What Happens in Murders at Karlov Manor? 

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Teysa cracked the phyrexian language and created a counter espionage system to battle them with? Man I bet that would've been a really cool story to read back during March of the machine

My favorite thing about this story is that Niv Mizzet just didn’t care about what was going on.

Agrus Kos lying around in the Rakdos tombs like "Hello? Anyone there? ... Hellooooo?"

Proft: I knew it was Trostani. Also Proft: That's why I decided to confront her in Vitu-Ghazi, to get that away field advantage.

In case it is not abundantly apparent, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STORY TIME!! Yes yes we can read the story but do not overlook the flair and style you deliver these stories!!

You know, hearing all this stuff about Ravnica subverting the Phyrexian Invasion makes me only pine harder for a world where the Invasion had 2 sets to work with, not just 1.

I love that you highlighted why there were a lot of detectives in the set. that was a really good flavor.

I miss how Story Spotlight cards were handled in War of the Spark. They said what Act each card was, making it easier to arrange the cards in story order without having to read all the webfiction.

As Krenko's legal advisor and an avid crime novelist, I can now publicly state that we at Krenko's legal team knew Krenko was innocent, without a doubt, the entire time.

In regards to the Hooded Figure being Jace, one thing that makes a lot of sense for A: Why he's skulking around Ravnica in the shadows and B: why he goes digging around in Proft's mind is that he's trying to find Vraska, be it alive or just her body. Thus why he's spying on the Golgari and exploring the Undercity, and goes digging around in the mind of a detective with a photographic memory that may have seen some hint or clue that he has absolutely no idea he saw.

The resolution actually sounds pretty good for a change. With the villain's actions being based on wrong information and then her just not accepting it. I hope it's a trend and not just a fluke. Thanks for the synopsis.

Thank you for making MTG Lore make sense. I've been playing for nearly 2 years and I still find myself totally and completely lost whenever a new set releases.

I have to be honest, I loved this story. I really appreciate it when the bad guy isn’t black aligned, especially Selesnya which we’ve never seen before.

Man every time Teysa is used the more and more I respect her despite being sus but hey I read the old books

I do like the idea that Rakdos wakes up and looks at Judith and says... "Really, you were going to turn ME in?"

I wish they went back to the 3 set blocks. I feel like we don't get time to really let the story sit and marinate and we miss out on a lot of cool lore opportunities card wise because everything is so fast paced

Niv Mizzet not synergising with the ordinary citizens of Ravnica could be a brilliant piece of flavour, if you see it as symbolic of a divide between the guilds (and the literal Guildpact) and the lives of people who aren’t associated with guilds

So many story spotlights! Always fun dodging spoilers until you cover the deets! Thank you!

I think breaking Kellan's color pattern served some purposes. - He's in Ravnica so it's on-theme to be two colors, not just in color identity but really the actual colors of the spell/permanent. His Ixalan version combines adventure and map tokens to represent an Eldraine native visiting Ixalan. His Ravnica version combines adventure with two-color spells. - There is a cycle of rare legendary creatures for each color pair that don't necessarily need to be guild representatives so he fits in well in the Simic slot. - Maybe there are some draft balancing reasons as to why both his creature and adventure spells are strictly Simic instead of one green and one blue.

New Capenna would make the same amount of sense, story wise, as Ravnica. Art style wise, it would have made more sense as the 1920's style art deco is leaned on. Guild leaders are being murdered on Ravnica. Family leaders are being murdered on New Capenna. A detective is as likely on either plane. Seeing how that plane operates in a "murder the heads of the family" plane would have been pretty great as well. Missed oppertunities, especially since they had just released Ravnica Remastered, unless their goal is to now release a legacy set and a standard set from the same plane back to back.

I was waiting for this. Before buying a prerelease kit, I didn't even know who was murdered.

Wizards did a great story spotlight video, but it's actually even better that there was some things that fell through the cracks for us to find. I can't wait to look into that ARG (once the community solves it of course) because working for (hopefully) a big secret will be so cool!

Basic narrative structure would normally imply the hooded figure to either be Oko himself to to be elsewise connected to Oko, but we'll see how well that pans out. As for the ARG, I agree that the story should be 100% within standard avenues, but I have no issue with a little bonus for those who wish to engage beyond the normal. I'd hope it provides some tidbits as to what the next set may be, what plane is next, who the larger scope antagonist is, that sort of thing.

I found the channel a few weeks ago and watched every single Set Lore video uploaded so far... and I'm planning to keep it that way from now on!

The Planeswalker Guide that was released yesterday helps she’s some light on the other happenings on the plane since the invasion. Apparently, it’s been a whole year since the invasion to when we pick up the story now. What I didn’t like in the story, however, was how when Kellan and Kaya had moments to chitchat, Kellan was seemingly providing more information than what he should know about Ravnica and it’s people since the invasion happened. It’s been a year and we have to take account for Eldraine and Ixalan to happen. That all didn’t happen in back to back weeks, so adjusting for time, I would give him 3-4 months on Ravnica, 6 months tops. He still has to get acquainted with the new plane since arriving and then slowly work his way into a reputable spot in the Agency to start gathering potential intel on Oko. But he gives accounts of certain peoples personal thoughts and feelings about situations that happened. To me, that didn’t add up. Also, what happened to Amalia? Kaya asks Kellan about if he came with anyone and he shrugs her off like he didn’t just have a semi flirtatious relationship with her on Ixalan. I would have liked to see a card for her to at least show continuity of the story. Maybe she joined the Orzhov and met a devilishly handsome vampire among the guild. This left Kellan scorned and he devoted more of his time to the Agency trying to get information about his dad.

Unless we see a new color for Kellan, I think it makes sense for him to end up being Simic due to Oko being blue/green. So it could be that he's almost to the end of his arc. However, I love 5 color commanders and would love to see a 5 color Kellan from all of his journeys. I think it would be cool to see the first creature have multiple adventure costs, a Kenrith of Adventure if you will. It won't happen, I doubt we'll get that for quite some time, but a man can dream!

This was a solid story, in my opinion. It is very difficult to make a whodunnit so intricate and expansive without making it feel silly. But most of all I'd like to say I really like Kellan. He keeps showing up, always upbeat, is not a Planeswalker, but still has that "main character" vibe, and he is always an adventure somehow. Not to mention he's getting new colors every here and there. Just a really fun character they decided to keep around and make him pop almost as a cameo.

I personally really liked the story, the more "mundane" story in Ravnica that the guilds are not the main focus, even if very important The connection to phyrexia and the mystery were great, really liked it I just hope the future secret they are holding back is more related to something greater and not an extra plot twist layer

I wish Ezrim was Jeskai in colors. Like a mix between Boros & Azorius. It would definitely added an element to his commander deck. I am currently building him as a Voltron commander with a Clue subtheme. Just imagining if red was in it haha. Love the videos, Thanks.

Honestly this was such a great story I completely see where the 'villain' was coming from

Thank you Ryan, for this an all your work. Without your recaps i would have never caught up with any of magics history, you are truly a joy to listen to!

YESSSSS STORY TIME!!! My favorite series of videos from your channel! I appreciate all you guys do!! :D

Thank you so much! I now just await your videos for the stories and have such a great time!

I love watching these videos so much. Especially with voice of all not being around anymore, we don’t have many Magic influencers that are highly passionate about the lore like you are. Thank you for always making quality videos for those of us who love the lore

Love these videos! Keep doing them please!

released from his "PokeBall" HAHAHA

You can tell the team had fun with this Clue set. Even the non-story cards were packed! "Private Eye"'s art and flavour text made me laugh for a solid 12 minutes. 😂

I think the reason why Etrata was not wearing the crest might be because Trostani would not allow to misuse their guilts symbol like that

Teysa guilt tripped Kaya to make her think she's indebted like a true loan shark.

Thanks for the great video and the surrounding lore.

the Kaya Planeswalker reminds me a lot of this other planeswalker that had 2 plus abilities and stole stuff. surely this is not going to be the same disaster.

I waited all week for this and checked every day

I do think it's a massive cop (heh) out that's the motivation for the villain was based off of just a complete misunderstanding. It's not like guild leaders need a reason to hate each other.

Niv-Mizzet chilling in the guild pact chamber smoking a 5 color blunt while two guilds almost go to war via conspiracy

Love your videos, keep up the good work !

THE POKEBALL SENT ME INTO ORBIT LMAOOOO

One thing I think was important that you didn't address in the moustache minute was that Massacre Girl just straight up ENDED Judith after the big reveal as she wasn't happy about being left out to dry and Rakdos (the Parun) being used as a scapegoat to further Judith's desires for power over Rakdos (the guild).

While Alquist Proft stays cocky, I honestly think it works considering he was originally from the Azorius Senate, which has a reputation for being pretentious. That's why his dynamic with Etrata (an assassin who would clearly know a thing or two from the streets) were some of my favorite parts of the story. I particularly chuckle at the part where Etrata was just being chill with Massacre Girl with Proft basically going "wtf."

I WAS REALLY EXPECTING FOR YOU TO COVER THIS STORY :D Ravnica is my favorite plane. (I'm actually playing a mini dnd campaign serting in Ravnica. And my character is from the Selesnya Conclave. I'm dying to see what we will see when we reach that point of the story 👀)

I always look forward to these videos. It's become my go to way to get the magic story. Well done. Good video, good script. I agree about the story being able to be deduced through the cards but I think the main story as shown so far is shown through the cards. How well is another question. I don't mind if new story is revealed through the ARG as long as it doesn't completely recontextualise the whole thing and it gets refreshed and explained in the next set as well. It's a neat thing to do as a one off.

The storyboard for this story is…. Insane. “Who could possibly kill multiple guild leaders, who could be strong enough??” … “umm… how about a plant?” … “BRILLIANT” Honestly…. This was the murder story they went with? Loved your video, just can’t understand why this is the story they went with.

First time watching a video of yours, im a newish player and you ecplained the story well!

The Selesnya has better mind control magic than the Urzov and Demir now 😂

Was waiting for you to cover this story. I thought it was an interesting idea. Perhaps messy in execution though. Thanks for the lore.

I actually liked this story more than the last couple... I never liked the Kaya-Orzhov stuff but it's nice to see that wrap up a bit. Wasn't she a planes-hopping monster hunter in Kaldheim? She should go back to that gig

Kaya normally storyline: SHe came, she Kills a ghost, evrething gets worse, she bounces.

Also, Oba gets away with it. She gets off on the Ghiddorah defence of being part of a multi-headed being.

I was itching to see you telling this story 😁

I think an important minor story element was missed is your recap. What happened to Judith at the end of the battle with Oba? The next set is a villains set, with Rakdos seemingly in the art, so it seems important that this was left open

I like the idea that the mysterious hooded person is Jace. And looking in the mind of a detective makes sense since they should have a better understanding of how the plane is holding after the invasion along with how people feel about Vraska.

This is awesome thank you!

Only now did I notice the plaque in honor of Machado de Assis in the background. Nice touch

PRiMO! great video as always.

Yup agreed . Its capenna vibe grafted onto ravnica

I feel obliged to mention that in the first ravnica story there is a surprise Selesnya army that manages to take over the chaos. This *absolutely* is a retcon, but I assume now this how at least somewhat complicit in how that happened. Or I dunno, maybe I obsess with weird story details over a decade old Wizards isn't super bothered by. (In this case I can't blame them)

*Ryan:* "If you wanna know who done it without dusting for prints or readings" *Me:* Or just watch the set debut video😂

always great vid

I’ve been waiting for this video!

first time I heard this set I thought they mistyped and it was meant to be 'murders at markov manor' not karlov because a murder mystery to me made more sense on imistrad. I do like how each guild during the ravnica invasion was using theyre strengths to battle them. wasnt expecting ot hear that the dimir and orzhov were working together. but it makes a cool combo on how they use theyre abilities to combat the invasion. Wouldve been great to have its own story during the march of machines.

I love the set I pulled a niv mizzet from the prerelease packs I got

You should do a series where you build decks that tell a story within each one with the flavor text

The pollen probably just says to kill them in your own way and the dimir assassin just has more skills to bring to bear. When Jace left Elesh Norn's side I'll bet it was to attack Niv Mizzet and I imagine we'll find out how that went later and it was too big for this story. Thanks for the recap, I really appreciate your videos as they allow me to keep up with an otherwise hard to find story.

I do like how everyone got to do their own thing in the story

i always enjoy these vids

26:05 I agree with you on that and to be fair, I feel like some plot points could be added to clarify the story on the cards. I'm talking about the part where Oba's accusations on the flavor text of Worldsoul's Rage are disproved. Without that I thought she's gonna be arrested for vigilantism or something like that. And that feeling was amplified by Proft's pity on his flavor text of the same card

Even knowing the whole story I am still excited to here it from the statche

Love this videos ❤

Thank you for these videos. I kind of hate MTG lore and the way it is presented these days. Your summaries are the most enjoyable way to consume them 😊

Great video

Using names of the cards describing the story is just the pun-ultimate dad-joke-lover dream

Zeganna my beloved 😭

I loved the story this set, the relationship between Teysa and Kaya ensuring it was great. Thier dynamic was one I really enjoyed throughout, even when Teysa was dead and absent the impact on Kaya and her internal thoughts and motives was truly wonderful, with the hug at the end feeling so incredibly earned and deserved. They have always had an odd dynamic since they first started interacting and it has just been great to see it develop. Kaya and Kellan is also fun, I like how his infectious enthusiasm and excitement rubs off on her and helps her cheer up. Proft to me was just meh but Etrata was interesting. I do think the story is carried by Kaya, she is a great narrator, and historically has been as well which is nice. I agree with the themes feeling very Cappena-y but so me its not like they can't fit into Ravnica. I think this would have worked better on Cappena thematically but it would have been a weaker story due to the lack of established characters as it is the characters that carry this story, supported by the mystery.

I really liked the story. I found that it could be anywhere tho

My brain still hears you saying Nicole Letson in the intro... Name changes always mess me up 😂

This was my favorite story to read in a good while, I wasnt super excited for the set at first but there sure are some cool cards coming

THE MOUSTACHE MINUTE!

At least kaya's presence on Ravnica and in the story made more sense than her trip to Kaldheim

Multiverse shadow stuff is those peeps from the end of the invasion stuff. Where (forgive my memory) those mentioned once and never talked about again multiverse observers.

Great video.

"pollen" welp it's either Selesnya or Golgari

Just saw this while sorting my MKM cards. In the Clandestine Meddler art, I have one with the curtains are red and the other copy the curtains are white. I'm guessing it's suppose give you a false lead (obviously suggesting Boros Guild is behind the murders.) in trying to figure out who the murderer is if you didn't read the story?

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

💯 % agree! The entire story should be complete within the set. I don’t care to buy anything else and I won’t. Hell, I already stopped buying booster boxes now that there’s no point to Standard.

My inner gruul mage speaks to me today in the sense of "I hate all of these people." Also they killed Kylox, the only new character from the promotional art I was interested in! What the heck!?

Correct me if I’m wrong but if Trostani being 3 dryads combined, wouldn’t the other two realize the third was doing something suspicious with the pollen in the first place? Also personally like that Kellan is continuing to basically be our “main” view point into seeing every set so far

To be honest, I expected Lazav and Mirko (who have the detective subtype in this set) to investigate Etrata’s crime.

At last, a story worthy of retelling in dramatic, loremage fashion.

I personally liked this story, but maybe thats because 1. Its the first Ravnica set since I started playing Magic, and 2. I recently watched Knives Out and Glass Onion for the first time and Proft has big Benoit Blanc vibes

I only skimmed over this when I first saw it I thought it was Murders at MORKOV Manor and now I feel robbed