Amonkhet Archenemy

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Today on MTG Realm, we should like to talk about the upcoming Magic: the Gathering release of 'Archenemy: Nicol Bolas', to be released in June, 2017.  The last Archenemy set came out back in June of 2010 - yep - quite some time ago.  In Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, one player takes on the role of the elder dragon Planeswalker while the rest unite to meet the challenge.  

From the product packaging which was previewed at the New York Toy Fair by Hasbro, it looks like the Planeswalker will be Nicol Bolas (the Archenemy), along with Gideon Jura, Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane.  The packaging art appears to have this set on the new ancient Egyptian themed Plane of Amonkhet.  We also know from Wizards of the Coast that Lilianna is also on this Plane and her absence on the Archenemy product art battling Bolas is the source of some speculation.

Although the cards in the regular decks are thought to be all reprints, we can expect four non-foil planeswalker cards, blessed with new art.  We are certainly pumped on the hope that some (or all) of the twenty new 'Scheme' cards may have some Amonkhet flavour.  Anywhoos, here is the info you may need to know for Archenemy: Nicol Bolas

Archenemy is a multiplayer Magic format in which players unite against a common foe—the "Archenemy"—whose power is multiplied by a second deck of twenty "scheme" cards designed to even the odds.  In Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, one player takes on the role of the elder dragon Planeswalker while the rest unite to meet the challenge. The set includes four ready-to-play sixty-card decks, plus all new scheme cards that affect the game in powerful ways.

Contents: 
4 ready-to-play 60-card decks 
20 oversized scheme cards
10 double-sided tokens
4 deck boxes
1 life tracker
1 rules insert

Set Name: Archenemy: Nicol Bolas
Release Date: June 16, 2017
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGARCHENEMY
Languages Available: English
MSRP: $59.99 *Applies to U.S. Only

As for the rules, we will direct you to this post on the Wizards of the Coast site.  In brief, a lone player, called the “Archenemy”, plays against a team of opponents with the use of a second deck consisting of over-sized cards of the card type scheme. The schemes basically represent a free spell per turn and help to balance out the odds for the Archenemy. The Archenemy's opponents work cooperatively against the lone player and, much like partners in Two-Headed Giant, take their turn simultaneously. The Archenemy begins the game with 40 life, while each other player begins the game with only 20. The Archenemy wins if all of his or her opponents are eliminated from the game. All of the opposing players, even those who have already lost the game, win if the Archenemy is eliminated.


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