Archenemy is a variant of Magic: The Gathering with an emphasis on one vs. many multiplayer games. The set utilizes new oversized Scheme cards. Four game packs were released on June 18, 2010: Assemble the Doomsday Machine, Bring About the Undead Apocalypse, Scorch the World with Dragonfire, Trample Civilization Underfoot. The cards within each preconstructed deck have all been reprinted from various Magic sets, with the exception of one card per deck, that is a new card from Magic 2011. All of the cards are black bordered and tournament legal in their original formats. A sequel, Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, was released in 2017.
Gameplay
Archenemy is a multiplayer format where one player is selected to be the "archenemy", and the rest of the players play against them with any normal constructed deck. The archenemy starts at 40 life, plays first, and draws a card on their first turn. In addition to their normal library of Magic cards, the archenemy starts with a shuffled deck of at least 20 scheme cards where there are no more than 2 copies of any individual scheme card. Right before the beginning of the archenemy's first main phase, the archenemy draws the top card of their scheme deck and resolves that card. Schemes either result in a one time effect, with the card then moving to the bottom of their library, or an ongoing scheme which remains face up and functions similarly to an enchantment. The archenemy then proceeds with their turn normally. The archenemy's opponents share their turn steps (i.e. they occur at the same time) but do not share cards, life totals, mana pools or any other resource, similar to Two-Headed Giant. If the archenemy loses the game through any means, than all other players win. If a player other than the archenemy is defeated, their teammates carry on. The archenemy only wins the game through defeating all opponents.
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas
This edition had one major rule change which replaced the previous edition's blocking rules: "when the archenemy attacks any player or planeswalker on the opposing team, any creature a teammate of the defending player controls may be assigned as a blocker by that creature's controller. Basically, whom the archenemy's creatures are attacking is no longer a limiting factor in which creatures can be assigned as blockers".
The designers also wanted to update the flavor and balance. Nicholas Wolfram wrote, "previously, players took the roles of a nameless villain fighting against a team of anonymous heroes. For this set, we wanted Archenemy to be a more focused and tailored experience. We wanted players to immerse themselves in the roles of the heroes or villains they were adopting. So, we started with the current villain of the ongoing Magic story as the first 'official' archenemy: Nicol Bolas, the Elder Dragon Planeswalker. And who better to oppose him than the Gatewatch, the very force standing against him in the story, set to face him in battle in July's Hour of Devastation? With the character roles locked in, we were able to assemble preconstructed decks for not only the archenemy, but also for the three players facing him down. This allowed us to curate a much more balanced out-of-the-box experience than the original Archenemy, which called upon players to construct the three teammate decks themselves".
Schemes
There were 45 schemes, with 5 additional promotional schemes ("Perhaps You've Met My Cohort", "Plots That Span Centuries", "Your Inescapable Doom", "Imprison This Insolent Wretch" and "Drench the Soil in Their Blood"), released. Some schemes are "Ongoing Schemes" and remain in play until a certain condition is met such as a creature entering a graveyard (e.g. "My Undead Horde Awakens"). Other schemes allow an archenemy to target an opponent (e.g. "Behold the Power of Destruction"), and some of those give the target opponent the option of being the sole player disadvantaged by that scheme or to have every opponent be targeted by a lesser disadvantage (e.g. "May Civilization Collapse").
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas introduced 20 new schemes.
Wired highlighted that "the archenemy's big weapons — literally big — are larger-sized cards called schemes. At the beginning of the Archenemy's turn, he or she turns a scheme card face up — this is called 'setting a scheme in motion.' Usually the schemes benefit the villain, but not always!"