Room Escape Artist

On February 2, 2024, two of my favorite things will converge: puzzles and Magic the Gathering.

I wrote about the coming convergence back in December and promised to return with all of the relevant information once it was all available. And now that the details exist, I’m back to share all of the information that you’ll need to explore the Murders at Karlov Manor Puzzle Hunt.

This post will help you understand where to find the Murders at Karlov Manor Puzzle Hunt, provide key background information, and give you a sense of what to expect from it.

Murders at Karlov Manor Puzzle Hunt Details

The puzzle hunt is titled, “Ravnican Agency of Magicological Investigations.”

Background

“Ravnica” is the world in which this particular set exists. (Magic is set in a multiverse, but not the Marvel kind. There are just lots of different worlds known as Planes.)

And “The Agency of Magicological Investigations” is an institution built to investigate and prosecute magic-related crime.

Our main character in this story is Master Sleuth for The Agency of Magicological Investigations, Alquist Proft, a Hercule Poirot type.

How The Puzzle Will Work?

“The case begins when the first Mystery File unlocks with Prerelease on February 2nd, and each day through February 14th a new Mystery File will unlock for you to solve.”

Mystery Files

The bulk of The Hunt appears to consist of 13 Mystery Files that will be made available, 1 per day from February 2 – 14, 2024. These puzzles will release at the RavnicaDetectiveAgency.com.

It is unclear how long each puzzle will take, how complicated they will be, or how much Magic the Gathering knowledge will be required.

That said, we do know that The Hunt’s design was led by longtime Magic designer, Mark Gottlieb, who was also the primary developer of the 1995 MIT Mystery Hunt. 1995 was a few years before the MIT Mystery Hunt’s complexity began to spiral into insanity. Mark is one of us.

Ironically, the 1995 MIT Mystert Hunt had a Clue (Cluedo) theme… and Murders at Karlov Manor has a Clue/ Magic variant.

My assumptions are that the puzzles will be well-designed, manageable, and likely won’t require much Magic knowledge that can’t be Googled. I suspect that there are clues hidden in the set’s card art that we will have to reference. All of those cards are available to view on the Magic website.

Plus, knowing Magic players, there will be plenty of Reddit threads with any information that you may require (Reddit is already hard at work, doing its thing).

Pre-Release

It seems that the first clues will be made available at Murders at Karlov Manor Prerelease events held at game stores around the world on February 2, 2024 (Find a Store).

5 Cards Puzzlers Will Appreciate

There is a ton to love in this set for puzzlers. You don’t have to be a Magic player to appreciate them… and I’ll give you the tl;dr:

Cryptex

This card makes you jump through a number of hoops to solve it and get a reward. I don’t think that this is an especially good card, but it is a fun representation of a cryptex.

Prisoner’s Dilemma 

This one is admittedly wordy, but it is doing exactly what you think and making your opponents play-out a prisoner’s dilemma situation.

Case of the Gateway Express

This is a Magic version of Murder on the Orient Express that plays out in multiple phases. It cleverly begins with all of your creatures collectively killing another creature, and in the end, they all gain power.

Jaded Analyst

“Defender” means that this Jaded Analyst can’t attack, it can only act defensively… but when you get extra information by drawing another card, it springs into action.

Meddling Youths

“And I would have gotten away with it…”

The Story of Murders at Karlov Manor

It may come as a surprise to you, but Magic also has remarkably extensive story. Like all serialized stories, it has its ups and downs… but I have to say, Murders at Karlov Manor is an exceptional murder mystery.

It requires no knowledge of Magic’s lore, but they did kill off a few beloved characters.

You can learn an abridged version of the Murders at Karlov Manor story from the set’s Debut video:

Or you can read/ listen to all 10 chapters written by Seanan McGuire for free on the Magic website:

1. Ghosts of Our Past
2. Monsters We Became
3. Shadows of Regret
4. Justice Before Mercy
5. Chains of Expectation
6. Explosions of Genius
7. Rot before Recovery
8. Gods of Chaos
9. Beauty in Destruction
10. Roots of Decay

More To Come

Depending upon the complexity of The Hunt, I’ll either do a piece about how things are progressing, or I will return at the end with some thoughts and observations.

Either way, there will be at least one more piece on Murders at Karlov Manor.

Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission

There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon or Etsy after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.

The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.