Murders at Karlov Manor released in February 2024, giving us a murder-mystery themed Magic: The Gathering set. New mechanics in this set include solving cases, suspecting creatures, disguising and cloaking cards. In the mono-green realm, Archdruid’s Charm and Slime Against Humanity created the most buzz. Let’s dive into the set and check out the best green cards in MKM!
Best Generally Good Green Cards in MKM
Case of the Locked Hothouse
Solving this case is a unique new way to play cards off of the top of your library. At 4 mana you might find it difficult to make immediate use of the extra land drops unless you’re combining it with strong card draw or your deck aims to play lands from your graveyard or library. Once you have 7 lands you solve the case, which grants a powerful effect starting your next turn. You’ll be allowed to play lands, creatures and enchantments from the top of your library. This broadens its appeal considerably. There are plenty of landfall, creature or enchantment-matters commanders that could make use of this card. Sythis, Harvest’s Hand, Galea, Kindler of Hope, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Phylath, World Sculptor etc. This card’s value goes up the longer a game goes, but can be a dead draw early/mid game if you can’t fuel it.
On the Trail
Here’s a simple value card I can really get behind. Only two mana, simple trigger, ramp effect. There are plenty of ways to get multiple card draws per turn. Card draw enchantments, using Clues, blue’s plethora of instant speed draw effects, and many more. This card does come in the Deep Clue Sea precon but is likely to find a home in many commander decks. Note that it doesn’t work as well as you’d hope with the Explore mechanic. Putting a land in your hand from an Explore doesn’t count as drawing a card. A shame – would have been perfect synergy! Instead, pair it with my favorite jank card – Fa’adiyah Seer.
Archdruid’s Charm
What can be said about this charm that hasn’t already been said? It’s a bit hard to cast outside of mono-green with the restrictive pips, but it’s otherwise very versatile. It’s ramp, removal, buffs, or a creature tutor – whatever you need at instant speed!
Pick Your Poison
Edict effects are typically in Black. This is a color shifted version that specifically targets whatever green already normally targets: artifacts, enchantments, or flying creatures. If you’re dealing with hexproof or just like general mayhem, this card is for you. It’s generally good so it’s unlikely to be a dead card in your deck. If you’re worried about it being useful, save this card for decks that can discard cards they don’t need. Red style discard to draw, for example, like Thrill of Possibility. Or a commander like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald who can pitch cards to fuel her own engine.
Best New Green Cards for Graveyard Strategies
Undergrowth Recon
Undergrowth Recon is a great addition to the relatively limited set of options for getting lands back into play from your graveyard. This triggers during your upkeep and brings the land back into play tapped. Pair this with cards like Spelunking or Tiller Engine for immediate ramp. This pairs extremely well with the New Capenna ‘pop’ lands that sacrifice themselves as an ETB. These lands immediately sac themselves, allowing you to get them back every turn with Undergrowth Recon. This is also two landfall triggers and a life each turn. They have no color so even in a mono-green deck you could run the three that fetch forests.
Unlike the Capenna lands, other fetch lands don’t pair quite as well by themselves with Undergrowth Recon. You’ll untap during your untap step but cannot activate your land’s ability until your upkeep, at which point Recon’s ability is already on the stack requiring you to target a land that is already in your graveyard. This makes cards like Terramorphic Expanse extremely slow with Undergrowth Recon. It is repeatable in long games but generally you’re better off with Capenna lands or non-fetch lands in a self-mill strategy.
This card has a home in many of the same decks Aftermath Analyst would like to be in. Special shoutout to Baba Lysaga, Night Witch who can abuse this card to bring back a man-land like Mishra’s Factory each turn. Baba wants to sacrifice 3 card types and these man lands become Artifact Creature Lands. Undergrowth Recon brings it back every turn, creating a powerful two card engine!
Aftermath Analyst
I love this gal. Enters the battlefield milling you to fueling your self-mill strategies and comes with a Splendid Reclamation ability stapled to her. Can work well with cards like Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler who can mill this to bring her back to mill more. (Check out our Tyvar Oathbreaker deck tech here). The fact that her ability doesn’t contain the dreaded ‘only as a sorcery’ clause allows you to activate the ability at your opponent’s end step, letting you to start your turn with a large boost of mana. Aside from self-mill, you could look for Landfall/land sacrifice decks to include the Analyst. Lord Windgrace, The Gitrog Monster, Hazezon, Shaper of Sand or one of the many Titania cards who cares about lands going to your graveyard. Pair it with her Zuran Orb to get a ton of life back – just don’t get hit by a well timed Sudden Spoiling!
Rubblebelt Maverick
This is a straightforward value play. One mana to sculpt your next draws and/or fill your yard. You’re likely to use this in a self-mill style deck, so the added bonus of being able to use his ability from the yard is a nice add. His ability will trigger some of the new cards like Insidious Roots or Chalk Outline. The low mana values of this card help fuel your deck’s primary strategies.
Chalk Outline
This is an interesting enchantment that you’re going to run only in a few decks. It works well with Collecting Evidence, Unearth or effects that return creatures to your hand or battlefield from the graveyard. Even creatures like Rubblebelt Maverick or Faerie Dreamthief that exile themselves from your yard can trigger Chalk Outline. Mass Reanimation like Living Death isn’t quite as strong since this is a ‘one or more’ effect. If you can get this to trigger reliably, getting both a 2/2 creature and a clue token can be quite strong. There will undoubtedly be combos with this card, probably with a sacrifice outlet and reanimation loop with something like Gravecrawler or Reassembling Skeleton. If you’re running this and you also have black in your deck, consider Insidious Roots which is a very similar effect from the same set.
Best New Green Cards for Clue Strategies
Innocuous Researcher
Ok on first look you’ll say the Researcher’s ability to untap all of your lands at end step but only allowing you to use the mana for non-spells is clearly outclassed by old school staples like Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation. You’d be right. However, this Researcher is a budget option and redundancy for those types of effects, especially for decks that have activated abilities they want to pour mana into. Clue tokens make for the obvious synergy and the Researcher gets you up to 4 every time he attacks thanks to his Parley ability. You could open two clues on your opponents’ turns to trigger two-card-per-turn synergies like Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, Zimone and Dina, or even On the Trail and Jaded Analyst from this set. He’s included in and is a natural fit in the Deep Clue Sea precon helmed by Morska, Undersea Sleuth.
Sharp-Eyed Rookie
Aside from great art, Sharp-Eyed Rookie is a low cost value engine for your creature decks. He’ll generate you a few clues and grow bigger with time. Built-in vigilance means you can send him at your opponents while still having a blocker available, though lack of trample means he’s likely to eat chump blockers. For two mana, Rookie’s a solid early play for decks revolving around clues and creatures.
Best New Green Cards for Face-Down Creature Strategies
Printlifter Ooze
Printlifter Ooze brings some go-tall to your go-wide strategies. Although he can arguably be included in any go-wide strategy, Printlifter Ooze shines in decks that both go wide and plays a number of face-down creatures. This combination can net you a number of large oozes at instant speed whenever you flip a creature face up. Very happy to see that he comes included in the Deadly Disguise precon helmed by Kaust, Eyes of the Glade where you can cheat face-up costs with your commander.
Deathmist Raptor
This dino’s a modest card that provides support for both self-mill and face-down strategies. If you get him in your yard, you can cheat him into play whenever you turn a creature face-up. Having Deathtouch makes him a potent blocker that can keep coming back. Like Printlifter Ooze, he comes in the Deadly Disguise precon helmed by Kaust, Eyes of the Glade.
Hide in Plain Sight
This card goes well in decks that care about face-down creatures. Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods, Kaust, Eyes of the Glade, and particularly Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer (who will draw you two cards for your trouble) are good examples. Face down creatures can be turned up at any time, so you could surprise your opponents by turning up a huge beater that went unblocked. At 4 mana, this card is probably not worth playing unless you’re regularly manipulating the top of your library or are playing around face down cards.
Tunnel Tipster
If you’re looking for an early mana dork that can get bigger in your face-down creature deck, Tunnel Tipster’s got you covered. Really surprised he wasn’t included in the Deadly Disguise precon, as he’d be a natural fit.
Best Green Cards for Misc Strategies
Case of the Trampled Garden
Case of the Trampled Garden is a nice value play for +1/+1 decks and aggressive creature decks. Voltron commanders can solve this case quickly, as can any board with a few creatures. From there, you can grant a creature Trample and a +1/+1 counter whenever you attack. This card reminds me of Fight Rigging – Fight Rigging can be used to cheat things into play but Case of the Trampled Garden gets you access to, well, Trample.
Get a Leg Up
Just a shoutout to a potential blowout card for go-wide decks. One green at instant speed to give any creature a huge jump in damage is a combat trick go-wide decks should consider.
Audience with Trosani
Green can frequently rival Blue and Black in terms of card draw, though you usually have to jump through some hoops to do it. Have a big creature, deal a lot of damage, etc. This card asks you to have a lot of different creature tokens. This could go well in your zombie decks, cat/dog decks like Rin and Seri, Inseparable or Jinnie Fay, Jetmir’s Second; Saproling decks, Squirrel decks, etc. It’s best if you regularly create 2 types of non-Plant creature tokens to get at least 3 cards for 3 mana, making this better than Harmonize. Have more types of creature tokens, get more cards – low floor but high ceiling for this Audience. Consider pairing this with other token generating cards cards from this set: Chalk Outline, Insidious Roots, or A Killer Among Us. Wish I could run this in my Saint Traft and Rem Karolus deck!
Analyze the Pollen
A land or creature tutor if you can Collect Evidence 8. Not much to say here, it’s a decent budget tutor option if you typically fill your yard with cards.
Slime Against Humanity
This card already made waves when it was spoiled and is already kinda pricey for being a common. One key feature of this card is that it counts copies you own in exile, meaning graveyard hate and impulse draw do not prevent you from getting bigger and bigger oozes. You’ll have to build evasion and other synergies in the deck, but for 3 mana, each ooze you create is bigger than the last. There are many different commander options you could have helm a mass ooze strategy. Consider running this in a proliferate deck, a +1/+1 counter increasing deck, a token doubling deck, or Shalai and Hallar to have your slimes immediately damage folks when they enter the battlefield. You can look to play Thrumming Stone and Locket of Yesterdays. There are atypical cards for Commander but frequently seen in Dragon’s Approach, Persistent Petitioners and Relentless Rats decks.
What are your thoughts? Any combos or synergies you’ve found with MKM’s Green cards? Any green favorites missed in this article? Comment below!