This week began the previews for the latest Magic: The Gathering set: Murders at Karlov Manor. The set takes place on Ravnica, but rather than playing out as a faction set involving the multiple guilds against one another, it focuses instead on the murder mystery playing out on the plane in the wake of the Phryexian invasion. It's a classic whodunit with tons of twists, turns, and fun mystery themed cards. There's plenty to talk about, so let's dive on and see if we can crack the case!

The Cards People Are Talking About

In typical guild fashion, Rakdos stole the spotlight early on with two really sweet cards. Massacre Girl, Known Killer brings us a fresh take on a popular character while also bringing back a mechanic not seen in Standard since Eventide: Wither. Massacre Girl doesn't just provide a one-off instance of Wither either, but rather gives it to your whole team! Judith on the other hand makes all of your burn spells extra deadly, or allowing you to turn copies of, say, Wrenn's Resolve into creatures as well as card advantage. Both cards are forerunners for priciest cards in the set and it's not hard to see why.

The set also is bringing with us a number of expected thematic and in some ways memetic cards as well. One card that immediately caught players' attention was A Killer Among Us, which quickly drew comparisons to Among Us, the hit game that rose in popularity during the pandemic. We also got some fairly comical cards like Private Eye with its flavor text evoking the classic "Yup, it's wood" meme and the expected Red Herring.

One card that got people talking in particular was Crime Novelist. Part of the discussion stemmed from the sheer playability of the card and how absurd it can get when used alongside treasures. For everyone else, though, discussion centered around jokes about what kind of novel was being written and whether or not players would read it.

Players also quickly flocked to these two cards - both of which allow you to do some shenanigans with low power creatures. There's already plenty enough you can do in Standard with these (Azorius Soldiers comes to mind as being on color, having multiple low power creatures, and lots of triggered abilities). In older formats, this can get even sillier, allowing you to get extra use out of creatures like Snapcaster Mage, Stoneforge Mystic, and Imperial Recruiter. I'd definitely keep an eye on these as people try finding ways to brew with them.

Oh, yeah, and how about Forensic Researcher, which was quickly noticed to go infinite with a pair of the card and Deeproot Pilgrimage? Is it a Splinter Twin situation? Maybe, at least in Standard!

What's New and Pricey?

So far early on, Rakdos, Patron of Chaos appears to be taking the cake among the most valuable cards in the set. The card provides one hell of a monstrous finisher, boasting a mighty 6 power with flying and trample. The real power is in its additional ability, which either cripples an opponent of your choosing by making them lose two permanents. If they can't then you get to draw extra cards, which really adds insult to injury and pulls you ahead dramatically.

Aurelia's Vindicator is arguably the premier Disguise card of the set. Disguise acts as a new form of the previous Morph mechanic, which immediately drew comparisons between this card and the classic Exalted Angel, which was a Standard all-star in the early 2000s. Thanks to modern day power boosts, this does a little more than Exalted Angel, providing an additional multiple Banisher Priest-style effect. As a result, you can clear away the board and then get in for massive amounts of flying and lifelink damage, making for a premium finisher card.

Kaya has a lot going on and her main abilities are a little basic. However, when you put them all together, they work astoundingly well. You can continuously make tokens with her +1 and then either get rid of it to remove an opposing creature, or else use her +2 to turn the token into something mightier. Her static ability got players talking about some uniquely interesting possibilities, such as turning the token into a copy of Grist, the Hunger Tide should you exile it from your graveyard. She'll no doubt play an interesting role in Standard decks going forward!

Notable Reprints

On the reprint end of things, we already saw Lightning Helix announced to be coming back during the First Look stream. However, with the proper initial preview stream, longtime favorite from Guilds of Ravnica Assassin's Trophy was also shown to be coming back! This continues a recent trend of high profile reprints entering Standard once again and should prove interesting to see how they shake things up going forward.

We also got to see the new Special Guest cards. This time around there are only ten compared to the eighteen (excluding variant versions of Mana Crypt) found in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. This more streamlined approach provides a more manageable number of cards now that they will be showing up in Limited play unlike in LCI. These cards include everything from extremely powerful cards like Show and Tell to simpler cards that happen to fit thematically like Tragic Slip or Drown in the Loch.

(card pics: Possibility Storm, Smuggler's Copter, and Evolutionary Leap)

Additionally, the contents of The List were revealed earlier than usual and with it came an interesting note regarding MTG Arena. This small paragraph noted that they would be removing three cards from The List slot on the client (Baleful Mastery, Cavalier of Thorns, and Death Cloud) in favor of bringing Possibility Storm, Evolutionary Leap, and Smuggler's Copter instead. Smuggler's Copter is the big highlight here, being notably absent from MTG Arena in Explorer following the unbanning in Pioneer. Possibility Storm and Evolutionary Leap have also seen some historical play in Pioneer, though aren't used much currently.

Getting a Clue

With the initial preview stream we got a few additional glimpses at Ravnica: Clue Edition. This included a handful of additional preview cards but most notably showed off some of the contents of the package as a whole. We get to see how the packs look, the special sleeves utilized, and notepads for information tracking.

Outside of crafting a version of Clue for Magic: The Gathering, Murders at Karlov Manor is noted to be packed full of hidden mysteries and puzzles to be solved. One such puzzle was caught fairly quickly after the initial preview stream. Among the first cards shown off were ten new Surveil lands reminiscent of the Theros Temples. These ones, however, are fetchable thanks to their basic land types, which got people excited for the possibilities of play in older formats like Modern.

One person on Reddit noticed that the full art versions of these lands lined up in an interesting way. When rearranged, they would form letters, numbers, and symbols, which could be read as RNA32X5+4. If read as RNA 32 x 5 + 4 can be taken to mean card RNA 164, or Cult Guildmage from Ravnica Allegiance. This card is known for featuring a puppet of Jace Beleren on it, which is interesting to many players as no one currently knows what happened to Jace following the events of March of the Machine. This same puppet was also seen in the new card Case of the Stashed Skeleton as well.

Additional Resources

If you'd like more information on this set, check out the following links to various official resources from Wizards of the Coast:

• Murders at Karlov Manor official card image gallery
• Where to Find Murders at Karlov Manor Previews
• Collecting Murders at Karlov Manor
• Murders at Karlov Manor Mechanics
• What's New on The List for Murders at Karlov Manor
• Murders at Karlov Manor Story Episode One (additional stories can be found on the right side of the page)
• The Ravnica Detective Agency Mystery Puzzle Webpage

The mysteries will continue to unfold and new discoveries will be made as new cards are revealed over the next week. I'll return once more next Friday with more updates amidst fresh revelations provided by Wizards of the Coast. As always, remember to check out the CoolStuffInc.com webpage for Murders at Karlov Manor for all your needs with the latest set!

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal