Demon of Dark Schemes MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost6
RarityMythic
TypeCreature — Demon
Abilities Flying
Power 5
Toughness 5

Key Takeaways

  1. It enables card advantage through mass reanimation, using energy to turn graveyards into resources.
  2. Resource acceleration is key; it creates energy counters to fuel its abilities when creatures die.
  3. Instant speed activation allows for strategic resurrection, disrupting opponents during their turn.

Text of card

Flying When Demon of Dark Schemes enters the battlefield, all other creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. Whenever another creature dies, you get (an energy counter). , Pay : Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control tapped.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Demon of Dark Schemes affords a unique form of card advantage through its mass reanimation ability. By utilizing energy counters, you can resurrect various creatures from any graveyard, making it a daunting task for your opponents to permanently deal with threats.

Resource Acceleration: The entry of this card onto the battlefield can be a pivotal moment in the game, as it generates energy counters whenever creatures die. This accelerates your resources, providing you with the energy necessary to activate its formidable abilities.

Instant Speed: While the Demon itself isn’t an instant, its reanimation ability can be activated at instant speed. This means you can wait for the opportune moment during your opponent’s turn to disrupt their strategy or to simply bring back a creature when it’s least expected.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although the Demon of Dark Schemes possesses an array of compelling abilities, players must remain cognizant of the need to frequently discard cards. This element of its mechanic can present a drawback, particularly in game scenarios where maintaining a robust hand is fundamental for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: A card as powerful as the Demon of Dark Schemes comes with a demanding mana requirement, notably the three black mana symbols in its cost. This specificity can heavily skew deck construction, often necessitating a commitment to black mana sources that might not be ideal for every deck archetype or game situation.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Summoning the Demon of Dark Schemes requires a significant mana investment of six. Given this cost, it occupies the higher end of the mana curve, which may slow your tempo, especially when facing decks that peak in efficiency at lower mana thresholds. This factor inevitably positions the card as a late-game play, which might not synergize well with more aggressive or swiftly-paced strategies.


Reasons to Include Demon of Dark Schemes in Your Collection

Versatility: Demon of Dark Schemes excels in a myriad of deck architectures, prominently in those that revolve around energy counters or reanimation strategies. Its ability to affect all creatures on the battlefield makes it a diverse tool for both offensive and defensive maneuvers.

Combo Potential: This card thrives when paired with strategies that capitalize on creature deaths or energy accumulation. Its synergy with other energy-based cards or graveyard manipulation can unlock powerful and potentially game-winning combinations.

Meta-Relevance: Given that creature-based decks are a constant in many metagames, Demon of Dark Schemes holds its place as a card that can significantly tilt the board in your favor. Its mass removal and reanimation capabilities make it a substantial threat against various popular builds.


How to beat

Demon of Dark Schemes is a powerhouse in MTG, known for its capacity to drain energy and reanimate creatures from any graveyard. Facing this formidable card, one strategy stands out—exile effects. Using cards with exile abilities can remove Demon of Dark Schemes permanently from the battle, bypassing its revival threat. Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares are prime examples of efficient removal spells that can handle such threats.

Since the card relies on energy counters, cutting off its energy supply is a savvy tactic. Cards like Shielded Aether Thief can hinder the accumulation of energy, thus stunting the Demon’s potential. Graveyard hate is another angle of attack. By employing cards such as Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze, you can deprive the Demon of its targets to reanimate, rendering one of its key abilities ineffective.

Ultimately, while Demon of Dark Schemes can dominate the battlefield, a well-constructed strategy focusing on exile, energy denial, and graveyard management can neutralize this behemoth, maintaining control of the game state, and keeping your opponent’s schemes at bay.


BurnMana Recommendations

If you’re captivated by the strategic complexity that Demon of Dark Schemes brings to your MTG gameplay, remember that its strength lies in synergies and meta strategy. Leveraging its reanimation capabilities and managing your resources effectively can turn the tide of any match. Consider integrating this powerful creature into your arsenal, particularly if you’re building around energy counters or graveyard plays. With the right supporting cards, you can extract the full potential of its abilities. Curious about optimizing your deck’s performance or exploring new combos with this card? Join us for in-depth insights and enhance your strategic edge in the ever-evolving world of MTG.


Cards like Demon of Dark Schemes

Demon of Dark Schemes is a striking figure in the realm of black mana creatures within Magic: The Gathering. It’s often seen in comparison to reanimation-themed cards like Reiver Demon. Both offer a creature removal effect upon entering the battlefield. However, Demon of Dark Schemes takes this further with its energy counter mechanism, granting it ongoing utility throughout the game.

Massacre Wurm is another comparable behemoth, inflicting life loss to the opponent as creatures die, which can shift the game’s tide similarly to Demon of Dark Schemes. Nonetheless, the latter’s ability to reanimate any creature from any graveyard with energy counters adds a layer of strategy that Massacre Wurm lacks. Moreover, Demon of Dark Schemes’s control over the battlefield extends with each creature’s demise, a factor not mirrored in the Wurm’s one-time effect.

Evaluating the diverse range of features presented by these powerful cards, Demon of Dark Schemes holds a unique position for MTG players specializing in energy and graveyard mechanics, providing both a formidable board presence and strategic depth to black mana decks.

Reiver Demon - MTG Card versions
Massacre Wurm - MTG Card versions
Reiver Demon - Mirrodin (MRD)
Massacre Wurm - Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)

Cards similar to Demon of Dark Schemes by color, type and mana cost

Nightmare - MTG Card versions
Demonic Hordes - MTG Card versions
Ihsan's Shade - MTG Card versions
Necrosavant - MTG Card versions
Dakmor Lancer - MTG Card versions
Face of Fear - MTG Card versions
Wire Surgeons - MTG Card versions
Grave Titan - MTG Card versions
Chittering Harvester - MTG Card versions
Crossway Troublemakers - MTG Card versions
Anurid Murkdiver - MTG Card versions
Gempalm Polluter - MTG Card versions
Nefashu - MTG Card versions
Twisted Abomination - MTG Card versions
Iname, Death Aspect - MTG Card versions
Deathcurse Ogre - MTG Card versions
Yawgmoth Demon - MTG Card versions
Ascendant Evincar - MTG Card versions
Bog Hoodlums - MTG Card versions
Helldozer - MTG Card versions
Nightmare - Arena Beginner Set (ANB)
Demonic Hordes - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
Ihsan's Shade - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Necrosavant - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Dakmor Lancer - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Face of Fear - Odyssey (ODY)
Wire Surgeons - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Grave Titan - Fallout (PIP)
Chittering Harvester - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Crossway Troublemakers - Crimson Vow Commander (VOC)
Anurid Murkdiver - Onslaught (ONS)
Gempalm Polluter - Legions (LGN)
Nefashu - Scourge (SCG)
Twisted Abomination - Scourge (SCG)
Iname, Death Aspect - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Deathcurse Ogre - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Yawgmoth Demon - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Ascendant Evincar - Tenth Edition (10E)
Bog Hoodlums - Lorwyn (LRW)
Helldozer - Planechase (HOP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Demon of Dark Schemes MTG card by a specific set like Kaladesh and Kaladesh Promos, 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 Demon of Dark Schemes and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Demon of Dark Schemes Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-09-30 and 2020-11-12. Illustrated by Daarken.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-09-30KaladeshKLD 732015normalblackDaarken
22016-09-30Kaladesh PromosPKLD 73s2015normalblackDaarken
32020-11-12Kaladesh RemasteredKLR 802015normalblackDaarken

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Demon of Dark Schemes has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2016-09-20 Demon of Dark Schemes's second triggered ability triggers whenever another creature dies for any reason, not just due to the first triggered ability.
2016-09-20 If Demon of Dark Schemes dies at the same time as another creature, its second triggered ability triggers.
2016-09-20 If a creature's owner leaves the game after you've put that creature onto the battlefield with Demon of Dark Schemes's last ability, the creature leaves with that player. If you leave the game before that player, the creature is exiled.
2016-09-20 The set of creatures affected by Demon of Dark Schemes's first triggered ability is determined as the ability resolves. Creatures that enter the battlefield later in the turn and noncreature permanents that become creatures later in the turn won't get -2/-2.
2017-02-09 Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with specific permanents. (Other kinds of counters that players may have include poison and experience.)
2017-02-09 Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana “of any type” to your mana pool can't give you energy counters.
2017-02-09 If an effect says you get one or more , you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more , you lose that many energy counters. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.
2017-02-09 Keep careful track of how many energy counters each player has. You may do so by keeping a running count on paper, by using a die, or by any other clear and mutually agreeable method.
2017-02-09 You can't pay more energy counters than you have.
2017-02-09 is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.

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