Summary
Criminals on the run, dirty deals held in back alleys, and plenty of fedoras can be found inMagic: The Gathering’sMurders at Karlov Manor set. This set, designed to be distinct from other Ravnican sets, follows a more self-contained story, one that doesn’t necessarily focus on the ten guilds of the plane wide city.
Leading the investigation into the string of murders that have been plaguing Ravnica are white cards, the defenders of the truth and enforcers of justice. If you’re looking to spice up some Commander decks or want to know what to keep an eye on in drafts, these are some of the best white cards from the set.
10Case Of The Uneaten Feast
Don’t Let Your Food Go To Waste
Cases are a brand-new type of enchantment that was introduced in Murders at Karlov Manor. They’re functionally like Sagas but have conditions to get to the next step instead of advancing automatically.
Case of the Uneaten Feast has a starting ability where a creature comes into play under your control. You gain one life. If you’ve gained five or more life by the time you hit your end step on one of your turns, you get to solve the case. Then, once it’s solved, it gains the ability to sacrifice itself to let you cast creatures from your graveyard for the turn.
9Tenth District Hero
She Finally Gets Her Own Card
The unofficial hero of the streets of Ravnica, the Tenth District Hero is the latest in a long line of cards featuring Mileva, a Boros recruit whose heroic deeds have been chronicled across several cards in different Ravnican sets.
This iteration of her starts off as a two mana 2/3, but can be upgraded to a Human Detective that’s a 4/4 with vigilance. you may upgrade it one more time, turning it into a 5/5 legendary creature that gives all your other creatures indestructible, which is pretty darn good.
8Unyielding Gatekeeper
None Shall Pass
Disguise is one of the main new mechanics from Murders at Karlov Manor, letting you place cards face down on the battlefield as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. You can turn them face up by paying whatever the disguise cost is.
Unyielding Gatekeeper lets you exile another nonland permanent when it’s turned faced up. If you happen to have controlled that creature, it gets exiled and then brought back to the battlefield immediately. If it wasn’t, you get to replace that creature with a 2/2 Detective token.
7No Witnesses
Board Wipes Are Back
Board wipes are one of the best ways to keep the more aggressive decks in check while you sit back behind an empty battlefield. No Witnesses is just the latest in a long line of four mana mass removal spells, this one with a slight downside that is probably reasonable in the long one.
No Witnesses gives the player with the most creatures in play a Clue token, and then it destroys all creatures in play. While letting your opponent draw cards, even just one isn’t great, but its fine when you get a four mana board wipe in exchange.
6Assemble The Players
Now That You’re All Here
Sometimes the little creatures need an advocate for them in your decks and with Assemble the Players, you get a fantastic engine to keep casting as many spells as you can.
Assemble the Players lets you look at the top card of your deck at anytime, giving you the opportunity to manipulate and exchange them with the help of other cards like Sensei’s Diving Top. Then, you can cast the top card of your deck so long as it’s a creature spell with a mana value of two or less.
5Novice Inspector
They’re The Star Sleuth
Sometimes, a Magic card doesn’t need all sorts of text to be good, it just has to be good at doing one thing. Novice Inspector does one thing very well and that’s accruing value early in the game.
When Novice Inspector enters the battlefield, you get to investigate, letting you create a Clue token while also getting a 1/2 body early in the game to do whatever you want with. Crew vehicles, block little early creatures, or throw it in front of larger creatures later in the game are all great options for this little guy.
4Aurelia’s Vindicator
A Mythic Bomb For All Formats
The opposite of Novice Inspector, Aurela’s Vindicator is jam-packed with all sorts of wild keywords and abilities for you to abuse. First up, this four mana Angel is packed with flying, lifelink, and ward two. These alone are great and can be difficult to handle in a regular game of Magic.
Then, it has a disguise ability, which costs X plus three generic and one white mana to flip up. When you do, you get to exile other creatures from any graveyard or from the battlefield. Once Aurelia’s Vindicator leaves the battlefield, you get to bring them all back to their owner’s hand, refilling your hand potentially, or clearing the way for a big attack.
3Wojek Investigator
Get Those Clues Going
Another Angel hanging out on Ravnica, Wojek Investigator provides a semi-consistent draw engine throughout the game. At the start of your upkeep, you get to investigate for each opponent who has more cards in their hand.
Clues give you a way to keep cards in your hand, giving you a more long-term plan later in the game. Like most angels, Wojek Investigator has flying and vigilance, making it a limited bomb or a Commander all-star.
2Doorkeeper Thrull
No More ETBs
Enter the battlefield triggers are some of those annoying things that your opponents attempt to do that always seem to mess your game up. With Doorkeeper Thrull however, you don’t have to worry about that any more.
Doorkeeper Thrull prevents the enter the battlefield trigger of all artifacts and creatures from happening, making it a particularly good way to shut down many strategies in Magic. Since it has flash, you can cast this card in response to a problematic card, letting your Thrull hit the battlefield first, and then putting the stops on whatever card your opponent was trying to play.
1Delney, Streetwise Lookout
She Knows All The Secrets Of The City
A powerful new legendary creature from Murders at Karlov Manor, Delney Streetwise Lookout takes your smaller creatures and protects them from the more deadly larger ones. With Delney out, all creatures you control with a power of two or less can’t be blocked by your opponent’s creatures with power three or more.
Then, if an ability of one of your smaller creatures would trigger, it happens an extra time. There’s so many powerful abilities from Magic’s expansive history that have some sort of combat or enter the battlefield, or even activated ability that Delney can duplicate, making it an instant vital card for many decks.
