Alchemy: Karlov Manor Limited Guide and Set Review

Hey everyone! We’re coming out of the Arena Open and that means we’ve all played so much Murders at Karlov Manor that we’re starting to lose the spark in the relationship. (I could very easily make a sad joke about that making us just like all the other Planeswalkers missing their sparks, but even I don’t need to reach down that low.) Luckily there is a new alchemy set coming along to light a new fire under us to dive right back into the murder mystery scene.

Per usual, I have to warn you that these cards were designed for constructed so they have a tendency to either be obnoxiously broken or terrible in limited.

Here’s the usual grading scale:

• 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
• 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
• 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion's Messenger)
• 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
• 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
• 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
• 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
• 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
• 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
• 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
• 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)

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White

Scrutiny of the Guildpact

Rating: 1.5/5

You would never play a Glorious Anthem that only pumps a few creatures in your deck unless it did something else great. Adding a 3/3 detective to another creature for only one mana sounds wonderful, but you also have to consider that you paid the two for this first. You also need to have a creature in your hand when you cast this making it a terrible top deck. Basically, if you have a bunch of ways to make detective tokens and have some gold cards, then you want this. Most decks won’t want to touch it.  

Sleuth Instructor

Rating: 3.5/5

I like how this lets you play your three-power creature on turn two without totally having to give up on getting your value out of it. While it is limited to grabbing a creature that costs three of less, I’m sure your go wide deck will happily take another cheap critter going directly onto the battlefield.

Spotlight Falcon

Rating: 3.0/5

This is certainly powerful, but it does have a bit of trouble getting off the ground if you don’t have any way to fill your graveyard. Most likely it will be at its best in Orzhov where Gorehound will drop enough gas into the yard to keep the birdies coming.

Blue

Case of the Lost Witness

Rating: 3.5/5

Case of the Lost Witness conjures:

• Fblthp, the Lost

Replacing itself for two mana means that the floor on this is never too low to run it. Adding four Fblthp, the Lost into your deck isn’t necessarily a bad thing either since they also replace themselves for the same price.

It’s when you solve this that it starts to go off. I’m sure you’ve seen what Case of the Locked Hothouse can do in this format. Compared to that, this has a much higher floor and a higher ceiling even if you can’t slam through two lands a turn with it.

Emporium Thopterist

Rating: 4.0/5

Emporium Thopterist conjures:

• Ornithopter

This is a must kill threat for only two mana. It’s not that difficult to deal with, but a free 2/2 flyer every upkeep is insane in limited.

Excogitator Sphinx

Rating: 4.0/5

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A fairly costed flyer that provides card advantage which can even turn into card selection is a great Magic card. Lets say you only have two instants and sorceries left in your deck, guess I sacrifice two clues for one mana each to get them both.

Mapping the Maze

Rating: 1.0/5

If you’re getting back something like Doppelgang or Ill-Timed Explosion then this is great. Even snagging a Lightning Helix puts this in a really good spot. If you can’t bring back a multicolored instant or sorcery, then you don’t want to play this card because you’re three mana into a cantrip that requires you to have another spell.

Ominous Lockbox

Rating: 1.0/5

Have you ever paid two mana for a clue? I’m not looking to do that either. The whole randomness of are they going to play something of the chosen number isn’t even an enjoyable minigame. There isn’t even best of three for this draft format so you will be calling it in the dark. I’d steer clear of this one if I were you.

Black

Cackling Observer

Rating: 3.5/5

I would be higher on this if it didn’t require double black on turn three to be at it’s best. Exiling their best card with them only replacing it with a random card with lesser mana value from their deck if they deal with this is a great ability that will have you cackling.

Lurking Spinecrawler

Rating: 3.5/5

This being a perpetual ability is very relevant in a format with some recursion running around. You were probably playing a Macabre Reconstruction in your black deck anyway so this just takes advantage of that by adding another edict.

Being able to Corrupt the face for five with Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact is just the kind of thing I would love to do in this format.

Perforator Crocodile

Rating: 4.5/5

Perforator Crocodile conjures:

• Stab Wound

This will cause plenty of people to scream “What a crock of…”

This can be a one-sided board wipe that can also just kill them on their upkeep if they have enough creatures survive. Sounds pretty busted to me.

It will probably be pretty rare that you want to cycle this unless you are planning to It Doesn't Add Up it back onto the battlefield. It’s not the worst backup to have in a pinch though.

Snarlfang Vermin

Rating: 2.5/5

While you only want this in a black aggressive deck (I’m looking at you Orzhov and Rakdos), it is a great way to kick off the game. A Savannah Lions that suspects their creature if they block this is a great way to keep the pressure on early.

Red

Case of the Market Melee

Rating: 2.0/5

This is busted if you manage to solve it, but it is a lot harder to get there than it appears. Since it doesn’t check until the end step you need to have three creatures (including opponents as well) that are still alive with damage on them. There are some ways to do this such as getting them to block a 1/3 with a 2/2, then dropping this to ping another creature.

It feels like you need too many things to line up and then you need to still have a board presence to really take advantage of this.

Concert Kaboomist

Rating: 2.5/5

This would be infinitely better if it could hit creatures, but sometimes face is the place. Flipping on the cheap and having trample makes this play really well with pump spells. It’ll put in some work in most aggro decks.

Construction Arsonist

Rating: 2.5/5

Adding a random Shock to the face on an instant or sorcery could matter, but it falls into the category of nice little bonus on a bear. Pumping itself when you cast a multicolored spell is the part that really matters especially when you’re doing it at instant speed with Lightning Helix.

Shove Aside

Rating: 3.0/5

One mana for three damage to a creature is a great deal even by todays standards. Getting to cast it at instant speed when you aren’t the starting player will have you shoving people aside to draft it.

Green

Guildpact Greenwalker

Rating: 4.0/5

Starting off as a 4/4 for three mana is a good place to be when most people are playing a disguise creature on their turn. Adding a permanent +4+4 to another creature is a huge boon when it only adds two mana to the casting cost. That makes any random dork a real monster.

Rampaging Ursaguana

Rating: 4.0/5

I would be rampaging too if I was a freaking bear lizard mutant. Someone needs to have a serious talk with the Simic experimenters about the weird stuff they come up with.

This is a massive creature to flip on turn four while not losing the ward keeping it from being vulnerable to a random Murder until they have five mana.  It’ll grow out of control and trample right through their defenses to make short work of them.

Relics of the Rubblebelt

Rating: 1.0/5

The Relics of the Rubblebelt Spellbook includes:

• Azorius Signet
• Boros Signet
• Dimir Signet
• Golgari Signet
• Gruul Signet
• Izzet Signet
• Orzhov Signet
• Rakdos Signet
• Selesnya Signet
• Simic Signet

This puts a Signet on the battlefield while putting another one into your hand. There are no guarantees that you will be able to get the colors you need off of this making this play a bit like a worse version of They Went This Way.

Sproutwatch Dryad

Rating: 3.0/5

Obviously, the value of this is heavily dependent on what abilities you can hook it up with. This can be a very difficult to cast Centaur Courser or it can be a double striking, jet flying, limousine riding, son of a gun.

It getting the abilities on both combats means that your opponent won’t be able to just ignore it as the dreaded deathtouch first strike can pop up on both turns.

Woodland Investigation

Rating: 2.5/5

This will slide right into any of the multicolor green decks who would commit many crimes to be able to add cheap fixing. Turning it into a clue artifact is probably a bit of a negative when you need to get a splash color because you could get Gearbane Orangutaned in the middle of nowhere. It’s a great fall back for later in the game when you just grab an extra forest to cycle it away.

Multicolor

Emmara, Voice of the Conclave

Rating: 4.0/5

Emmara, Voice of the Conclave’s spellbook includes:

• Ancient Imperiosaur
• Conclave Tribunal
• Knight-Errant of Eos
• Loxodon Restorer
• March of the Multitudes
• Nissa's Expedition
• Overwhelm
• Triplicate Spirits
• Venerated Loxodon

Emmara really leans into the convoke theme by having its entire spellbook able to take part in the convoking party. There are some really heavy hitters in there as well with Ancient Imperiosaur and Venerated Loxodon making an appearance. Pretty much a perfect card for a Selesnya go wide deck.

Furgul, Quag Nurturer

Rating: 4.0/5

Furgul, Quag Nurturer conjures:

• Slimy Dualleech

If your deck would want to be playing a Slimy Dualleech then this guy is perfect since he comes along for the ride while providing a leech for the same amount of mana. Just make sure they don’t get a chance to pop this off before your end step and it’s a two for one bargain.

Not that I want to encourage anyone to try this, but this is another path to trying to cast Worldspine Wurm.

Izzet Polarizer

Rating: 4.0/5

Izzet Polarizer conjures:

• Ionize
• Electrolyze

This doesn’t look like much, but that’s a ton of value out of a two drop. You trade this off for a disguise creature and then choose between a counter spell or a cantrip burn spell. Doesn’t seem very polarized to me, it’s flat out great if you’re these colors.

Juggle the Performance

Rating: 1.5/5

This looks like your normal crazy why would you ever play this in limited card, but Rakdos is typically going at the opponent hard. That makes a weird Wheel of Fortune not such a bad deal after you dump your hand. Granted you’re getting cards from opponent’s deck which will be on a different plan than yours. Hey I didn’t say it was good, I just said that it isn’t an unplayable dumpster fire.

Roalesk, Prime Specimen

Rating: 4.5/5

A 4/5 flyer for four mana is going to be a great card as long as it doesn’t have any drawbacks. Getting to disguise this and flip it on turn 4 along with making another cloaked creature is very big game. It’s around now that you realize that they get to make a new creature every time they turn a creature face up including that new one that they just made. Now that’s a prime magic card.

Tajic, Legion’s Valor

Rating: 4.5/5

Tajic, Legion’s Valor’s Spellbook includes:

• Boros Recruit
• Swiftblade Vindicator
• Skyknight Legionnaire
• Spark Trooper
• Aurelia, the Law Above

A growing Indestructible creature that drops an extra creature onto the battlefield every turn hardly seems fair especially when you read the spellbook. If you haven’t overwhelmed them by then, Aurelia, the Law Above comes in to sweep the game up. It’s not even a have removal or lose to it card, it’s a have removal that can deal with indestructible or lose situation.

Scour the Scene

Rating: 2.5/5

Azorius does love playing detectives and sacrificing clues, both of which this is down to get involved in. It’s a bear with upside where the upside sticks around even if it doesn’t. That makes it a solid, but unspectacular addition to your deck.

Thought-String Analyst

Rating: 4.5/5

It’s Dark Confidant for your opponent’s deck without having to worry about the mana. Just hope you don’t run into the guy running a bunch of seven drops.  

Veko, Death’s Doorkeeper

Rating: 3.5/5

This does a lot for only two mana because all of that extortion can really add up over the course of the game. Being able to turn your excess creatures into spirit versions of themselves can be a lot more powerful than you think when you have a bunch of ETBs to abuse it with.

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Wrap Up

The alchemy cards are what they are and that means usually the card you take out of a pack unless there is another bomb in it. Some of them aren’t quite up to snuff, but overall they will take a high powered format and kick it up into another gear.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back next week for Midweek Magic Artisan Brawl. Until then, stay classy people!

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

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