn’t appeared in a set for 17 years until Conspiracy brought it back.

Dack Fayden

As a planeswalker, Dack Fayden’s most notable attribute is its -2 ability. 3 mana to permanently steal any artifact on the board is a good trade, even if it's the only thing you do with this card before it’s removed. Even if there's no artifact to borrow, Dack is one of the best looters in the game – all fitting for the self-proclaimed greatest thief in the Multiverse!

Dack Fayden is also notable because it is the first and last card representing Dack, who had previously been the protagonist of IDW’s Magic: The Gathering comic series. Dack had appeared in a series of promotional cards for the comic series, but this was the first time he was actually put into the game as a card himself.

Unfortunately, following his unceremonious death in War of the Spark, Dack seems unlikely to get a new card. Of course, Jace and Vraska are still alive, so maybe there’s hope Dack’s death was yet another fakeout.

Stifle

Like Fling or Reanimate, Stifle is a card you may have heard used to refer to a specific ability in Magic. This blue instant has come to be the stand-in name for any effect that counters activated or triggered abilities. Whether or not this card sees a lot of play, it’s still notable as a descriptor for an entire subgenre of cards. It’s also very effective in the right situations.

Exploration

Exploration is an auto-include for lands-matter commanders and landfall commanders. Conspiracy saw the first, much-needed reprint of the green enchantment which originally came out 16 years before in Urza’s Saga. Reprints like this made Conspiracy feel a little more special even if it was just a supplemental set that was largely removed from the normal game.

Phage the Untouchable

Phage the Untouchable is the type of card that dares players to find a way to break it. This legendary black creature can be an especially fun black commander since it requires you to find a workaround for casting it from the command zone.

Though initially introduced in Legions, the Conspiracy reprint made two important changes to the card. First, it added the avatar subtype. It also added the errata’d text that players must cast this card from their hand, not just play it from their hand.

Available Products

Booster Packs/Boxes

The only products released for Conspiracy were booster packs and booster boxes. Several of my local game stores still have a decent amount of Conspiracy on hand, but if you’re unable to find any in your area, there are some options for buying packs online. Booster boxes contain 36 packs total.

MTG Booster Box (36ct) Conspiracy (CNS)

• 1 Booster box contains 36 booster packs of MTG Conspiracy Singles

Buy on Amazon

Draft Sets

In addition to being sold in single-pack boosters, Conspiracy could be purchased in No products found., which contain three packs bundled together, enough for an individual to participate in a Draft.

No products found.

Wrap Up

Unexpected Potential | Illustration by Izzy

If you have the chance, I’d strongly recommend trying out a game or two of Conspiracy Draft. It’s a great multiplayer format, and unique from other ways to play Magic thanks to its Conspiracy mechanic and Draft abilities. If you have a playgroup that's tentative about drafting, this could be a good place to start!

Have you played Conspiracy? Did you prefer the sequel set to the original? What other Magic multiplayer games do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter page. If you want information on any other Magic sets, you can check out our blog where we have more guides just like this one.

Thank you for reading and see you next time!

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