Greetings, TechRaptor readers and fellow Magic: The Gathering fans! It's Monday, August 15, and the first official day of spoiler season for Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Make sure to check out last week's spoiler if you're just joining us.
Our first spoiler for the day is the new monarch of Paliano, the High City - Queen Marchesa, who enlisted the help of the ghost assassin Kaya to depose the ghostly King Brago. Queen Marchesa is a 3/3 Legendary Human Assassin that costs one generic, one Red, one White, and one Black mana, and has the Deathtouch and Haste mechanics. It also makes you the monarch when it enters the battlefield (in Conspiracy drafts, the "monarch" gets to draw a card at the beginning of their end step, as well as some additional perks). If another player is the monarch, you get to put a 1/1 Black Assassin creature token with Deathtouch and Haste onto the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep.
Wizards of the Coast spoiled another card in this article detailing how the Conspiracy Draft process works. Custodi Peacekeeper is a 2/3 White Human Cleric which allows you to reveal it during drafting. If you reveal Custodi Peacekeeper, you take note of how many cards you've drafted this round, including Custodi Peacekeeper. By paying one White mana and tapping Custodi Peacekeeper, you can tap down a creature with power less than or equal to the highest number of cards noted by Custodi Peacekeeper.
Some more spoilers were posted in this article on the mechanics of Conspiracy: Take the Crown (I highly recommend reading as Conspiracy: Take the Crown has some major differences from regular Magic: The Gathering games). The first card spoiled is Paliano Vanguard, a White Human Soldier which costs one generic and one White mana to cast. When you draft it, it's drafted face-up; whenever you draft another creature card, you can reveal it, take note of its creature types, and turn Paliano Vanguard face-down. Any creature cards you draft that have that noted creature type get +1/+1 in draft matches.
Conspiracies are a unique type of card which aren't legal in any Constructed format such as Modern or Legacy; they don't count towards your forty-card deck minimum, and they begin the game in your command zone. The Conspiracy from this article is Hold the Perimeter, which gives you a 1/2 White Soldier creature token with the Defender mechanic at the beginning of your first upkeep. At the beginning of every other players first upkeep, they get a 1/1 Red Goblin creature token - the caveat is, their Goblin creature tokens can't block during combat.
Not all Conspiracies begin the game face-up though, as is the case with Natural Unity, which begins the game face-down. At any time you hold priority, you can turn it face up and activate its affects. Natural Unity requires you to secretly name a creature card; once it's turned face-up, you can pay one Green mana at the beginning of combat on your turn to give that creature a +1/+1 counter. Not tricky enough for you? How about Summoner's Bond, which also begins face-down but requires you to name two completely different creature cards. Once it's face-up, anytime you cast one of the two named creature cards, you can search your deck for the other, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your library.
Knights of the Black Rose is a 4/4 Human Knight that costs three generic, one White, and one Black mana to cast. When it enters the battlefield, you become the monarch; whenever an opponent becomes the monarch, you can two life and the new monarch loses two life if you were the monarch at the beginning of the turn.
As mentioned above, Conspiracy: Take the Crown games are unlike any other Magic: The Gathering games, and one of the major differences is voting. Some cards require the players in the game to cast votes, which makes cards like Illusion of Choice all the better - in addition to drawing a card, you also determine how each player votes this turn. Illusion of Choice is perfect for cards like Lieutenants of the Guard, a 2/2 White Human Soldier that costs four generic and one White mana to cast. When it enters the battlefield, each player votes for "strength" or for "numbers". For each "strength" vote, it gets a +1/+1 counter, and for each "number" vote, you can put a 1/1 Human Soldier creature token onto the battlefield.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown also introduces some new mechanics. Goad, seen on Jeering Homunculus, lets you goad target creature when Jeering Homunculus enters the battlefield. Until the beginning of your next turn, that goaded creature has to attack each combat if able to, and it has to attack a player other than you. Deputized Protestor is a 2/1 Red Human Warrior that costs two generic and one Red mana to cast; it has the Menace mechanic, and a new mechanic called Melee. Whenever Deputized Protestor attacks, it gets +1/+1 until the end of the turn for each opponent that is attacked with a creature this turn.
Wizards of the Coast published an article detailing the history of Conspiracy, and what the focuses of Conspiracy: Take the Crown are. In that article are some more spoiler cards for us to look at, the first of which is another Conspiracy called Sovereign's Realm. It's a nasty conspiracy, as it forces you to play your deck without any basic land cards, and restricts your starting hand size to five cards. By exiling a card from your hand, you can play a basic land card from outside the game, which can be tapped for any color of mana.
Red has been given some interesting cards for Conspiracy: Take the Crown in the form of Crown-Hunter Hierling and Besmirch. Crown-Hunter Hierling is a 4/4 Red Ogre Mercenary that costs four generic and one Red mana to cast; when it enters the battlefield, you become the monarch. However, Crown-Hunter Hierling can't attack unless the defending player is the monarch. Besmirch is the set's Threaten variant, as a Red Sorcery spell which costs one generic and two Red mana to cast. Until the end of turn, you gain control of target creature. It becomes untapped and gains Haste, and becomes goaded into attacking.
Capital Punishment is another of those cards that requires players to take a vote. For four generic and two Black mana, players vote either for "death" or for "taxes". Each opponent sacrifices a creature for each "death" vote and each opponent discards a card for each "taxes" vote.
Green also gets some very interesting cards to play with, in the form of Domesticated Hydra and Animus of Predation. For players who were around for the Theros block, the Monstrosity mechanic is probably a familiar friend. It makes a reappearance this set on Domesticated Hydra, a 2/2 Green Hydra that costs two generic and two Green mana to cast. It has Monstrosity X, which costs X generic and three Green mana to activate; if Domesticated Hydra isn't already monstrous, it gets X +1/+1 counters and gains Trample. Animus of Predation is a 4/4 Green Avatar that costs four generic and one Green mana to cast. When it gets drafted, it's drafted face-up; as you draft a card, you can chose to remove it from the draft face-up. That card isn't a part of your card pool, but it gives Animus of Predation any keyword mechanics it has, such as flying, hexproof, double strike, or vigilance.
Our final few spoilers for the day all come from different sources. Aaron Forsythe, the Director of Research and Development for Magic: The Gathering, shared his spoiler earlier on Twitter. Archdemon of Paliano is a 5/4 Black Demon creature which costs two generic and two Black mana to cast. If you draft this card, it gets drafted face up, and you can't look at booster packs for the next three cards you draft - you have to draft those cards blind. After those three cards are drafted you can turn Archdemon of Paliano face-down and look at booster packs again.
The second card comes to us from the Wizards Play Network; Arcane Savant is a 3/3 Blue Human Wizard that costs three generic and two Blue mana to cast. Before you start shuffling your library to begin the game, you can reveal this card and exile an Instant or Sorcery spell from your draft pool that isn't in your deck. When Arcane Savant enters the battlefield, you can copy that exiled spell and play it without paying its mana cost.
Next up is Thorn of the Black Rose, from the official Magic: The Gathering Twitter account. Thorn of the Black Rose is a 1/3 Black Human Assassin with the Deathtouch mechanic that costs three generic and one Black mana to cast. When it enters the battlefield, you become the monarch. Also from the Magic: The Gathering Twitter is Ballot Broker, a 2/3 White Human Advisor which costs two generic and one White mana to cast. It allows you to cast an additional vote during any voting procedures.
The podcast Magic the Amateuring posted a spoiler card to their Twitter account today; their spoiler is the Conspiracy Assemble the Rank and Vile, which begins face-down just like Natural Unity and Summoner's Bond. Creatures that you control with the name of the card you secretly named with Assemble the Rank and Vile allow you to pay one Black mana when that card dies; if you do so, you get to put a 2/2 Black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield, tapped.
Our final Magic: The Gathering card for the day is a reprint that players were hoping would be in Battle for Zendikar or Oath of the Gatewatch. Sadly, it didn't make either of those sets, but it did make Conspiracy: Take the Crown. That card is, of course, Inquisition of Kozilek, a Black Sorcery spell which costs one Black mana to cast. It lets you look at your opponents hand and force them to discard any nonland card that has a three-or-less converted mana cost.
Stay tuned to TechRaptor for further news on Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and all things Magic: The Gathering.
What are your thoughts on today's spoilers? Let us know in the comment section below.