Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM) Limited Set Review: Green

Hey everyone! It’s time to slap on my detective hat and solve some cases in Magic: The Cluening. We all know that it was really Urza with the Candelabra of Tawnos in the Library of Alexandria. Wait, you’re telling me it wasn’t? Uh oh, I’ll leave all of that to Scooby and the gang then. While they are solving some mysteries, I’ll be reviewing the full set of Murders at Karlov Manor.

Per usual, I’ll be grading the entire set for the purpose of limited as well as writing about a million other articles about it. With all that, you’ll be well prepared to crush some serious dreams.

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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A Killer Among Us

Rating: 3.5/5

Remember Among Us? That was certainly a thing that happened. We’re a little late on that reference here, but hey at least they tried.

You start out with three creature tokens of different types and then you can sacrifice this to put three +1/+1 counters and deathtouch on an attacking token of the creature type that you secretly choose. I’m sure it won’t be sus at all when you only attack with one.

Unfortunately, it specifies creature token so you can’t just pump up the jams on a random human. Most of the other tokens running around in the set are detectives or thopters so you’re going to have to use one of the ones you got from this.

Aftermath Analyst

Rating: 2.0/5

This can help fuel your graveyard for collecting evidence and can even do some ramping later if you end up with some lands in the bin. Solid, but unspectacular card that does its job.

I hope their job wasn’t to analyze the Aftermath set because they were probably in for a long talk after that launched.

Airtight Alibi

Rating: 1.5/5

While three is a bit too much to hold up to protect something from removal, this does also offer a combat trick that sticks around. It does just enough to be a card twenty-three in some decks.

Analyze the Pollen

Rating: 1.5/5

I don’t hate this to help enable a splash or to tutor up a creature late. This is one of those cards you’d happily pick up later in the pack, but that you never get to take because people rare draft on Arena.

Archdruid’s Charm

Rating: 1.5/5

Despite all of the constructed attention that this card is getting, it’s not nearly the same thing for draft. Triple green is not where I want to be in limited unless the effect is worth at least five mana. I’ll take it if I am already heavy green, but it’s not a pull into it.

Audience with Trostani

Rating: 1.0/5

Making an 0/1 and drawing a card is not worth three mana so you need to produce a bunch of other creature tokens to do this. It shouldn’t be too hard to get a detective token in this set, but you’re still at a Divination with an 0/1 that you have to jump through hoops for. I am much more interested in this if I already have A Killer Among Us.

Axebane Ferox

Rating: 3.5/5

Good stats on a hasty beater that will likely require them to trade two guys for it because of deathtouch. The ward being collect evidence is more annoying than good because they will often have it available unless it is early.

Bite Down on Crime

Rating: 2.5/5

I want to say that this is a McGruff the Crime Dog reference, but that might just be my current level of sleep deprivation and that I just finished drinking around the world at Epcot.

It’s going to be hard to collect evidence six early in the game so you need to look at this while assuming that you’ll need to be paying full price. Adding two power is a nice way to make sure you can punch up, but sorcery speed leaves you open to blowouts.

Case of the Locked Hothouse

Rating: 3.5/5

The first part of this case is pretty unspectacular, but if you’re flooded you can get to seven the turn after playing this. That first part is actually more important once you’ve solved the case because it lets you fly through your deck even if you hit back-to-back lands. The real money is the last part where you just get to play an absurd number of cards off of the top of your deck.

Case of the Trampled Garden

Rating: 2.0/5

This case should be pretty easy to solve in Green. Do you have monsters? Then yes, you have found the solution. While a +1/+1 counter every turn isn’t that exciting, it does give trample which can be a huge difference when you’re dealing with big meaty men slapping meat (Trademark by Big E).

Chalk Outline

Rating: 3.5/5

This doesn’t specify how those creatures leave your graveyard so you can cast Macabre Reconstruction or just do the straightforward collecting of evidence route. Getting a 2/2 and a clue every time is going to leave your opponent in a Chalk Outline.

Culvert Ambusher

Rating: 2.5/5

This is much better because it gives you the ability whether you play it face up or are flipping it up. While you’d prefer to just eat something, even forcing a trade can still be beneficial.

Fanatical Strength

Rating: 2.0/5

While there are multiple mechanics that discourage blocking, adding trample on top of the usual +3/+3 can do some serious damage… literally.

Flourishing Bloom-Kin

Rating: 3.5/5

This probably isn’t going to grow as large as you are imagining it unless you are really heavy green. There might be times where you have three Forests in hand and just drop this on two to go to town. Most of the time you are going to Disguise it, get your extra lands, and then smash in with a much larger monster.

Get a Leg Up

Rating: 2.0/5

Now this is a card that really wants Trample. It is still a one mana trick that can grow a creature a massive amount under the right circumstances. Personally, I want to cast it on Bolrac-Clan Basher.

Glint Weaver

Rating: 2.0/5

A 6/6 Reach creature that gains six life is a great way to stabilize. Having the option to place counters as you see fit can help you create a more offensive situation if so desired. All that sounds great, the problem is that it costs seven mana.

Greenbelt Radical

Rating: 3.5/5

The base mode of a 4/4 for four mana is nice to have when you’re curving out, but the real power is on the mini Overrun that lets you keep the counters.

Hard-Hitting Question

Rating: 3.0/5

This card would have been great back in the day. Removal has become less valuable as it has become more plentiful and the creatures keep getting better. You’re playing one for one cards while they are stacking value. You still need interaction, but taking a ton of it and throwing it at anything that moves is a losing proposition. This is also limited by needing a creature that can deal enough damage to kill what you want.

Still a good card, but not something that you’ll be happily windmill slamming pick one.

Hedge Whisperer

Rating: 3.0/5

The Hedge Whisperer sounds like a movie from Hallmark. A mysterious woman talks to her hedge until one day she finds out that it is secretly a prince of a relatively unknown European nation before they fall in love and live happily ever after. Feel free to send me royalties for that Hallmark.

As far as the Magic card goes, it’s a decent early blocker that can later keep sending 5/5s at them. That’s pretty solid for a one drop.

Hide in Plain Sight

Rating: 3.5/5

Since cloaking doesn’t require them to be creatures, you don’t have the random fail case where this misses. You’ll usually want to hit two creatures that can be turned face up, but you also have situations in the late game where you just want to thin out your deck by taking lands so you hit real cards later.

Loxodon Eavesdropper

Rating: 2.5/5

I assume everyone immediately thought of Horton Hears a Who! When they looked at this card. At least he found gainful employment after the movie.

A Hill Giant that brings a clue with him is a solid card, but he also gets to crack in as a 4/4 with vigilance whenever you bust that or use other ways to draw an extra card.

Nervous Gardener

Rating: 2.5/5

Being able to flip this for only one mana is great because you can do that and still play another Disguise creature the same turn.

Pick Your Poison

Rating: 1.5/5

Definitely not a starter, but a real candidate to win the sixth man of the year award.

Pompous Gadabout

Rating: 1.5/5

This can’t be blocked by Disguise creatures, but that doesn’t stop it from being killed by random bear. The hexproof only being on your turn doesn’t stop them from just Shocking it on their turn. This can hit hard, but is too fragile without much upside.

On top of all that, this guy might be the most punchable guy in Magic art. He will die and it will happen quickly.

Rope

Rating: 2.0/5

While a bit pricy, I have always liked Reach equipment in Green. One of its main problems is getting outraced in the air and this means any creature can tie up your opponent’s flyers. Not being able to be blocked by more than one creature is also nice because you’ll usually be forcing chump blocks if they don’t want to take the damage from your big old beaters.

Rubblebelt Maverick

Rating: 2.5/5

As long as you’re playing graveyard matters cards (which there are a lot of in this set), then this provides an amazing amount of value out of a one drop. Dumping things in the yard, possibly trading off for something, and then pumping something while also triggering any “when a creature leaves your graveyard” effects. A great glue card that will play better than it looks at first glance.

Sample Collector

Rating: 2.0/5

This is fine as long as you have plenty of ways to enable it. Very dependent on what your deck is doing whether or not you want to play this.

Sharp-Eyed Rookie

Rating: 3.5/5

This isn’t going to be quite as easy to grow as it appears because of all the bears running around. It just takes one time to make it worth it and anything past that is busted.

Slime Against Humanity

Rating: 1.0/5

The only other Ooze in the set is a mythic so you’ll be almost entirely dependent on having as many of these as possible to make a monster. Do you really want to cast a Gray Ogre with no upside? Maybe a Centaur Courser for the second one. Skip this plan.

I want to love it because of the clever name. Unfortunately, its hot garbage.

The Pride of Hull Clade

Rating: 2.5/5

I am having a really hard time evaluating this thing, but who wouldn’t be confused by this. I see the words Crocodile Elk Turtle and I feel that someone needs to have a serious talk with Oko about the weird stuff he is getting into on Ravnica.

It’s just such an odd card that could win you some games or it could get stuck in your hand all game. It’s also a two-color card because no one is trying to drop a 2/15 that can’t attack. There’s even the possibility that you can’t attack with it because you don’t have fifteen cards left in your library.

There’s a ton to consider so I’m going to go with that it’ll be a mid-tier card with huge swings in value.

They Went This Way

Rating: 2.0/5

In decks that are splashing or want ramp, this is going to play more in the 2.5 range. In a “normal” deck, it’s more like a 1.5. Taking turn three off can be a pretty big turn of events especially in a morph format. I really like what this card is doing, but I’m not sure if this is the format for it.

Topiary Panther

Rating: 2.5/5

While two mana landcycling isn’t great, this at least let’s you choose the land type even if it requires green mana to do it. You normally have to pay a landcycler tax for the normal part of the card, but this one is pretty close to being fairly costed.

Tunnel Tipster

Rating: 1.5/5

It’s almost comical how much worse a random mana dork is at two mana than it used to be. One of the causes is that early game cards are so good that you’re not really gaining as much by jumping ahead. Dropping a 4/4 on turn three used to matter, now there are bombs coming down for three mana.

Another problem with this one is that the other ability is an early game thing that doesn’t do much if you top deck it later. That means both parts of this card are good on turn two, but bad if you draw it later.

Undergrowth Recon

Rating: 0.5/5

The number of things that would have to go right for this to actually be worth it is pretty astronomical. The obvious thing is to just keep getting back Escape Tunnel or Scene of the Crime, but even then you have to draw both and it’s still slow.

Vengeful Creeper

Rating: 1.5/5

I would have preferred that this also had the option to use its ability when it entered the battlefield instead of just when it is turned face up. At that point, I would actively want the card. As it is, it’s just a dude when I need one.

Vitu-Ghazi Inspector

Rating: 1.5/5

I don’t expect to be able to Collect Evidence 6 early in the game so I am considering this as a 1/3 reach until at least turn four or five. By that point a 2/4 reach isn’t anything special so you’re probably going to add a +1/+1 counter to something else. While Backup Agent is a good card, this lacks the ability to just slam it for full value early without making you jump through hoops.

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Wrap Up

Green is doing a bit of everything here, but has a lot of strong options for mana fixing. It has some cool graveyard synergies with Chalk Outline being especially intriguing. Beyond that, it has its usual mix of chonkers and bite spells.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow for my limited review of the Artifacts, Lands, and part one of multicolored cards of Murders at Karlov Manor. Until then, stay classy people!

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

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