Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Conspiracy: Take the Crown is a booster-based set designed for Conspiracy Draft. It was released in August 2016 as the second of three supplemental sets that were released in the summer of 2016.
Set details
Conspiracy: Take the Crown followed up on the original Conspiracy set from 2014 and introduced new cards that affect the draft itself as well as new Conspiracies. It is designed for eight-player drafts followed by free-for-all games of three to five players each. The set contains 221 cards (90 common, 67 uncommon, 50 rare, and 14 mythic rare). Eighty cards (including 12 Conspiracies) are new cards with mechanics that enhance multiplayer play, and the other part features reprints. The planeswalker card Kaya, Ghost Assassin has alternate art in foil, with the foil having the collector number 222/221. The new cards are not legal for play in the Standard or Modern formats.
The set is printed in English, Japanese, and Chinese Simplified. It was not released on Magic Online. North American mass-market stores sold new Draft Packs for this set. The Draft Pack features three Booster Packs.
Flavor
Brago, the King Eternal ruled the High City of Paliano on the plane of Fiora. When he died, the priesthood — the Custodi — kept his spirit as a figurehead and were able to retain their command for a while. However, The Black Rose confiscated the throne after Brago's spirit was eliminated by the planeswalker Kaya. Nobody knows how long she will last.
Magic Story
Marketing
The set was initially announced as Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago. However, the day immediately after the initial set announcement, official Twitter announced The Reign of Brago would not be the set name, along with a picture showing the apparent assassination of Brago's spirit. The set was renamed on February 24 to The Empty Throne to reflect this plot twist. Also the number of cards was reduced from 221 to 220 (Brago's spirit was eliminated, so clearly there would be one less card) and the quote was changed from “Long May He Reign” to “The King Is Dead, Long Live the King”.
Two days later the title was changed one final time, along with the reveal of the set symbol. The card count for Conspiracy: Take the Crown was now up to 221 again with the new queen added. The slogan was also changed, this time to “You Stab My Back And I'll Stab Yours”.
Like its predecessor, CN2 features horizontal art on the booster packs. They have artwork from Queen Marchesa, Kaya, Ghost Assassin (foil art version), and Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast.
Hidden message
On the back frame of every token of Eternal Masters, the previous booster set, appeared some seemingly random and mysterious lines of text. These were part of a teaser puzzle. If the tokens were lined up in the right order, the text on the top and bottom of the tokens provided a proclamation by Her Majesty Queen Marchesa, the Black Rose, first of her name. The text on the sides of tokens provided a revolutionary speech by Captain Adriana. Marchesa's proclamation was later published on the Magic website, as was Adriana's response.
Tokens
Conspiracy: Take the Crown features one marker and eleven tokens.
- The Monarch marker
1/1 Soldier for Lieutenants of the Guard and Raise the Alarm- 1/2 Soldier with defender for Hold the Perimeter
- 1/1 Spirit with flying for Doomed Traveler
- 1/1 Assassin with deathtouch and haste for Queen Marchesa
- 2/2 Zombie for Assemble the Rank and Vile
- 1/1 Goblin with “This creature can't block” for Hold the Perimeter
- 5/5 Dragon with flying for Skyline Despot
- 8/8 Lizard for Subterranean Tremors
- 3/3 Beast for Beast Within
- 1/1 Insect for Dragonlair Spider
- 1/1 Construct artifact with defender for Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
Themes and mechanics
Like in Conspiracy, some cards have draft abilities.
The monarch is a new designation that a player may have during the game. Only one player at a time can be the monarch and has the following ability: "At the beginning of the monarch's end step, that player draws a card." Secondly, several cards in the set get better if you're the monarch. A mistake realized only after printing, The Monarch marker reads "At the beginning your end step, draw a card." with the "of" missing.
Hidden agenda is carried over from Conspiracy. Conspiracies with hidden agendas have you secretly name a card before the game begins. Any time you have priority during the game, you can turn the conspiracy face up and reveal the chosen name and what bonus the conspiracy provides.
Creatures with Monstrosity earlier appeared in the Theros block and Commander 2015. Upon paying the activation cost, if the creature isn't "monstrous" already, a certain number of +1/+1 counters are put on the creature and it becomes "monstrous". Usually, this is accompanied by a triggered ability when the creature becomes "monstrous".
There are four new named mechanics:
- Double agenda, a keyword ability that works much like hidden agenda but allows you to name two cards instead of one.
- Melee, a keyword ability that gives a creature +1/+1 whenever it attacks until end of turn for each opponent you attacked with a creature this combat.
- Goad, a keyword action that forces creatures to attack a player other than you if able.
- Council's dilemma, an ability word that allows you to vote, which is similar to will of the council. Every vote will add to the overall effect (not only the majority).
Card types
- The conspiracy card type is carried over from Conspiracy. Conspiracies are put into the command zone before the game begins. Unlike the earlier conspiracies, some conspiracies from CN2 are colored.
- Kaya is a new planeswalker type.
Card frame
Conspiracies and draft ability cards have a special circular pattern card frame.
Cycles
Conspiracy: Take the Crown has eight cycles:
Double cycles
Draft ability cycles
There are three draft ability card cycles, one for each rarity besides mythic.
Pairs
Conspiracy: Take the Crown has one mirrored pair:
Changes in rarity
Common to Uncommon
Uncommon to Rare
Uncommon to Mythic
Rare to Uncommon
Rare to Mythic
Mythic to Rare
Card comparisons
Misprint
The monarch marker should read “At the beginning of your end step, draw a card”. It is missing the “of”.
Notable cards
- Burgeoning is an early game mana ramping staple in the Commander format.
- Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast is a cheap Planeswalker that has powered artifact-based midrange decks in Legacy and Vintage.
- Kaya, Ghost Assassin is a Planeswalker with a unique method of gaining loyalty counters, "blinking" herself for a turn and returning to the battlefield.
- Palace Jailer sees play in Death and Taxes decks in Legacy because of its ability to repeatedly exile creatures with the help of a flicker effect, in addition to the monarch bonus.
- Recruiter of the Guard a powerful creature tutor similar to Imperial Recruiter from Portal Three Kingdoms and has become a staple in Legacy.
- Sanctum Prelate sees play in Legacy, mostly in Death and Taxes, because of its similarities to Chalice of the Void from Mirrodin.
- Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, and Queen Marchesa are among the most played commanders in their respective color identities in the casual Commander format.
- Thorn of the Black Rose and Palace Sentinels were two common monarch cards strong enough to see play in Pauper, a format without access to traditional card advantage engines.
Banned and restricted cards
- All cards with the Conspiracy type from the set are implicitly banned in competitive constructed formats.
- Expropriate is an incredibly powerful spell for multiplayer formats and was banned in Oathbreaker due to its ability to be cast from the command zone repeatedly. Its art is also notable as it depicts several moxen, a picture of True-Name Nemesis, and many treasures belonging to other characters in the set.
- Leovold, Emissary of Trest is a strong value engine that has seen play in Legacy and Vintage midrange decks. His strength, combined with the ability to recur from the command zone and affect multiple other players, led to him getting banned in the Commander format in 2017.