Murders at Karlov ManortakesMagic: The Gathering’s beloved Ravnica setting and uses it as a backdrop for a murder mystery themed set, complete with all the Detectives, investigations, and suspicious figures one could ever need. It has tons of interesting mechanics that shape the Limited environment, rewarding players for format knowledge and tight gameplay.
Thanks toPlay boosters, Karlov Manor is chock-full ofrares and mythics, at a much higher clip than players have seen in the old Draft Booster model. The set only has a handful of S-Tier rares and mythics, but there are enough rares that fall into the next best tier to make Karlov Manor feel sufficiently strong and bomby at times.
10Pyrotechnic Performer
Playing With Fire, AndSomeone’s Gonna Get Burnt
Pyrotechnic Performer isn’t as flashy as other bombs in Karlov Manor, but it plays out much better than it looks, and it already looks pretty good. Red decks are great at pushing an early advantage, which leaves Performer in the perfect position to finish your opponent off.
It’s obviously great with large disguise creatures like Blitz Hellion and Undercover Crocodelf, but adding a full Lightning Bolt to something like Dog Walker or Gadget Technician is big game too. You can even get more damage out of this trigger by usingpump spellsbefore a creature flips face up.
9Vein Ripper
Tearing Through Opponents' Life Totals
This Vampire Assassin lives up to the visceral ‘Vein Ripper’ name. It tears through your opponent’s life total any timeanythingdies, including itself, and at the very worst it’s still a giant flier. It’s an incredible bomb in any deck that can manage the triple-Black casting cost.
Itdoesdie to removal, but at a hefty price for the opponent.The ward triggerrequires a sacrifice, which triggers the drain-two ability, then Vein Ripper dying adds another trigger, meaning simply removing the creature from the battlefield will represent an eight-point life swing.
8Doppelgang
A Bomb Worth Working For
Doppelgang has three main modes. First, pay five mana to make a copy of the best permanent on board. Pretty mid. Second, pay eight mana to make two copies each of two different permanents. Probably enough to win most games. Three, pay 11 or more mana and win in unnecessarily glorious fashion.
You should view Doppelgang as an eight-mana card, which takes it from just fine to an actual wincon. You’ll need to shape your deck to facilitate surviving long enough to cast an eight-mana spell, which meansplenty of ramp, interaction, and early-game defensive speed.
7Aurelia, The Law Above
Watch Out Below!
Red-White made out like an absolute bandit in Karlov Manor Limited, with every single two-color card in this combination being somewhere between good to flat-out awesome. The rares in particular are game-warping, as evidenced by Aurelia, the Law Above, a normal rare that plays like a mythic.
Befitting theBoros Legion’s commander, Aurelia comes down swinging, chunking opponents right away and sitting back withvigilanceto play defense. Notably, Aurelia’s triggered abilities are symmetrical, and you’ll get the benefits ofyour opponentattacking with three or more creatures in the same combat.
6Cryptic Coat
Secret’s Out: This Card’s Great
Cryptic Coat is a baseline 3/2 unblockable creature, which would already be a solid addition to any deck. There’s plenty of upside though, least of which is the fact that a cloaked creature can be turned up into something bigger some amount of the time.
You can cycle through the Coat’s abilities for a full five mana, essentially generating another 2/2 at the cost of no extra cards. It’s a slow, grindy value engine that takes over any lategame scenario where the players find themselves in a board stall.
5Ezrim, Agency Chief
The Full Force Of The Detective Agency
Ravnica’s clearly in good hands if this is what the Agency head looks like. Ezrim swings races with lifelink, blanks removal with indestructible, and plays offense and defense as needed with vigilance. Even if it dies immediately it spots you twoClue tokensfor some extra card draw.
Obviously the mana cost is highly restrictive, which means you have to be either exactly Blue-White or highly ambitious to make it work. If you take it as your first pick of a draft, you’re committing to Blue-White; either that or you’ll likely have to abandon Ezrim mid-draft.
4Agrus Kos, Spirit Of Justice
Justice For Whom, Exactly?
With a moniker like ‘Spirit of Justice’ you’d expect something a bit more… fair. Agrus Kos is anything but. On stats alone, this is a 2/4double-strikerthat gets to brick-wall incoming attacks thanks to vigilance.
Agrus also gets to toss around the suspected status at least once per turn, which remove blockers or enchances your own attackers (assuming you don’t need them to block).Alsoalso, Agrus just straight-up exiles a creature every other turn, picking off the previously suspected target. Just imagine playing this against someone who’s already suspectingtheir owncreatures.
3Aurelia’s Vindicator
A Beating In Disguise
There’s an interesting dynamic with the disguise creatures in Karlov Manor, in that they’re split down the middle between large creatures and smaller value creatures. As the only mythic rare disguise creature in the set, Aurelia’s Vindicator gets to play both sides of the equation.
On one hand, Vindicator is a high-power lifelinking flier that’s already good enough at swinging games in your favor. It’s also a fantastic card to flip face up, since it can either snipe creatures off the battlefield, or stockpile creatures from your graveyard to refill your hand should theAngeleventually die.
2Incinerator Of The Guilty
The Innocent, The Bystanders, And All The Rest Too
It’s not a Ravnica set without some sort ofbig scary Dragonflying around. Incinerator of the Guilty’s combat damage trigger is as close to “deal damage: win the game” as it gets without using those exact words.
At the point in the game where Incinerator can make an attack and connect in combat, you should easily have enough cards in your graveyard tocollect as much evidence as neededto wipe your opponent’s board. Even a collect evidence number as low as two or three should clear most opposition from the field.
1Izoni, Center of the Web
18 Legs From A Single Card
Izoni, Center of the Web is the archetypal ‘Grave Titan,’ since it costs six mana to cast and makes two tokens upon entering and when it attacks. These tokens are excellent too, playing offense well with menace, and blocking well with reach.
Izoni’s an absolute game-changer, warranting a splash for one, if not both colors if you’re lucky enough to open it. It often takes a game you’re losing and puts you in the winning position. Even if Izoni bites the dust immediately, you’re left witha few Spidersthat will often trade off for a few extra cards.
