Has Something Gone Wrong With Murders At Karlov Manor? | Magic: The Gathering

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Download Opera GX for free using my link: www.operagx.gg/tolarian

[@thekevmeister77]

had no idea opera was still around 😂 good to know!

[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

@TolarianCommunityCollege what is your opinion on the "Full art land" for this set having upside down buildings on the top, once I noticed it they looked terrible to me almost like the first try of an online Ai art creator.

[@Voyajer.]

@@HauntedCorpseGaming I like them and didn't get that vibe

[@MrJBrown-ez9gy]

Hey Prof, I see that one of your sponsors is Opera GX. I have been thinking of switching to this browser, but I am a little put off because I heard they are (were bought out) by Chinese company / Consortium? Are you personally endorsing it, using it? Cause I'll trust you if you say it's o.k.

[@Psynapseful]

​@@MrJBrown-ez9gyevery browser except Firefox and Safari is just Google Chrome under the hood. If you want to make a real change from Chrome, Firefox would be my pick.

[@william4996]

My issue, is always, I could buy 2 AAA games or a booster box. I could buy 6 to 12 indie games for the price of a booster box. I could have a pretty nice date night with my wife for a booster box. I could invite 10 friends over and host a party for a booster box. I just can't for the life of me justify that amount of money for a box of cardboard, cardboard which seems to being made with worse and worse materials.

[@donalejandrodraper9347]

word!❤😢

[@eegles]

Sounds like you don't have a gambling addiction!

[@Xoulrath_]

Yep. I get that there are real life human beings behind making these products. So calling it "just cardboard" is a bit misleading when discussing the cost of the finished product. That said, I don't disagree with the price of these cards getting out of control. That's even more true when you consider that it's the suits, who don't do anything, that profit from the hard work of the designers, artists and other workers involved in creating and supplying this product to consumers.

[@metalliholic]

I found my solution. I print proxies now. Do I still buy cards here and there because they are cool. Sure. But I’m not going crazy on them like I use to.

[@FarewellOrwell]

Just proxy nerd

[@thomaschoma8914]

This amount of frustration is the culmination of product fatigue. Hard not to feel like we are being taken for a ride when everything feels the same.

[@Fenen24]

Don’t forget we’re getting 2 universes beyond a year starting in 2025 💀

[@Hfsm33]

@@Fenen24 They think they're gonna sell as well as Lord of The Rings, boy are they wrong

[@Montyandrew45]

I agree. I just came back to Magic after over 10 years and the release schedules are blowing my mind

[@RafaelVolcanes]

Just dont buy. Proxy.

[@mattgopack7395]

I think that's a lazy analysis, honestly - product fatigue has been a complaint for *years* now, and frustration vs enjoyment is still tied to the actual sets that come out. Like why does this one 'feel the same' as other products when prof is actively comparing them to others and talking about how the feel of it has issues for him? It seems to me that there's other issues at play here than just always falling back on product fatigue as the only actual factor that exists.

[@Dracosd2]

This set should of been an Interplanar set using both New Capenna and Ravnica, with a murder mystery spanning both planes.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

This should have been the set where players figure out who the culprit was on their own using the cards as clues as they wait for the last part of the story a few months later.

[@zachdressing]

@@mikotagayuna8494 you mean this should have been a 3-set block

[@akaikiseki9346]

@zachdressing The only correct answer !

[@orangegalen]

Maybe actually using the omenpaths in a plot-relevant way?

[@Nathanjo1212]

That would have been really cool!

[@BAMF6669]

I think Prof made a valid point about the Plane this was set on. It should had been on New Capenna. There could have been so much more done with this set.

[@charcharmunr]

I genuinely don't think it fits on Capenna, to be honest. If you wanna make something about Capenna getting law enforcement, that's a whole entire set in and of itself. A murder mystery set on Capenna is just "somebody died, who cares". The New Capenna set even had Xander dying, and that's largely a footnote in that set's story. You can argue it doesn't fit on Ravnica (I don't think that's true from the broad idea of it, more the execution, they leaned too much into the camp of detective fiction), but it definitely doesn't fit on Capenna as-is either.

[@vileluca]

@@charcharmunr Capenna is literally film noir lol

[@charcharmunr]

@@vileluca I know. MKM is definitively not going for a noir aesthetic at all. It's going for pulpy detective novel. Holmes is not noir.

[@quincyking010]

Ima be honest I don't think it fits either of these planes. You know where it would fit? Kaledesh. Hell they could even create a new main character that was a steampunk Sherlock (I don't remember if that kinda character actually exists)

[@railtracer00]

It really feels like everyone in Ravnica got into a themed party and are roleplaying things they've heard from New Capenna

[@tomag5537]

I like that Raucous Theater's artwork has a large blue portion so when you quickly look at it you know it taps for blue and red.

[@kazekage_gaara_-8027]

Raucous Theater taps for Black and red though. Thundering Falls is blue and red...

[@brianhawkins8397]

That was the joke: the colors in the artwork didn’t reflect the color identity of the card

[@BuddyIsGarbage]

@@brianhawkins8397It's literally fire surrounded by a fence made of rakdos guild emblems.

[@killbotgamma]

"I hope you're saying 'Prof I love ya.'" Prof, I love ya

[@simonverweij9409]

2x Delney and 3x archdruids charm as well as a leyline covered like half of the cost

[@chim007azo]

My boxes were nowhere near as good but still both more than $160 in cards over $5. This theme is crap but cards are playable. I’ll keep picking up boxes under $170 when I can

[@mainmarco123]

@@chim007azo Just that statement, "I will be picking up boxes under $170" when I can is a wild statement for the booster culture today.

[@eegles]

@@mainmarco123 My friend group would get a box in the late 90s for $100. Adjusted for inflation, that is about $190 today. WotC has been eating price declines over time because they wouldn't raise booster prices.

[@Terraphice]

@@mainmarco123Never complain about other people opening boosters. If it wasn't for everyone opening boosters, there wouldn't be a supply of all the singles everyone else wants to buy. If you can't justify buying boosters, then don't do it. Buy singles.

[@mainmarco123]

@Terraphice I'm not upset about the people. I'm just saying that the fact the boxes are this expensive and people feel forced to buy em sometimes is sad. It's the same in any card game. The big 3, MTG, Yugioh, and Pokémon, all suffer from it. I remember when booster boxes were reasonable. With a new one coming every couple moths, it's becoming difficult to keep up with. I just think we are in a state time period for the game with respect to boosters.

[@rowdyruu8275]

i absolutely love these types of videos. hearing the Professor voice his opinions rather than only music is perfect.

[@kstephenson5857]

Prof, I hope you get around to reading this. I am a newer player to Magic (mostly Commander), and your video made me realize two things: 1) Your videos are great, and I really enjoy them. They helped me gain a sense of how to build my first Commander deck, and hearing your opinions on the newest products is always worthwhile. 2) I think I know one reason why you (and older, established Magic players in general) might not have liked the goofier tone this set brought. For you guys, there was a big storytelling letdown in March of the Machine (+ Aftermath), and really spanning the last 2 or so years of Magic's grand story. The more serious sets as of late have either failed financially, story-wise, or both. For you guys maybe the light-hearted Ravnican Clue set, because the current Magic story isn't interesting/good, doesn't feel earned. Instead of operating as a fun break between serious sets, the non-narratively focused sets of MKM, Fallout, LotR, Dr. Who, etc feel like just yet another example of WotC wandering further away from the stories, characters, and tone that you love. The non-serious sets are starting to outnumber the serious sets, and the serious sets are not gripping enough to provide sufficient contrast to the goofy sets. It makes the overarching narrative of Magic get lost in the shuffle of new, but less interesting cards for players who DO care about these characters and stories.

[@Volkbrecht]

There used to be a place for these "off-topic" sets. It was the summer sets, Conspiracy, Battlebond, or the Un-sets. The Extended Universe as a separate product line doesn't matter so much, but diluting the Standard sets with stuff like that is the real change.

[@Disco4ia]

Agree with what you're saying. I think that this is something that was always going to happen though. The fact that they have retconned things (as well as basically using Guff to just... reset existence) shows that they're starting to run out of ideas. Eventually there will be no more story to tell and universes beyond is delaying the inevitable. I mean unless someone more competent can buy wizards off of Hasbro and save the franchise

[@UrfDaManatee]

@29:35 Yes, the extended art Surveil Lands do form a panorama, they used it to hide one of the clues.

[@xorbeas3960]

I can’t believe the one time prof does not want to do a booster box game is the one that actually succeeded

[@902496]

I used to enjoy going on mythic spoiler after a set was spoiled and slowly reading through the whole set in small moments like when I'm in the bathroom or on break at work. Helped me learn the set, its mechanics, and themes in time for pre-release. The last few sets have been so wordy and complex that I never retain any of the card effects. There used to be a chunk of cards in a set you could kind of write off. "its a 2/2 for 2. thats it" I don't need to think about that anymore. Now every card is a novel and set specific keywords have reminder text on less cards than ever because they don't have room! I'll be reading through a spoiler and need to go find a card with the reminder text because I can't parse what the card does with its new keyword amidst the novel of other ability text. Its made limited more annoying too. Trying to build a decent deck actually takes me the full hour now. It used to take 30 minutes on average since I'd find the core "must include" cards pretty quickly and the rest was filled in with simple, efficient creatures. Now there are no simple, efficient creatures, so all the space fillers take way longer to pick from. Also I extra hate the "case file" border from this set, cause I already didn't like it, but I've found I tend to like the art on those versions, so I have to choose between "art I like better" and "frame I like better" Also, I guess I'm in the extreme minority but I love the art cards. They were one of the reasons I always got set boosters and I was disappointed when they switched to play boosters that art cards would become harder to get.

[@mnmsaregood1]

Well said

[@Jacob-ee8ux]

I really hope they don't dumb down magic to appease the small percentage of players that have a problem with complexity creep. I think there are plenty of simple and efficient creatures in this set for limited. After like 2 drafts I didn't have to read any of the commons or uncommons anymore. I don't want to be the "get good" guy, but like...

[@Xoulrath_]

​@@Jacob-ee8uxdude, when your card costs 1 mana and wins the game on the spot because of what it does, that isn't a game anymore. There's a reason that the best cards are consistently printed at Mythic. Don't kid yourself into thinking that you're some kind of card game God because you don't mind reading an hour's worth of text. It doesn't make the game better.

[@Jacob-ee8ux]

@@Xoulrath_ I mean at this point go play a different game I guess. You're being very hyperbolic (there are no 1 mana cards that outright win a game of limited) and you seem to have a very bad attitude about Magic. I'm sorry you're not very good at it, but if you want dumbed down magic go play 7th edition sealed or something idk what to tell you.

[@Xoulrath_]

@@Jacob-ee8ux OK kid, lose the attitude and go to bed. It's way past your sleepy night night time. You want to be a condescending little fuck, then I can do that too. I've been playing Magic off and on since 1997. The game was far better and more strategic when the cards were simpler, and the rules were cleaner. Adding complexity doesn't automatically make a game better or more complex. That is especially true when that complexity is added in the wrong places. But hey, keep telling yourself thst you're good because you use Sheoldred. 🤣🤣🤣

[@WIZArdheretic]

*New set comes out* Professor: "oh, that's gore of my comfort character."

[@ScornfulEg0tist]

Prof flipping out around 37:47 about it really cracked me up for some reason

[@michaelsimmons8613]

To me the issue is that ironicly the setting really contradicts my suspension of disbelief. I cannot in good sense believe that a plane that has the radkos and golgari would ever bother investigating a murder!

[@ender_lord1202]

Not to mention a billion ways to bring back the dead. I can buy in some planes and settings that this type of magic is rare but there's tons of orzhov ghosts and golgari zombies/liches on ravnica.

[@franslair2199]

​@@ender_lord1202they made up some bullshit about how Teysa prevented herself from coming back to life so they could do the murder investigation thing

[@TigerDrummer100]

I really feel like this set was initially supposed to be set on New Capenna

[@fiarusgaming3420]

Yeah for sure, and then new capenna did horribke on sales so they forced it into ravnica

[@RBGolbat]

It was initially set to be a New World, but they found it was similar to Ravnica, and having known characters felt more compelling for a murder mystery than having new ones.

[@gronizherz3603]

maybe they shouldn't switch theme every 0,1 second with every set, and instead do at LEAST the same theme for 2 sets in a row so we get some semblance of continuity.....

[@alizah8042]

I was completely convinced by profs point about the freakin steamboat alone

[@christopherb501]

​@@alizah8042 I'm not. What oceans/wide-spanning rivers did THAT city have?

[@djcochrane]

Yes, move the art card to collector boosters. Put a token in there or something. Or a code for arena. Anything useful.

[@SohcSTi]

As a member of the Collector Booster Club, respectfully, we don't want them.

[@blacklotus561]

Am I the only one who loves the art cards? I mean its stupid that there are no tokens in the packs anymore, but I dont want the art cards to go.

[@admiralsky56]

Here I was happy that art cards were finally in packs I would open- I think the art cards are so neat, so I was surprised to hear so many people don't like them! I do agree they shouldn't fully replace tokens, and we should have arena codes with packs, but I'd prefer something like 50/50 art card or token, then the arena code in addition. Or, cardboard is cheap, WotC could probably afford to print art cards, tokens, and arena codes in a pack lmao. I'm just tired of those double-sided ad cards that used to (maybe still are, haven't bought MKM) be in packs.

[@eegles]

The point of play boosters was to raise prices by reducing the amount of cards you get. Shrinkflation!

[@SohcSTi]

@@admiralsky56 Or they should put a token on the back of the art cards.

[@unseeliedream42]

I agree so much, the tonal disconnection is so strong... I was a super Teysa fan and they way the whole set story is conducted is, as you said perfectly, "too goofy" and in turn it made Teysa death really depreciated. The limited experience is fun, but really fedora hats on Ravnica which we never saw felt like superimposed and flavorless.

[@trehenry413]

To be fair she only dead in a physical sense. She is just a spirit now, which still plays into the Orzhov theme. I will agree that the set felt a bit disconnected, but the story itself wasnt that bad

[@unseeliedream42]

@@trehenry413 that is true but also we already knew the moment she was found dead that that her spirit would eventually come back... her killing it's just a little gimmick. she is the next Obzedat basically and that was very obvious. more than anything it's the done of the whole fanfare that kills the mood, plus the fact that everybody has a fedora and a trench coat lol.

[@charcharmunr]

It's interesting because the tone of the story spotlights and the main story itself are fairly serious all things considered. There's some levity but it feels 'normal'. The rest of the set just feels campy as hell.

[@Durgenheim]

This set (and many more in recent memory) reek of the suits seeing the mass commercial appeal of the MCU and trying to cheaply copy everything into Magic.

[@ghost64626]

My "favourite" thing about the set is that the murderer was a character I had never heard of before. Really drew me into the story

[@xaxscratchxax926]

Don't Even remember who it was.

[@thekevmeister77]

who did it? with what and where? I suck at this game

[@Shpeedle]

Fblthip ​@@thekevmeister77

[@foxi1694]

You dont know Trostani?

[@UttermostShama]

@@foxi1694 To be fair, you might know Trostani but not the individuals.

[@tawdrytalis]

I am building a vanilla commander deck and I would love some new vanilla cards that are better value mana wise instead of 3 mana for a 2/1. I also feel like they could let the artists go ham with full art features bringing back no text box creatures and the flavor text would be so cool and give us a bunch more iconic phrases. When the whole card has rules there’s no room for flavor text

[@DeanLK12]

These are on sale in Canada for $279. I know people who bought them release weekend and pulled less than $90 in value at $329 sticker price. Were being priced out of the game and given poor product

[@william4996]

Yeah, Canada pricing is insane. Literally 2x the cost of American pricing somehow. I don't understand, our dollar isn't THAT low.

[@DeanLK12]

@@william4996 I make a great wage for where I live and im priced out for the most part. Game stores in town have product collecting dust because no one wants to buy an 11$ play booster and pull 70cents out of a pack

[@JohnSmith-ni4kh]

Fellow Canadians! I think it's cause we lack MTG store competition. But also because it's hard for LGS. The margin on product is really narrow. Like at BEST, the LGS you're buying from is making like 20 dollars per box they sell.

[@william4996]

@@JohnSmith-ni4kh Yeah, I don't blame the LGS really. Just means I won't be purchasing any boxes or large amount of packs :)

[@DeanLK12]

@@JohnSmith-ni4kh yup youre not wrong. Competition is so low here its hard. We have a large online retailer (401 games) who have the ability to set the market price in a way which sucks. I get why so many people are buying fake proxies from China that can pass in a tournament setting, the downside is those are going to make their way into the market, and unknowing players are going to buy fake cards. Were in a tough spot as MTG consumers, and unfortunately, I don't see it getting better :(

[@floppy280]

I really kept thinking that this set was based on Innistrad, not Ravnica, during the promotion of it, both because I was confusing "Karlov" and "Markov" and because I couldn't fathom why they'd put a murder-mystery set on Ravnica. Ravnica is the City of Guilds; if we're going there it should be to deal with something guild-related, not for a random game of Clue. New Capenna would've made a lot more sense, especially when you consider that Ravnica is stuffed to the brim with magic that should make solving a guild-related murder trivial.

[@Vaniary]

I actually like the difference of tone in these videos you're way more chill it's more cosy

[@jonschemmel1667]

Rhystic Thuggies (Trouble in Pairs) was such a good pull

[@benvoliothefirst]

OMG thank you, I'm definitely using that name instead, hahaha

[@jerkchickenblog]

everyone check online for the scandal about stolen art on that card. wow

[@kingweb11]

I don't think prof got all the way to the end of Delney's text cause $5 is a steal haha.

[@pgh99504]

Prof saying Pompous Gadabout is his vanity card means he needs to cosplay as it; hopefully at Magiccon Chicago (but I'll settle for any upcoming Shuffle Up & Play).

[@ThorgisArcade]

I'm glad you brought up the complexity creep because that's one of the things that turned me off to this set. I love Morph, I've had a Morph deck for years, but I don't care at all about Disguise because just the idea of having multiple face down cards but I have to keep track of which one is Morphed and which one is Disguised just doesn't feel fun.

[@retronymph]

Agreed that it doesn't feel like Ravnica. I definitely think a lot of the creative was done before they decided to put it on Ravnica. Also, I think a 2/2 morph for 3 is just too bad for Magic of today. The ward 2 was kinda needed.

[@edubrux5089]

Can u imagine this set made in a manor, a magical manor where some characters were kidnaped by a powerful entity (call him the prankster, or else) just to make them solve a mystery (maybe not a murder), the manor has an anti-spark spell that avoids them use their powers, or something more imaginative. And the next coyboys set will be same or even worst.

[@traviscochran9253]

Watching this I had a thought: many people have discussed how the detectives/trenchcoats/fedoras aesthetic is so much more New Capenna. Wouldnt we have solved the want for notable characters being threatened issue and the New Capenna-esque issue by having the detective agency be founded by people coming from New Capenna through the Omenpaths instead of disallusioned Azorius guildmembers. The Plot of MoM even centred around Capennan angels SAVING the universe, surely that gives Capenna major positive recognition.

[@thor82ak]

That is by far the best collector box of MKM I've seen that didn't hit a serialized. Two copies of Delney, trouble in pairs, leyline. Yea, you got lucky.

[@basketball2560]

Prof. You are 100% correct regarding wording on cards became too long and complex. It's becoming more like yugioh way too many words on cards and way too many abilities 1 card may have.

[@dane_anubis6213]

The full art surveil lands have the same art because they are a panorama across all 10. Play boosters were ok. Feels like more a cost thing than a design issue. But the pre release was an issue with some people hitting 14 or 15 rares and others getting 7. Oh and Prof, I love ya ❤

[@jpob5]

I was one of the ones getting 7 rares (8 actually including my useless promo card). I went undefeated in my last 2 prereleases but I left half way through this one not winning a game. I had no threats, no answers and it seemed that simply playing morph cards was better than trying to find synergy like what I was trying to do. I got a Show and Tell so it was so bad but that card is fairly useless in limited.

[@mRboylls]

I agree with your thoughts on the complexity. I’m tired of sets having multiple mechanics that is for that set only and don’t work well with other cards. That’s why it was a fun draft set but I don’t wanna buy that many packs.

[@kylecooper-twine3169]

I love this type of video professor! Just unedited opinions about the latest set. You’ve done this long enough to be the voice for a lot of us! I don’t speak for everyone, but more of this please!

[@RedGeist]

I think the best way to express the mixed feelings on the lore is, we want Ravnica to be more than this Warhammer-adjacent setting all about these incredible guilds, and to give depth to the characters. But, Clue and Agatha Christie parodies aren't the way to get there. We can even have a set that's a Poirot/Sherlock parody. There are good cards to make out of that, probably in Capenna. But its incompatible with making people like Teysa and Aurelia more robust from a writing perspective.

[@TheOfficialVenomPVP]

The bit about the Wrench was absolutely hilarious!

[@zpeedy1]

It's funny because it's true. Even without knowing what the cards actually do, they just sound too weak to fit within the MTG universe. Imagine fighting Ghalta with a wrench 😂

[@SuperPsyduck]

The wordiness is driving me crazy. To the point where I roll my eyes and think just tell me wtf you're doing. I'm tried of reading these cards.. and then rereading after the third paragraph to realize what it's all doing together.

[@brennantmi5063]

The whole disguise/morph fiasco word creep really hammers home to me that keywords are now flavor text and not a rules shortcut.

[@JM32JM32]

How is it a fiasco? Morph hasn't been in standard for ages. Even on MTGA, almost no morph cards are played in any of the 5 formats.

[@MekanikKommandoh88]

Huh?

[@gabrielaganon3160]

While the set's cards may feel goofy, I thought the story itself (aside from a few moments) was actually great and had me invested. Granted, they messed up when they revealed the "culprit" before we even finished to the final chapter. Also, those extended art lands being "samey" is actually intentional as they indeed form a panorama that was used to solve puzzles leading to the story's epilogue.

[@darkmystic7764]

I never felt so called out by an ad.

[@darrensmith9013]

Right! I have a friend that literally does exactly what prof is calling him out for in the ad

[@Kaeleek100]

SAME omg I'm playing Minecraft right now

[@Xoulrath_]

I don't watch on one screen while doing something else on another. I use my phone to watch, and then do something else. It's far less limiting. 😂

[@andy.martinez]

Some stuff to mention: - The set is great to play in limited as you said prof - The altern file art style makes you feel all those cards are white due to the frame (sucks) - Even you missed most of the prices and were sceptical, There were great singles opened there. I guess a regular box will not show that much juice TBH - Over here in Mexico, collector boxes are sold around $250 usd avg. So not worth it I guess - I also do agree that it feels so less Ravnica and could have been in Capena (or a mix between the planes as some guys over here said👌) - Deception on the full art Lands indeed - And yes I love you professor, love the content you create over here. Keep it on Thank you!

[@HugoPCarvalho]

In Brazil is near $290 usd, no chances

[@andy.martinez]

@@HugoPCarvalho lot of people are buying instead Lorcana and One Piece over here because of that too :/

[@brentsheridan7802]

I really like these full art lands. I think they capture an idea of chasing clues through the confusion of a mystery. Where the world is circling in on itself, and all the pieces don’t seem to fit, but there is something at the center of it all. I also think Ravnica as a setting was a mistake, and unnecessary. Great mystery stories aren’t great because we know all the characters. They’re great because of the main character, the atmosphere and the mystery itself. That’s why I can read Murder on the Orient Express and come away happy with the mystery even though I didn’t know any of the characters. I think too many characters we know actually distracts from the mystery.

[@gronizherz3603]

I think these lands are great, they have a LOT of uniqueness to them and still a thorough colour so that you can instantly tell while squinting your eyes to near blindness that they are blue, red, et.c. My issue with some previous lands are that they were so stylised that you could barely tell whether they were plains, mountains, forests, or islands et.c.

[@vulcanh254]

For me: - Disguise / cloak were too weak and only designed for limited. I understand why they make the commons and uncommons balanced for limited but when it comes to rares and mythics they should have gone nuts and made really powerful and fun effects. - Lack of cycles. The best sets usually have strong and memorable cycles: Titan / Gearhulk / God cycles, X spell cycles, Virtue cycle etc. With Karlov Manor we got nothing. Just clue equipments that are not even good in standard lol. - The theme was simply boring. Actually that's not completely true, the idea of a murder mystery set sounds fun. But the way they did it wasn't super interesting. It's similar to Streets of New Capenna in this sense. I loved the idea of Capenna but it just wasn't what I wanted. - I consider myself a fan of Ravnica and I wouldn't know this was a Ravnica set if they didn't tell me. I think that's a problem? If we go back to any other plane I would immediately feel familiar with the tribes, the clans and the scenery but not here. It didn't "feel" like a Ravnica set, it felt like a Clue Universe Beyond, a board game I don't care about. - The price increase wasn't justified, especially because project booster fun makes most singles collapse in price. You can't have cheap singles AND more expensive products. That won't work. If they charge more, the value needs to follow. And to play devil's advocate, a lot of surveil lands and rares are starting to climb, so I'm sure the value will be pretty appealing soon. But that's more because few people want to open the set so then the supply in circulation becomes limited. That happened to Core2020 too. Sure, part of it is people underestimating some cards but you can't blame players for choosing to buy cheap singles online instead of cracking expensive boxes.

[@ramenkingcruz]

Prof I love ya. Detectives on Capenna make a lot of sense, yeah. Detectives on a twice war torn plane to help find missing citizens also makes sense.

[@SparkyUpstart]

Sorry, I can't agree with people complaining about the amount of focus detectives got in the set about detectives. For years people have been saying that future returns to Ravnica need to focus on more than just the guilds to not feel repetitive, well we finally got something that builds out the world even more and everyone is whining because that new perspective just so happened to feature people investigating...the death...that's the centre of the plot. It's like if people complained about Strixhaven taking place on a plane that's just a giant school. No! It's just that the set focused on that aspect of the plane! Not to mention that everyone saying MKM should've been set on an original world of detective tropes is absolutely going to be complaining that Thunction is set on an original world of western tropes (though hopefully not the uh...the problematic ones. fingers crossed!) I agree with Prof probably 90% of the time - especially with this vid in regards to how play boosters are working and the increasing wordiness of the cards (which I could handle but I know it's a big hurdle for lots of other people). But the griping about the setting, about all the settings venturing into new ideas and themes to incorporate into the magic lore, it just sounds ridiculous. "Magic can be anything now, I guess" yes! It could always have been anything! That's the beauty of it - it's a setting where they can do detectives, cowboys, ninjas, scientists, space operas, various myths, ancient mecha, lost civilizations, pirates, dinos, whatever they want and still make it feel like a unified multiverse. The genres have always been mashed up together and people used to praise that originality - what happened?!

[@JasonOshinko]

I was going to comment myself, but this covers basically every point I would have made. Magic is what you make of it. It's so tiresome that so many people claim it's being "ruined" because it's not the exact thing that they personally want at that particular time. So many old men yelling at clouds and telling everyone else that their fun is wrong.

[@ElJugadorBAMF]

I like the full art lands 😅

[@SlongestKongest]

Same

[@gokusondbz]

I Agree Underrated Set in my View 😅

[@gronizherz3603]

Sets just don't feel good right now, and I think there are several parts to this issue: Sets are too brief. The sets are given a couple of months, (at best!) before we're thrown something completely different. From fairy tales and fairies, to dinosaurs and south american artifacts (and pirates, and merfolk, and mushrooms/sporelings, AND..), to detectives and scooby doo antics, and that's within 3 (THREE!) sets, barely half a year. My solution is dividing each current themed set into at least 2 parts. If they instead had stretched the sets out and had slightly different focuses it would have benefitted literally everyone. They could have Part 1 having a more serious "Check out this brand new set!!" tone, with the second one wrapping it up neatly and perhaps sliding in those goofier or less serious cards. (It feels jarring having a completely serious sinister card appear and the next one being an Among Us reference...) This would also mean that sets last longer, perhaps 3-4 months instead of 2~ months. I doubt anyone remembers "the time of X or Y set" as of late, because they're over so quickly. And it would result in more products and cards presumably, with ample room for changes and what not. Disguise, for instance, would be given a lot more time to set root in your mind before they toss another set with completely different mechanics and themes at you. If we just take the *Homiecide at Markov Manor* set as example, we could have set 1 introduce us to the sinister world of criminals and the detectives they combat with serious cases, and setting up cases (perhaps even the case cards in particular) and in particular the biggest mystery of the entire set, who was the assassin .. then the 2nd set could add some goofier elements to the theme like scooby doo and what not, and wrap the cases up (maybe with pairing cards that just flow very naturally together with the case cards) and finally reveal - not through a gigantic spoiler that comes out prior to the set's release - who the assassin is through clues scattered throughout both parts of the set.

[@laboratorymaniac7324]

I think it's a little early to judge on Play Boosters with only one set under our belt. As a limited player, they don't bother me terribly during draft (although I wish the List cards got a different treatment to make them match the set a bit better). Cracking them definitely feels a little worse than cracking set boosters did, but maybe that's just because this set has a lot of dud rares. There's room for them to tweak things with the boosters in future sets, but I think the first, most immediate change they need to make is to the price. It's clear that players aren't willing to pay set booster prices for play boosters - if they're supposed to be a mix of set and draft boosters, then that's where the price needs to land, too.

[@maximus354]

Hope you're doin well prof!

[@ZachH8387]

I love these free flowing podcast-esque episodes

[@19hitokiri]

I like the art cards because I take old sleeves and magnet tape to make a fridge magnet. Then I can also switch out cards when I like new art cards.

[@The-Entelechy]

Enjoyed this great episode. As a newer player who joined in forgotten realms, i think they don't push the theme hard enough for original sets. No other set has captured the flavor of a set like NEO for me. It's also funny that i think they do get the themes right in the precons. Maybe it's just easier designing around a commander than thinking about how a whole set will interact with the other standard sets.

[@collardcow4183]

Shock you though this may, I AM actually really stoked for the old western set. But I was also pretty excited for the murder mystery set, (which really hasn’t been doing it for me) so maybe I’m just an idiot with too much faith in WotC

[@ajaxender12]

I think you nailed it, talking about morph vs disguise; this set just isn't *elegant*. It has interesting cards that are at least usable if not powerful, but also way too many words, or new words when old words would have sufficed. Morph is a disguise if the flavor makes it feel like a disguise. Detectives? A detective is defined more by what they do than by a creature type-line - and when and where are they ever going to use that type again? It doesn't have the ubiquity of soldier or warrior or similar. Unnecessary addition when simply designing flavorful cards would have done the same. And then big god things (the mole, the elk turtle whatever) just because...

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

The Professor joins Josh Strife Hayes as official 2nd monitor content

[@patrickpachl8223]

Thank you for this video. I normally do not watch booster box games as it is just booster ripping to some random music and I watch youtube on my second monitor while playing, so not really watching but more listening to you. This video with you talking all the time was really refreshing. Thank you.

[@flywithstyle10]

Just saying love ya prof Haha, got in to magic on m20, and your videos showed me how to play and understand the game. I'm not from the USA, and your passion can be telled from anywhere your videos are seen. Loved the "magic saved my life" one. Keep it up! Hope you are the first channel to get the 1 million subscribers Everyone at tolarian community college rock!

[@Calophon]

I hear you on the complexity of the set, and I don’t really care much for the disguise mechanic, but the ward is an important design decision as it allows shock to be printed in the set without being a 1 mana answer to the mechanic. It seems like an overly specific case but I think the ward and inclusion of shock helps to keeps the set at a high enough power level to not be completely underpowered in the current environment. I don’t think the set is super powerful as a whole but it could be worse if they had to design a large part around protecting 2/2s to make morph work.

[@coredoughboy]

I really like these videos where you open packs and just speak off the cuff.

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

Kellan being that cheap is kinda wild, 40 cents for it in borderless is really low, the card is definitely playable in Standard

[@Stray7]

I loathe Kellan as a character, and I'm far from the only one who isn't invested at all in his story, so if you multiply that out to the rest of the fan base a lot of people are probably being turned off on him before even reading the card. The apathy toward Kellan might change if he winds up in a pro deck, but right now I don't think people are giving him a second glance, just because they don't like the character.

[@QuentinT9]

Ok, the "Picture this in greyscale, oh no I gave them an idea for a set" was too much 😆

[@specialK319319]

Completely agree on the complexity creep. I tried to get some friends into magic recently, but without making simplified decks (which in hindsight was a huge mistake) they all said it was fun, but way too confusing and too much reading. As someone playing off-on for 20+ years I have most common mechanics memorized, but from a new player's perspective I can totally understand how out of control all the rules must seem. I think in trying to appeal to enfranchised players, design has pushed complexity way too far.

[@alexanderworkman4207]

I think you’re spot on with the idea that this should have been set in new capenna. I think it would have fit much better flavor wise. I’m also similarly frustrated by the sameness of a lot of land art recently. That said I did have a lot of fun drafting this and some of the silliness was great fun. I’m hoping that in future wizards puts more time into making a coherent and well fleshed out story and art rather than the gimmick route they seem to be heading down this year with their sets.

[@c_nrad]

I’m so glad you shouted out how you resolved Killer Among Us in paper. It’s been bothering me for a while

[@kazekage_gaara_-8027]

Disguise and Cloak seem like reasonably "fair" upgrades to Morph and Manifest when looking at limited. We have Shock, Galvanize, Murder, Lightning Helix, etc... It's a serious feel bad when you want your "cool card" to flip and do something to get blown out by paying 3 and they remove it by immediately paying less mana than you. And for new players who don't know the old mechanics it doesn't seem like they're "clunky", hard to explain/understand additions. It also makes it a bit more likely they make it to constructed. I pay three to play a face down thing. You pay three to remove it. It's net neutral at the very least that maybe I can get extra value out of by paying to flip the thing.

[@david21216]

These are my fav videos, I'm always glad you get a sponsorship (usually) so things don't bite into your budget much (I hope). But its so relaxing and chill, like lofi professor.

[@elisgillberg9002]

Always a good day when the professor pos upp on my screen ❤

[@starmanda88]

Your rant about wrench cracked me tf up 😂😂😂😂

[@SmoesKnows]

Love these casual videos where you are working with a loose script - thanks!

[@bennettquiggins3292]

won't disagree about wordiness and complexity but boy did morph need that ward 2 to be in line with modern power level of creatures

[@ScooneyPuba]

Felt pretty called out while playing BG3 and watching this.

[@ScooneyPuba]

*listening*

[@genderlich]

"Vein Ripper? $2" hits different after the pro tour doesn't it?

[@myaramiu]

He said a Vein ripper was $2... and he also said it was Monday, the day after the pro tour. The day OF the pro tour the Vein rippers were already $30... Idk where he got some of these prices from.

[@justincartmell3771]

Face down cards/creatures are the foundation, cloak and manifest are the specific versions of related foundation. Same with disguise/morph being specific versions of the foundation of face down cards/creatures.

[@bradana09]

I absolutely lost it when you went into the 'Wrench' bit, oh my goodness, thank you so much for the laughs, you are delightful!!

[@cliffjam]

Professor, I greatly enjoyed this video. Playing it in the background while working, without feeling like I missed anything or fast forwarding to the “hits” because I was lacking the time to watch it. We like hearing your thoughts when we can. The booster box game itself is just number crunching, this keeps it personal.

[@APlasticLemon]

I enjoyed the commentary over the opening! Much more entertaining to watch than other booster box games imo

[@jdlazin]

I appreciate and value you choosing not to do the booster box game because you didn't feel like it. No need to force yourself. And love that you found a way to still go through the motions in a way that brought extra value.

[@TimsWheelbarrowMTG]

It is definitely important that we can mentally justify our expenditure on anything, at a time where everything seems to be pretty expensive. The level to which Prof's estimation on price/value was off here is probably a good indication that taking mental stock about how you feel about the contents of a box (rather than its real money value) is worth doing. This was a box where Prof felt like his money wasn't worth it, when by EV on today's prices it apparently was. Card prices change all the time. How you feel about them will likely take longer to devalue, especially if you mainly play more casual formats. Buy and play the cards that make you happy, and if you're happy with what you have, don't feel pressured to buy anything.

[@Gshadewolf14]

I still absolutely cannot get over Prof predicting the cowboy set. It came much sooner than I would have believed

[@JoshuaHaugh]

i like the big full art lands and i think that change in a plane makes sense. While of course this set isnt as dark as old ravnica i dont understand people saying that detectives feel unrealistic in a literal city

[@mawtaus]

The main thing that I got from MKM is that I would really love a Discworld set. A "street level" story set against a much larger world. Interesting named characters, but plenty of room for random anybodies to fill out the cast of creatures.

[@biggeb4776]

On the disguise vs morph, i found the ward verry interestig as it changes limited by nerfing removal spell(usually limited stars) and powering up combat tricks, it also avoided the frustration of a 2/2 for 3 being easly killed. That being said i agree that the set is very complex

[@dabababadoo]

I didn’t understand why this set was “rejected” seems like a fun set with a good land cycle

[@orangegalen]

Product overload, return to Ravnica for the 4th or 5th time, Hasbruh and WotC business practices driving players away, players more interested in saving for Fallout/Thunder/future sets… take your pick.

[@Logan-lz5gu]

To me it is just very boring. The murder mystery didn't really pan out as well as I hoped. The mechanics feel bland and there's more exciting sets later in the year.

[@Caliban_80]

"lead pipe" is a card in this set...

[@hz9139]

Mechanics were somewhat awkward. 3 mana for a 2/2 with protection that you then needed to flip is an annoying decision to maoe

[@TryphectaOG]

I bought a Judith and a barbed servitor, nothing mechanics wise was interesting.

[@jamescampbell2353]

You’re opinions are relevant and valid. Unfortunately I disagree with Ravnica not being the perfect place for a murder mystery

[@Creepy___]

You are kinda right about the surveil lands being a panorama. If you put all the full art surveil lands next to each other they reveal some hidden message where you gotta do maths

[@phil4459]

Price difference to EU is crazy! For example, over here Vein Ripper go's for 20€...

[@myaramiu]

Same in the USA. They're about $30 right now, idk what prices he was looking at.

[@hamishian0]

I love you prof. I like the full art lands, but I think your right about the flavour being more New Capenna than Ravnica.

[@mimico4340]

You going to say something about the discontinuation of Portuguese and Chinese languages in MTG?

[@laboratorymaniac7324]

100% agree about the token scarcity, too. I wouldn't mind it as much if more tokens were reprints - I've got plenty of 1/1 red goblins from past sets for Krenko, for instance - but I'm finding it really hard to find spider tokens for Izoni, and I've only got a handful of detective tokens even though a bunch of cards make those.

[@landale3993]

Slime Against Humanity's actual rarity feels somewhere between Uncommon and Rare. I got 5 play booster boxes and every single one without fail had exactly 3 copies of that card.

[@PieBandit]

I honestly enjoyed the set. Some of my thoughts: * I give a pass on the borderless surveil lands looking similar because they do indeed form a panorama (and it's part of the ARG!) * I understand why they did disguise over morph (and cloak over manifest). TL:DR; a 3 mana vanilla 2/2 is power crept out of the game at this point. I would have liked if they instead just made a rule change for morph and made morph and manifest come with ward 1 or 2 (except in throwback drafts though), but I understand why they didn't * I don't *mind* the dossier frame, but it needed to have more color on the border. Like a clearly color id'd folder behind a white paper dossier instead of the colored stamps would have gone a long way * The set is fun. I don't mind a little more humor. One thing to keep in mind is the humor wasn't part of the story cards, it was the other cards in the set, which I'm perfectly fine with. * Honestly, in terms of just....fun playing, wizards has been doing really well lately. I can't think of a set I haven't enjoyed drafting. Probably the worst was LCI, and I don't fault the set, I just couldn't find my groove drafting it. It seemed fine! * It's sad to see beloved characters die, but at the same time, it's important because if some don't die occasionally, the plot armor on them is blinding. * The fact it's set on Ravnica instead of new capenna seems obvious. It does seem like it could be set anywhere. Disappointingly, the real world reason seems to be the lack of law enforcement in Capenna due to real world police brutality issues causing them to scale back that area of the world building. Which.....sucks, because otherwise it does feel like it would have been a better fit

[@nick874]

The only thing I'll disagree with here is the point about character deaths. Yes it's fine to kill them off, but it should be for a meaningful story reason, not just because they needed any character that people were attached to

[@chiffon788]

I don't know what's funnier, Prof guessing that the (less-than-a) dollar rares are worth $5-7, or opening the money cards in the set and consistently guessing they're about $2.

[@ravenjoker254]

Part of the problem with mechanics such as Disguise is also flavour creep, and the immense focus on top-down design. Murders is a murder mystery detective set! Designers have some good ideas, but clearly the flavour requires Disguise, not Morph! The whole mechanic of face-down cards and manipulating them is great, and if they had started with a set focused on that mechanic, they would've found a way to incorporate it better. But we get Disguise instead, and I guess giving it Ward 2 to distinguish it from Morph. I had a big issue with Lost Caverns of Ixalan - it had the Descend keyword, but Descend appeared three whole times woth a different way of function. There was Descend, there was "when you descend", and last one which I can never remember the name of. All of them interacted with cards going into your graveyars but wach of them in a slightly different, inconsistent way - once again, because flavour wins... We now have Cowboy world, where apparently "crimes" are a thing? And as absolutely amazingly excited I am for Bloomburrow, I don't have high hopes for it mechanically. Please, can we have a bottom-up set again?

[@matthewtieszer7073]

I legit opened a Karlov manor booster pack yesterday and got a 'Shard of Broken Glass' with the Innistrad logo inside. We can never escape it!

[@KnicKnac]

I really like the detective token artwork. Artist did a great job

[@Jgibbs093]

Thought the standard video was A+, love how the open secret (between almost all creators) is everything has to be negative to get more views. That's really great for the community....

[@baron_holi]

34:04 You are lovable in your cantankerousness prof, honestly you're the only KZbinr I've watched consistently since I was a 16 nearly 8 years ago

[@Fallingoverbackwards]

I really enjoyed this format, talking through the set