Conspire in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on April 23, 2024

Wort, the Raidmother | Illustration by Dave Allsop

Between 2003-2010, MTG had an era of design where sets had to fit into a pre-chosen mechanical theme, with a world and cards that were shaped to satisfy that idea. In this way, Shadowmoor, the color-matters set was created, and one of the set’s main mechanical points was the heavy use of hybrid mana.

This set pointed heavily towards mono-color play, and in this scenario conspire makes total sense because it becomes easy to meet its requirements. Today we’re going to dissect the conspire mechanic, one that leans heavily towards mono-color play and copying powerful spells, something that isn’t very flavorful or that makes sense at all. But hey, that’s 2000s MTG for you. Let’s also clarify some rules along the way and point out a nice deck to test out this crazy mechanic.

Enough conspirations, let’s dive in! 

How Does Conspire Work?

Barkshell Blessing | Illustration by Steven Belledin

Conspire is a mechanic that appears only on instants and sorceries, and it allows you to copy the spell by tapping two creatures that share the spell’s color while casting the spell. Some conspire spells like Aethertow are hybrid , so you can tap two white creatures to conspire it or a blue and a white creature, while cards like Burn Trail only accept red creatures to conspire them.

Any mechanic that includes spell copying has weird rules, so let’s go through a simple example. I want to cast Burn Trail with conspire and I have two creatures, one that’s mono-red and a hybrid. Both share a color with the spell, which is red, and are untapped as I cast the spell. I then tap the mana, both red creatures I control, and cast the spell with conspire. I’ll then put the Burn Trail copy on the stack and it resolves, next I resolve the original Burn Trail. So, using 4 mana and two creatures, I can deal 6 damage in two waves of 3 damage each. Remember that the first spell to resolve is the copy, then the original spell. Another important thing is that the spell and its copy may have the same target or different targets.

The History of Conspire in MTG

Conspire was a mechanic created in Shadowmoor block in 2008, and it appears on 10 card designs only that set. It’s worth noting that Shadowmoor was a set that cared mechanically about the color of the spells played, and it was designed around the use of hybrid mana cards. Conspire was a mechanic created to give us incentives to go heavy mono-color since you can’t conspire a green spell by having a green and a white creature in play, but you can by having a green creature and a hybrid creature. The mechanic’s been reprinted just once, with the card Rally the Galadhrim in Tales of Middle-earth Commander.

Is Conspire an Additional Cost?

It is. You’ll pay the additional cost of tapping the creatures to make a copy of the spell only if you want, and while you’re casting the spell.

Is Conspire an Alternative Cost?

No, conspire is an additional cost. With conspire spells you’ll pay the normal cost of the spell and activate conspire if you want something extra.

Conspire vs. Kicker

Both conspire and kicker are mechanics that let you get more power out of your spells by paying an extra cost as you’re casting them. Kicker requires you to pay more mana or to do something else, like sacrifice a creature, while conspire always requires you to tap two untapped creatures that share a color with the spell.

Can You Conspire Multiple Times?

No, only once per spell cast. So, even if you have 8 red creatures, you can only tap two to conspire a spell. It’s worth noting that conspire stacks, so if you have Wort, the Raidmother out and you cast a spell that already had conspire, this spell has two instances of conspire and you can conspire it twice, producing an additional copy.

What Happens if You Conspire a Copy Spell?

When you conspire a copy spell like Reverberate, things get ugly. Let’s go step-by-step:

The Reverberate is conspired, so the copy of Reverberate is created on the stack along with the original Reverberate. If you don’t have an instant or sorcery on the stack, you can copy the original Reverberate. You’ll then have a copy of Reverberate that targets the original Reverberate again, and so on, creating an infinite loop. Note that creating infinite copies of a spell isn’t equal to casting infinite spells, so you won’t get triggers from Guttersnipe or Young Pyromancer. It will work for the mechanic magecraft though.

Does Conspire Work With Flashback?

It works. Conspire works whenever you’re casting a spell, so if you have Snapcaster Mage in play and you give flashback to your Burning Trail, you can conspire it from your graveyard by paying the mana cost and tapping the two creatures.

Do You Have to Pay Additional Costs on Conspired Spells?

You don’t. Let’s say you get to conspire a spell like Tormenting Voice. You’ll have to discard a card to cast the original spell and you’ll make a copy of it without having to discard any card. It’s awesome because you’ll get to draw four cards and discard only one. Of course, if the conspired spell has a downside, like Anguished Unmaking, you’ll lose 3 life when you cast the original spell, and 3 more life when you cast the copy.

Gallery and List of Conspire Cards

• Aethertow
• Barkshell Blessing
• Burn Trail
• Disturbing Plot
• Ghastly Discovery
• Giantbaiting
• Gleeful Sabotage
• Memory Sluice
• Mine Excavation
• Rally the Galadhrim
• Traitor's Roar
• Wort, the Raidmother

Best Conspire Cards

#4. Mine Excavation

Mine Excavation offers you one or two Reclaim effects for artifacts and enchantments and can be a nice piece of recursion in prison/stax decks, decks filled with sagas, or Voltron decks.

#3. Gleeful Sabotage

Gleeful Sabotage sees some play in elf decks, usually in the Pauper format, as an easy way to get rid of two artifacts or enchantments. Elf decks have lots of green creatures and tokens lying around, so this card comes out of the sideboard against affinity decks and the like.

#2. Rally the Galadhrim

The Clone effect is very strong, and lots of EDH decks can exploit this by making copies of commanders that have strong ETB or LTB abilities. Rally the Galadhrim is the only way to do this with conspire, so you can clone two creatures you control at once. And even the same creature twice, something that you could do with Quasiduplicate and a lot of mana.

#1. Wort, the Raidmother

The best card with conspire isn’t a spell, but a creature that gives all your spells conspire. Wort, the Raidmother is the only way to give conspire to “good spells,” because conspire was designed more as a Limited mechanic, so its cards have small effects. It’s also a nice commander, so you can build a spellslinger/conspire EDH deck that can be very explosive by copying rituals and finishers like Crackle with Power.

Decklist: Wort, the Raidmother EDH Deck

Young Pyromancer | Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

The best conspire card is also the only creature, so it’s not an instant or sorcery with conspire. Wort, the Raidmother is a very fitting build-around card to get the most out of the conspire mechanic. You’ll then be able to conspire good spells that don’t have it naturally like Harrow, Lightning Bolt, Comet Storm or Cathartic Reunion. So how do you build a Wort EDH deck?

This deck is based on good instants and sorceries to conspire, cards that make tokens (preferably instants and sorceries), and some win conditions. You’ll need to make some tokens because after all, conspire requires you to tap two creatures as an additional cost. Cards like Chatterstorm are awesome because it makes tokens and has storm, fitting perfectly into the themes of the deck. Ramp spells are very good to conspire and it’s common to have all your basic lands put into the deck in a single game. You need to consider expensive and impactful spells too, like Ezuri's Predation. and Volcanic Offering.

Cards like Young Pyromancer are ideal, since they work well with instants and sorceries and also make you precious tokens.

Wrap Up

Memory Sluice | Illustration by Wayne England

Conspire is a weird mechanic, harkening back to the times when WotC’s designers needed to make mechanics related to the themes of the set. It has a nice play to Limited though, but it’s something players only can experiment with in its original set, Shadowmoor. Mark Rosewater, WotC’s leading designer for MTG has already said that it’s difficult for the mechanic to return, but it’s “more likely to do a tweak of it that’s a little easier to use.”

In any case, we know that sometimes copying spells is related to the theme of a set, and in those cases, we can see something similar to conspire making a comeback. What about you? Have you had previous experiences with conspire? Have you ever built a Wort, the Raidmother deck? If that’s the case, then please leave us a message or a tweet on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!