Metagame: First Week of Murders at Karlov Manor

The new expansion for Magic: The Gathering, Murders at Karlov Manor, has finally arrived. Available since the beginning of last week, the set's cards have already begun to demonstrate their impact and the changes they can bring to the competitive Metagame - from Standard to Legacy.

Check out, in this article, the main news that the set brought to the game through last weekend's tournaments, with the Magic Online Challenges and the Regional Championships!

The Rise of Boros Convoke

Murders at Karlov Manor brought some additions to Standard, with most of them prevailing on a rising archetype already known in Pioneer, Boros Convoke.

Boros Convoke already presented itself in Standard as a viable option for Best of One matches in Magic Arena, where its efficient clock and powerful threats allowed it to quickly win any match in which the opponent took too long to establish their game plan, while also offering enough bodies and blockers to hold Mono Red Aggro.

With the new expansion, the deck solidifies in the Best of Three and gains even more consistency in the Best of One. After all, Novice Inspector adds another one-drop to sequence with Gleeful Demolition and Knight-Errant of Eos.

In addition to another creature, this archetype also received more support to establish a clock with Case of the Gateway Express operating as removal and pump in a single card, and Warleader's Call as anthem and extra reach.

In the bigger picture, Boros Convoke appears to be Standard's biggest winner with Murders at Karlov Manor, but its presence will depend on how viable it can remain when the Metagame adapts against it.

No More Lies and the return of Control

No More Lies seems to give Control a good reason to be played in Standard. After disappearing from the Metagame last season due to Domain Ramp and its inevitability, players took the opportunity to test the new counterspell on Bant and Azorius variants, which they also received an efficient finisher with Ezrim, Agency Chief.

Cryptic Coat: True-Name Nemesis meets Pack Rat

While it had no significant appearances in this weekend's tournaments, Cryptic Coat was the most discussed card of the week.

The artifact received little attention during spoiler season due to the lack of practice players had with the new mechanic, Cloak, but as the artifact was tested on different archetypes, its ability to dominate attrition games became more evident.

The moment it comes into play, Cryptic Coat guarantees an efficient board position with a 3/2 that protects itself and cannot be blocked. If the creature is destroyed, we can equip the artifact to another, or use its second ability to create another 3/2 creature.

This loop also ensures that all the top cards become a five-mana threat if you return the artifact to your hand and cast it again, making players compare it to a mix of True-Name Nemesis and Pack Rat, turning it into a potential staple on Standard and other formats in the coming weeks.

While it didn't bring any broken strategies like Lost Caverns of Ixalan did, Karlov Manor added some important cards to the Pioneer Metagame.

A New Arsenal for Niv-to-Light

The biggest winner of the format with the expansion was certainly Niv to Light, which not only received excellent early game interactions with Lightning Helix and No More Lies but also gained a dozen utility cards : Ill-Timed Explosion, Urgent Necropsy, Deadly Cover-Up and Analyze the Pollen.

Deadly Cover-Up also appeared on the Sideboard of other strategies in the format this weekend, consolidating its place as an efficient sweeper capable of dealing with problematic combos.

New Tools for Indomitable Creativity

While everyone already expected Deduce to enter Indomitable Creativity decks, the archetype gained another enabler with Intrude on the Mind, a Fact or Fiction that also offers another body on the battlefield, increasing consistency to finish the combo.

Galvanize was another important feature for the archetypes in Pioneer as a tool for dealing with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and other high toughness creatures.

Improvements for Azorius Control

In addition to the already notable No More Lies and its obvious inclusion in Azorius Control, this strategy also leveraged Deduce as an improved Think Twice, in addition to the inclusion of Meticulous Archive, from which it has no problems running since it doesn't care so much about lands that come into play tapped and can extract good value from them with Dig Through Time and Memory Deluge.

An Charm for Lotus Combo

While everyone was looking at Archdruid's Charm's potential to bring Mono Green Devotion back, Lotus Combo took the lead and implemented the new spell into their lists to fetch Lotus Field or Thespian's Stage with greater speed and consistency.

Archdruid’s Charm is also an excellent maindeck option to deal with the main hate spells that Lotus Combo usually receives in post-sideboard games like Damping Sphere, Deafening Clarion and Alpine Moon. Therefore, it is very it will become a staple of this archetype.

If in doubt, Mono Red Aggro

Mono Red Aggro remains an excellent option for an unprepared Metagame where players are experimenting with cards from a new expansion. It was no different in the Pioneer Showcase Challenge, where MJ_12 achieved an excellent result with his new version of the deck.

This version takes advantage of its one-drops and combat tricks through two new additions: Fugitive Codebreaker and Connecting the Dots.

The enchantment allows using creatures' attacks to accumulate resources in it and crack it a few turns later, when your hand is empty, to draw five or more cards, becoming a powerful value engine alongside a low mana curve.

Fugitive Codebreaker also offers long-term card advantage while being an aggressive two-drop that we can take advantage of with Monstrous Rage and other noncreature spells.

A Case for Izzet Ensoul

Just like Kenku Artificer in Pauper, Case of the Filched Falcon stood out in Izzet Ensoul by transforming an artifact into a creature and giving it evasion with Flying. Alongside Diamond Pick-Axe or Darksteel Citadel, the new enchantment offers a powerful clock.

Gleaming Geardrake also gained space in Ensoul lists for similar reasons: alongside Ensoul Artifact or Zoetic Glyph, the creature becomes a four-turn clock against the opponent, forcing them spending removals to deal with it while hoping its controller doesn't respond with Stubborn Denial,

Scion of Draco is Broken

There's a saying in Magic: The Gathering that we should all respect during spoiler seasons: never underestimate a free spell. It can do absurd things that you can't even imagine until they happen - this is the case with the recent Leyline of the Guildpact, which made Scion of Draco one of the most powerful creatures in the format.

By transforming all lands into all types and giving all colors to creatures, Leyline of the Guildpact allows you to cast Scion of Draco as early as the second turn and transform it and any other creature in play into a threat with a literal keyword soup, establishing a virtually unbeatable board.

Domain Zoo was the obvious first archetype to take advantage of this interaction. After all, it already naturally wants all land types in play to amplify the power of Territorial Kavu and Nishoba Brawler, in addition to already running Scion of Draco in most lists, but another archetype seems to have benefited more from this combo:

Cascade decks had already solidified themselves as one of Modern's best options following Fury's ban. With its restrictive mana costs, it has no problem giving up certain cards in favor of even more explosive turns with Scion of Draco, in addition to making the Crashing Footfalls tokens even more threatening.

Domain Cascade was the archetype that stood out the most in both the Challenges and the Regional Championships that took place this weekend, where it had a winrate of 62%, having many balanced or positive matchups, and few bad matches.

Creativity Returns

Domain Cascade's main bad match this first week was against Five-Color Creativity, an archetype that has been declining since the release of The One Ring and has been returning to the Metagame since last season.

While Scion of Draco is quite threatening next to Leyline of the Guildpact, it is not unbeatable, and Creativity has all the resources to disrupt both of their plans: Teferi, Time Raveler is a gigantic headache for the archetype, while Archon of Cruelty becomes the perfect threat for players who rely on Hexproof to protect their creatures.

Surveil Lands stand out in Modern

It's a bit surprising, but Surveil Lands made more of an impact on Modern than on Pioneer or even Standard in the first post-Karlov Manor results, being present as one-ofs in a wide array of lists.

Although they are not cards that the player naturally wants to draw, the surveil duals can be found with Fetch Lands, and while the fact that they come into play tapped seems like a big disadvantage, the possibility of filtering the top and adding a key card and/or fueling Delve makes it an excellent initial land drop, especially for lists that don't usually do something on the first turn.

From what the results indicate, Surveil Lands should remain present in Temur Rhinos to add a little more consistency and serve to feed the archetype's plan B with Murktide Regent.

Does Cryptic Coat have a place in Modern?

Cryptic Coat made a few appearances in Modern. In addition to its obvious inclusion as part of the Stoneforge Mystic toolbox in Hammer Time, the artifact found space in the Izzet Murktide's sideboard.

What about Insidious Roots?

Considered the best card of the set for Modern, Insidious Roots had an insignificant presence in the weekend's events, with some Golgari Yawgmoth lists running it as a one-of, and with a greater presence in Asmo Food, which didn't have good results.

Domain Rhinos makes Top 8 at Legacy

In addition to its impressive results in Modern, Domain Rhinos was present in the Top 8 of one of this week's Legacy Challenge events, where it takes advantage of the same core as its Modern counterpart while having efficient answers to the format's Metagame with Force of Will and Force of Negation.

It's not surprising that a Crashing Footfalls archetype made Top 8 in Legacy, given that the deck has some popularity in the format, but the result of Domain's version in Legacy could serve as a warning for Modern's future

Surveil Lands in Legacy

Surveil Lands also appeared in Legacy under the same utility perspective as they were used in Modern. Here, decks like Beanstalk Control and Reanimator take advantage of a copy of Undercity Sewers to fuel key cards in their strategy.

A new Inspector for Pauper!

Boros Synthesizer was the big winner in Murders at Karlov Manor. The addition of Novice Inspector made it more consistent in its interactions with artifacts, which were enhanced with the inclusion of Demand Answers as a replacement for Deadly Dispute for the archetype.

The new inspector also found a home in Azorius Affinity, increasing the number of creatures on the list, as well as amplifying its interactions with Moon-Circuit Hacker.

Having another one-drop helps Affinity in several factors, from having another blocker against red decks to amplifying the number of Humans to Of One Mind. Therefore, it is expected that this will become the deck's default list in the future.

Escape Tunnel and Inside Out

The Tribe Combo, or Inside Out, has had very sporadic results on Pauper since Gush and Daze were banned. The interaction with Whiteout is still excellent, but it doesn't guarantee everything the strategy requires.

Escape Tunnel doesn't seem to offer what Inside Out needs to finally return to the competitive scene, but it's attractive enough to make players try new ideas with one of the format's most traditional combos.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for reading!