Lethal Scheme is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays foror one mana of that creature's color.) Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Each creature that convoked this spell connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.)
Complete guide
Lethal Scheme is a versatile removal spell that rewards you for having a board presence by letting your creatures help pay the mana cost. Not only does it eliminate a threat, but it also allows every creature involved in the casting to improve your hand quality and potentially grow in size. This card is a powerhouse in decks that go wide and want to cycle through their library quickly.
How It Works
Lethal Scheme features the Convoke keyword, which allows you to tap untapped creatures you control to pay for {1} or one mana of that creature's color. After the spell resolves and destroys its target, every creature you tapped to cast it will connive. When a creature connives, its controller draws a card, then discards a card; if a nonland card was discarded, that creature gets a +1/+1 counter.
Step-by-Step Resolution
First, you announce the spell and choose a target creature or planeswalker. Next, you determine the total cost and tap your chosen creatures to satisfy the Convoke requirement (maximum four). Once the spell resolves, the target is destroyed. Finally, each creature that convoked Lethal Scheme connives one at a time in the order of your choice. If a creature leaves the battlefield before this happens, you still draw and discard, though no counter is placed.
Strategic Timing
Because this is an instant, you can use it as a combat trick. You can tap creatures that were already declared as attackers or blockers to pay the Convoke cost without removing them from combat. This allows you to surprise an opponent by destroying their best blocker and buffing your attackers with +1/+1 counters mid-combat, all while spending little to no mana.
Common Mistakes
A common error is trying to tap more than four creatures; you cannot tap more creatures than are required to pay the total cost. Another mistake involves mana abilities: if you sacrifice a creature or tap it for a mana ability during the casting process, it isn't available to be tapped for Convoke. Lastly, remember that you draw and discard even if the creature is gone, but the counter is lost.
Interaction examples
Fell the Profane // Fell MireWhile Fell the Profane // Fell Mire provides flexibility by doubling as a land, Lethal Scheme offers higher ceiling potential. If you have four creatures, Lethal Scheme is effectively free to cast, whereas Fell the Profane always requires four mana. Both can hit planeswalkers, but Lethal Scheme provides card selection that the land-spell hybrid lacks.
Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick is famous for being free if you control a commander, but it only exiles creatures. Lethal Scheme can also be cast for zero mana using Convoke and can target planeswalkers. If you cast Lethal Scheme by tapping four tokens, you destroy the target and draw/discard four cards, potentially putting 4 power onto your board via +1/+1 counters—value that Deadly Rollick cannot replicate.
If you cast Lethal Scheme using only four Swamps and no creatures, it functions as a standard destruction spell. The spell will resolve, the target is destroyed, but since no creatures convoked it, the connive portion of the spell is simply skipped. You only get the secondary benefit if you actively tap creatures to pay for its mana cost.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Lethal Scheme
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
When calculating a spell's total cost, include any alternative costs, additional costs, or anything else that increases or reduces the cost to cast the spell. Convoke applies after the total cost is calculated. Convoke doesn't change a spell's mana cost or mana value.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If a creature you control has a mana ability with
in the cost, activating that ability while casting a spell with convoke will result in the creature being tapped before you pay the spell's costs. You won't be able to tap it again for convoke. Similarly, if you sacrifice a creature to activate a mana ability while casting a spell with convoke, that creature won't be on the battlefield when you pay the spell's costs, so you won't be able to tap it for convoke.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Tapping a multicolored creature using convoke will pay for
or one mana of your choice of any of that creature's colors.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
You can tap any untapped creature you control to convoke a spell, even one you haven't controlled continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Tapping an untapped creature that's attacking or blocking to convoke a spell won't cause that creature to stop attacking or blocking.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
Because convoke isn't an alternative cost, it can be used in conjunction with alternative costs.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
You can't tap more creatures to convoke Lethal Scheme than it takes to pay for its total cost. This means that normally no more than four creatures can convoke it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Once an ability that causes a creature to connive begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the conniving creature after you discard a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
If no card is discarded, most likely because that player's hand is empty and an effect says they can't draw cards, the conniving creature does not receive a +1/+1 counter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
When multiple creatures are instructed to connive simultaneously, they connive one at a time in the order of their controller's choice.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to connive but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still connives. If you discard a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything. Abilities that trigger "when [that creature] connives" will trigger.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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