What is Archenemy in Magic: The Gathering?

Archenemy (ARC) is a 2010 supplemental Magic product introducing a one-vs-many multiplayer format. One player takes the role of the archenemy, starting at 40 life with a special deck of scheme cards, and plays against a team of opponents who each start at 20 life and take their turns simultaneously.

What are scheme cards and how do they work?

Scheme cards are a card type exclusive to Archenemy products. They live in a separate scheme deck kept in the command zone. At the start of each of the archenemy's precombat main phases, they flip the top card face up — setting it in motion — which triggers powerful effects. Non-ongoing schemes resolve and cycle to the bottom of the deck, while Ongoing schemes stay face up and continue affecting the game until their abandonment condition is met.

How many cards are in Archenemy (ARC)?

Archenemy (ARC) contains 150 cards, spread across four pre-constructed decks. The set includes both regular Magic cards and the scheme cards that define the Archenemy format.

Is Archenemy legal in Standard, Modern, or other competitive formats?

Cards from Archenemy are not Standard or Pioneer legal by virtue of this release. Legality in older formats like Modern or Legacy depends on whether individual cards were previously printed in a set that's legal in those formats. Scheme cards themselves are only usable in the Archenemy format — they can't be included in regular competitive decks.

What is the Supervillain Rumble variant?

Supervillain Rumble is an alternative Archenemy mode where every player has their own scheme deck, every player starts at 40 life, and the game is a free-for-all where anyone can attack anyone else. The starting player is randomly determined, unlike standard Archenemy where the archenemy always goes first.

Are there other Archenemy products besides the original 2010 set?

Yes. Archenemy: Nicol Bolas was released in 2017, updating the format with new pre-constructed decks and scheme cards themed around Nicol Bolas and the heroes opposing him on Amonkhet. Scheme cards have also appeared more recently in Duskmourn Commander products, showing the format is still supported.

Archenemy (ARC): Set Guide & Format Overview

Some Magic products ask you to build the best deck. Archenemy (ARC) asks you something different: what if one player were supposed to win? Released in 2010, Archenemy is a 150-card supplemental set that introduced an entirely new casual multiplayer format - one where a single player takes on an empowered villain role against a team of opponents trying to bring them down.

It's less of a traditional set and more of a boxed experience, built around a brand-new card type that doesn't appear anywhere else in the game.

What is Archenemy?

Archenemy is a supplemental product released in 2010, consisting of 150 cards spread across four pre-constructed decks. It isn't tied to a Standard-legal block or a particular plane's story - it's purely a format product, designed to introduce the Archenemy multiplayer variant and the scheme cards that power it.

The set was later followed by Archenemy: Nicol Bolas (2017), which revisited the format with updated pre-cons and new scheme cards. More recently, scheme cards also appeared in Duskmourn Commander products, showing the format has staying power.

Format check: None of the cards in Archenemy are legal in Standard, Pioneer, or Modern by virtue of this release. Legality in older formats depends on whether individual cards were previously printed in legal sets.

Themes and mechanics

The scheme card - a new card type

The defining innovation of Archenemy is the scheme card, and it's unlike anything else in Magic. Schemes are oversized cards that live in their own separate deck - kept in the command zone, not the library. They aren't permanents, they can't be interacted with the way normal cards can, and they don't go in your regular 60-card deck.

Think of them less like cards and more like a sequence of plot twists that the archenemy reveals one at a time.

Here's how they work in practice:

At the start of each of the archenemy's precombat main phases, they flip the top card of their scheme deck face up - this is called setting that scheme in motion.
Most schemes have a triggered ability that fires immediately when set in motion, creating a powerful effect right on the spot.
Once a non-ongoing scheme has resolved (and no scheme triggers are waiting on the stack), it's turned face down and moved to the bottom of the scheme deck. The deck is never reshuffled.
Ongoing schemes work differently - they stay face up in the command zone, their static abilities continuously affecting the game, until a specific condition causes them to be abandoned.

The result is a rhythm that's unique to this format: every single one of the archenemy's turns opens with an unpredictable, often game-warping event that the opposing team has to respond to.

The ongoing supertype

Schemes can carry the Ongoing supertype, which changes how they behave significantly. An Ongoing scheme stays in play - influencing the game turn after turn - rather than resolving and cycling to the bottom. Each Ongoing scheme also has built-in conditions that cause it to be abandoned, which removes it from the game for that cycle through the deck. This creates interesting tension: the opposing team wants to trigger the abandonment condition, while the archenemy benefits as long as the scheme persists.

The Archenemy format

Core setup

Archenemy is a one-vs-many format. One player is the archenemy; everyone else is on the opposing team. The default configuration uses the Team vs. Team multiplayer structure, with two specific options active: attack multiple players, and shared team turns.

The life total split is deliberately asymmetric:

The archenemy starts at 40 life.
Each opposing player starts at 20 life.
The archenemy always takes the first turn - no random starting player.

The opposing team takes their turns simultaneously, similar to Two-Headed Giant, but each player maintains their own individual life total. Any teammate can block an attacker that the archenemy has declared, regardless of which opposing player is being targeted. This shared defense is part of what makes the heroes feel like a coordinated team rather than three separate games happening in parallel.

Victory conditions are simple: the archenemy wins by eliminating all other players. The opposing team wins the moment the archenemy loses - and notably, even players who have already been eliminated share in the victory if the archenemy eventually falls.

The scheme deck

The archenemy needs a supplementary scheme deck of at least twenty scheme cards. A scheme deck may contain no more than two copies of any card with a particular English name. All scheme cards remain in the command zone for the entire game.

Rules note: Scheme cards are not permanents. They exist in the command zone, and any of a face-up scheme card's abilities - static, triggered, or activated - function from that zone. CR 904 covers the full ruleset.

The Supervillain Rumble variant

Archenemy also supports a free-for-all variant called the Supervillain Rumble. In this mode, every player has their own scheme deck, every player starts at 40 life, and anyone can attack anyone else. The starting player is randomly determined. It's essentially an Archenemy arms race, and honestly it sounds chaotic in the best possible way.

The Archenemy Commander option

The rules also support an Archenemy Commander variant, which layers the Commander format on top of the Archenemy structure. A few key adjustments apply:

The archenemy starts with 60 life.
The opposing team shares a combined life total of 60, handled like Two-Headed Giant's shared life rules.
Poison counters are not shared - each player tracks their own, and ten counters eliminates that individual player.
The archenemy's scheme deck needs only ten cards minimum, and each must have a unique English name.

Set legacy

Archenemy occupies a specific and beloved niche in Magic's history. It was one of the earliest dedicated multiplayer experience products, arriving at a time when Wizards was actively experimenting with formats designed for groups of friends sitting around a kitchen table.

The scheme card type it introduced has remained exclusive to format-specific products - you won't find schemes in a Standard booster. That exclusivity has kept them feeling special. When Archenemy: Nicol Bolas arrived in 2017, it built directly on the 2010 foundation, and the appearance of scheme cards in Duskmourn Commander products suggests Wizards hasn't forgotten about the format.

What Archenemy got right is the feeling of asymmetry. The archenemy isn't just a player with more cards - they're structurally different, playing a different game. The scheme deck creates a sense of mounting dread for the opposing team and a sense of escalating power for the archenemy. That's a design achievement that's harder to pull off than it looks.

In my opinion, it's one of the more underrated format experiments Magic has ever produced. If you've got a group that wants to do something other than another game of Commander, tracking down the original Archenemy decks or a copy of Nicol Bolas is well worth the effort. ✨