by Johnny Cycles, February 9th, 2024
Welcome to another Murders at Karlov Manor in Commander article! Today I’ll be discussing the cards from Magic’s latest set that should, could, and might could find a home in my Mono Red Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded Commander deck. Before I get to the new cards, here is the decklist for your reference:
Decklist – Mono Red with Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded
| Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded |
Creatures (27)
| Dockside Extortionist |
| Feldon of the Third Path | |
| Goblin Chainwhirler | |
| Seasoned Pyromancer | |
| Atsushi, the Blazing Sky | |
| Pia and Kiran Nalaar | |
| Solemn Simulacrum | |
| Torbran, Thane of Red Fell | |
| Ilharg, the Raze-Boar | |
| Ox of Agonas |
| Hellkite Tyrant | |
| Inferno Titan | |
| Steel Hellkite | |
| Balefire Dragon | |
| Drakuseth, Maw of Flames | |
| Meteor Golem | |
| Spawn of Thraxes | |
| Terror of Mount Velus | |
| Tyrant’s Familiar |
| Bogardan Hellkite | |
| Cityscape Leveler | |
| Utvara Hellkite | |
| Blast-Furnace Hellkite | |
| Phyrexian Triniform | |
| Triplicate Titan | |
| Ancient Stone Idol | |
| Blightsteel Colossus |
Planeswalkers (4)
| Jeska, Thrice Reborn | |
| Chandra, Torch of Defiance | |
| Karn, Scion of Urza | |
| Ugin, the Ineffable |
Artifacts (18)
| Chrome Mox | |
| Jeweled Lotus | |
| Mana Crypt | |
| Expedition Map | |
| Mana Vault | |
| Manifold Key | |
| Arcane Signet | |
| Fellwar Stone | |
| Ruby Medallion | |
| Sundial of the Infinite |
| Mimic Vat | |
| Mirage Mirror | |
| Quicksilver Amulet | |
| The One Ring | |
| Cauldron of Souls | |
| Conjurer’s Closet | |
| Dollhouse of Horrors | |
| Mirrorworks |
Enchantments (7)
| Spiteful Banditry | |
| Blood Moon | |
| Fable of the Mirror-Breaker | |
| Descendants’ Fury | |
| Industrial Advancement | |
| Sneak Attack | |
| Possibility Storm |
Instants (4)
| Wild Magic Surge | |
| Chaos Warp | |
| Valakut Awakening | |
| Savage Beating |
Sorceries (3)
| Jeska’s Will | |
| Star of Extinction | |
| Blasphemous Act |
Lands (36)
| Wasteland | |
| Mountain (24) |
For the full write-up of the deck and its primary gameplan, click here.
Should Be Included
Anzrag’s Rampage
This takes artifact hate to a new level! It is also a card that synergizes really nicely with our strategy of cheating big fatties into play for value. Wiping out our opponent’s mana rocks, Clue tokens, and whatever else they have going on AND putting, say, a Blightsteel Colossus into play can be game over. That it goes back to our hand rather than into exile or the graveyard means we get to cheat it into play the next turn all over again! At first, I had this card in the Could Be Included section, but after thinking more about it, I definitely want to try it out.
Depending on the creature and our board state, we can get up to even more shenanigans involving the creature we cheat into play. We may choose to sacrifice something with a death trigger, like Triplicate Titan, if we have Industrial Advancement on the battlefield and roll the dice again, rather than return it to our hand. Same thing goes for ETB effects and Conjurer’s Closet. If we are in desperate need of a boardwipe and hit Bogardan Hellkite off of Anzrag’s Rampage with Conjurer’s Closet out, we may stack our triggers so that we blink the dragon and do another 5 damage to whatever needs killing. And if we have Mirrorworks out and hit one of our artifact creatures, we will surely want to make a copy of it.
There are drawbacks to this card, of course. First, five mana is a lot, even in our deck that has a lot of fast mana. Second, the cards we exile from our library with Anzrag’s Rampage stay exiled, rather than going on the bottom of our library. I just played against a Teysa, Opulent Oligarch Commander deck and my opponent had quite a few Clue tokens. Throw in cards like Smothering Tithe and Dockside Extortionist and a resolved Anzrag’s Rampage could leave us with no cards in our library. We wouldn’t cast it in this situation, of course, but even exiling 20-30 cards could result in most or all of our finishers going to exile except the one we pick. This is one end of the spectrum that would make Anzrag’s Rampage a dead draw for us. The other end, of course, would be a situation where there are no artifacts on the battlefield. Overall, this card feels designed for Commander and I expect it will see play in a lot of Red decks.
Out: Blood Moon
In: Anzrag’s Rampage
Why? Blood Moon is a hateful card in many people’s minds and it can hurt us just as much as our opponents.
Could Be Included
Case of the Crimson Pulse
This card reminds me of Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker.
I got to his ultimate once when he was Standard legal and it was as powerful as you would expect. Drawing three cards a turn usually is.
Running out of action can be an issue for any deck. Thankfully, Red has no shortage of ways to draw cards, usually attached to discarding something, similar to the unsolved portion of this case.
We already play a variety of ways to gain card advantage, such as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Jeska’s Will, and The One Ring, as well as Seasoned Pyromancer and Ox of Agonas. Case of the Crimson Pulse could be slotted in easily enough to increase our redundancy on this front. It is a powerful way to refill our hand once we’re out of action and therefore could be included in our deck without hurting the power level or consistency. That it isn’t attached to a creature that we can cheat into play can be considered a drawback for us. Furthermore, there will be times when we are unable to play all the cards that we draw.
If you’ve read my other articles on Murders at Karlov Manor, then you’ll have heard this before. I think these cases should be judged on their first ability alone. Is three mana worth discarding a card to draw two? Not even a little. However, I think this case is the exception to my rule. We solve it simply by playing Magic. Running out of cards is not uncommon with this deck; hence all the ways to refill our hand. Furthermore, drawing two extra cards a turn is great incentive to empty our hand. Once our commander is on the battlefield, even our high mana-costing creatures won’t stop us from solving Case of the Crimson Pulse.
Connecting the Dots
A Bomat Courier effect attached to an enchantment? Yes, please! I like this card and think it could be a powerful addition to our deck. For 2 mana, it can come down much sooner than some of our other card advantage spells. Being an enchantment, it is less likely our opponent will get rid of it with spot removal. The drawback, of course, is that we have to attack with creatures if we hope to get any card advantage out of it. This isn’t much of a drawback since we are a deck that is looking to attack with hasty, overpowered creatures that we’ve cheated into play. However, there may be situations in the late-game when we are playing catch-up where we’d much rather draw something like Jeska’s Will over this.
Krenko’s Buzzcrusher
This is the kind of spot land destruction we want to play in a deck like this! Flying and trample attached to an answer to an opponent’s Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx all on a 4/4 body makes this card one of my favorites from the set. Notice, as well, that we don’t have to destroy a land of our own, unless we really need another red source. It’s unlikely we’ll want to cheat this into play for three mana, when it normally costs just four, but it’s nice to have that as an option. Remember, also, that Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded‘s ability can be activated at instant speed, so we can cheat this in on our opponent’s turn to blow up a land and ambush block!
Might Could Be Included
Incinerator of the Guilty
It almost feels blasphemous to exclude the set’s only mono Red dragon from my deck. But, we already play Balefire Dragon, as well as cards like Bogardan Hellkite, Inferno Titan, and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. And while the addition of Planeswalkers as targets for its triggered ability is a nice bonus, the drawback is too steep for us to seriously consider this card. At its best, we’ll boardwipe our opponent, but at its worst, we’ll desperately need a boardwipe effect to stabilize and won’t have enough cards in our graveyard to collect the evidence we need. The times we need a boardwipe the most are in the early turns of the game, meaning there is a good chance we’ll have little to nothing in our graveyard when we cheat this dragon into play.
Still, if you’re looking for another reasonably costed beater with some upside, you might could include this in your deck.
Conclusion
That’s all the cards from Murders and Karlov Manor that I think should, could, and might could be included in my Mono Red Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded Commander deck. Writing about each of these cards makes me want to try all of them out in my build! And, one of the many beautiful things about Magic and Commander is that we can do just that. Let me know in the comments which cards you think should be included! Are you excited about something that didn’t make my list?
Thanks for reading and watching!
