Conniving and Designing for Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes
Designer Jeremy Geist breaks down why the connive mechanic returned as a villain-exclusive mechanic in the upcoming Marvel Crossover set. Players will gain insight into set design mechanics and how card smoothing enhances both gameplay and flavor.
- Connive returns in the Marvel crossover set exclusively on Super Villain cards.
- The Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes set releases on June 26, 2026.
- New preview cards include A.I.M. Scientists, HYDRA Troopers, and Roxxon Brutes.
- Connive was also retroactively added to the Marvel's Spider-Man set during development.
Bringing Scheme Mechanics to Life
During the early design stages for the Marvel Super Heroes crossover set, the design team evaluated several returning keyword mechanics to find the best fit for comic book tropes. The team landed on bringing back connive, a mechanic originally printed in Streets of New Capenna, to represent the high intellect and cunning nature of iconic Marvel villains. Genius masterminds like Doctor Doom, Kang, M.O.D.O.K., the Leader, and Baron Zemo all feature cards that utilize connive to outthink their opponents.
One of the initial previews showing off this mechanic is A.I.M. Scientists. By tying connive strictly to the villainous characters, the design team created a thematic identity that highlights the calculating, tactical advantage these evil masterminds hold over the heroes.
Gameplay Texture and Card Synergy
Beyond thematic flavor, connive serves a critical role in card design by offering card selection to reduce variance in Limited formats. Because connive forces players to choose between keeping powerful cards by discarding lands or growing their creatures by pitching nonland spells, it adds deep tactical decision-making to every turn. Since connive naturally skews toward certain colors, other colors in the set were given increased access to scry mechanics to balance draw smoothing across draft archetypes.
Designers refer to connive as a textured mechanic because its constituent actions - drawing a card, discarding a card, and potentially placing +1/+1 counters - create natural synergies with surrounding cards. For example, HYDRA Troopers rewards players for filling their graveyard with creature cards, making connive a free way to pitch extra units without spending mana. Meanwhile, Roxxon Brutes triggers when you draw your second card in a turn, making low-cost connive enablers a great way to trigger bonuses while building a defensive board presence.
Connecting the Marvel Universe
The inclusion of connive proved so successful during playtesting that developers retroactively added it to the Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man set while it was still in development. This decision helps establish a strong mechanical link across different Marvel releases and provides direct synergy with mechanics like mayhem. Players looking forward to outsmarting their rivals can pick up Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes when it officially hits shelves on June 26, 2026.
