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

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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Anzrag’s Rampage

Rating: 1.0/5

You can bring this in off the bench against an artifact heavy opponent, but it’s far too expensive and situational to ever have a place in your starting lineup.

Bolrac-Clan Basher

Rating: 2.5/5

I do love me some Embercleave action and this bad boy is ready to bash in for some serious damage. It just has the usual problem of being slightly pricey if you try to hard cast it.

Flipping it up on five is actually reasonable because it has a good chance to outright win the combat or possibly kill two things if they try to double block it. Adding in combat tricks will do down right dirty things.

Case of the Burning Masks

Rating: 3.5/5

What’s funny is that it wasn’t that long ago that dealing three damage to a creature for three mana was a high pick on its own. Now everything is so efficient and has so much value that it would be more like a pick three, especially at sorcery speed. Luckily this has a fairly easy to solve case because you only need to attack with two creatures the turn you play this to ensure that you get that extra value.

I do have to give it bonus points because every time I sacrifice it, I get to say that I cracked the case. Getting a card thrown in is a sure-fire way to make a card significantly better and this one even has a bit of selection to it.

Case of the Crimson Pulse

Rating: 4.0/5

It’s important to note that because of how it is worded, you don’t need to discard a card to draw two if you play this with an empty hand. It’s just a Divination at that point. It’s also fairly easy to end up empty handed in limited when that is one of your goals. From that point on you are drawing three cards a turn, I’m pretty sure you can find a way to win from there.

Caught Red-Handed

Rating: 1.0/5

I got so excited when I saw an instant speed steal spell with flashbacks to Ray of Command and Grab the Reins. My hopes were quickly dashed when it hit the Suspect part of the card. Taking blocking away really takes the wind out of this card’s sails. I don’t want to be playing a five mana Treason effect.

Concealed Weapon

Rating: 2.0/5

An equipment that can disguise itself as a creature is certainly an interesting design. It leaves some cool decisions such as using it as a combat trick or flipping it in response to removal to fizzle it. I can’t imagine I would want to play it face up that often, but it does just enough random things to make the cut.

Connecting the Dots

Rating: 3.5/5

It’s Bomat Courier not on a stick. This is going to stack a lot of cards up for you pretty quickly. Drawing six extra cards or so should do enough to win most games.

Convenient Target

Rating: 1.5/5

Being able to return this is the only reason I am considering playing this card. It can get some value off of being Surveilled or Looted away even if it’s not that great. Giving a creature menace and +1+1 is a pretty minimal effect, but it also has the option to toss it on one of their creatures to prevent it from blocking.

Cornered Crook

Rating: 3.5/5

This is of course dependent on you being able to produce artifacts to sacrifice to this. While it’s not a guaranteed Ravenous Chupacabra, being able to Lightning Bolt the face or a creature is a great option to have.

Crime Novelist

Rating: 2.0/5

I was going to make a reference to a real-life author, but I didn’t want to get a pile of messages debating the definition of a crime novelist.

This guy can put in some serious work if you produce a bunch of clues or have something such as Harried Dronesmith going, but can be pretty worthless in a situation where you don’t.

Demand Answers

Rating: 2.0/5

A slightly upgraded Thrill of Possibility that gives you the option to sacrifice an artifact instead of discarding a card. Unless you’re using it in response to an artifact being removed or need to dig while being empty handed, you’ll be using it as the normal mode most of the time.

Expedited Inheritance

Rating: 1.0/5

I don’t want to play a card that has a symmetrical effect that actively punishes the type of removal in the color that it is. It’s a may so you don’t even have the threat of decking them with it.  

Expose the Culprit

Rating: 1.0/5

This isn’t really worth a card unless you get to use it to counter a removal spell. Even in that case, they have to target a creature with Disguise.

Felonious Rage

Rating: 1.5/5

This falls under the umbrella of one mana tricks that tend to do more than you expect. Most of the time this will be used to trade up and get a 2/2 out of the deal. Occasionally you’ll get to commit a felony by hasting something out for lethal while your opponent complains about losing to this.

Frantic Scapegoat

Rating: 2.0/5

A 1/1 haste with menace is decent in an all-in aggro deck and this can even pass that menace off to another creature that might make better use of it. Don’t try to make this the scapegoat if you put this in a deck that isn’t trying to go wide, that’s on you.

Fugitive Codebreaker

Rating: 3.5/5

A hasty prowess creature can pull off some serious damage early and if you draw this late, it turns into a draw three. Good early and late is the type of card I’m always interested in.

Galvanize

Rating: 3.0/5

There are a ton of ways to draw an extra card in this set so you should be able to set it up to bust something up for five damage. The fallback of three damage to a creature for three mana at instant speed is still solid.

Gearbane Orangutan

Rating: 2.5/5

Some nice versatility of being able to either pop off an opposing artifact or sacrifice one to make this one chunky monkey (I am aware of the taxonomy, just let me have this one). It even has quality flavor text to top it all off.

Goblin Maskmaker

Rating: 1.5/5

This is one of those cards that can feel amazing when you play it turn one on the play, but be God awful when you draw it later in the game. Don’t fall for the hype.

Harried Dronesmith

Rating: 3.5/5

Outside of getting to attack with that hasty flyer, this turns on every “when you sacrifice an artifact” card every turn or gives you the fodder for sacrificing to something such as Demand Answers. This is one of those cards that feels like it lets you do all the stuff and things.

Incinerator of the Guilty

Rating: 4.5/5

Yes, this technically dies to removal without getting value, but that’s the only thing holding it back from being a 5.0. They can’t even chump block this to prevent the effect from happening because it has trample.

Wiping only your opponent’s side while smashing with a giant flyer seems like a very fair thing to be doing in limited. Even if they aren’t dead yet, I have to assume that they will initiate the scoop phase after that goes down.

Innocent Bystander

Rating: 1.5/5

The only real way to ensure that this will trigger is to block a much larger creature. Sure, you can run it in hoping they eat it with a bigger creature, but there are a ton of two power creatures in this set. In most circumstances they aren’t going to be using damage-based removal on your random 2/1.

Knife

Rating: 1.5/5

This is another part of the Clue weapon cycle that leaves me unimpressed. It’s just too expensive to move around to really be worth it.

Krenko’s Buzzcrusher

Rating: 3.0/5

If your opponent somehow sneaks a Lotus Field into play, then this has that on lock down. That part of the card isn’t really going to matter too much since they get to search up the basic land of their choice should you happen to kill one of their non-basics. Maybe they got greedy on a Public Thoroughfare and don’t have the appropriate basic in their deck. Technically you could hit your own to thin your deck a bit.

I’ve already ranted about this too much. It’s a 4/4 flying trample for four in most situations. That’s efficient enough even if that’s all it ends up being.

Krenko, Baron of Tin Street

Rating: 3.5/5

The floor isn’t too bad on this as a 3/3 haste for three and the ceiling is pretty astronomical in the right build. While clues are obvious, you can do a lot more with Harried Dronesmith giving you the fodder to keep growing your army in both numbers and size.

Lamplight Phoenix

Rating: 4.0/5

This is a good rate on a flyer, but as long as you have some evidence to collect it’s going to keep coming back. That makes it great on either offence or defense as it lights the way to victory.

Offender at Large

Rating: 2.0/5

Paying five mana to flip this isn’t too offensive since it is so large. (Wow, that was bad. Maybe I should try sleeping once in a while) It has the potential to win two combats by both growing itself and one other critter. I do like that the pump effect happens on flip or if you play it straight up.

Person of Interest

Rating: 2.5/5

While I don’t like this being suspected as soon as it shows up, I am a fan of getting two bodies out of one card. That makes this a person that I am interested in drafting.

Pyrotechnic Performer

Rating: 3.0/5

Depending on your deck, this can give you a ton of reach to finish them off. Even without other disguised creatures, it’s still a 3/2 for two or a cheap to undisguise creature that bolts the face.

Reckless Detective

Rating: 2.5/5

Getting to crack an artifact or rummage away a card for a new one is a pretty strong ability. The three toughness lets it make attacks early on through a disguised creature. The reason I’m not higher on it is that when you draw it in the late game, you’ll probably have to suicide it in to get any value out of it.

Red Herring

Rating: 2.0/5

I have so many unrelated comments about this card. I could start out with A Pup Named Scooby Doo reference or I could go into One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Clue Fish. I guess I will stick to the Magic though…

I’m sure Valley Dasher truthers are losing their minds after seeing this fishy power creep. Seriously though, it can get some damage in and then cash itself out instead of getting eaten by a bigger creature.

Rubblebelt Braggart

Rating: 1.5/5

This is bragging about itself?!? That’s like when your thirty-two year old cousin is still telling you about that time they beat some kids in kickball. That may have sounded oddly specific and if you feel targeted by it, you should.

Having the option whether or not to suspect this is nice versatility since you can end up in all kinds of game situations. It’s still a five drop that doesn’t do much else.

Shock

Rating: 3.0/5

Here’s the thing about Shock, it was great against morphs because you could double spell to go up on tempo. Having to pay the two mana for ward on disguise makes that much less appealing. It’s still great against most one or two drops, but not the game swinger it was.

Suspicious Detonation

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s pretty suspicious if your plan is to pay the full rate for this card. As long as you have plenty of clues to sacrifice then this can be pretty good. Per usual, I have to mention that can’t be countered really matters more for ward than an actual counter spell.

The Chase is On

Rating: 2.0/5

This should win most combats while giving you a clue. That’s not bad, but three mana is a lot for a trick so you don’t want to be playing too many of them.

Torch the Witness

Rating: 3.5/5

Doing twice the damage means that you can usually pay a decent rate to kill a creature. Getting to investigate is a nice little cherry on top.

Vengeful Tracker

Rating: 2.5/5

This can be insane against some decks, but is basically a bear against some others. Even if it is great against someone, they usually have the option to wait to sacrifice their artifacts until after they kill this.

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Wrap Up

Red has a surprising amount of card draw spells while being backed up by its usual suite of damage-based removal. It can also do some pretty cool things with sacrificing artifacts. It even has some great bombs in Incinerator of the Guilty and Lamplight Phoenix.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow for my limited review of the Green 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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