Murders at Karlov Manor cards have been available for use on Magic Online and MTG Arena for roughly a week, and we are starting to see a lot of innovation with the new cards. In Modern, it appears as though
Leyline of the Guildpact
Leyline of the Guildpact
If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Each nonland permanent you control is all colors.
Lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.
is an all-star in conjunction with
Scion of Draco
Scion of Draco
Domain — This spell costs {2} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
Flying
Each creature you control has vigilance if it's white, hexproof if it's blue, lifelink if it's black, first strike if it's red, and trample if it's green.
. In Pioneer, the presence of
No More Lies
No More Lies
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard.
has made Azorius control even stronger than it already was before.
Where we’ve seen some of the most innovation, though, is in Standard. Today, we are going to highlight an entirely new archetype that arose thanks to a heavily underrated Karlov Manor card:
Worldsoul’s Rage
Worldsoul’s Rage
Worldsoul's Rage deals X damage to any target. Put up to X land cards from your hand and/or graveyard onto the battlefield tapped.
. We’ve seen more efficient cards in the past allow you to put lots of Lands from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped, such as
Splendid Reclamation
Splendid Reclamation
Return all land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
.
While Worldsoul’s Rage does let you put Lands from your hand into play as well, the big difference here is that Worldsoul’s Rage is also a win condition with enough mana in play. It is mana intensive, which is a big reason the card was underhyped during spoiler season. As we will see, however, it can be quite the powerhouse when built around.
Adding Spelunking to the Mix
The big engine that this deck revolves around is the combination of Worldsoul’s Rage and Spelunking. Right off the bat, Spelunking can ramp you, getting you closer towards casting Rage. The real power, though, lies with the second ability that allows all of your Lands to enter the battlefield untapped. Early on, this allows you to cast Rage with X being a small number, then cast another spell afterwards with the new mana you have available.
For instance, it’s quite common to cast Rage for X=4, killing an opposing Creature and putting 4 Lands onto the battlefield untapped thanks to Spelunking. Then with the four untapped Lands, you can cast
Memory Deluge
Memory Deluge
Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast this spell. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Flashback {5}{U}{U} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
to help dig for additional copies of Rage. If you are under a lot of pressure, you can instead cast
Ill-Timed Explosion
Ill-Timed Explosion
Draw two cards. Then you may discard two cards. When you do, Ill-Timed Explosion deals X damage to each creature, where X is the greatest mana value among cards discarded this way.
with the 4 mana available, wiping the board and buying you extra time.
This deck provides a decent blend of ramp and control elements that help you get to the late game with a lot of mana available. The fact that your first copy of Rage helps ramp you towards your second copy and beyond while also removing pesky attackers along the way is a huge deal.
Once you have enough mana at the helm, Rage can eventually be used as a giant
Fireball
Fireball
This spell costs {1} more to cast for each target beyond the first.
Fireball deals X damage divided evenly, rounded down, among any number of targets.
to aim at your opponent’s face and win the game. With access to Spelunking, you can often cast multiple copies of Rage in the same turn, letting you win the game out of nowhere. Add in
Galvanic Iteration
Galvanic Iteration
When you next cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Flashback {1}{U}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
and it becomes even easier to deal a ton of damage all at once.
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Maximizing Worldsoul’s Rage
In order to make sure you always have Lands available in your graveyard, this deck makes great use of Lands like
Cabaretti Courtyard
Cabaretti Courtyard
When this land enters, sacrifice it. When you do, search your library for a basic Mountain, Forest, or Plains card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle and you gain 1 life.
. These Lands allow you to continue to hit your Land drops while also fueling your graveyard for Worldsoul’s Rage. The life buffer is also a nice bonus, especially when you start returning multiple of them at a time to play with Rage. This deck also makes great use of Surveil Lands, since putting excess Lands into the graveyard helps fuel Rage even further.
Beyond that, the Adventure portion of
Picklock Prankster
Picklock Prankster
Flying, vigilance
works double duty, milling over Lands while also digging for Rage in the process. The Adventure part of
Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy
Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy
Flying, vigilance
Whenever Kellan attacks, destroy up to one target artifact. If you controlled that permanent, draw a card.
lets you hit extra Land drops ahead of schedule. Obviously, this is strong with Rage, but being able to cast Memory Deluge or Ill-Timed Explosion on turn 3 can be a game-changer.
Finally, as a way to help buy you time,
Fading Hope
Fading Hope
Return target creature to its owner's hand. If its mana value was 3 or less, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
acts as a cheap form of interaction for problematic cards like
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
. You can also return your own copies of Picklock Prankster when applicable.
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Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths of this deck definitely lie with its incredible late game. This deck thrives off of creating a big mana advantage, then pulling ahead on cards with the likes of Memory Deluge and
Silver Scrutiny
Silver Scrutiny
You may cast this spell as though it had flash if X is 3 or less.
Draw X cards.
. Assuming you can keep the board stabilized, Worldsoul’s Rage provides inevitability in most matchups.
Keeping your opponent’s pressure under control, though, is easier said than done. Ill-Timed Explosion is a great catch-up mechanism, but you won’t always have access to it in the early turns. Even if you set up a turn 4 Ill-Timed Explosion against mono-red aggro, for instance, there’s a good chance that is still too slow. That doesn’t even factor in the presence
Urabrask’s Forge
Urabrask’s Forge
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put an oil counter on this artifact, then create an X/1 red Phyrexian Horror creature token with trample and haste, where X is the number of oil counters on this artifact. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step.
, which gets around board wipes and threatens a ton of damage over the course of a long game.
In a similar sense, Boros aggro can provide a massive clock very quickly. While that deck is a little more vulnerable to board wipes,
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
First strike
Noncreature spells cost {1} more to cast.
or
Invasion of Gobakhan
Invasion of Gobakhan
(As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it's defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.)
When this Siege enters, look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast this way costs {2} more to cast.
can make it tough to resolve one in time. That being said, cards like
End the Festivities
End the Festivities
End the Festivities deals 1 damage to each opponent and each creature and planeswalker they control.
and
Brotherhood’s End
Brotherhood’s End
Choose one —
• Brotherhood's End deals 3 damage to each creature and each planeswalker.
• Destroy all artifacts with mana value 3 or less.
out of the sideboard can absolutely help you steal games. Additionally, this archetype does have its fair share of strong matchups.
Slower decks like Domain ramp or Rakdos midrange can struggle to overcome your mana advantage. Even Esper and Dimir midrange decks that have access to counter magic can be a bit too slow. Not to mention, soft Counterspells like
Make Disappear
Make Disappear
Casualty 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power 1 or greater. When you do, copy this spell and you may choose a new target for the copy.)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {2}.
quickly get outclassed since you will often have enough mana to pay the required tax.
Pick Your Poison
Pick Your Poison
Choose one —
• Each opponent sacrifices an artifact of their choice.
• Each opponent sacrifices an enchantment of their choice.
• Each opponent sacrifices a creature with flying of their choice.
is a solid answer out of the sideboard to
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Flying, ward {1}
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.)
, as well.
Ultimately, this deck’s matchups are a bit polarizing. If you can dodge the hyper-aggressive strategies though, this deck is a great choice. In this sense, this deck seems like a strong metacall at minimum, and certainly one you should respect if you intend to play Standard in the coming weeks.
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