Table of Contents
Hey everyone! It’s new set time so I have once again been locked away in the content creation dungeon to bring you everything you need to know about drafting Murders at Karlov Manor. By the time I’m done, you’ll be easily figuring out that it was Colonel Mustard even if you don’t have a clue now (Fair warning, I am going to ride these dad jokes into the ground).
Today we’re going to be starting with the basics by discussing how the mechanics are going to play out in limited.
Disguise
You probably know what Morph is If you played any Khans of Tarkir flashback or participated in similar Boomer Magic. In the simplest terms, this is Morph with power creep that adds Ward 2.
For those of you unfamiliar with Morph, you can pay three mana to play a card with Disguise upside down as a colorless 2/2 that has ward 2. You can pay the Disguise cost at any time you have priority to turn it face up. Doing this doesn’t use the stack so it can’t be responded to. That means you can’t get blown out by a Shock after you paid five mana to flip your card.
When you flip it up, it isn’t coming into play. That means that it doesn’t trigger any comes into play abilities, just the ones that specifically say when it is turned up. It retains all of its current status, that means it keeps all auras and counters on it.
Adding the ward is going to make it a lot harder to deal with these before they get an opportunity to flip. Depending on what turn it is, they will either not have enough mana or tie up their entire turn to do it. That will make it safer to play the ones that have an effect when you flip them up without being as worried about them just dying.
One of the major effects that Disguise will have on the format is making it less interactive. People don’t want to block Morphs/Disguise creatures because of the potential of getting blown out. Maybe newer players will do it for the first week or so, but it doesn’t take long for them to change their strategy. While you would think having a bunch of Gray Ogres running around would slow the format down, it actually tends to speed it up a bit.
Cloak
Cloaking a card is very simply Disguising it. The only difference is that you can possibly Cloak cards that don’t have Disguise. You can pay the mana cost of any cloaked creature to turn it face up under the same timing rules as disguise. You can still pay the Disguise cost to flip a card that has been Cloaked.
Suspect
When a creature is suspected, it gains menace and can’t block. This doesn’t follow the creature once it leaves the battlefield. Suspected can also be removed from other effects. There is no limit to how many creatures can be suspected so just imagine the giant chart with all the string connecting a bunch of pictures.
As far as limited goes, this is also going to limit the amount of interaction that happens. Creatures that can’t block that themselves are difficult to block will lead to a lot more race type situations. Combined with Disguise discouraging blocking as well, that is going to create a lot of free attacks in this format.
Depending on your position in the game, you can use this to either make one of your creatures a better attacker or remove a critical blocker from their side of the field.
Collect Evidence
You can’t build a good case without collecting evidence. In this case when a card lets you Collect Evidence you can exile cards from your graveyard with mana value greater than or equal to the indicated number. This appears on a wide range of cards from paying for Ward to adding an additional effect.
This is a solid limited ability because normal attrition will usually fill your graveyard with enough cards to pay for it. You should look at it like you would Delve. It’s great when you have some, but don’t go too hard on it or that previously free resource stops being free.
Cases
Cases resemble Sagas, but are more of a little mini game that you play. You get the first effect up front and then you try to meet the conditions to solve the case for more value.
It’s important to know that it only checks to see if you have solved it at the beginning of your end step. That means that you can’t immediately jump to the end. It also means that even if you solve it, it still has to be solved when it checks during your end step. Yes, that means you can solve a puzzle and forget that you did by the end of your turn.
Once it is solved, it is permanently solved as long as it stays on the battlefield even if it is stolen (granted we’re trying to solve murders instead of thefts here). If it leaves play and comes back, you have to start all over again.
In limited, these are going to depend heavily on how easily you can solve the cases. If your deck can expect to reasonably do that, then these can be more powerful than they look in the same way that Sagas are by performing multiple effects from one card.
Investigate
This is a returning mechanic that creates a Clue token for each time you investigate. Those clue tokens are artifacts that you can pay two mana and sacrifice to draw a card. It’s always played really well in limited by turning spells into a cantrip that you can pay for later. There are nice ways to synergize with it such as Detective’s Satchel letting you make a Thopter after sacrificing one of these.
Wrap Up
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow with my limited review of the White cards from Murders at Karlov Manor. Until then, stay classy people!
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
You can also find me at:
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