The MTG Murders at Karlov Manor spoilers are flowing, as the set’s debut video released January 16 kicks off spoiler season proper. Already, we’ve seen lots of legendary creatures from the set, including familiar faces – characters like Krenko, Teysa Karlov, and Massacre Girl – as well as some new folks, like lizard scientist Kylox.
Here are some of the coolest legendary creature cards from this first wave of spoilers. It’s hard not to brainstorm MTG Commander decks for each of these:
First up we have the new Teysa card: Teysa, Opulent Oligarch. This human advisor has you Investigate (create a clue) for each opponent who lost life on your turn, and can create a flying token each time a Clue is sacrificed (the dreaded ‘once per turn’ clause rears its ugly head, however). That seems like a whole lot of value for just three mana.
Then we have Massacre Girl, Known Killer, whose card name and flavor text is likely to be among the best of this MTG set. She gives creatures wither, letting them inflict damage as -1/-1 counters. And she draws you cards whenever creatures die from having no toughness, encouraging you to kill stuff with withering combat (or effects like Dead Weight).
The new Trostani card – Trostani, Three Whispers – is a simple one, but it presents intriguing opportunities. It has three activated abilities that can grant three different keywords to your creatures. The cheapest is vigilance, but you also get some rather unusual abilities for the Selesnya MTG color combination: double strike, and deathtouch. Having Trostani on the field and mana open is going to make combat an absolute travesty for your opponents.
Judith is looking unusually relaxed for a so-called Carnage Connoisseur. Her card has no chill, however. We can’t see this five mana creature being efficient enough for Standard, but she’s a nasty spell slinging Commander, giving spells deathtouch and lifelink to wipe boards and heal you up, and making imp tokens that deal two damage to all opponents when they die.
MTG goblin fans, you have a new Krenko to enjoy! This time, Krenko, Baron of Tin Street is getting into the artifact business. He can tap to sac an artifact and pump up your whole board of goblins, and can make hasty goblins if you pay a red mana when an artifact (including your opponents’) is destroyed. With cheap, even zero-cost artifacts like Ornithopter available, we anticipate him leading lightning fast aggressive decks.
Kylox, Visionary Inventor is a seven mana creature, but he seems likely to end the game the turn you play him. He comes in with haste, menace, and MTG ward 2 for protection, and when he attacks, you get to sacrifice your whole board and then play a bunch of instant and sorcery spells off the top of your library for free.
It’s definitely noticeable how Commander-focused these spoilers seem to be. While some look like they could have a place in the best MTG Arena decks, the majority are more likely to find themselves in the command zone, leading the 99. For better or for worse, effects that scale with the number of opponents in the game seems to be the new normal for legendary creatures. It certainly makes EDH deck building more straightforward.
Check out our MTG Murders at Karlov Manor guide for more details on the upcoming set. And for all the other sets coming out this year, check out our MTG release schedule page.
Source: Wargamer
