Last updated on March 18, 2025
Hedge Maze | Illustration by Andrew Mar
There are plenty of land cycles in MTG these days, and it feels like every new set brings us a new one to explore. Aetherdrift has a vertical cycle of raceways, Wilds of Eldraine and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan gave us a Restless cycle of creature lands, while LCI also gave us a cycle of Hidden caves.
Murders at Karlov Manor plays in a space filled with mystery, so naturally, its rare lands get in on the cloak and dagger action.
Pull out your binoculars and keep your notepad handy, because today we take a look at surveil lands!
What Is a Surveil Land?
Gadget Technician | Illustration by Caio Monteiro
Surveil lands are a cycle of surveil cards from Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM) that allow you to surveil 1 when they enter the battlefield. When you surveil, you look at the top card of your library, then choose whether to leave it there or put it into your graveyard.
There are other land cards that also let you surveil. Lilypad Village has a neat activated ability for surveil 2. Hidden Grotto from Bloomburrow and Conduit Pylons from Outlaws of Thunder Junction surveil when they enter. Arid Archway needs to bounce a desert back to your hand to earn the surveil. Gallifrey Council Chamber from Doctor Who lets you surveil 1 when it enters the battlefield, just like the MKM cycle. Tocasia's Dig Site from The Brothers’ War needs you to pay and tap it to surveil 1. These aren’t part of the cycle, but I’m a completionist at heart and thought I should mention them.
Full List of Surveil Lands
This list covers the cycle of surveil lands, available in Murders at Karlov Manor MTG products.
- Commercial District
- Elegant Parlor
- Hedge Maze
- Lush Portico
- Meticulous Archive
- Raucous Theater
- Shadowy Backstreet
- Thundering Falls
- Undercity Sewers
- Underground Mortuary
Why Are Surveil Lands Good?
Surveil lands come in tapped, but they offer you deck filtering or card selection as they enter the battlefield. You can decide whether you want to leave the card on the top of your library or if you want to put it in your graveyard, which is very useful for planning your next moves.
There are all kinds of reasons to want to check the top of your library or to put a card in your ‘yard. Graveyard, reanimator, and land recursion decks, for example, are happy for a free way to get resources in there.
Or maybe you’re playing with a strategy that lets you play specific cards directly off the top of your library like Assemble the Players or Bolas's Citadel. Decks with lots of card-draw effects like to know what they’re drawing before they do, and information itself can be a powerful resource.
The surveil lands provide mana fixing as they generate two different colors of mana, but they’re also easily fetchable because they have their respective basic land types.
Surveil also has its own mechanical synergies, like how you can pay 3 life whenever you surveil to return Blood Operative from your graveyard to your hand, or how Dreadhound cares about creature cards entering your graveyard from anywhere. Heck, if you put any permanent into your graveyard with surveil, it counts as descending for that turn. Imagine triggering any of that off your land drop!
Surveil Lands vs. Shock Lands
The similarities between Underground Mortuary and Overgrown Tomb are greater than their differences and both surveil and shock lands are powerful in decks of their colors. Both have similar costs in the $10-$20 range, count for their land types, and both help fix your mana. The biggest trade off is surveil 1 vs. the potential to enter untapped. If your deck has a foot in the graveyard, give the nod to surveil lands, otherwise I say staying on curve is more important in general. If you have the budget available, why not both?
Where to Buy Surveil Lands
The cycle of surveil lands are available in Murders at Karlov Manor products. You can open them in the rare card slot of MKM play boosters or in one of the rare slots of MKM collector boosters.
- CHASE DOWN RAVNICA’S KILLER CARDS—Track down the city’s most notorious cards as you collect evidence, don disguises, and identify suspects to decipher the deadly murder mystery at the heart of Ravnica
- BEST BOOSTERS FOR COLLECTORS—Collector Boosters are a shortcut to the coolest cards in a set, with packs full of Rare cards, shiny foil cards, and special alt-art, alt-frame cards
- EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL TREATMENTS—Found only in Collector Boosters, every pack contains at least 2 Extended-Art card and may contain a card with a special new type of foil treatment
- MORE RARE CARDS—Collector Boosters contain more hard-to-find cards than any other Murders at Karlov Manor booster, with 5 cards of rarity Rare or higher in each pack
- PLAY A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
You can buy play boosters individually or in the Murders at Karlov Manor bundle, which contains nine play boosters.
- NOW WITH 9 PLAY BOOSTERS—Get the best of Draft and Set Boosters, combined into one! Play Boosters are great for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of multiple Rares and at least 1 shining foil card in every pack
- TRACK THE CLUES. CRACK THE CASE—Play detective as you collect evidence, don disguises, and identify suspects with a box full of boosters and Land cards to build murder mystery-inspired decks
- FULL-ART LANDS & SPECIAL ALTERNATE-ART CARD—Every Bundle also contains 1 foil promo card featuring Bundle-exclusive alternate art, and 10 of the 30 included Basic Land cards feature gorgeous Full Art
- EXCLUSIVE ACCESSORIES—In addition to cards from the set, each Bundle comes with exclusive accessories, including a special die to track your life total and a sturdy box to store everything in
- PLAY A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
Murders at Karlov Manor play boosters and collector boosters are also sold in booster boxes, if you really want to increase your chances at pulling some.
Surveil lands are available in default and borderless treatments, and in both foil and non-foil versions. If you like a specific treatment, search for a single of it though a marketplace like TCGplayer.
- INTRODUCING PLAY BOOSTERS—Get the best of Draft and Set Boosters, combined into one! Play Boosters are great for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of multiple Rares and at least 1 shining foil card in every pack
- TRACK THE CLUES. CRACK THE CASE—Play detective as you collect evidence, don disguises, and identify suspects to decipher the deadly murder mystery at the heart of Ravnica
- PACKS MAY CONTAIN MULTIPLE RARES—Each MKM Play Booster contains 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of a special Borderless Mythic Rare card from Magic’s history
- SHINING FOIL CARD IN EVERY PACK—Every Play Booster contains 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also find a Traditional Foil Land card (which may even be Full-Art!)
- MAY CONTAIN ART CARDS, A PLAY BOOSTER EXCLUSIVE—Now found only in Play Boosters, some packs also contain an Art Card showcasing a piece of art from the Murders at Karlov Manor set, sometimes with a foil signature from the artist
Wrap Up
Doppelgang | Illustration by Chris Rallis
And that’s the book on the MKM surveil lands! I think they fit neatly into the theme of MKM without being shoved into our hands like the caves from LCI. I love Undercity Sewers to support surveil in Dimir colors, though I understand that some of the others have their place, too.
What do you think of this cycle of surveil lands? Which decks are you do you slot these into? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to, uh, surveil the Draftsim Discord for everything Magic-related!
Go out there and gather some intel!
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