After a nonstop week of spoilers, Murders at Karlov Manor’s preview season has finally ended. Finishing things off with a bang, four brand new preconstructed Commander decks were revealed yesterday. Each containing new cards and reprints galore, these decks each look absolutely amazing. Thankfully, the same is true of the final deck, Deadly Disguise.
Focused primarily on the Disguise mechanic, this Naya deck plays heavily into major Murders at Karlov Manor’s mysterious theme. Beyond being flavorful, this preconstructed also offers deep internal synergies, turning Disguised cards into truly deadly threats. Alongside this, the deck also boasts a smorgasbord of compelling reprints that should get players even more excited.
One Way, or Another
As usual for a preconstructed Commander deck, Deadly Disguise has two new Commanders for players to choose between. Continuing the expected trend, each of these cards plays slightly differently, augmenting the deck’s core strategy. For Deadly Disguise, this means you can either flip your creatures or keep them all hidden.
Since Kaust, Eyes of the Glade is this deck’s face Commander, Wizards subtly endorses the former strategy. Considering the majority of this deck’s cards are stronger than Disguised creatures, this isn’t a surprise at all. Thanks to Kaust, Eyes of the Glade’s activated ability, flipping creatures is easier than ever before.
Costing just two mana, Kaust is an incredibly affordable way to begin flipping creatures from the word go. As if this wasn’t useful enough, Kaust also lets you draw cards, provided your recently flipped creatures can deal damage. Technically, this is a hurdle to overcome, but since blocking Disguised creatures is always a risk, it’s definitely doable.
As much as flipping Disguised creatures is definitely sensible,
Duskana, the Rage Mother
Duskana, the Rage Mother
When Duskana enters, draw a card for each creature you control with base power and toughness 2/2.
Whenever a creature you control with base power and toughness 2/2 attacks, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
offers an interesting alternative. Synergizing with bears 2/2 creatures, Duskana wants your creatures to stay Disguised. In this state, when attacking, these creatures receive a substantial 3/3 buff!
While Deadly Disguise does include a few truly massive threats, an army of 5/5s is nonetheless deadly. So much so, that keeping your creatures disguised is a genuinely viable strategy. Since they don’t have to be kept this way forever, Duskana can easily just carry you through the mid-game before the flipping antics begin.
Personally, since they offer a unique strategy, Duskana is definitely my go-to Commander for Deadly Disguise. That being said if you want to play into the deck’s true theme using Kaust, Eyes of the Glade, you’ll likely have better odds at winning.
Flip Cards Don’t Flop
Complimenting the deck’s new Commanders, Deadly Disguise also features a suite of new Disguised-based staples. Excluding
Boltbender
Boltbender
Disguise {1}{R} (You may cast this card face down for {3} as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)
When this creature is turned face up, you may choose new targets for any number of other spells and/or abilities.
, which is admittedly still powerful, each of these cards offers consistent added value. Beefing up and synergizing with every flipped card, the new cards are undeniably the stars of the show.
Out of all the new cards,
True Identity
True Identity
Whenever this enchantment or another permanent you control is turned face up, scry 1, then draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.
Disguise {W} (You may cast this card face down for {3} as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)
may well be the most useful. Providing Scry 1 and card draw whenever you flip a card, this Enchantment offers incredibly consistent value within this deck. Unfortunately, this can only trigger once per turn, however, a card draw engine for one mana isn’t to be scoffed at.
Similarly offering consistent value once cast
Experiment Twelve
Experiment Twelve
Trample
Whenever this creature or another creature you control is turned face up, put +1/+1 counters on that creature equal to its power.
Disguise {4}{G} (You may cast this card face down for {3} as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)
makes each flip that much deadlier. By effectively doubling the power of each flipped creature, this well-rounded creature facilitates some incredibly punishing swings. When combined with the new
Showstopping Surprise
Showstopping Surprise
Choose target creature you control. Turn it face up if it's face down. Then it deals damage equal to its power to each other creature.
this can easily turn into a cataclysmic board wipe.
Further pushing the flip theme,
Printlifter Ooze
Printlifter Ooze
Deathtouch
Whenever this creature or another creature you control is turned face up, create a 0/0 green Ooze creature token with trample. The token enters with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the number of other creatures you control.
Disguise {3}{G}
helps progressive build your board with each creature flipped. To make sure this happens reliably,
Panoptic Projektor
Panoptic Projektor
{T}: The next face-down creature spell you cast this turn costs {3} less to cast.
If turning a face-down permanent face up causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
makes casting Disguse creatures effectively free. On its own, this is already incredibly useful yet Panoptic Projektor gets even better with its
Panharmonicon
Panharmonicon
If an artifact or creature entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
-esque effect.
Unfortunately, since flipping is the theme, if Duskana is your Commander you don’t get as many new toys. The only new card that provides an obvious synergy is
Veiled Ascension
Veiled Ascension
When this enchantment enters, put a flying counter on each face-down creature you control.
Face-down creatures you control enter with a flying counter on them.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may cloak the top card of your library.
. Providing consistent Cloak triggers and flying face-down creatures, this Enchantment makes your army significantly scarier.
Last but not least for the useful new cards,
Unexplained Absence
Unexplained Absence
For each player, exile up to one target nonland permanent that player controls. For each permanent exiled this way, its controller cloaks the top card of their library. (To cloak a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)
is a somewhat costly source of removal. For some strange reason, Deadly Disguise also includes
Tesak, Judith’s Hellhound
Tesak, Judith’s Hellhound
Unleash (You may have this creature enter with a +1/+1 counter on it. It can't block as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Other Dogs you control have unleash.
Creatures you control with counters on them have haste.
Whenever Tesak attacks, add {R} for each attacking creature.
despite only containing three other dogs.
Value Bombs, but for How Long?
Sadly, while the new cards in Deadly Disguises each look like a lot of fun, the deck’s reprints aren’t so stellar. When compared to the other Murders at Karlov Manor decks they’re pretty terrible actually. Rather than being utterly loaded with value and fan-favorite Commander cards, Deadly Disguises barely has a handful. In total, only six cards are worth over $5.
At the low end, Ohran Frostfang and Three Visits both scrape the $5 threshold. Since both these cards see decent play they’re likely to retain much of their value. The same is true of
Neheb, the Eternal
Neheb, the Eternal
Afflict 3 (Whenever this creature becomes blocked, defending player loses 3 life.)
At the beginning of each of your postcombat main phases, add {R} for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn.
and
Toski, Bearer of Secrets
Toski, Bearer of Secrets
This spell can't be countered.
Indestructible
Toski attacks each combat if able.
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
at $8 and $9 respectively.
For better or worse, following these cards, the value of the remaining reprints jumps significantly.
Seedborn Muse
Seedborn Muse
Untap all permanents you control during each other player's untap step.
, for instance, currently sells for $18 on TCGplayer. Due to the print volume of preconstructed Commander decks, this price may soon drop, however, Seedborn Muse is nonetheless a staple. As a result, I wouldn’t hold your breath for a massive and needed price drop.
Thankfully, unlike Seedborn Muse,
Jeska’s Will
Jeska’s Will
Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both instead.
• Add {R} for each card in target opponent's hand.
• Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play them this turn.
may plummet in price somewhat. Having only been printed in Commander Legends products, this fan-favorite spell certainly needs more supply. In an ideal world, Deadly Disguise will help to solve that issue, bringing the price down as a result. Right now, Jeska’s Will sells for around $23 on TCGplayer.
Depending on print volume, each of these reprints could be fantastic for budget-conscious Commander players. For value-minded players, however, these reprints being successful could be a death sentence for Deadly Disguise. While this may be disappointing to some, thankfully, the Deep Clue Sea deck more than redeems precon value overall.
Decidedly Dedcent but Weirdly Bad
At the end of the day, the Deadly Disguise Commander deck looks great overall. By expanding on a set mechanic, the deck’s new cards should see some decent play, and the reprints aren’t bad too. If this deck was released a year ago, it would be heralded as an absolutely cracking precon. When compared to the other decks from Murders at Karlov Manor, however, is a surprisingly different story.
Up against Deep Clue Sea, Revenant Recon, and Blame Game, Deadly Disguise is weirdly meh. Sure, the cards are pretty good, but none of them truly stand out. The same is true of the reprints which don’t live up to the new standard. Since we don’t know how each of these decks plays with one another yet, there’s a chance Deadly Disguise will be the sleeper hit. Whether or not this will be the case, however, remains to be seen.
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