Secrets of Paradise MTG Card

Rarity	Common
Type	Conspiracy
Abilities	Hidden agenda
Released	2014-06-06
Set symbol
Set name	Conspiracy
Set code	CNS
Number	10
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Tyler Jacobson

Key Takeaways

Secrets of Paradise provides card advantage, increasing strategic options throughout the game.
It allows resource ramping, enabling faster casting of high-impact spells.
As an instant, it adds surprise and flexibility to your tactical toolkit.

Text of card

Hidden agenda (Start the game with this conspiracy face down in the command zone and secretly name a card. You may turn this conspiracy face up any time and reveal the chosen name.) Creatures you control with the chosen name have ": Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Secrets of Paradise enables you to draw additional cards, bolstering your hand and potentially providing you with more options and strategies to outmaneuver your opponents throughout the game. This type of advantage is crucial for keeping up the momentum and staying ahead.

Resource Acceleration: This card is adept at ramping up your resources by potentially tapping for mana of any color, thereby accelerating your ability to cast more impactful spells sooner. Efficient resource acceleration can be pivotal in turning the tide of a match in your favor.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Secrets of Paradise at instant speed offers flexibility and strategic depth. It allows you to react to your opponent’s moves appropriately while keeping your mana available for immediate responses or end-of-turn plays, increasing the element of surprise and tactical advantage.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Secrets of Paradise requires you to discard a card from your hand. This can be particularly problematic when your hand is already depleted or the cards you hold are pivotal for your strategy. Discarding can inadvertently give your opponents a glimpse into your tactics or force you to dispose of a crucial piece, thus affecting your gameplay negatively.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost for Secrets of Paradise is not just any mana – it demands a specific combination that may not always align with your deck’s mana base. This can hinder the card’s versatility and potentially slow you down as you wait for the right mana to come into play or hold back other plays to accommodate its cost.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The investment needed to cast Secrets of Paradise can be on the higher side when you take into account what the card offers. Players must weigh whether its benefits justify spending such an amount of mana, especially when other cards in the game might provide similar advantages for less investment. The mana spent on this card could alternatively be used for more impactful plays, setting up a pivotal turn or developing a stronger board presence.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Secrets of Paradise shines in any deck that values mana acceleration and color fixing. Its ability to tap for any color of mana makes it a staple for multicolored decks, ensuring a smooth and efficient mana curve.

Combo Potential: This card truly excels when paired with cards that capitalize on untapping mechanics or benefit from the casting of multiple spells in a turn, enabling intricate and potentially game-winning combinations.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where tempo and mana efficiency are paramount, Secrets of Paradise holds its own. As metagames shift, the capacity for instant mana access and flexibility ensures it remains a contender in diverse competitive environments.

How to beat

Secrets of Paradise is a unique card within the Magic: The Gathering arena, granting players the ability to ramp up their mana resources. Famous for its capability to enchant a creature and produce any color of mana, this card is truly a versatile accelerator in a variety of decks. When facing Secrets of Paradise, it’s crucial to deploy removals efficiently to target the enchanted creature and stifle your opponent’s mana production. Cards with abilities to destroy or exile enchantments, such as Naturalize or Oblivion Ring, are particularly effective against this kind of strategy.

Interrupting an opponent’s mana curve is also vital. This can involve countering the Secrets of Paradise spell as it’s cast, using cards like Counterspell or Mana Leak. If the enchantment has already resolved, bounce spells that return the enchanted creature to the owner’s hand, like Unsummon or Cyclonic Rift, can serve as temporary setbacks. By understanding the crucial role that the enchanted creature plays in your opponent’s game plan, and by prioritizing the disruption of this synergy, you can overcome the advantage granted by Secrets of Paradise and maintain the upper hand in the duel.

Effective counterplay keeps your adversaries on their toes and reinforces the importance of adaptability and strategic planning in Magic: The Gathering. Always consider the diverse suite of spells at your disposal to counteract cards like Secrets of Paradise and secure victory.

Cards like Secrets of Paradise

Secrets of Paradise brings a unique twist to mana-generating abilities in Magic: The Gathering. It bears a resemblance to cards like Birds of Paradise, a classic that allows players to tap for a mana of any color. Secrets of Paradise echoes this flexibility, but with an added condition – supporting an enchantment that requires a creature to connect with your opponent.

Expanding the comparison, we look at Utopia Sprawl, another enchantment that taps for additional mana. While it doesn’t require combat to activate, it does bind you to noncreature permanents, specifically to forests. Secrets of Paradise, though, liberates its users with a broader range of applicable creatures. Another similar card, Trace of Abundance, provides an extra layer of protection to the land along with mana acceleration, yet it’s limited to being a land aura.

Assessing the blend of versatility and conditions, Secrets of Paradise emerges as a balanced option for decks that capitalize on combat and enchantment synergies, bestowing an edge in mana flexibility and diversity, without tethering to specific land types or protective measures.

Cards similar to Secrets of Paradise by color, type and mana cost

Unexpected Potential - MTG Card versions

Advantageous Proclamation - MTG Card versions

Muzzio's Preparations - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Secrets of Paradise MTG card by a specific set like Conspiracy, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Secrets of Paradise and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Secrets of Paradise has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Banned
Legacy	Banned
Oathbreaker	Banned
Vintage	Banned
Duel	Banned

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Paradise card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-08-23	A conspiracy doesn’t count as a card in your deck for purposes of meeting minimum deck size requirements. (In most drafts, the minimum deck size is 40 cards.)
2016-08-23	A conspiracy with hidden agenda that has a triggered ability must be face up before that ability’s trigger condition is met in order for it to trigger. Turning it face up afterward won’t have any effect.
2016-08-23	A conspiracy’s static and triggered abilities function as long as that conspiracy is face-up in the command zone.
2016-08-23	As a special action, you may turn a face-down conspiracy face up. You may do so any time you have priority. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to. Once face up, the named card is revealed and the conspiracy’s abilities will affect the game.
2016-08-23	At the end of the game, you must reveal any face-down conspiracies you own in the command zone to all players.
2016-08-23	At the end of the game, you must reveal any face-down conspiracies you own in the command zone to all players. Notably, you can’t bluff conspiracies with hidden agenda by putting other cards into the command zone face down as the game starts.
2016-08-23	Conspiracies are colorless, have no mana cost, and can’t be cast as spells.
2016-08-23	Conspiracies are never put into your deck. Instead, you put any number of conspiracies from your card pool into the command zone as the game begins. These conspiracies are face up unless they have hidden agenda, in which case they begin the game face down.
2016-08-23	Conspiracies aren’t legal for any sanctioned Constructed format, but may be included in other Limited formats, such as Cube Draft.
2016-08-23	If you play multiple games after the draft, you can name a different card in each new game.
2016-08-23	There are several ways to secretly name a card, including writing the name on a piece of paper that’s kept with the face-down conspiracy. If you have multiple face-down conspiracies, you may name a different card for each one. It’s important that each named card is clearly associated with only one of the conspiracies.
2016-08-23	You can look at any player’s face-up conspiracies at any time. You’ll also know how many face-down conspiracies a player has in the command zone, although you won’t know what they are.
2016-08-23	You don’t have to play with any conspiracy you draft. However, you have only one opportunity to put conspiracies into the command zone, as the game begins. You can’t put conspiracies into the command zone after this point.
2016-08-23	You must name a Magic card. Notably, you can’t name a token (except in the unusual case that a token’s name matches the name of a card, such as Illusion).
2016-08-23	You name the card as the game begins, as you put the conspiracy into the command zone, not as you turn the face-down conspiracy face up.