by Johnny Cycles, February 3rd, 2024
Murders at Karlov Manor is set to release next Friday and I’m very excited for this murder mystery set in Magic. Clue happens to be my favorite movie, so you can imagine how happy I was to see a semi-crossover with it. Furthermore, after more than a decade of studying, reading, and teaching Russian literature, I’ve started to enjoy less intense fiction, namely thrillers, detectives, and mysteries. Thus, Murders at Karlov Manor hits on a lot of flavor cylinders for me. And that’s not even getting to the actual cards from the set yet!
Today I’m looking at the cards from Murders at Karlov Manor that should, could, and might could (Southern for maybe) be slotted in my 4-Color Omnath, Locus of Creation decks, both non-budget and budget. I’ll include the current decklists for both before each section for reference. I hope you enjoy the video! Let me know in the comments what new cards you’re most excited about!
A quick note about pricing in regards to our budget cards. All cards fluctuate in price, but newly released cards tend to lose value within the first few weeks of release, except for whatever chase cards people need for their decks. There are always mythics and rares that maintain or increase in value, but the large majority of cards drop from their prerelease price. That being said, I’m not including any cards in my budget section that are currently over $1. However, there are cards currently over budget that will likely drop below a $1, so I would recommend paying attention to any of the cards in the non-budget section so as to know which cards you want to watch carefully over the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading and watching!
Note: I got about halfway through the video when I realized my computer wasn’t catching the different pictures I was clicking on of the cards I discuss. For the most part, this isn’t an issue, as images of each card are still visible in the article as I talk about them. However, with Case of the Locked Hothouse and Krenko’s Buzzcrusher, the screen doesn’t line up fully with my commentary. My apologies.
Decklist – 4-Color Landfall Combo with Omnath Locus of Creation
| Omnath, Locus of Creation |
Creatures (30)
| Hedron Crab | |
| Ruin Crab | |
| Sakura-Tribe Scout | |
| Llanowar Scout | |
| Lotus Cobra | |
| Augur of Autumn | |
| Azusa, Lost but Seeking | |
| Courser of Kruphix | |
| Dryad of the Ilysian Grove |
Planeswalkers (1)
| Wrenn and Six |
Artifacts (1)
| Crucible of Worlds |
Enchantments (6)
| Exploration | |
| Retreat to Coralhelm | |
| Felidar Retreat | |
| Retreat to Emeria | |
| Divine Visitation | |
| Zendikar’s Roil |
Instants (9)
| Enlightened Tutor | |
| Worldly Tutor | |
| Eladamri’s Call | |
| Chord of Calling | |
| Deflecting Swat | |
| Fierce Guardianship | |
| Harrow | |
| Roiling Regrowth | |
| Teferi’s Protection |
Sorceries (8)
| Banefire | |
| Life from the Loam | |
| Far Wanderings | |
| Skyshroud Claim | |
| Splendid Reclamation | |
| Tempt with Discovery | |
| Hour of Promise | |
| Primal Command |
Lands (44)
Arid Mesa
Azorius Chancery
Blighted Woodland
Bloodstained Mire
Boros Garrison
Breeding Pool
Boseiju, Who Endures
Fabled Passage
Field of the Dead
Field of Ruin
Flooded Strand
Gruul Turf
Hallowed Fountain
Izzet Boilerworks
Krosan Verge
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Myriad Landscape
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Polluted Delta
Reliquary Tower
Sacred Foundry
Scalding Tarn
Selesnya Sanctuary
Simic Growth Chamber
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Temple Garden
Verdant Catacombs
Vesuva
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
Forest (3)
Island (2)
Mountain (3)
Plains (3)
Non-Budget – Should be Added
Undergrowth Recon
A repeatable way to make an additional land drop every turn is exactly where we want to be at with Omnath, Locus of Creation. Undergrowth Recon synergizes extremely well with fetch lands, land destruction, and the Horizon Canopy lands.
Returning a fetch land every turn is our current build’s best use of this card. However, Undergrowth Recon does incentivize us to tweak our mana base to make room for, at the very least, the Horizon Canopy cycle of cards. It is a strict upgrade to Crucible of Worlds in Green decks, as the land we return doesn’t count as our land drop for the turn.
Undergrowth Recon gives our Omnath deck one more way to make our graveyard an extension of our hand in order to trigger our landfall shenanigans as many times as possible. We currently play 6 cards that allow us to either play or return lands from our graveyard. Increasing the redundancy of this effect will make our deck more powerful and consistent.
Case of the Locked Hothouse
We play 6 cards that have a similar line of text as the first part of this case (the unsolved part, I suppose it’s called). We have 4 cards that let us play lands from the top of our library, 1 that lets us play creatures, and none that let us play enchantments from the top. Given how many of our synergies rely on enchantments, this is a powerful effect.
I’ve gone back and forth on this card, to be honest. When I first read it, I thought it was an auto-include. Breaking it down in more detail and taking into account that it is a 4-mana spell, I began thinking it wouldn’t be good enough. Now, however, I’m back on finding a spot for it. Yes, 4 mana is a lot just to gain an effect that may not do anything. How often do you have extra lands in your hand by turn 4? And yes, getting to 7 lands to solve the case to gain the real prize is getting close to the late game, even in Commander. But I think rather than this card being misleadingly good, it is actually more powerful than it first appears in a deck like ours.
In a landfall deck, playing multiple lands in a turn is the primary gameplan and our primary win condition. We really, really, really want ways to play more than one land every single turn of the game. We play a lot of lands and ways to return lands to our hand for this very reason. Furthermore, without making multiple land drops in a single turn, we are essentially durdling with underpowered creatures and enchantments. In many of the games I’ve lost with this deck, it is our inability to make more than one land drop after our landfall pieces are in place that have cost me the game.
These effects also stack, turning a single bounce land in hand into 3, 4, or even 5 land drops. With just a few of our landfall pieces in play, having an additional way to make an extra land drop every turn will take us from gaining incremental value to running away with the game.
For these reasons, Case of the Locked Hothouse is a great addition to this deck. I can see spending the first few turns of the game setting up our pieces, drawing this card, and solving it the turn it comes down or, at the very latest, the turn after. And honestly, in many games we won’t even care if its solved or not. It’s the unsolved part of the case that will win us games. The rest is gravy.
Could Be Added
Aftermath Analyst
I like this card a lot, but I like it especially for my budget deck, which is sorely in need of ways to return land cards from the graveyard. Still, even in our non-budget build, returning a bunch of lands from our graveyard once we’ve resolved several landfall pieces can be game-ending.
Might Could Be Added
Escape Tunnel
An Evolving Wilds with upside. I don’t see us playing this card in our non-budget build. However, if you need a budget option for lands, since they are some of the most expensive cards in any multi-colored deck, and you have a way to abuse the card’s second part, then I could see finding room for it.
Krenko’s Buzzcrusher
The body and evasion on this Insect Thopter is not irrelevant, particularly as we have ways to grow creatures. This makes trample all the more important.
That giant block of text below the two key words is what really makes this card worth considering for our deck. Sure, another way to answer an opponent’s Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is powerful, but when we couple it with our own landfall shenanigans, then attach all that to a 4/4 flier with trample…now we have a card we might could find a spot for.
We already have reasons to find room for Flagstones of Trokair, but Krenko’s Buzzcrusher gives us even more incentive. Taking out our opponent’s best land while fetching up two of our own is a win-win. I really like this card and hope it’s overlooked enough to keep it under $1,
Decklist – Budget 4-Color Landfall Combo with Omnath, Locus of Creation
| Omnath, Locus of Creation |
Creatures (31) + 2 mfdcs
| Oran-Rief Hydra | |
| Phabine, Boss’s Confidant | |
| Phylath, World Sculptor | |
| Rampaging Baloths | |
| Cragplate Baloth |
| Pearl Lake Ancient | |
| Plated Crusher | |
| Simic Sky Swallower | |
| End-Raze Forerunners |
Artifacts (1)
| Seer’s Sundial |
Enchantments (7)
| Impact Tremors | |
| Roar of Resistance | |
| Fires of Yavimaya | |
| Oblivion Ring | |
| Retreat to Coralhelm | |
| Valakut Exploration | |
| Retreat to Emeria |
Instants (7)
| Abrade | |
| Disdainful Stroke | |
| Growth Spiral | |
| Oblation | |
| Roiling Regrowth | |
| Dismiss | |
| Eureka Moment |
Sorceries (14) + 1 mfdc
| Reclaim the Wastes | |
| Explore | |
| Mizzium Mortars | |
| Far Wanderings | |
| Grow from the Ashes | |
| Scale the Heights | |
| Sylvan Awakening | |
| Explosive Vegetation | |
| Migration Path | |
| Splendid Reclamation |
| Vastwood Surge | |
| Burn at the Stake | |
| Echoing Equation (mfdc) | |
| Overrun | |
| Tromp the Domains |
Lands (40) + 1 mfdc
Azorius Chancery
Blighted Woodland
Boros Garrison
Botanical Plaza
Brokers Hideout
Cabaretti Courtyard
Evolving Wilds
Gruul Turf
Izzet Boilerworks
Kazandu Valley (mfdc)
Maestros Theater
Myriad Landscape
Obscura Storefront
Promising Vein
Racers’ Ring
Riveteers Overlook
Selesnya Sanctuary
Simic Growth Chamber
Skybridge Towers
Temple of Abandon
Temple of Enlightenment
Temple of Epiphany
Temple of Mystery
Temple of Plenty
Temple of Triumph
Terramorphic Expanse
Forest (5)
Island (2)
Mountain (3)
Plains (4)
Budget – Should Be Added
Aftermath Analyst
We only play 2 cards that let us return lands from our graveyard (Splendid Reclamation and Perennial Behemoth), so the addition of Aftermath Analyst gives us a little bit more much needed redundancy on this front.
Escape Tunnel
We already play Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse and Escape Tunnel is a strict upgrade to both of those.
Krenko’s Buzzcrusher
See above for why I think this card is so powerful in an Omnath deck. The biggest caveat with Krenko’s Buzzcrusher is that it’s a rare and so likely to stay above $1 for the foreseeable future (it’s currently right at $1 on at least one website). I don’t fancy myself a great predictor of which cards will jump in price (I may have a binder with 20 or so copies of Volatile Arsonist…), but rares from new sets don’t typically drop below $1 until a few weeks after release. Also, I can see this card seeing enough play in Standard and Commander to keep it in the $2-$3 range for the long term.
Could Be Added
They Went This Way
Even in our budget build, 3 mana to fetch up a single land is a bit much. We play cards like Grow from the Ashes and Roiling Regrowth that have more upside. However, I could see including They Went This Way if you’re looking for more card draw or have an artifact matters subtheme.
Might Could Be Added
Fae Flight and Airtight Alibi
Combat tricks that protect our commander and have an upside? Sounds great! I tend not to play too many such cards, hoping to stick my commander eventually or win without it, but I could see finding room for these enchantments in our budget build. They are great at protecting whatever our biggest threat is, as well. Of the two, I like Fae Flight better, as it’s more reasonably priced and gives the creature flying. Be mindful, of course, that hexproof isn’t indestructible and so will do nothing against sweepers, but we are on a budget after all.
Conclusion
Those are the cards I think should, could, and might could be added to my Omnath, Locus of Creation decks. Now comes the hard part…finding room for the new additions! I’ll wait until I open the set to see if I get what I need before making any changes. However, in both decks, I’ll either cut from the cards I’ve already identified as the first to go, or I’ll trim from combo pieces that have more redundancy than the ones I’m adding.
Which cards do you think we should make room for? Which cards from Murders at Karlov Manor are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for watching and reading! If you enjoyed this article/video, let me know as it’s the first of its kind on my site.
