Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Raffine’s Connive Engine Rewrites Casual MTG Formats
Casual MTG formats love moments where a single card tilts the board in a way that feels both fair and fantastically disruptive. Raffine, Scheming Seer is one of those cards that sneaks into your conversations like a well‑timed joke at a tavern night—clever, dangerous, and a little bit glamorous 🧙♂️. Hailing from Streets of New Capenna, this legendary Sphinx Demon wears the Obscura watermark with pride, a tri‑color beacon that invites playful chaos while still demanding thoughtful play. In formats where players share a table, Raffine becomes a catalyst for memorable swings, dramatic draws, and the kind of table politics that keep everyone talking long after the game ends 🔥💎.
Costing {W}{U}{B} for a 3‑mana start, Raffine comes with Flying and Ward {1}, giving it both reach and a degree of protection. But the real trick is its attack ability: “Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.)” The clause is simple on the surface, yet it unlocks a surprising amount of depth in casual play. If you swing with a full squad, you’ll trigger a sizeable draw and a potentially explosive pump on a chosen attacker. It’s a shallow-looking engine that becomes a deep well with the right-board state, especially when your table has a few willing to participate in high‑variance, high‑reward combats 🎲⚔️.
Connive is the engine, Raffine is the conductor, and the combat math is the spell.
Why Raffine Resonates in Kitchen‑Table Politics
Casual groups—whether in a laid‑back Commander night or a multi‑player EDH session—tend to embrace cards that feel interactive without locking players into tiny, repetitive loops. Raffine checks both boxes. On the one hand, its three‑color identity (White, Blue, Black) unlocks a spectrum of playstyles: control elements to hold the airspace, card‑draw to fuel longer games, and ways to pressure opponents through aggressive but controlled combat. On the other hand, its connive trigger turns every attack into a bid for resource parity: you draw X cards, which reshuffles your options, and you discard X cards—opening the door to graveyard synergy, fodder for reanimators, or simply feeding a big, splashy creature with +1/+1 counters. The table gets involved because the decision of which attacking creature to target for connive is a classic political moment—do you pump Raffine’s alpha, or do you defend a fragile blocker who’s about to become a problem later? 🧙♂️🔥
From a gameplay perspective, Raffine encourages players to think in terms of tempo and risk. The more attackers you commit, the more valuable Raffine’s trigger becomes—yet the more you reveal your strategy to everyone at the table. That tension is the heartbeat of casual play: a mix of spectacle, negotiation, and the occasional “I did not see that coming” moment. And because the ability scales with the number of attackers, even modest boards can generate outsized plays if you time your attack properly and pick the right target for connive. It’s a neat example of how a tri‑color card can function as both a late‑game engine and a mid‑game threat, which is exactly the flavor that makes casual formats feel alive 🧪🎨.
Casual Deckbuilding Turns: What to Expect
- Multiplayer momentum: In three or more players, Raffine often becomes a triage point—who will attack, who will defend, and who gets to draw first through connive. The more attackers you swing with, the bigger the potential payoff for the chosen creature, which can steer alliances and rivalries in real time 🧭.
- Discard as currency: The draw/discard mechanic isn’t just a hand refresh; it’s a currency that can fund your board state or clear clutter. In casual games, you’ll see players lean into cards that interact with discards—either to salvage value from subpar draws or to feed value into a single, gigantic flagship creature that’s been buffed with multiple +1/+1 counters.
- Risk versus reward: Raffine’s effect is as much about table dynamics as it is about raw power. If you connive heavily on an opponent’s attacker, you create a window for counterplay—perhaps a well‑timed removal spell or a clever bluffed interaction that shifts the lead, which is exactly the brand of suspense casual players crave 🔥.
- Window for political play: The presence of a potent tri‑color card with a built‑in political engine invites conversations about who “deserves” the conjoined benefit of Raffine’s pump—fostering a story beyond raw statistics.
- Protection and vulnerability: Raffine’s ward helps deter cheap engage spells from hitting him, but in a casual setting you’ll still want to protect your win condition. That means balancing removal, counterplay, and evasive threats to avoid becoming the table’s primary target.
Lore, Artwork, and the Design Ethos
Raffine is a creature of flavor as much as function. A legendary Sphinx Demon from the Obscura guild, Raffine embodies the cunning, high‑society intrigue of Streets of New Capenna. The altars of crime and charisma collide in its ability: attack with a parade of creatures, draw liberally, and seed your biggest attacker with a growth spurt via counters. Johannes Voss’s art captures that glint of scheming behind a velvet curtain—an image that invites you to lean into a plan that’s equal parts elegance and danger 🖌️💎.
From a design standpoint, Raffine sits at an interesting intersection of offense and control. It offers an accessible route to card advantage through connive, while also rewarding players who invest in the right combat setup. The tri‑color identity makes for some flexible splashes in casual lists, and the Obscura watermark ties Raffine to a broader lore about crime families and cunning in New Capenna. It’s a reminder that Magic isn’t just about spells and numbers—it’s about stories that play out across the table, with each swing of a creature steering a new page of the saga 🎭🎲.
Value and Practical Takeaways for Casual Players
In terms of measurable value, Raffine sits as a mythic rarity with a tangible play pattern. On Scryfall, you’ll find it priced around a couple of dollars in nonfoil form, with foil variants commanding a modest premium. That accessibility means casual players can experiment with Raffine without breaking the bank, while collectors can appreciate the foil options and the card’s place in a memorable set. The real value, though, lies in its ability to spark weird, fun games—moments that become the stuff of legend when your group gathers again next week 🧙♂️.
If you’re curiosity about the broader collection and interactions of Raffine within a casual EDH shell, you’ll find that the card sits well alongside commanders that reward aggressive combat or those that love to see opponents scramble to respond to a steady stream of card draw. It’s not a slam‑dunk win condition on its own, but it’s a catalyst card—the kind that prompts a new style of table talk and a few “remember when Raffine connived X on that attacker” stories that keep casual play endlessly replayable 🔥.
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