Why Karlov Manor Failed And Thunder Junction Succeeded As Magic: The Gathering Sets

Thanks to Factor75 for sponsoring today's video. Use my link to get 50% off your first Factor box and 20% off your next month of orders! strms.net/factor75_tolariancommunity

Final tally: • Murders at Karlov Manor: 5 • Murders at "Markov" Manor: 24

There were more detectives in MKM than dinosaurs in lost Caverns. A singular set had more detectives then there are werewolves across 7 DIFFERENT INNISTRAD SETS.

For me, the number one reason for Karlov Manor failing is the lack of a break in the story. You can't have a murder mystery if you can open the victim, the twist, and the answer in your first booster of the set.

I feel like its worth mentioning that satisfying world building is NOT just shoehorning recurring characters back into every set. I wish they'd break away from all that.

Honestly, if this set had been on New Capenna with actually good writing, it would have been heat. A New Capenna Noir set sounds awesome.

What makes it worse is that Wizards already had a template for a mystery set: Shadows Over Innistrad.

One of the things that bugged me about Murders at Markov Manor is if you watch or read old pulp detective stories, there is usually 1 detective. Not 37 running around in the story. They should have made like 1 detective per guild plus a neutral one, and had lots of “suspect”creatures

Wizards: "We want to do a murder mystery set in the style of noire film and pulp detective novels, but we need a plane to set it on!" Glances at New Capenna, the actual 20's/30's themed plane full of crime syndicates Wizards: "I'm going to ignore that."

Funny how the prof also says Markov Manor.. This set is so not Ravnican that we even forget the murder was on Karlov manor.

Biggest thing that got my attention to Bloomborrow is the art where the mice is standing bravely against the giant dark wolf. Instant buy in for me.

It's actually impressive that he was able to ping back from Markov Manor and Karlov Manor at one point before it stayed Markov Manor

I like the comparison of why one set was a success and one was not. Would be an interesting retrospetive series.

Its pretty obvious. Cowboys Hats > Detectives Hats.

As an Arena player, Thunder Junction is a mythic wildcard black hole.

The trenchcoats and fedoras look was bizarre, but I feel like we do need to set the record straight: The first Ravnica block story was ALL ABOUT detectives. Agrus Kos was entirely playing out a cop show story with all the cliches--his drug addiction, him holding himself responsible for his partner, being told he's too close to this case, the whole bit.

One of the issues I had with MKM, flavour-wise, was that "murder mystery" as a theme doesn't mesh with the concept of a game of Magic being a battle between clashing planeswalkers. We're supposed to be summoning armies to send into battle against our enemies - solving cases, looking for clues, and starting up a detective agency in the middle of that simply doesn't go. And yes, Bloomburrow is quite possibly the most excited I've been for a new Magic set in years. I've gotten so fatigued at them just throwing anything and everything at us just to find something that might stick, Bloomburrow feels like an actual, cohesive creation that they've dedicated real time and effort to. I also love that it feels more like a more traditional fantasy setting - traditional fantasy has always been my jam, and I'm relishing a return to that style at last.

I wish you mentioned something about Lost Caverns of Ixalan’s worldbuilding, as the whopping 20,000 word Planeswalker’s guide put so much about the world for us to love, and it expanded the world that people really liked on top of a great set.

My friends didn't want to play Markov Manor because they didn't like the theme. It felt like "Oh, they're making this because they want to sell the Clue crossover" and that feels kind of gross.

Some minor corrections about Bloomburrow: 1. Bria and Byrke are from a starter kit, so they're probably not indicative of power level or complexity. 2. Bloomburrow only has a "light" kindred mechanical theme. Each color pair does have a critter type, and the set is indeed designed so that you can make a cohesive deck by drafting creatures of that type, which should make it very new player friendly. However, this is going to primarily work by giving creatures of the same type similar mechanical themes that make them synergize with the same strategy rather than actually requiring/benefitting creatures of that type. For example Boros will mechanically be an equipment deck, tis just that all the mice in the set will be designed to synergize with equipment. (I do appreciate you using the word "kindred" though, because "typal" just sounds lame)