MTG’s Cluedo-inspired crossover lets you win by fingering a murderer
Swinging at face isn’t very gumshoe of you.
Magic: The Gathering is going all-in on the whodunnit theme surrounding the trading card game’s first premiere set in 2024. Murders at Karlov Manor tasks familiar and new faces from the popular plane of Ravnica with solving a locked room mystery, but players can mix murder and cardboard on their own with the companion game launching alongside the set - Ravnica: Cluedo Edition.
Available the same day that Murders at Karlov Manor launches globally, Ravnica: Cluedo Edition looks like a weird synthesis of MTG and the Cluedo board game (known in the US as Clue). It uses MTG cards in a self-contained multiplayer format with rules that are probably interchangeable with Commander. I say probably because Wizards of the Coast has been cagey with details, and much of what we know comes from scant press release missions and Blake Rasmussen’s comments from the latest Weekly MTG YouTube video.
Here’s the pitch: Guildmage Boddy (har har) lies dead on the floor of their Ravnican mansion, and the players must compete for three key pieces of evidence - suspect, location and murder weapon - in order to win. Of course, you can always wallop your rivals into submission and win the old fashioned way, but the MTG equivalent of Hercule Poirot would find that behaviour very unbecoming.
Ravnica: Cluedo Edition will reprint classic MTG cards with a Cleudo twist, including land cards portraying different rooms in Boddy’s abode. Artefact weapons will portray the full assortment of deadly implements with a cheeky ‘Clue’ subtype, and every hue-themed character from the original board game has been reimagined as Ravnican citizens. Senator Peacock (Blue), Commander Mustard (Red/White - the only multicoloured lad) and four other potential killers portray Legendary creature cards that, of course, can helm their own Commander deck.
Not quite a detective board game but certainly different from standard MTG, the Ravnica: Cluedo Edition box will contain 8 booster packs similar to Jumpstart - predetermined collections of cards in a randomised wrapper so you don’t know what’s inside until you crack the pack. Players will use these cards to build a deck, and WotC has suggested that the rules and mechanics will allow players to ask those pivotal ‘Who’, ‘What’ and ‘Where’ questions in order to gather evidence and eventually point to the perpetrator.
Perhaps inferring that enfranchised MTG players might not immediately want to add a TCG derivative to their already crammed-full release schedule (Ravnica Remastered hits shelves on January 12, just days before Murders at Karlov Manor previews suck all the air from the room), Ravnica: Cluedo Edition will also slap a reprint of the highly sought-after shock lands from Ravnica on the top of every box. Only these will feature full-card art portraying different rooms in Boddy’s expansive mansion. MTG similarly sweetened the pot with 2022’s wacky Unfinity set with space-themed shock lands - why reinvent the wheel when pushing a tertiary product release?
Ravnica: Clue Edition launches February 23rd and supports three to four players. Everything the group needs to play is inside the box, steering it towards an audience familiar with the classic board game but curious about this odd MTG crossover.
