The Card Says Plot

Some other cards directly tell you to plot a card, even if it doesn't have plot itself - mostly rares like

Finally, there's the UG signpost legend:

Double or Nothing

There's actually two other archetypes in this set beyond just plot itself that benefit greatly from plotting - namely, UW cares about not casting spells from your hand on your turn, and UR cares about casting multiple spells in one turn.

In UW, plot gives you something to spend your mana on without casting any spells from your hand. You get to plot on one turn and trigger all your

And in UR, plot lets you setup big turns. In fact, some plot cards even explicitly call this out!

Plot for Value

This is the smallest category, only including

Still, even with Sharpshooter, don't be afraid to just cast it for 3 mana! If you have nothing else in hand to do for 3 mana and have plays lined up for the next few turns, it might be better to just play a 3/3 than to completely waste your mana. The 3 mana 3/3 reach mode isn't exciting, but its existence does make the card better!

Mostly Unconditional Creatures

This category includes

These all share the trait that they don't vary much in power based on when they're played, and are creatures. Notably, this means that, if you have the choice between plotting or casting, you should probably just cast them! Since as creatures it really matters that they affect the board earlier, and the lack of conditionality means it's probably just better this turn than next turn.

Notably there can be times where these are a bit conditional - Stagecoach Security is one I included as unconditional despite the trigger because I don't think the trigger is worth enough to delay a turn generally; however I can definitely see some spots where it might be worth it to wait. And bombs like Stingerback Terror and Railway Brawler might benefit from getting more immediate value with less risk to removal, but that's a very small effect compared to getting them on board a turn earlier.

You might notice that all of these have a discount on their plot cost! Presumably the designers did this intentionally to encourage plotting these more, as you'll be able to plot one turn sooner than you can cast them. However, I think you should still often just cast a different card instead of plotting these - if you have a 4 drop and a Djinn of Fool's Fall in hand, getting the 4 drop on the battlefield now and the Djinn down next turn is probably better than having both arrive next turn.

But of course, sometimes you don't know if you'll draw a 5th land, and sometimes you want to trigger your UW or UR payoffs. It's a delicate balancing act - how much does not affecting the board this turn matter, and how much do I gain?

Conditional Spells that Affect the Board

This category is the largest by far, and includes over half of all of the plot cards:

The conditions on these cards range from pretty easy to satisfy naturally (it isn't hard to have a creature die for Buzzard and Robber), to extremely situational and timing-dependent (like Tumbleweed Rising and Sheriff of Safe Passage). Several of them also care about double spells, so plotting them is akin to being able to bank mana for a big storm turn (Wolverine, Loan Shark, Stitcher, and Lockpicker). Demonic Ruckus is included here because, like creatures, it wants to come down earlier rather than later - but where you put it might matter a lot.

These will include some of the most skill-testing cards in the set, and really ask you to plan ahead. How long should you wait on your Outlaw Stitcher? Should you just cast it immediately for a 2/2? Plot it and double spell next turn for a 4/4? Wait even longer to triple spell for a 6/6? How much is time worth?

Tumbleweed Rising has been especially interesting in my early testing. It's a theoretically powerful card, but has a lot of really interesting sequencing decisions to maximize its power and minimize plowout potential.

Spells that Don't Affect the Board

This last category includes

As these cards don't affect the board, there's a lot less pressure to cast them early. All except Brimstone Roundup are card draw spells, and Roundup itself mostly wants to be cast in a way that maximizes double spelling - sometimes this means casting it on turn 2, sometimes it means plotting it to setup a double spell on turn 4.

The other card draw spells all ask the question: when do you need more cards?

Highway Robbery is probably the most interest of the bunch (and my favorite design of the whole set!), because of the additional cost. Theoretically, the later the game goes, the better it becomes, as you get more information about which card in hand or land in play is least valuable and therefore best to pitch to it - but you can't wait forever.

So the question becomes: when do you need to improve your hand? You should almost never cast it on turn 2 instead of plotting, as you can't really do anything with immediate cards anyways, but maybe you need to cast it on turn 3 to find a land drop. What if you have a land drop but only a 2 drop to cast on turn 3; do you fire it off then to see if you can improve your hand a bit? Or do you wait until you know whether you want to pitch a land or spell to it?

Questions like these really require you to understand how your deck works and what you can draw, and require to put that together with the direction of the game so far. Is a mediocre turn 3 good enough? Do I need to find removal for the bomb my opponent just played, or can I let them have it for a turn? Do I need to really push for a fast start, or would I rather this Robbery help smooth out my lategame to better be able to grind well?