Sometimes a new set comes out, has its fifteen minutes of fame, and then fades into the background as subsequent sets waltz into the spotlight. With a hit like Duskmourn, it's easy to imagine this scenario in today's Magic environment. If you were to win a choice of premier set booster packs at Friday Night Magic, Duskmourn would be a fine selection.

Before making that declaration, however, I'd encourage you to consider an interesting alternative: Murders at Karlov Manor. Released in February 2024, it feels like this set has been out for ages already. I'll admit, MKM has lost some of its luster as players shift focus to the newer, shinier things (Duskmourn and, to a lesser extent, Bloomburrow). My goal with today's article is to convince you to consider Murders at Karlov Manor as an attractive, third option. This is primarily driven by the valuable, high-profile cards you can find in the set.

What are those cards you want to see sitting in that rare slot (or sometimes uncommon)? Read on to find out!

A Powerful Cycle of Lands

As of right now, the hottest cards from Murders at Karlov Manor are arguably the cycle of Surveil Lands: Undercity Sewers, Meticulous Archive, Underground Mortuary, Elegant Parlor, Hedge Maze, Commercial District, Lush Portico, Raucous Theater, Shadowy Backstreet, and Thundering Falls.

That's right, Murders at Karlov Manor contains a full set of ten ally and enemy colored Surveil Lands, some of which are the most valuable cards in the set!

What makes these cards so desirable? There are two key reasons that these stand a head taller than many contemporary mana-fixing dual lands.

First and foremost, these all have basic land types! Undercity Sewers doesn't just tap for a Blue or Black mana. It's a full blown Island and a full blown Swamp! This means it works well with many other cards in ways that a nonbasic land without types would not. Here are a couple quick examples:

• These are all fetchable with Fetch Lands such as Polluted Delta and Bloodstained Mire.
• These count toward your domain count for cards like Leyline Binding and Herd Migration.
• These allow the dual lands from Duskmourn to tap for both colors of mana (for example, having out a Meticulous Archive means your Doomlake Verge can tap for Blue or Black, since you officially have an Island in play).
• With a surveil, you can put something into your graveyard to either reanimate or count toward your delirium.

These are just the benefits off the top of my head - I'm sure there are a handful of other noteworthy interactions.

The second reason Surveil Lands are a hit is their eponymous keyword: they surveil when they come into play! Being able to fetch a dual land at the end of turn and help smoothen out your next draw is quite powerful, especially if you didn't mind that land coming into play tapped in the first place. I've seen these across the battlefield in Standard games on Arena, but I suspect they have even greater utility in Eternal formats. I also see Luis Scott-Vargas make productive use of them in his regular Vintage Cube videos, where these particularly shine.

It's no surprise that when sorted by Best Selling on TCGplayer, the Murders at Karlov Manor cards that take the top two slots are Undercity Sewers and Meticulous Archive (Underground Mortuary is fourth). You can see why these are exciting cards to pull out of your MKM booster packs! Undercity Sewers is currently the most valuable card in the set, regularly selling for around $25.

A Couple Impressive Creatures

There's no doubt about it: the rare lands in MKM steal the show. That doesn't mean, however, that those are the only cards to get excited about from this jam-packed set. It turns out, there are also two creatures you should also keep an eye out for in that rare/mythic rare slot.

The most valuable one to look for is Delney, Streetwise Lookout.

Every time I see that first name, I want to pronounce it "Delaney." Perhaps I've seen one too many political ads. In any event, this legendary creature is the most valuable mythic rare from Murders at Karlov Manor, and the second most valuable card in the set (behind Undercity Sewers). According to TCGplayer, Delney, Streetwise Lookout is also the third best seller from the set as of late October.

While Delney is not currently a popular Commander, they certainly synergize well with other cards in the right Commander build. As a result, the card shows up in over 37,000 decks on EDH REC! This article from EDH REC highlights Delney's popular "low-power matters" theme, which I could see gaining traction thanks to the Streetwise Lookout. Zinnia, Valley's Voice appears to the be the top commander choice that includes Delney, Streetwise Lookout.

With a price tag over $20, I would have expected this card to also see competitive Standard play. Alas, I haven't seen the card cast a single time on Arena. Demand must be stemming primarily from Commander players at this point in time.

The other noteworthy creature from Murders at Karlov Manor definitely did make a splash in Constructed play, at least once: Vein Ripper!

Vein Ripper made waves when it hit the Pioneer scene during a Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor. In fact, the winning list (piloted by Seth Manfield) sported the full playset of Vein Ripper! Sneaking this powerhouse into play using Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord's -3 loyalty ability was enough to take down the entire event. While Pioneer has evolved since then and you don't see too many Vein Rippers in other formats, this card still maintains a stickily high price tag, just north of $10. It's not as valuable to open as some of the Surveil Lands, but it's one of the flashiest cards you'll find in the set.

A couple other honorable mentions in the creature category include Massacre Girl, Known Killer (a fun spin on the OG Massacre Girl) and Rakdos, Patron of Chaos. Both of these mythic rares are powerful in their own right, and merit a steep price tag as a result. Both cards are in the $10 range, and terrific pulls from a Murders at Karlov Manor booster pack.

A Couple Duress Targets

By far, the most valuable cards to open from Murders at Karlov Manor are the lands and creatures listed above. There are a couple non-land, non-creature spells that merit at least a brief mention.

First, there's Leyline of the Guildpact, an interesting inclusion in five-color Commander decks (currently in over 24,000 decks on EDH REC).

Unlike the Leylines in Duskmourn, Leyline of the Guildpact is a rare you actually want to open from a pack of MKM. Just try to avoid opening it in a round of Limited, where this card does effectively nothing. It's at least worth the price of the booster pack itself.

The other noteworthy spell from Murders at Karlov Manor is Warleader's Call, an enchantment that doubles as both an anthem for your creatures and a way to close out games in an aggressive, go-wide deck.

Like Leyline of the Guildpact, Warleader's Call is a popular Commander choice and fetches a similar price range of around $5-$7.

Wrapping It Up with a Couple Honorable Mentions

Let's face it, sometimes when we open a booster pack, we whiff horribly. For every Undercity Sewers in a set, there is an Unyielding Gatekeeper of sorts - a rare card barely worth the ink used to print the card. In fact, this seems to happen more often than not.

Fortunately, Murders at Karlov Manor has a couple common and uncommon cards worth opening that can help soften the blow. The most noteworthy is Aftermath Analyst, a creature that helps ramp your lands and get repeat uses out of all your Fetch Lands.

This Elf Detective's utility generates enough demand to make this card actually worth opening and setting aside. It will readily sell for a couple bucks, making it more expensive than half the rares in the set! If you're cracking open boosters of MKM, I would definitely keep an eye out for this one.

The common card you should set aside if you see it is Slime Against Humanity.

This card sells for a buck or two, and is expensive simply because it's one of those "play as many copies as you want" cards. If a casual player wants to build a Slime Against Humanity deck, they'll need a couple dozen copies at least, and that keeps prices elevated. Granted, if you list a single copy on TCGplayer for $2, it may sit there a long time. List a stack of 50 out there, however, and you just may find a buyer to take them all at once.

Whatever your motivation, Murders at Karlov Manor has a lot to offer despite being released over eight months ago. This set did not fade into the background the same way that some tend to do as they get overshadowed by the newest and flashiest sets. In fact, with the longevity of cards like the Surveil Lands and Delney, Streetwise Lookout, I can see MKM booster boxes maintaining their value fairly well even into year two. There are definitely less valuable boxes to crack out there, and I think Murders at Karlov Manor will remain one of the more noteworthy sets of all releases this decade.