What is Connive in Magic: The Gathering?

Magic: The Gathering’s new set, Streets of Capenna, is all about crime, and in it, each of Kamigawa’s five crime families has an archetype with unique gameplay and a new mechanic as well. 

Connive is the new mechanic associated with Obscura, which is represented by the color combination of White, Blue, and Black. The three-color grouping is also known for being the Esper shard from the Alara block. Obscura is the color combination for board control and card draw.

Connive is a keyword action that is followed by a number, and the number represents how many cards the player draws and discards. After that, the player puts a number of +1/+1 counters on the creature associated with the keyword that is equal to the number of nonland cards discarded while Conniving.

The ability is a play on “looting” which is present in popularly played cards like Faithless Looting and Seasoned Pyromancer. However, this mechanic is the exclusive domain of Esper and colorless cards.

“Draw N cards, then discard N cards,” the keyword’s reminder text says. “Put +1/+1 counter on this creature for each nonland card discarded this way.”

There are 13 cards that have been revealed so far featuring Connive. Blue has more Connive cards than any other with five. There are two White cards with Connive and three that are Black or colorless. This piece will be updated as more cards are spoiled featuring Connive.