Murders at Karlov Manor brought a lot of interesting ideas to the world of MTG. From a design standpoint, Wizards of the Coast went all-out on the murder mystery themes. Between the ever-present Investigate mechanic to the plethora of Detectives features in the set, the themes were quite clear in Murders at Karlov Manor. We were even given a new Enchantment type in the form of Cases, which provide neat bonuses once you are able to Solve them.
If that weren’t enough, the murder mystery theme even spanned beyond just the main set and Commander decks. Released on February 23, players were able to get their hands on the intriguing Ravnica: Clue Edition product. This multiplayer game variant developed by Hasbro was developed to add a new spin on MTG. Showcasing Evidence cards and different weapons and rooms inspired by the original Clue game, this original product was meant to add a new layer of excitement to your playgroup.
Unfortunately, the product has not necessarily been well-received by everyone. There have been a multitude of issues that players have run into that have led to overall disappointment with the product. To understand exactly where this frustration lies, it’s important to first go over the contents of the Ravnica: Clue Edition game and the expected variations from product to product.
Ravnica: Clue Edition Boosters
Ravnica: Clue Edition comes equipped with both MTG boosters and different Clue-related items. These MTG boosters function quite similarly to Jumpstart packs of the past, each containing 20 cards. The idea is to take two 20-card premade half-decks, shuffle them together, and play like normal.
The game itself is played just like a traditional game of MTG, with the goal being to deal damage to your opponents. However, in addition to being able to simply win the game by reducing each of your opponents’ life totals to zero, you can also win the game by correctly identifying the killer, murder weapon, and scene of the crime that were placed in the Case File envelope at the beginning.
Characters, weapons, and rooms can be found among the 21 Evidence cards available in each Ravnica: Clue Edition product. By simply dealing combat damage to an opponent, you are able to ask them questions about information related to these cards that they may be hiding.
While all Ravnica: Clue Edition products come with the same 21 Evidence cards, they do not necessarily show off the same 20-card boosters. In fact, there are a total of 20 different boosters available, two for each distinct guild. You can find the card lists associated with each of the 20 boosters here. Each Ravnica: Clue Edition game will come with eight boosters from among the 20, providing enough cards for 4-player games to take place.
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Issues of Duplicates
While many aspects of the Ravnica: Clue Edition game seemed quite enjoyable to lots of players, the way boosters were handled left a lot to be desired. The biggest recurring issue that players seemed to run into was the fact that, within an individual product, packs could be duplicated. One player took to Youtube to open up their packs only to realize that half of their packs were duplicates. This sparked some discussion, but as it turns out, this player was not alone.
Another played mentioned that, among their eight boosters, only three guilds ended up being successfully represented. This clearly left a sour taste in a lot of players’ mouths. After all, many players were expecting this product to be similar to Game Night packages of the past, which contained non-randomized Pre-constructed decks designed for casual multiplayer games.
Not only does the randomization of packs make it more likely that duplicates will be found among the eight featured boosters in a Ravnica: Clue Edition package, but it also makes it significantly more difficult to collect packs for each guild. One player who bought four Ravnica: Clue Edition sets pointed out that between their first three sets, Azorius was represented zero times! For players hoping for variety, it’s understandable why this product would be disappointing overall.
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Potential Solutions
While it’s pretty clear that players were mostly disappointed across the board with booster distribution, the question then becomes: what is the best solution? For some, a completely unrandomized set showcasing packs across the different guilds would help make things more fun. Providing packs for each guild would help improve the longevity of the product, as players would be able to mix and match boosters in different ways.
However, as some players pointed out, a large portion of the player base was simply going to purchase Ravnica: Clue Editions sets as a way to crack packs. After all, this product does come with a decent number of mechanically unique cards for players to get their hands on. In this sense, it’s not unreasonable to apply some level of variance to make the pack-cracking aspect more enjoyable.
One solution proposed was to make sure all 10 guilds were represented in each package but offer a small pool of rares for each guild. This is quite similar to how Jumpstart 2022 was treated. Jumpstart 2022 boosters even had the potential to come with an extra rare, which offered a nice bonus. This would help add suspense while cracking packs while simultaneously not messing with the unique gameplay associated with Ravnica: Clue Edition.
While it’s unclear how similar products will be structured in the future, players made sure to voice their frustration with how boosters were distributed in Ravnica: Clue Edition. It still seems like many players were hyped for the set’s release, so hopefully this feedback is taken to heart.
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