Drawing a card and then immediately discarding a card has been a Magic mainstay for many years. In fact, when you hear players talk about the ability today, you may hear them use the term "loot" instead of the lengthier, "draw a card, then discard a card." Loot is the shortcut term for this mechanic because it was named after Merfolk Looter, a creature that taps for this ability.

Technically, this wasn't the first card to grant you a repeatable Loot effect. I found an instance of it all the way back in Antiquities, one of Magic's earliest expansions, on Jalum Tome.

Regardless where the ability originated, Wizards of the Coast has played with various flavors of Looting for decades. We've seen instances where you need to discard first and then draw ("Rummage"), uneven draws and discards (e.g., Bazaar of Baghdad), and Looting effects that give you an additional bonus.

It's this third category I want to dive into today.

Introducing Connive

The Connive ability was introduced as Obscura's mechanic in Streets of New Capenna. The mechanic's rules are slightly more complex than a simple Loot, but is still relatively clean and straightforward. In essence, when a creature you control Connives you draw a card and discard a card. If you discard a nonland card, you put a +1/+1 counter on the creature.

Granted, things can get a little more complex with the Connive mechanic. For example, if a Connive trigger is on the stack and your opponent destroys your creature, you still get to draw and discard. There's also the possibility for a creature to Connive multiple times at once (i.e., Connive N). In this case, you would draw and discard N cards, and put a +1/+1 counter on the creature for every nonland card you discarded this way.

Let's take a look at an example. Consider Hypnotic Grifter, a 1/2 creature for one Blue mana with the elegant rules text, "3: Hypnotic Grifter Connives."

Wizards of the Coast consistently includes the reminder text about Connive in the card's text box, just in case players haven't seen the mechanic before. The text says it all, and this twist on Looting is a nice upgrade to the classic effect.

The Power of Connive

This should be relatively intuitive, but for newer players it's worth at least briefly mentioning the utility of Connive. Consider breaking down cards in Magic into two buckets: resources (lands) and things to spend resources on (spells). During a given game, there's high likelihood that, with each draw, you are hoping to see either one or the other. That is, you are hoping to draw lands to generate incremental resources, or you have enough lands and you're hoping to draw spells to spend your resources on.

With Connive (and Loot), you have an opportunity to smooth out your draw. Was your latest draw not what you wanted? If you have the ability to Connive, such as via Hypnotic Grifter, you can draw a second card and pitch the one you didn't want. Thus, you double your odds of drawing that relevant thing you were hoping for.

Now, add in the fact that Connive grants potential upside via +1/+1 counters, and you have quite the choice to make. If you were hoping for spells and you drew them, do you pitch the less desirable lands to smooth out your draw? Do you keep the lands and pitch spells to pump up your creature? This tension point leads to some interesting dynamics throughout a game of Magic, and it is why I have grown to love Connive's upgrade to Looting so much. Especially when those +1/+1 counters are magnified by creatures that can leverage them effectively, such as the double striking Illuminator Virtuoso.

Even better, you could have a card like Kamiz, Obscura Oculus Connive. If you Connive enough with the legendary creature and discard nonlands to pump its power, then its second ability becomes more powerful by granting Double Strike to stronger and stronger creatures!

Iconic Connive Cards

According to Scryfall, there are 26 cards today that contain the rules text, "Connive.") Granted, not all of these are paper cards--there are a couple of Arena's digital-only cards that include the term. I will gloss over those and focus solely on cards you'll experience in a physical game.

First, let's talk about the original Conniving creatures that made waves in Standard when Streets of New Capenna hit the scene. Really, there are only two that fit this mold: Ledger Shredder and Raffine, Scheming Seer.

Ledger Shredder's power comes into play in two ways. First, it's a 1/3 flying creature for just two mana, making it a decent roadblock in the early game against aggressive decks. Then, if you or your opponent casts a second spell in a turn, Ledger Shredder connives, giving you a little hand smoothing and the option to pump it to 2/4 with a +1/+1 counter. This can happen multiple times throughout a game, turning Ledger Shredder into a reasonable threat before too long.

Raffine, Scheming Seer generated value a little differently. Like Ledger Shredder, Raffine, Scheming Seer is a solid blocker in the early game. Its ward 1 ability is a nice tack-on, making it a little less convenient for your opponents to kill. While Ledger Shredder rewarded you when multiple spells were cast, Raffine, Scheming Seer lets one of your attacking creatures connive X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. This doesn't mean Raffine has to attack--you can attack with other creatures and still get the Connive trigger! Once you start attacking with multiple creatures, you'll dig through your deck rapidly, finding exactly the cards you need to progress the game.

Ledger Shredder has seen play outside of Standard and maintains a strong price point, around $8. It was also a Special Guest in Bloomburrow (it is a Bird, after all). Raffine had its day in the spotlight but has since fallen out of favor; copies can be purchased for under two bucks.

While other Connive cards had their time to shine during Streets of New Capenna Limited, most others haven't made much of a splash in constructed play.

Surprise Appearances of Connive

Connive debuted in SNC, and that's where you'll find most cards with this ability. That doesn't mean Wizards of the Coast hasn't toyed with the ability in other sets, however.

For instance, Connive made a comeback in Modern Horizons 3 on cards like Copycrook and Spymaster's Vault.

I like how MH3 looked at other ways to trigger a creature to connive--in the case of this Land, you can have a creature you control connive X, where X is the n umber of creatures that died that turn.

Before Modern Horizons 3, we saw a special appearance of Connive on Lethal Scheme, an instant from Lost Caverns Commander.

Even though it was made for Commander, I could see this card being played outside of the 100-card format should it ever be introduced to Standard. Four mana is expensive to destroy a creature, but convoking this spell to reduce its mana requirement while also conniving a bunch of times to filter your draws seems like a powerful one-two punch. It's worth noting that this card also appeared in Streets of New Capenna Commander and Fallout; all these reprints makes the card rather inexpensive at the moment.

On the other hand, here's another card with Connive that won't be reprinted so easily: Cyclonus, the Saboteur.

I missed the memo on these Transformers cards--I assume this is a character from the original cartoon. The art at least looks like it came from the old cartoon. In any event, I'm focusing in on the last block of text on Cyclonus, the Saboteur: Whenever Cyclonus deals combat damage to a player, it Connives. Then if Cyclonus's power is 5 or greater, convert it.

I assume "converting" a robot from Transformers means you flip the card over and it's even more powerful on the backside. Regardless, you can see where conniving can become a useful "special guest" mechanic on this creature. After conniving a couple times and discarding nonland cards, you can put enough +1/+1 counters on it to flip it over. Presumably, this is desirable!

I hope we see more special appearances of the Connive mechanic in the future. The ability opens up some creative design space that Wizards of the Coast can leverage, while avoiding creation of unnecessary mechanics and complexity. If Connive provides an elegant solution for flavor, why not use it?

Wrapping It Up

Connive is a relatively young mechanic, but I think it opens the door for some interesting and enjoyable game play. Smoothing out draws by ditching lands or nonlands is always an attractive addition to a game of Magic because it reduces the extreme "feel-bad" scenarios of mana flood and mana screw. Adding in the +1/+1 counter dynamic when discarding nonlands makes for even more interesting decision space.

Beyond this, the Connive mechanic synergizes well with other popular abilities, such as those that refer to a card's power. I think this can lead to some creative design space for future sets. Connive may have been created as a mechanic for a specific group from one Magic set, but I think it will show itself again in the future, perhaps with a slight twist. The future is bright for this mechanic--I just hope we see some more relevant cards printed with it!