Karlov Manor Guild Leader Variants For Your Collection

Welcome back to another edition of Variant Vault, where I organize Magic: the Gathering card variants by price from most to least expensive to determine which variant is best for you. Today I’ll be solving the mystery of which of the many showcase variants in the recently released Murders at Karlov Manor has excited players most based on market data using the seven guild leader cards from the expansion as my data set. As such I will be discussing showcase variants exclusive to this set or made with this set in mind present with these guild leaders: the invisible ink treatment, the showcase Ravnica City treatment, and the Dossier showcase treatment.

Sorry magnified showcase cards, you are a valid variant with some stellar pieces of art, but the guild leaders cover the most variants across the board and the magnified variants have been relegated to story spotlight cards, which is mostly composed of commons and uncommons. 

The Lists

There are 73 total variants across all the tournament-legal printings available in English-language products of the seven guild leaders featured in Karlov Manor: Aurelia, the Law Above, Lazav, Wearer of Faces, Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact, Rakdos, Patron of Chaos, Teysa, Opulent Oligarch, and Trostani, Three Whispers. I’ll only be discussing the average variant price of the aforementioned invisible ink, Ravnica City, and Dossier treatments from most to least expensive, but for those who want to dig into the nitty-gritty of these card prices, my usual variant tables for each of the seven guild leaders will be at the end of the article. All prices used were gathered from the MTGStocks price database as of 2/13/2024. 

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Karlov Manor Variant Price Averages:

1. Invisible Ink: $19.87

2. Ravnica City Foil: $9.08

3. Dossier Foil: $6.70

4. Ravnica City: $3.63

5. Dossier: $2.28

Most Collectible Variants

The most collectible showcase variant from Markov Manor based solely on price is the invisible ink treatment with an average price of $19.87. But an important caveat to keep in mind is that only the mythic rarity guild leaders have this treatment, so only three of the seven, which does have an impact on the average as these three mythic guild leaders have higher price tags than the other four. 

Even with that caveat, it makes perfect sense that the invisible ink treatment is, on average, the most collectible variant based on price. Invisible ink treatment cards can only be found in collector boosters and only appear at a drop rate of 8.4% according to the Collecting Karlov Manor article published by Wizards of the Coast. The more enlightening answer to this article’s initial question lies in the difference between the averages of the second and third most collectible variants based on price, the foil Ravnica City variant and foil Dossier variant. There’s an average difference of $2.38 between these two variants, and while that might not sound like much, that’s a 26.2% price difference for cards that are functionally identical and variants that appear at an equal rate in booster packs. A similar difference can be seen with their non-foil counterparts as the non-foil Ravnica City showcase variants demand a price tag that is on average 37.2% higher than the non-foil Dossier showcase variants. 

There are a couple possible explanations for this discrepancy, both having to do with artistic preference. The first being that the serialized guild leader cards in Karlov Manor reuse the Ravnica City showcase art and border with the only differences being scarcity, the XXX/250 stamp on the card, and its unique foiling, so perhaps that might add a sense of draw toward the foil Ravnica City treatment that the Dossier treatment does not. The Ravnica City variant is also familiar to players as it was briefly introduced in last year’s March of the Machine. On the other hand, there has been a less than positive reception toward the Dossier showcase treatment due to legibility concerns when it comes to the card’s color identity, since the only indicator of card color on the primarily paper white/brown Dossier cards are thin hints of color on the top and middle of the card. Either way, whether there is a push or pull, the Ravnica City showcase treatment is catching the eyes of more players, which is reflected in the average price.       

Most Affordable Variants

The cheapest showcase variant from Markov Manor based solely on price is the non-foil Dossier variant, with an average price of $2.28. For reference, the cheapest general variant of the Karlov Manor guild leader cards are their standard non-foil versions at an average $1.86, which is expected and, at the end of the day, the difference isn’t all that large. Although due to the aforementioned reasons, the Dossier showcase isn’t resonating with as many players, if this variant’s border and artstyle excite you (Trostani’s is my personal favorite of the card with the Dossier treatment), then the fact that they are cheaper on average is a welcomed plus.  

Case Solved

Thank you so much for reading! If you haven’t already, make sure to give MTGStocks Premium a look for more cool Magic finance stuff. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I’ll see you next time. 

*= Due to the incredibly scarce nature of serialized cards, there is not a large amount of sales data available to draw from and as such prices may not be indicative of current market value.

**=Since Karlov Manor promo packs and foil promo packs have not circulated through the market yet at time of writing and as a result there is not a sizable amount of sales data for many of the promo pack variants and for some of them I had to estimate on average based on what sales data was available. Prices listed for promo pack variants may not be indicative of current market value.

Aurelia, The Law Above Variant Prices:

Lazav Wearer of Faces Variant Prices:

Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact Variant Prices:

Rakdos, Patron of Chaos Variant Prices:

Teysa, Opulent Oligarch Variant Prices:

Trostani, Three Whispers Variant Prices:

Vannifar, Evolved Enigma Variant Prices: