Last updated on March 27, 2024
Orzhov Cluestone (Dragon's Maze) | Illustration by Raoul Vitale
Murders at Karlov Manor is a murder mystery themed set that takes place on the plane of Ravnica. “Who is killing all these people? What is their intention? Which weapons did they use to do it?” Seeing as this environment matches Clue/Cluedo perfectly, WotC saw the perfect opportunity to mix them in a different product. That’s how Ravnica: Clue Edition came to life.
This product comes with brand-new MTG cards and a different way to spice up your multiplayer games using rules taken from the classic Clue/Cluedo board game. Is it a good match? Is it worth getting? How do you play this? Let ‘s find out.
What Is Ravnica: Clue Edition?
Trostani Discordant | Illustration by Chase Stone
Ravnica: Clue Edition is a mix of multiplayer MTG and the classic board game Clue, or Cluedo. Note that these are two independent IP’s from Hasbro. It’s also similar to other multiplayer-oriented MTG products released in the past, like Archenemy, Planechase and Explorers of Ixalan, in the sense that it brings external new elements to a multiplayer game, adapted to the rules of Magic.
When you play by the Ravnica: Clue Edition rules, you’ll play a multiplayer game of MTG where the last player standing wins, like you would in Commander or any other casual format. You’ll also have another path to victory, which is to solve the mystery like you would in a game of Clue. So you can win regardless of MTG rules if you fire your accusation correctly: “It was Apothecary White, with a Wrench in the Dining Room.”. To solve the mystery, you’ll discover what clues your opponents have by attacking them and guessing, or by Collecting Evidence 6.
This product ties thematically into Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM), which tells a murder investigation story set on Ravnica. As we’ll see, the product uses Ravnica guild-aligned cards, and the new collect evidence mechanic from MKM in the gameplay too.
Ravnica: Clue Edition Contents
Each Ravnica: Clue Edition will have the following contents:
- 21 exclusive Ravnica: Clue Edition evidence cards – six suspect cards, five weapon cards, and 10 room cards.
- Eight guild packs containing 20 exclusive Ravnica: Clue Edition cards, which are all aligned with a certain guild (similar to Jumpstart.
- One box topper shock land.
So, you can play with four players right out of the box. Other non-MTG contents include the instruction manual, the evidence envelope, and more.
How to Play Ravnica: Clue Edition
Before the game starts, players will set apart one suspect card, one room card and one weapon card in the evidence envelope. This is the secret information players want to discover. Next, the rest of the 18 cards are distributed among players one at a time, with some players getting more cards than others. This will make a second hand for each player, but they won’t use these cards to play MTG, only to solve the mystery.
After you do the Clue setup, you’ll start a regular multiplayer game of MTG, shuffling decks, taking mulligans, the usual stuff. So, players have set up a Clue game and an MTG game. Following the usual rules of MTG, you’ll win if you’re the last player standing. However, you’ll also win if you’re the first player to discover the three secret cards in the evidence envelope.
In Clue, you need to navigate across the board and enter rooms to ask questions about who committed the crime, with which weapon and where. Here, in MTG fashion, you need to attack players. Once you deal combat damage to a player, you’ll be able to guess who did it, with what weapon and where.
So, I’ll hit my buddy John and ask him: “Was it Apothecary White with the Wrench in the Dining Room?” John will have to show me one of those cards if he has one. John showed me the Wrench card, so I know this isn’t the secret weapon and eliminate this possibility. John also gets a Treasure token for this inconvenience. Note that other players can’t show me any of the cards and get any reward for this, the negotiation occurs only between the attacker and the defender.
Another way of taking a guess is by the mechanic collect evidence, from Murders at Karlov Manor. You can Collect Evidence 6 to make a guess at the end of your turn, and in this case any player that has a card needs to show you, and only if you haven’t already taken a guess this turn.
At any time during their end step, a player might want to finally guess which three cards are inside the envelope. In this case, they’ll say the three cards out loud, look at the envelope and tell the other players if they won or not, revealing the hidden cards if they guessed everything correctly. You don't lose the game outright if you guess incorrectly, but you can’t make any more guesses about the evidence envelope for the remainder of the game, and you can still win via regular MTG rules.
It’s interesting that you can still win this way if you’re almost dead, or if you suspect someone will clearly win by guessing in their next turn. However, you’re not eliminating yourself by guessing wrong, like in Clue.
A player wins if they guess the contents of the envelope correctly, or if they’re the last player standing in the game.
Does Ravnica: Clue Edition Have New Cards?
It does. All the evidence cards, including suspects, places and objects are real creatures, artifacts and lands. Here’s the breakdown of new cards:
- 10 new rooms, one for each color pair. They’re all uncommon taplands with an activated ability that investigates for 4 mana.
- Five new clue equipment cards: These are uncommon equipment, one for each color, that can be sacrificed to draw a card as a regular clue would. These cards are also present in the main Murders at Karlov Manor set.
- Nine new legendary creatures, five of which are mono-colored adaptations of the popular Clue characters.
- 30 new multicolor cards: These are all aligned with the guilds, and there are three new cards per guild.
Are Ravnica: Clue Edition Cards Legal?
Ravnica: Clue Edition cards are all legal cards, like cards released in supplemental sets. These can be played in sanctioned Eternal formats, like Legacy and Vintage, as well as casual formats like Cube and Commander. These will not be legal in formats like Modern, Standard and Pioneer.
Are Ravnica: Clue Edition Cards Valuable?
All Ravnica: Clue Edition boxes come with a borderless shock land, and these tend to be pretty valuable. In addition, some of the legendary creatures have already caught the Commander audience’s attention. Cards like Carnage Interpreter and Herald of Ilharg are very pushed and can become staples; same goes for legendary creatures like Lonis, Genetics Expert and Commander Mustard.
It’s difficult to predict the secondary market price of these Ravnica: Clue Edition cards because that’ll depend on the amount of product sold. It gets worse if I want a Rakdos-specific card like Carnage Interpreter and my Clue Edition box happens to have other packs from other guilds. At the same time, cards that spike in price can be reprinted in other supplementary products like Commander Masters or precons.
Is Ravnica: Clue Edition Worth It?
With Ravnica: Clue Edition you’re guaranteed to get a shock land which is always worth something, as well as the murder evidence cards if you’re interested in the Clue sub-game.. You’re also getting eight sealed guild packs, which are playable in sets of two straight out of the packs. You can’t know for sure which sealed content you’ll get, but there’s good cards in almost all of them. That said, the price is a little bit high, so I'd get it if I were interested in the MTG/Clue hybrid play experience. If you’re only interested in some of the cards for Commander, it’s probably a better idea to get the singles in the secondary market.
Ravnica: Clue Edition vs. Cluedo Edition
It’s the same thing actually. North America will get the Ravnica: Clue Edition while the rest of the world gets the Ravnica: Cluedo Edition. It’s just a brand difference, based on the difference in board game names around the world.
Where to Buy Ravnica: Clue Edition
Ravnica: Clue Edition will be released on February 23, 2024. It’s pre-ordering around $70, but the price can vary a lot since WotC doesn’t adopt MSRPs anymore. TCGplayer is listing the market price at around $64.99. You can also get it on Amazon here.
- A CLASSIC MURDER MYSTERY REIMAGINED—In this unique, Clue-inspired spin on Magic: The Gathering there are two ways to win: solve the mystery before your rival sleuths or be the last detective standing
- PLAY MAGIC WITH A KILLER TWIST—Guildmage Boddy lies slain in his manor and it’s your job to determine the manner of his demise; gather evidence when you deal combat damage, then follow the clues to crack the case
- JUST SHUFFLE & PLAY—Grab 2 boosters, shuffle them together, and let the sleuthing begin; with 8 ready-to-play boosters (each featuring 1 new Rare card), Ravnica: Clue Edition is perfect for 3–4 players but also plays well with 2
- BORDERLESS CARDS FEATURING CLASSIC CLUE CHARACTERS—Draw from 21 Evidence Cards to determine the killer, murder weapon, and scene of the crime; each Evidence card is also a playable Magic card, including 6 classic Clue characters reimagined in the Ravnica setting as Legendary Creatures
- ENDLESS REPLAYABILITY—The Clue elements of this box can add mystery to any 2–5 player Magic game; play with your own decks and reshuffle the Evidence Cards for a new case to solve
Wrap Up
Steam Vents | Illustration by Lucas Graciano
Ravnica: Clue Edition is another interesting attempt to expand the MTG gameplay possibilities. Having played a lot of Archenemy, Planechase, and Conspiracy drafts, I always enjoy when WotC tries new things, and I hope that this new product has interesting gameplay. I’ve played my fair share of classic games like Risk, Clue, and Monopoly, so maybe the nostalgia will hit at some point.
I’m eager to try Ravnica: Clue Edition, but how about you? Are you willing to give this a try? Or is it just another money-grab attempt by WotC? Let me know what you think in the comments section below, or in our Draftsim Twitter. Thanks for reading folks, and I’ll see you next time around.
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