MTG’s Mike Turian discusses building Magic’s first-ever murder mystery set

We got to chat with Wizard’s Product Architect on MTG Murders at Karlov Manor’s design. We go through new mechanics, the set’s best creatures, drafting, and more.

2024 is already looking like an exciting, impactful year for Magic: The Gathering. Hotly-anticipated new planes like Outlaws of Thunder Junction and Bloomburrow are yet to be released, and 2024’s first premier set has just hit the shelves: Murders at Karlov Manor. 

This murder mystery-themed MTG set treads new ground for Magic, reinventing the fan-favorite plane of Ravnica in a flurry of clues and chaos. 

We had the chance to ask Mike Turian – former MTG pro player and current Product Architect – some questions about the set design of Murders at Karlov Manor. Turian’s insight into the set and its mechanics are hugely illuminating for MTG fans eager for the scoop on the work that goes into their favorite TCG. 

Mike Turian discusses MTG Murders at Karlov Manor

We were curious about the return to Ravnica, as the plane was last properly seen in 2019’s War of the Spark. How did Wizards conclude to use the popular plane for something fairly new in the world of Magic?

Turian elaborated:

“As we explored what the backdrop would be for our first murder mystery set, one thing that became clear was that revisiting an existing plane would benefit the story and the set.

“By revisiting Ravnica, that allowed us to include familiar characters that were both beloved by players and also able to build off of and enhance their existing backstory.”

Murders at Karlov Manor: New and returning mechanics

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Murders at Karlov Manor introduces new mechanics – as with every MTG set – but one in particular caught our eye. The new mechanic, Disguise, is essentially a rework of the previous ability, Morph.

Turian explained that the older mechanic hasn’t “kept up” with where Magic cards are currently at in terms of power levels. With significant power creep since its original debut, Turian pointed out how Wizards designed around it:

“There were a couple of factors that led us to introduce Disguise and Cloak, rather than stick with the Morph mechanic.

“From a gameplay perspective, Morph, having been introduced over 20 years ago, hasn’t kept up with the typical power level of a Magic card so adding Ward 2 just helped make the new cards more in line with what you would expect to play for 3-mana in today’s Magic.”

Ward is a newer ability in MTG, which protects cards with an additional cost. This can be anything from sacrificing a creature, or in Disguise’s case, just paying an additional two mana.

Turian also pointed out that sticking with the original Morph didn’t fit the flavor of the world they built:

“Additionally, from a flavor perspective, the word Morph didn’t really capture the vibe we were going for here while Cloak and Disguise are so spot on.”

In discussing returning mechanics, we wondered if there was an intent to foreground Investigation and Clues. Not only because they make such a thematic fit, but also to bring the tokens up to par with recent boosts to Treasure and Food:

“Investigation was a great mechanic to return here and gave us a chance to revisit Clue tokens.

“You can see that in the main set of Murders at Karlov Manor, in the Commander Decks, and in the Ravnica: Clue Edition product.

“We’ve enhanced what can be done with Clues. Both in offering Clues as a subtype on cards like Red Herring and in giving bonuses for sacrificing Clues.”

Turian does say that the “ability to take existing cards and mechanics” to make entirely new cards “make you totally reevaluate” deckbuilding. This, he says, is what “makes Magic a great game”.

The Case is cracked

Not only are new mechanics on the table in Murders at Karlov Manor but so too is a whole new card type: Cases. With them having been very warmly received by the player base so far, we asked Turian if Cases were designed with the intent to recur, or if the focus was more on their performance within their debut set:

“Anytime we debut a new mechanic, we are always both considering what is the best thing to do for the present set while also considering future applications.

“With Cases, we iterated on the idea for a number of years with different flavors and mechanics before finally arriving at the way that Cases finally came out.”

Turian is obviously pleased that Cases have been warmly received by the community:

“I’m glad that people are loving the Cases we have made and if that continues, we will look for the right place to have them return. At the same time, we work on our sets for many years in advance, so the future is currently a mystery of its own!”

Creating Creatures and Commanders

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In addition to the set’s core mechanics, we were keen to get some insight into its Creature and Commander design. Anzrag, the Quake-Mole is a standout example of Murders at Karlov Manor’s Creatures and a formidable Commander to boot.

With the community ever worried about power creep and stagnant metas, we questioned Turian if Anzrag was a result of the MTG team pushing for more powerful card designs:

“One of the great things about making Magic is finding new ways to create exciting card designs that haven’t been done before.

“With Anzrag, the Quake-Mole, the team created an amazing Mole God that you certainly want to find ways to deal with that most likely aren’t blocking with a tiny creature.

“With Standard having grown to a three-year rotation, and Commander being our most popular format, the team is always wanting to push the boundaries in ways that are fun and makes for good, interactive gameplay.

“To me, a card like Anzrag really hits on those notes well and that is something that the Magic design team will continue to strive for.”

Drafting the Guilds

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Finally, we were keen to get some insight into Murders at Karlov Manor’s Draft format. We noticed that Boros stood out somewhat compared to the other guilds’ playstyles.

We asked Turian what the thought process was behind having Boros stick to a tried-and-true red-white playstyle, as opposed to delving deeper into one of the set’s new mechanics:

“As Boros is my favorite guild, I am certainly a fan of Boros going with a classic red-white strategy of attacking!

“When the team maps out the draft strategies, I think striking a balance between all ten draft themes and the set themes is often a puzzle on its own.

“With Disguise already playing into having creatures, it made sense to go with a theme around attacking with three or more creatures.

“You can see some of my favorite examples with a red-white card like Dog Walker serving as both a classic mystery trope as well as a great way to generate a lot of attackers quickly.”

Murders at Karlov Manor is available in stores and on MTG Arena now. Take a look for yourself and you’ll quickly be sucked in by the engaging, exciting set that Turian and the rest of the MTG team have crafted.

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