Murders at Karlov Manor is aMagic: The Gatheringset rich in mystery. Down every alleyway here there’s another question: Who committed the titular Murders? Can the enigmatic Alquist Proft be trusted? How did they get Ravnica repaired so quickly after March of the Machine? They just keep on coming.
Perhaps most pressing of all these questions is this, however: what are the best new commander options in Murders at Karlov Manor? As is typical of a modern Magic set, Murders presents a stacked list of legendaries for you to sift through, any one of which could be your next commander. We’ve done the investigating for you, and these are the ten most likely suspects.
10Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth
Shocking Revelations Guaranteed
The face card of the set in terms of marketing, Alquist Proft lives up to his own hype thanks to his incredibly powerful activated ability. By sacrificing a Clue, Proft essentially lets you cast classic blue/white (Azorius) draw spell Sphinx’s Revelation every single turn, slowly burying your opponents in card and life advantage.
This ability works well in all sorts of strategies, meaning the only real deckbuilding restriction you need to adhere to is the inclusion of Clue generators. Even then, Proft brings along a Clue himself to get the ball rolling, making him one of the most flexible Azorius commanders we’ve ever seen.
9Krenko, Baron Of Tin Street
What’s A King To A Goblin?
As long as people sit down to games of Magic, there will always be some among them who do so with adeck full of Goblins. The creature type is widely beloved both for its aggressive playstyle and its offbeat art and flavor, and Krenko is one of the very best options for leading a deck full of these gaggling goons.
Goblins, owing to their 1/1 stats, can be easily dealt with alone, but Krenko can start pumping up those rookie numbers as soon as he comes down thanks to his haste and that tasty first ability. He also lets you generate even more Goblins each time one of your artifacts bites the dust, even if that was by his own gnarled green hand.
8The Pride Of Hull Clade
Life Finds A Way
Just as the Simic Combine’s experiments push the boundaries of the natural world, so too do their cards allow Magic’s designers to push the boundaries of the game’s design space. The Pride of Hull Clade embodies this philosophy better than most, presenting a huge, mechanically-unique threat that makes you think about deckbuilding a little differently.
While it costs 11 mana at first, a deck full of defenders can easily discount it to one with just a couple of Walls in play. And once it’s out, this Crocodile Elk Turtle can turn those hitherto harmless Walls into engines of raw card draw, all while holding off basically anything on the ground itself.
7Voja, Jaws Of The Conclave
Friends Of The Forest, Unite!
Kindred commanders in Magic are nothing new, but it’s rare for one legendary creature to encourage you to build around two types at once. Voja, Jaws of the Conclave does just that, asking you to pack in large quantities of both Elves and Wolves to get the most out of his explosive attack trigger.
Said trigger ramps up the power of your board based on theElves you control, which plays very nicely with their go-wide leanings. The other half of the effect, which draws you a card for each Wolf you control, is harder to enable but well worth it, as it can let you gas up and prepare for the inevitable board wipe that will send your creatures fleeing for the trees.
6Aurelia, The Law Above
Gunboat Diplomacy At Its Finest
A potent mix of politics and aggression, Murders at Karlov Manor’s new Aurelia simultaneously encourages you to go wide in your attack step while discouraging your opponents from doing the same. On your typical crowded Commander board, where everyone is swinging with several creatures every turn, Aurelia becomes a card advantage engine that can also swing the life totals in your favor.
These abilities are more than juicy enough to make Aurelia a worthy choice for aggressive red/white decks in the format, but she has more up her gauntleted sleeves than that. A 4/4 hasty flying body for five lets Aurelia contribute to her own abilities right away, while vigilance lets her play defense if an opponent is foolish enough to swing into you.
5Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact
Rally The Guilds For Rich Rewards
Ever since he took on the role of Ravnica’s Living Guildpact, Niv-Mizzet has been a go-to commander for the incredibly specific ‘Guilds Matter’ decks in the format. His latest incarnation is no exception, granting you the potential for huge value swings if you can get representatives of each Guild into play.
His ability draws cards, deals damage, and gains life: all things that every Magic player wants to do as often as possible. It can be tricky to keep creatures of each color pair alive, so consider adding two-color artifacts and enchantments to your deck if you put this iconic Dragon at the helm.
4Delney, Streetwise Lookout
Consider Yourself, A Panharmonicon
The running joke that white is constantly receiving new variants on Panharmonicon is getting out of hand at this point, and Delney is not helping matters. While she only doubles the abilities of a specific subset of creatures, those with two or less power, the fact that she only costs three mana herself more than makes up for it.
The list of power plays enabled by this card in Standard alone goes on and on, and in Commander you can stretch it out by a factor of 50 at least. Letting your White Weenies slip through unblocked adds another angle to the card too, letting itshine in Aggro buildsas well as Combo brews.
3Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
Supplies Both The Cloak And The Dagger
Simultaneously a great commander for an Assassins deck, a deck full of morph creatures, and a deck that likes to steal things from your opponents, Etrata gives plenty of room for you to really make a deck built around her your own. No matter what the 99 cards you choose to support her are, however, she’s guaranteed to pull her weight.
Her ability to cheat the costs of all face-down cards to four is amazing in a format with as many beefy creatures as Commander, and a 1/4 deathtouch for three is almost guaranteed to get in and cloak at least a couple of those early on.
2Judith, Carnage Connoisseur
Slinging Spells Never Felt So Good
The Cult of Rakdos tends to be a creature-centric Guild first and foremost, so it’s refreshing to see a new version of Judith that leans more towards the spell side of things. The ability to tack on a 2/2 Imp with eventual burn damage to every spell you cast is intriguing to be sure, but it’s the first option here that’s really exciting for Commander.
With this effect, cards like Pyroclasm and Electrickery become full board clears for bargain prices, with huge life gain potential to boot. In a format that’s alwayshungry for board wipe effects, Judith offers you a steady supply on a reasonably-statted body.
1Anzrag, The Quake-Mole
Beneath The Table, A New Threat Stirs
While a Mole God sounds a bit less threatening in theory than Gruul’s previous Boar God, in practice the opposite is actually true. Anzrag’s unique ability, and the fact that it doesn’t come with the kind of ‘once per turn’ limitation we’ve come to expect, makes it ripe for exploitation in a format as deep as Commander.
Cards like Compelled Duel and Enlarge can force your opponents to block Anzrag, while other effects that grant indestructible can keep it around long enough to chain combat steps like you just can’t quit. It may not be pretty, but we can’t think ofa more Gruul wayto win a game than that.
