New Cards for Commander From Murders at Karlov Manor

Getting a Clue

Welcome back for another History, Restapled, a Commander-focused column that attempts to validate a newer card’s status as a staple by looking at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially.

Clue is in the air! And, Clues are in the air! Murders at Karlov Manor releases later this week, and the majority of listed prices on the set’s singles are grossly off base. My favorite part of previews, though, is going through the cheap cards and discovering whatever seems way underpriced despite existing only slightly adjacent to the hype. Murders at Karlov Manor is full of these sorts of beauties, so let’s dive in.

Wojek Investigator

As far as white card draw goes, Wojek Investigator is pretty weak—slow, a bit awkward, and requiring additional mana investment. Yet, the card is well priced mana-wise, and contains a number of strong stat lines. Three mana for a 2/4 flying, angelic blocker who can free-roll attacks each turn represents a fairly resilient roleplayer. I’ve also grown my appreciation for Clues in Commander, along the lines of wanting every game action to be at instant speed. With so many new cards being printed that trigger off a player’s second draw a turn, or something like Orcish Bowmasters that can punish people at instant speed itself, controlling the timing of your draw can be a game-changer.

Wojek Investigator is currently sitting at $1 as its prerelease price, which is comparable to similar, existing cards like Angelic Sleuth and Bygone Bishop. However, cheap white creatures that straight-up draw you cards are mostly far more expensive, with Archivist of Oghma at $5, Master of Ceremonies at $5, and Bennie Bracks, Zoologist at $17 (hopefully dropping alongside its reprint in the upcoming Karlov Manor precons). I could see Wojek Investigator slotting somewhere between the low and high ends, price-wise, and occupying a spot just outside of stapledom.

STATUS: Second-tier staple in the making

Wojek Investigator	CardKingdom $0.79	TCGPlayer $2.00
Wojek Investigator (Showcase)	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $2.75

Outrageous Robbery

One of my favorite ways to play Commander is at instant speed, waiting until the last possible second to do anything that might cast suspicion on my motives or elevate my threat level. Outrageous Robbery supports those intentions and introduces an even greater surprise factor. As a source of burst card draw, the rate it offers is pretty good, especially in black, and subverts the usual play-from-exile timing clauses that accompany so many others. It’s also pretty versatile: three mana gets you the spell someone placed on top from a Mystical Tutor; more gets you a decently sized pile of cards that doesn’t count towards your hand size, made up of roughly one-third lands.

A few considerations are in order, though. Most Commander players don’t love having their own spells played against them. There’s a great chance the synergies present in an opponent’s deck won’t jibe with anything your deck is trying to do. You still have to pay the mana to cast the cards; Villainous Wealth, it is not. Still, Outrageous Robbery has a pretty high ceiling and only a modestly low floor, and is quite likely to rise at least a few dollars from its current prerelease price as a bulk rare.

STATUS: Potential mid-level staple, but more testing required

Outrageous Robbery

CardKingdom

TCGPlayer $1.90

Anzrag's Rampage

In a recent video by Tolarian Community College, the Professor, in a script written by the great Jesse Robkin, who I’m grateful to call a friend, pointed out that Anzrag’s Rampage is, essentially, a strict upgrade to Vandalblast, a $3 card as compared to the $0.50 price Anzrag’s Rampage currently commands. What the latter lacks in its ability to target a single artifact it more than makes up for by letting players windmill-slam a huge, haste-y threat that gets bounced back to their hand at end of turn. I’d call that a much bigger upside.

Don’t worry about the fact that it exiles all of the cards you can’t, or choose not to, put on the battlefield. If you’re knocking out 10-12 artifacts at a time and digging deep for an Etali, Primal Storm, the game’s probably about to end.

STATUS: New red staple

Anzrag's Rampage

CardKingdom

TCGPlayer $1.00

Krenko's Buzzcrusher

This one is a bit more speculative. Hate for nonbasic lands is essential, but not in massive quantities. And a 4/4 flying trampler for four mana is nice, but not exceptional, especially for an artifact creature susceptible to two types of hate. But Krenko’s Buzzcrasher is most noteworthy for what it doesn’t include: the word “target.” Once its ETB ability goes off, players can’t activate the chosen land in response. Hexproof lands like Lotus Field can still be destroyed. And, the person who casts Buzzcrasher doesn’t have to declare what they want to destroy until after resolution. I’m not convinced Krenko’s Buzzcrasher has enough upside to warrant inclusion when a Demolition Field or Wasteland accomplishes the same thing with very little downside, but the effect’s wording is unique enough that an increase in price from $0.75 to a few dollars is inevitable.

STATUS: To be determined, but optimism exists

Krenko's Buzzcrusher

CardKingdom

TCGPlayer $0.92

Buzz Kill?

How is everyone feeling about Murders at Karlov Manor, specifically the Clue-themed cards Wizards is printing? Are they cool enough to elevate the hype behind Universes Beyond or kind of a bust? Mastermind Plum (Borderless), Headliner Scarlett (Borderless) and Apothecary White (Borderless) seem like strong roleplayers, but I suppose some mystery hangs over our heads…

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