Taigam's Scheming

Scheming for the win

Hello everyone.

A short post today, a focus on a card that's a bit underplayed in the STD Pauper format, but that surely deserves a slot in some current competitive lists.

That card is Taigam's Scheming.
And it's a great card !
It's blue, so both the emerging Mono Blue and already well known Izzet Control / Tokens can make benefit of it.

The card plays at sorcery speed, Instant would have been better but the effect is still great, considering that it allows you to plan up things depending on what's going on, and work on efficiency.

Let me explain.

It's great in the early game when you are mana screwed or looking for an early threat answer, because both Izzet and Mono Blue Control need to be ahead on mana and card draw. Of course it's not the best way to use the card, since you would better leave your mana open for counters on your opponent's turn early game rather than digging your deck in search of a way to get rid of the early aggro pressure.

It's also great in the middle to late game, because once you are settled with enough mana, you'll be able to sort the 5 cards on top of your library and write your near future game plan from there, even finding your win conditions, for a very low investment.

And now we come to the best part, Taigam's Scheming has a real good synergy with the most broken card in the format, AKA Treasure Cruise. It fills the graveyard for your Delve action, helps you avoiding the useless land draws late game. Let's say, put 2 useless cards in the graveyard, then 3 useful cards on top of it, and play Treasure Cruise in order to draw those 3 nice cards on top.

So even if the spare card slots are rare and it may seem difficult to find room for Taigam's Scheming in lists playing blue and Treasure Cruise, I highly recommend trying it out, because it's really worth it.
At least as a one or two of's, you'll never be disappointed with drawing and using it.

I'd like to hear your feedback on it !

Good luck and have fun !

Ad'