Magic: The Gathering’s first Standard-legal premiere set of 2024 is dropping back in on the streets of Ravnica, although in a very different way to the other times we’ve been there.

Murders at Karlov Manor will be the first Ravnica set to mostly do away with the ten two-colour guild structure. Instead, Murders at Karlov Manor is a thematic ‘top-down’ set inspired by detectives, whodunnits, and sleuthing.

RELATED: Magic: The Gathering – Everything You Need To Know About cEDH

Revealed at Magic’s 30th Anniversary Gen Con panel, we know very little about Murders at Karlov Manor, bar its planned launch for Q1 2024. Described as letting you “experience Ravnica through the eyes of its keenest detectives”, it plays up common tropes found in detective media, much like how Streets of New Capenna played with gang movies, or Kaldheim Norse mythology.

Murders at Karlov Manor key art by Lie Setiawan

A particularly interesting aspect of the set is its emphasis on actually solving crimes as part of the game. This is another mystery to be revealed closer to launch, but Wizards has said that we’ll “need to use [our] sleuthing skills to solve an innovative puzzle” to escape Karlov Manor.

This was one of the sets previews at Mark Rosewater’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, with a contextless image of a private investigator hiding in a bush. Imagining what a Ravnica set without the guilds looks like is difficult, but we already have an investigate mechanic, Clue tokens, and a well-defined world to play in. Even the key art confirms a few of the detectives involved in the case are well-known Ravnicans, like Krenko, Judith, Massacre Girl, and Aurelia.

Murders at Karlov Manor art by Edgar Sanchez Hidalgo

Karlov Manor is the home of Teysa Karlov, the unofficial leader of the Orzhov Syndicate on Ravnica. Story-wise, this set also gives us a chance to explore Ravnica after the March of the Machine. In that set, we saw the Golgari Swarm all but collapse to the Phyrexian invasion, thanks to the compleation of its leader, Vraska.

With the guilds out of balance, maybe a top-down set is a good way to explore the conflict while maintaining the all-important mechanical balance?

Murders at Karlov Manor art by Julian Kok Joon Wen

This isn’t the only Ravnica set we’re getting this year. We’ll also be getting Ravnica Remastered earlier in the year. If you were worried that Murders at Karlov Manor is too much of a departure from the Ravnica you know and love, Remastered is a more traditional set, focusing on the ten guilds and including reprints from all three visits to the plane.

Murders at Karlov Manor art by Ryan Pancoast

Murders at Karlov Manor is the first of four Standard-legal sets launching in 2024. It will be available both in tabletop and on digital clients like Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online. A proper release date hasn’t been announced other than a vague Q1 2024 window, although previous years have had their first Standard set launch sometime in February.

NEXT: TCG Release Dates 2023