Unveiling the Mysteries: Murders at Karlov Manor Set List

In a city that needs investigating, you’re the one on the job. Find out who committed the murders at Karlov Manor … before you become their next victim.

MTG Murders at Karlov Manor is an interesting set, taking place on the fan-favourite plane of Ravnica, but not at all as we know it. This isn’t a multicolour set focused around the 10 guilds (although they do feature in part), but instead a novel ‘murder mystery’ set, with Magic’s unique take on the genre and all the beloved books, movies and TV shows that have spun out of it.

The investigate mechanic returns, but that’s not the only sleuth-inspired gameplay going on. Murders at Karlov Manor introduces ‘disguise’ (a variant of ‘morph’) and ‘cloak’ (a new ‘manifest’) to turn face-down cards into 2/2 creatures. ‘Suspect’ is a fun new mechanic that provides a creature menace but also means it can’t block – an interesting push and pull between positive and negative effects, and a huge flavour win (who would want to block a deadly suspect alone?!). Finally, there is ‘collect evidence’ which makes you go over the dead bodies (i.e. graveyard) to look for evidence and make a particular effect happen by exiling a certain number of cards.

Aside from the mechanics, there’s also a brand-new card type in ‘Cases’, which are enchantments that look a lot like Sagas. The top ability is always active (e.g. do something when it enters the battlefield), the middle ability wants you to meet a certain condition to ‘solve the case’ (e.g. control three artifacts), and the last ability is something that happens when you manage to solve the case.

Alongside all these fun new cards and mechanics are plenty of incredible reprints too in the form of The List and Special Guest cards. Let’s investigate!

The List: Fresh Reprints and Updates

‘The List’ dates back to 2020 and the release of Zendikar Rising, consisting of a list (of course) of cards from Magic’s history that could randomly be found in booster packs. At the time, these were found in Set Boosters, but now with MTG Murders at Karlov Manor, Set Boosters and Draft Boosters are no more, and have been combined into a single entity: Play Boosters.    

A card from The List replaces a common about 12.5% of the time, and all rarities are represented, from common to mythic rare. This can provide some super fun limited play when you find a powerful mythic from Magic’s past in your sealed pool! They are easily recognised by the small white Planeswalker symbol in the bottom left of the card.

Whereas once The List had a staggering 300 cards on it, it’s now been cut way back to just 50 cards: 10 ‘Special Guests’ and 40 cards reprints without new art (30 common or uncommon and 10 rare or mythic rare).

Special Guests Feature in Murders at Karlov Manor

Special Guests are super powerful and iconic cards that can feature in the place of a card from The List, both in non-foil (Play Boosters) and foil (Collector Boosters), each with awesome new borderless art. There are 10 of these in total with Show and Tell, Gamble and Tireless Tracker among the highlights. Amazingly, these cards feature in MTG Arena too, so not only can you open them in Limited, but you can also spend wildcards on them for other Arena formats too!

The List in MTG Arena: What’s New

Speaking of Arena, The List is appearing there too! Seizing an opportunity to bring iconic cards to digital play, The List cards will be included in MTG Arena Set Boosters. There are however three specific changes to cards: Baleful Mastery, Cavalier of Thorns, and Death Cloud are being replaced with Possibility Storm, Evolutionary Leap and the ‘looter scooter’ itself, Smuggler’s Copter.

How to Find Cards from The List and Special Guests

Cards from The List and Special Guests can be found within Play Boosters in both tabletop and MTG Arena, with list cards replacing a common about 12.5% of the time. The List cards are easy to spot via the white Planeswalker symbol in the bottom left of the card. Cards from the List can also be found in MTG Arena, aside from three substitutions detailed above.

The 10 Special Guest cards can feature in place of a card from The List in non-foil within Play Boosters, and in foil in Collector Boosters. Special Guests also feature in MTG Arena.

It’s worth noting that inclusion on The List does not change a card’s format legality – they are only playable in the formats in which they are normally legal. They are, however, playable in Limited – leading to both interesting variety in game play, and some really, brilliant card pulls!

Both the List MTG and Special Guests MTG will put exciting reprints in players hands, and lead to fun and unique game experiences.