Unassailable bombs in recent MTG Limited sets is becoming a stronger theme than they ever were. Even just a few years ago, a single card boosting your winrate by 15% or more was unheard of. Fast forward to 2023, and Sunfall was one of the most powerful Limited Rares we’ve ever seen. Move on to The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and Bonehoard Dracosaur as well as Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal are incredibly difficult to beat if you don’t answer them right away.
It is now 2024, and Murders at Karlov Manor has continued this trend of incredibly powerful Limited bombs that are very difficult to beat if not dealt with immediately. While these cards don’t seem to be quite as powerful as the Lost Caverns of Ixalan ones, they are still strong enough that you do not want to pass them under almost any circumstance. Let’s take a look at what, according to 17lands.com, are the best Murders at Karlov Manor bombs that you do not want to pass.
As a quick note, we will be using ‘game in hand’ winrates when discussing these cards.
Aurelia’s Vindicator
According to 17lands, across a lot of different data points, Aurelia’s Vindicator is the best card in Murders at Karlov Manor Limited. As long as this card pops up in your hand at some point, Aurelia’s Vindicator has boasted a winrate of 68.8%! Those number indicate that this bomb is incredibly hard to beat once it hits the table.
Aurelia’s Vindicator was revealed at the beginning of Karlov Manor’s spoiler season, and we were quick to suggest that this card looked absolutely insane in Limited. The Vindicator is capable of doing everything. It can remove opposing permanents, recur yours and, most importantly, is a nasty threat. A 4/2 with Flying and Lifelink is incredibly difficult to race. Ward 2 also makes the Vindicator a bit difficult to deal with otherwise.
If this weren’t enough, because Aurelia’s Vindicator has Disguise, it’s incredibly easy to splash this in any Murders at Karlov Manor deck. Even if don’t have the white mana to cast this, you can just Disguise it for three generic mana. Even if you don’t manage to flip it, you can still get some use out of it.
All in all, it’s incredibly unsurprising that this card has been Karlov Manor’s best performer. As long as you’re able to sink some mana into the Angel, you’ll likely run away with the game.
Izoni, Center of the Web
Aurelia’s Vindicator may be the best card in Murders at Karlov Manor Limited, but Izoni is not too far behind. As long as you can Collect Evidence 4 when this card enters the battlefield, Izoni offers three relevant bodies for five mana, which has traditionally been enough to make an MTG card a Limited powerhouse.
All the bodies Izoni creates, including herself, also have Menace, making it very difficult to block properly. Double blocking opens the opponent up to combat tricks and other forms of removal that can blow them out.
Not only does Izoni create bodies on entry, but as long as you can Collect Evidence 4, you can scale your board presence immensely. Even triggering Izoni a few times is usually enough to bury your opponents in Spiders. Any card that is capable of ending the game on its own deserves a high winrate, and Izoni’s game-in-hand winrate currently sits at a staggering 65.4%!
Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice
Agrus Kos’s high winrate suggests that Suspect plays a big role within Murders at Karlov Manor Limited. As a body, Agrus Kos is valuable enough, able to push damage while preventing opponents from cracking back. The ability to exile Suspended creatures is presumably what makes Argus Kos so strong. Given enough time, this card can definitely run away with the game, but perhaps not at the rate at the cards that have a higher winrate.
Agrus Kos will continue to provide value when not dealt with, and being able to Suspect creatures makes him even more difficult to block. All in all, Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice has a 65.1% winrate at the moment.
Ezrim, Agency Chief
Ezrim, Agency Chief is essentially Dream Trawler at home, and we fully expect that if UW Control does return to Standard, Ezrim will be the win condition of choice.
Able to Investigate twice, and repurpose Clue Tokens, or other artifacts into protection makes Ezrim incredibly difficult to deal with. Lifelink doesn’t work either with the race makes Ezrim incredibly difficult to deal with. As far as sheer power goes, we’re surprised Ezrim’s winrate isn’t higher!
The mana cost of Ezrim is rather harsh, demanding two white and blue mana, which makes splashing Ezrim particularly difficult. Additionally, in order to play Ezrim and protect it, you need six mana, which can be rather difficult to assemble depending on the speed of the format.
Even though this card is rather difficult to cast, Ezrim’s winrate according to 17lands is 64.6%.
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Tolsimir, Midnight’s Light
Creatures that make multiple relevant bodies in Limited have traditionally been incredibly powerful, and Tolsimir, Midnight’s Light is no exception. A 3/2 Lifelinker and a 5/5 green and white wolf with Trample is both very relevant. Needing to use multiple resources to kill these cards easily puts your opponent behind.
If your opponents are unable to deal with Tolsimir in a timely manor, your Volja Fenstalker token will start eating opponents creatures by forcing them to block if Tolsimir attacks. In the weird situation where you have other Wolves past Voja, you can force opponents to block those, too! Even if this doesn’t come up much in Limited, it’s still a powerful ability.
Thanks to Tolsimir creating two problematic bodies and threatening psuedo-removal if you cannot deal with them, it currently has a 64.2% winrate.
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