The morph mechanic debuted in 2002 with 47 cards... Over 80% of which would be completely unplayable in Constructed decks.

Nevertheless, there were a few absolute bangers. Exalted Angel took down the immediate next Pro Tour in the hands of Osyp Lebedowicz, before becoming a cross-format All-Star that dominated Block, got plenty of Standard play, and was surprisingly good enough in Extended. Speaking of Extended, Pro Tour Hall of Famer Tsuyoshi Fujita put Blistering Firecat to its most effective work in his resuscitation of Red Deck Wins... Culminating in a PT Columbus Finals in the hands of Shuhei Nakamura. Perhaps most importantly, all-time great Luis Scott-Vargas took down Pro Tour Berlin in 2008, packing four copies of Birchlore Rangers in a combo Elves deck.

Yet! Morph was, in a sense, a failure.

Not because the cards utilizing this mechanic weren't that widely played in Constructed deck, but because its core philosophy never made it there to begin with. Randy Buehler, then the Grand Poohbah of Magic: The Gathering, told me that the intention behind Morph was "to bring bluffing to Magic" ... Earlier attempts to bring bluffing to Magic - notably Cursed Scroll - just changed core play patterns. Missing at all only happened when you had too many cards in hand, and why would anyone bluff a card when they could zing you for two?

There may have been some uncertainty around morph creatures in Limited, but come Constructed, the range of morph creatures that could possibly be included in a deck was so narrow there would rarely be any mystery at all. I mean nine times out of ten it's just an Exalted Angel, right?

Legions added to the pile, but come set three? Of the 17 morph cards included in 2003's Scourge, it's arguable that not a single one was Constructed-worthy.

Some morph creatures tend to be playable for some reason other than morph.

At U.S. Nationals one summer a Momentary Blink deck was one of the most popular choices. Akroma, Angel of Fury ended up a powerful sideboard mirror-breaker, despite the fact that you couldn't actually cast her.

Play Akroma face down and point a Momentary Blink at her? You'd have the opponent on a clock that couldn't be contained by any Riftwing Cloudskate, that would fly over a hapless Tarmogoyf [then considered a playable Magic: The Gathering 2-drop].

The gigantic Krosan Cloudscraper was played entirely for the numbers in its bottom-right. By running a creature so big, some reanimator decks could minimize the deck space they needed to devote to Sutured Ghoul. The morph never got cast, rarely got played face down, but contributed power and toughness aplenty, still.

Other later-released morph creatures played well primarily with each other.

On the subject of Vesuvan Shapeshifter, make sure to check out my article on Quinton Hoover.

In 2015, thirty-one megamorph cards were released.

Of those, only five were really Constructed quality.

Den Protector was a legitimate player in multiple decks; often joined by Deathmist Raptor.

Fringe contributors and role players included the lifelinking Hidden Dragonslayer and the fundamentally advantageous Stratus Dancer. Ire Shaman was often close to being good enough, but could not compete long-term with Abbot of Keral Keep, who was often bigger and usually faster.

For my part, Stratus Dancer plays into an important chapter of my career at the time.

I had flown to Utah to play in the Regional Pro Tour Qualifier with my Five-color Mono-Blue Dragons deck. Though I started off 0-1, Our Hero rattled off the next several rounds to enter the Top 8 as first seed. My opponent playing for the PT slot? Probably the best matchup I could ask for: traditional Esper Dragons.

Dragonlord Dromoka won Game 1 easily.

In the second I tapped out on turn two for a table-snapping Omenspeaker. I later learned from Chris Pikula that my opponent had kept a triple Forked-Tongue Invocation hand, and that that one Omenspeaker destroyed his entire strategy.

But on turn three? His three lands got tapped.

I was terrified it was going to be an Ashiok... But nope! Only a Stratus Dancer megamorph. So, did I get got by a freebie on the battlefield? Sure did. But Ashiok might have just beaten me on the spot.

For its part, as a mechanic, megamorph is just better than morph. Face down cards still cost 3; but when you flip them up, they get a bonus +1/+1.

You know what else is better than morph? Disguise!

Instead of a benefit when flipping your face down to its usual state, disguise makes a face down creature more difficult to destroy initially, thanks to Ward 2. While "better" mechanically, I would point out that morph and megamorph could interchange without breaking the whole mystery / bluff paradigm... But when only some face down creatures get Ward 2 the jig is kind of up. This gives away a little more information, at least when commingling with morph and megamorph.

Can the disguise creatures create more of a splash than the 0% (Scourge) to 20% playability ranges of previous morph and megamorph takes? Let's see!

There are thirty-six disguise cards in Murders at Karlov Manor, only one of which is Mythic Rare. Not surprisingly, it's also the best one (more later).

Of these, 15 are not worth talking about whatsoever. Most just fail on rate. Some of them are interesting cards... But just not at their respective costs. One fails on complexity; like maybe in an alternate universe Coveted Falcon will win one really, Really, REALLY spellbinding game... But come on already.

Five cards only probably fail on rate. Like they are playable in a nearby or adjacent universe where there is still Block Constructed or some future synergies can be uncovered.

Three others are worth talking about because they're interesting.

One (1) (!) of them is probably pretty good.

Not worth talking about:

• Bolrac-Clan Basher
• Bubble Smuggler
• Concealed Weapon
• Crowd-Control Warden
• Culvert Ambusher
• Defenestrated Phantom
• Gadget Technician
• Lumbering Laundry
• Offender at Large
• Rakish Scoundrel
• Riftburst Hellion
• Sanguine Savior
• Shady Informant
• Undercover Crocodelf
• Vengeful Creeper

Previous takes on the morph model failed to ascend to Constructed playability at a rate greater than 80%. Most cards just aren't good enough. But at least Bubble Smuggler can attack for two on turn three in a forty-card deck, am I right?

Fail on rate:

• Alley Assailant - I really wish this card were just a little bit better. If it entered the battlefield untapped, Alley Assailant would be better than my beloved Gnarled Mass. Its Lightning Helix-like ability is also awesome... Just not for 9 mana.
• Basilica Stalker - If this cost four mana instead of six, it might be a legitimate head-scratcher; maybe a sideboard assassin! But six and eight are both just too much. But notably, you can completely dominate some opponents once you have an actual Basilica Stalker swinging. It's hard to block, fixes your next draw, and elongates the game. What else can you ask for? Except a severe discount, I mean.
• Essence of Antiquity
• Exit Specialist
• Faerie Snoop
• Forum Familiar
• Granite Witness
• Greenbelt Radical
• Museum Nightwatch
• Nervous Gardener - This card is so close to being cool! If it were a 2/2 for one mana it would be a slam dunk. But I guess obviously? Four mana is too much for a 2/2 cantrip. Consider how much worse this is than Solemn Simulacrum.

Fail on complexity:

• Coveted Falcon - You've already spent more time thinking about how to make this help you win a game than you ever will winning a game with its unique combination of abilities.

Fringe:

• Branch of Vitu-Ghazi - I like the idea for some decks to play extra lands because they need like 28+ lands... Late game a 2/2 version of Branch of Vitu-Ghazi might not seem very exciting but in specifically those decks a colorless Gray Ogre might be better than yet another contributor to flood.
• Dog Walker - At five mana, Dog Walker isn't that far off from Cloudgoat Ranger. Yes, it's mostly worse, but Cloudgoat Ranger in its era was about the most powerful thing a fair deck would ever flip with a Windbrisk Heights. Moreover, there are literally times where 3 power worth of vigilance for two mana is going to contribute. Do I think Dog Walker is great? No. I think it's "fringe" ... but not a zero.
• Flourishing Bloom-Kin - I think this deck is probably kind of Tarmogoyf-y in a deck with lots and lots of Forests. I think that once you get past the "would I want this" and it's obvious that your Mono-Green deck might actually want a 5/5 for two... The Cultivate portion becomes an attractive late game fail state that doesn't really fail that hard.
• Mistway Spy - I mostly like it for the Flying Man half.
• Pyrotechnic Performer - I don't actually think that the disguise ability is very attractive here; though it's quite cheap. If Pyrotechnic Performer could hit creatures or planeswalkers it might start a conversation at four mana. Still, as an add-on? Dealing an extra three when you have too much land is pretty okay. You have to be in the market for a 3/2 for two first, though.

Something to Talk About:

• Fugitive Codebreaker - This card is very similar to Pyrotechnic Performer in that you need to be in the market for the front side first. Is a 2/1 prowess / haste for two mana good enough? Often! It's only one more mana than Monastery Swiftspear (though that is a gigantic one mana) AND Monastery Swiftspear is the most underrated 1-drop of all time. I'm guessing the number of games you win by flipping Fugitive Codebreaker in Constructed is basically infinite-over-two. Were you going to win this game with a 2/1 for two and no cards in hand? Probably not. But if you have nine actual mana for a quasi-Ancestral Recall + bizarro Swiftspear in The Red Zone? More than zero.
• Hunted Bonebrute - Not good enough at three. They just trade, even through menace; though you get them for three. Good enough in some contexts (let's say you have some kind of Prodigal Sorcerer). How about at disguise cost? I don't hate six hard-to-block damage for five; especially with that kill trigger. It's hard to imagine this being good enough, but it doesn't start off kicked off the island.
• Unyielding Gatekeeper - This is honestly probably Coveted Falcon, Part II: We Tricked You by Making This Somewhat More Obvious and Less Complex But It's Still Probably Not Good and You've Already Wasted More Time Imagining Than Winning... But I just rated Hunted Bonebrute in the possibly playables pile.

Probably Good Enough:

Aurelia's Vindicator - With flying, lifelink, and most importantly Ward 2, Aurelia's Vindicator is very like a White Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. "Just" a Baneslayer Angel, maybe... But very nice on rate, and great at swinging life totals both ways. Between flying and Ward 2, the Vindicator's low toughness doesn't matter as much... Though a technical vulnerability to Red removal is still a real vulnerability to Red removal. Aurelia's Vindicator can potentially switch into Mulldrifter - or even Titan - mode when you have enough mana. At Disguise 5 or 6 this starts to look really good (especially if you are attacking that turn). Don't forget you can hit your own 187 creatures to defend against sweepers, or do whacky combat tricks if you're - gasp - forced to block.

LOVE

MIKE