The recent release of Murder at Karlov Manor has given new tools to decks in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and even some potential cards for Legacy, but do you know what else this set has? Commons. The commons from Murders at Karlov Manor look sweet and are sure to impact the Pauper format. I put together my list of cards to nab from the latest Magic set, Murders at Karlov Manor. So, my wonderful reader, I want to share what I’ve got my eye on!
Cards to 100% Grab
Novice Inspector
Calling this Thraben Inspector 5 through 8 feels like downplaying just how impactful this duplicate copy is. At the time of me writing this, MTGGoldfish has Thraben Inspector listed as the 4th most played creature in the format! Pauper has what I find to be a very interesting trait to it. That many staple cards have “bonus” copies floating around: Wrenn’s Resolve and Reckless Impulse, Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast, Deadly Dispute and Fanatical Offering, and countless others. There’s a healthy amount of consistency given to decks to help get their gameplan off the ground. Novice Inspector is another dose of those staple spells.
A few ideas of where this could go:
Affinity decks get to treat these as honorary Artifact Creatures. A recent trend for the archetype has been to splash red for the power of Experimental Synthesizer alongside copies of Glint Hawk for a seemingly endless supply of cards. This splash comes at the cost of playing more tapped lands and aims to play a longer game. It makes sense as the format has adapted to All That Glitters in the format.
However, as new sets come out and players start losing their sights on the deck, leaning back more to a more straightforward “dump my entire hand into play on the first turn” style could be preferable. Getting your extra copies of Thraben Inspector and being able to play more untapped lands will help facilitate that shift once we get there. At the bare minimum it’s worth considering playing a split number of the two different cards to keep your opponent guessing and to play around looming copies of name matters cards like Echoing Truth you might see at FNMs.
White Weenie could replace its copies of Militia Bugler for a minor upgrade. By breaking up the total mana investment into two separate payments for the card advantage, you’re able to have more explosive starts to fuel a quick Battle Screech or Guardians’ Pledge.
Lost Caverns of Ixalan shifted the Orzhov decks of Pauper with Tithing Blade. While this common from Murders at Markov Manor won’t be morphing the deck further, providing more fodder to get crafted, blinked, or sneak in ninjutsu is always welcome.
Boros Synthesizer decks have moved on from playing Rally the Peasants in favor of a more value centric model. This includes playing the aforementioned Experimental Synthesizer as well as copies of Lembas and Barbed Batterfist. However, getting to play more copies of our Inspector/Detective can facilitate similar card advantage while pressuring our opponent with the threat of not only a Rally the Peasants but also fueling more game pieces for Foundry Helix and Makeshift Munitions or the recently printed Sunshot Militia.
Cards to 99% Grab
Extract a Confession
Poor, poor Bogles. Bogles has to be the Pauper deck I love the most that I play the least. It’s an archetype that if you aren’t prepared for it will most likely run you over, especially game one. Up until now the best way to interact was with edict effects, typically Chainer’s Edict and more recently Tithing Blade. The way you would go about counterplaying those cards was through making a creature token or playing a naked Bogle to soak up those edicts but, not anymore.
Extract a Confession will not only ALWAYS get your best suited monster, but it doesn’t even target you as a player as it is each opponent sacrifices. This means we can’t even Dawn Charm ourselves as protection. You’ll have to be extra careful against Swamp mana moving forward if you want to pilot this deck now. Either split your Auras up amongst two different creatures or find a way to phase out your creature in response. Reality Ripple sucks, but the manabases of Bogles decks allow for some flexibility in splash colors from the sideboard if you absolutely need the effect. What we really need is Slip Out the Back to get downshifted! Keep your eyes open for that possibility in the future.
There’s also some utility against the flavors of Terror decks given that we can skirt the Ward mechanic by not targeting the creature, but all edicts give us that. Extract a Confession makes sure we don’t hit a stray Fallaji Archaeologist or Murmuring Mystic token that we care less about. I don’t think the impact will be as big here as it is against Bogles, but it is worth noting. Extract could be a simple one-of for the mirror too since it’s so easy for them to Collect the Evidence needed to off an opposing 5/5.
Demand Answers
Red got a Deadly Dispute variant! Unlike Wrenn’s Resolve and Reckless Impulse, this spell lets us hold on to the cards we find longer. This leads to wanting to play a slower value oriented style of play instead of throwing all our cards on the table. Because of this I imagine that Kuldotha Red isn’t interested, but Boros Synthesizer will be all about it. It would require that deck to shift back to playing more Ichor Wellsprings but that’s hardly a downside.
Being able to pitch a card for Demand Answers frees up deck construction restrictions. There doesn’t always need to be an Artifact Land, a stray Blood token, or a Wellspring laying around to draw more cards. Maybe you have an Ulamog’s Crusher you want to reanimate, a Fiery Temper with Madness, or even a Faithless Looting to flashback. The flexibility of this card helps set it apart from its black counterparts. I expect to see it get played more and more as new interactions emerge from upcoming sets.
Gearbane Orangutan
Manic Vandal has checked out and Gearbane Orangutan has checked in. Okay, so no one was playing Manic Vandal before but oh my Purphoros is this a cool card. In order to fully utilize this card you need to be playing artifacts yourself, ones you don’t mind losing. Fortunately, Pauper is filled to the brim with 2 mana rocks that give you value. I can see Boros Synth decks wanting to find space for these to give them an edge against opposing Artifact decks. Additionally, with reach you can get in the way of various Faeries, Glint Hawks, or Ornithopters.
Cards That Tickle My Brain
Pick Your Poison
Imagine sniping a turn 1 indestructible land with this. Can you see it? Can you feel it? It’s going to be so good. Now imagine drawing this card on turn 2 after your opponent has played a Lembas or something. Ugh. Now when Pick Your Poison is good it is going to be incredibly good and when it is bad, it’s going to be unplayable. Being a Sorcery also means you’re not going to be getting any a-ha moments against an All That Glitters opponent unless they pile it onto something before they could deal lethal damage.
Buuuuut, this card is so flexible that I think that’s where the real strength lies. Here’s a card that can fill a lot of different roles while only taking up a minimal amount of Sideboard slots. Pick Your Poison should be able to find spots in the boards of decks that want to have very minimal sideboarding changes, like combo decks, or decks that want to have a “Learn” board and might be tight on space. A solid flexible common to get from Murders at Karlov Manor.
Deduce
I know I bring up Ichor Wellspring a lot but what if it was an Instant? That’s what I see. What if I were a spells matter deck but also cared about Artifacts? I think of this card in conjunction with Hard Evidence. Getting your Clue token to help Improvise with Metallic Rebuke is neat. I don’t think there’s too much going on right now for this card to be better than actual Artifact options. Additionally, it can be Think Twice for decks that want to cast multiple spells. In the end, its a fair mix of the two and is worth keeping in the back of your mind for future possibilities.
Escape Tunnel
Power creep has come to Evolving Wilds. Now what we have is a card that is asking if you want mana fixing but wouldn’t mind sneaking in a small creature. There used to be the Tireless Tribe combo decks that would pitch their hands to make a 1/20 or something like that and then swap the power and toughness to kill their opponent. That’s a deck that could potentially use this, but I don’t think that’s enough to bring it back to its former glory.
It’s a tool that a Simic Infect deck could want should Invigorate ever get unbanned. This card’s best application is helping you steal the Monarch or the Initiative for a turn. Regardless, Escape Tunnel is one to pick up if you were playing Evolving Wilds anyways.
That’s all the commons from Murders at Karlov Manor that jumped out to me. Did you have any on your list that I missed? If so, message me on Discord or stop by on a Friday Night and join us for Pauper at the Owl Central Game Center.
