Posted in: Card Games, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: Archenemy, magic, Magic: The Gathering, MTG, Scheme, TCG, wizards of the coast, WotC

Magic: The Gathering: Archenemy Promos Pt. 2: Take No Prisoners!

Hello and welcome, all players, collectors, and other fans of Magic: The Gathering, the premier collectible trading card game designed, developed, and produced by Wizards of the Coast! As quickly as they arrived to grace Bleeding Cool's Games section, our articles detailing the promotional cards from the Archenemy format will be concluding this week. This time, we are going to be discussing only two, seeing as how there were a total of five promo cars released, and last week we discussed the first three. Are you ready? Let's get to it!

As always, let us first go over how we rate schemes for the Archenemy format:

All Schemes will be grouped according to the overall role they play: These groupings are categorized as such:

Disruption: The Schemes take something from your opponents (and only them) that doesn't exist on the battlefield. This could be cards in hand, life, or choices like the ability to attack or cast spells.
Global: These Schemes impact each player with less disparity than the other Schemes in the game. Usually there will be an even effect for each player including the archenemy and/or their opponents, for a certain duration or instantaneously.
Removal: These Schemes remove opponents' permanents from the battlefield. These are rather self-explanatory, but could include the need for an opponent to make a tough decision.
Tempo: These Schemes give you as the Archenemy (and only you) some sort of expedited value, such as ramp, cards drawn, or even an extra turn, to name a few examples.
Value: These Schemes give you as the Archenemy (and only you) something such as tokens or cards put onto the battlefield, to name a few resources potentially granted this way. This does not include resources such as sources of mana or drawn cards, however.

Next, the Schemes will be grouped further on a scale of 1-10 in terms of how well they do their job in the role provided, with 1 being rather underpowered and 10 being broken.

(For example, All In Good Time is a 9/10 for a Tempo Scheme, while Approach My Molten Realm is a 3/10 for a Global Scheme.)

With that, let's tackle these last two promotional schemes!

Promotional Scheme #4. Drench the Soil in Their Blood

Drench the Soil in Their Blood (Tempo, 8/10) is the format's take on Relentless Assault, a card that gives a player an extra combat step. What's more, this scheme encourages attacking even more as it gives your creatures on the battlefield vigilance, allowing you to keep your attackers up to block as well during the opposition's next turn cycle. While it's not a banger for every single deck (as many decks don't necessarily care to attack), this scheme is a home run for aggressive strategies of most types.

Promotional Scheme #5. Imprison This Insolent Wretch

Imprison This Insolent Wretch (Disruption, 10/10) is an ongoing scheme card that is more than capable of neutralizing an opponent entirely. With a very stax-y ability that ultimately can stop a single foe dead in their tracks, this scheme means that, in due time, you don't have to deal with that opponent until much later on in the game. As long as that player isn't targeted and you don't attack them, they're effectively out of play as long as their permanents are tapped. Imprison This Insolent Wretch goes especially well with abilities that remove abilities from creatures and the like, such as Overwhelming Splendor or Humility.

In the end, we hope you've enjoyed our analysis of the Archenemy format's many scheme cards. But wait, there's more! In due time we will be exploring the schemes of Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, so stay tuned for that, dear readers! In the meantime, what do you think of this dastardly Magic: The Gathering format? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and, if you like it a ton, consider writing to Wizards of the Coast about it in their frequent surveys!

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