Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #2
Schemes are only used in the Archenemy format. Usually, an Archenemy game consists of a team of 3 "heroes" vs. a single Archenemy. The Archenemy starts the game at 40 life with a special 20-card deck of oversized Scheme cards in the command zone, and he takes the first turn of the game. At the beginning of the first precombat main phase on each of his turns, he reveals the top card of the Scheme deck and does whatever it says. Most Schemes are one-shot effects (Tooth, Claw, and Tail, Your Puny Minds Cannot Fathom, etc.) and are put onto the bottom of the Scheme deck after their effects resolve, but some are Ongoing and stay in effect until something specific happens to make the Archenemy abandon them (My Undead Horde Awakens, Nothing Can Stop Me Now, etc.).
One of the decks I have posted here has a Scheme deck to go with it: High Tide Eldrazi
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #1
A scheme is a card in Archenemy that the single player flips during the upkeep step. Schemes do a number of things and can REALLY turn a game around or completely end it.
February 28, 2013 9:43 p.m.