Murders at Karlov Manor Spoilers and Set Information

Last updated on August 29, 2023

Murders at Karlov Manor Key Image | Illustration by Julian Kok Joon Wen

Ravnica is one of Magic’s most popular settings. The City of Guilds has often been revisited and even hosted the events of War of the Spark, concluding one of Magic’s biggest story arcs. It’s even getting the remastered treatment in 2024 with Ravnica Remastered.

But we’re also getting a brand-new Standard set on Ravnica: Murders at Karlov Manor. This 2024 set offers familiar characters in an iconic setting, with a couple of twists! But what do we really know about this set?

Let’s dive in!

Murders at Karlov Manor Basic Information

Murders at Karlov Manor Key Image – Illustration by Lie Setiawan

Set Details

Important Dates

About the Set: The Story

This set focuses not on Ravnica’s guilds but on solving a murder at the Karlov Manor. The Manor is currently home to Teysa Karlov, the scion of the Karlov family, who runs the guild when the true guild master, Kaya, is off on other planes.

Unlike previous sets on Ravnica, this one won’t focus on the ten guilds. It instead focuses on the private eyes and detectives of the plane. The art we’ve seen shows some familiar faces who may be part of the story. These include Krenko, Massacre Girl, Judith, and Aurelia.

Set Mechanics

No set mechanics have been confirmed at this time.

Speculation

There are some easy shots to call for the set. We’ll likely see a new card for each returning character in the title art. There’s also a very high chance that we’ll get a new Teysa and Kaya, assuming Kaya is on Ravnica; the last we saw of her, she killed the compleated Heliod.

For mechanics, the return of Clue tokens and investigation are all but guaranteed from the detective-themed set.

The GenCon stream also referenced a way for players to solve a mystery while playing the game. This will likely be tied to the set’s mechanics. We may see something in the vein of dungeons, prompting players to advance by following leads instead of venturing into the dungeon. This mystery-solving mechanic could also have something to do with playing with some cards face-up and others face-down, as we see on cards like Hostile Negotiations and Sauron's Ransom.

There’s also interesting speculation about the story. Firstly, who died at Karlov Manor? Teysa is the most obvious answer. She’s long been an influential figure on Ravnica, and I doubt it’s much of a secret that she’s commanding the Orzhov despite Kaya being technically guild master, which could rankle some people among the power-hungry guilds.

Our primary suspects would be the characters arranged on the opening sprawl. Who would perform the murder? Even if it’s not Teysa, I think Massacre Girl is the least likely suspect. Having one of Ravnica’s most prolific serial killers in the cast screams red herring; it’s not much of a mystery if the most obvious suspect did the deed.

Another important tidbit for the story is the lack of focus on the guilds. While the guilds will still be present – it is Ravnica, after all – the story is more concerned with the detectives and sleuths of the city, leaning into murder-mystery tropes as a top-down design set, much like how Eldraine focused on Arthurian legends and fairy tales, or Amonkhet delved into Egyptian mythology.

Most of Ravnica’s stories center on the guilds and the messy politics of ten radically different organizations with different goals kept in tenuous peace by the magic of the Guildpact. There’s a lot of scope and scale to these stories. Letting them fade into the background suggests a chance for a more intimate story. Instead of following the leaders of the guilds and those that mingle with them, this could be our chance to see Ravnica at the street level, as we explored in the original Ravnica novels.

A more intimate scope could explore what happened to the City of Guilds after the Phyrexian Invasion. They were hit hard, especially with the Golgari practically falling apart with Vraska’s compleation. During the invasion, we also saw a few members of the more curious guilds, specifically the Izzet and Simic, welcome the effects of glistening oil as an experiment. A street-focused Ravnica story could have large implications going forward.

Finally, there’s a reasonable chance the Omenpaths will impact this story. Wilds of Eldraine’s story has a Vedalken from Ravnica as a side character. The city is already a melting pot of cultures, a plane that planeswalkers congregate on. How could that influence grow or change when anybody across the multiverse could come to the City of Guilds? Seeing Bant knights among the Selesnya Conclave, Innistrad mad scientists joining the Izzet, or ruthless aristocrats from Fiora joining the Orzhov or Azorius is exactly what I’d want from the inclusion of Omenpaths in the multiverse.

Unofficial Spoilers/Leaks

There aren’t any leaks for this set…yet.

Mysterious Conclusion

Murders at Karlov Manor Key Image – Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Murders at Karlov Manor is much more than a simple return to a fan-favorite set. By taking the focus off the guilds, it gives us a chance to explore Ravnica to new depths, bringing different perspectives to a much-traversed plane.

Top-down sets create Easter eggs and thematic references, which fit the detective themes perfectly. It’s going to be interesting to delve into this, picking out iconic mystery moments as we solve the murders at Karlov Manor.

Who do you think will be murdered? What mechanics do you want to see in the set? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and follow the Clues!