It seems clear that Clue token strategies will get a massive jolt of juice with Murders at Karlov Manor and the Ravnica: Clue Edition game. I had an Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth investigate deck for a while, but I’ve pulled it apart, expecting that I’ll want to make at least one new investigate/Clue deck from the upcoming sets. I’m also anticipating some sort of Secret Lair offering coming up that will either be Scooby-Doo characters or people from the awesome Clue movie. I mean, how could I not build a Clue deck with Velma, Tim Curry, or Madeline Kahn in the command zone?
To prep for that, I thought it would be a great exercise to take a broad look at the Clue support cards we have so far, but before I do, let’s take a look at the new Clue stuff that’s been previewed so far!
New Clues
Lead Pipe is exciting because it’s a Clue Equipment, so I expect that we’ll also be getting each of the other weapons from the classic Clue game—a Candlestick, Wrench, Knife, Revolver, and Rope. Since Lead Pipe is black, I’m guessing we’ll get one for each color, and then either a colorless or gold Clue Equipment to round out the six game pieces.
Dining Room lets us know the various rooms from the Clue game might be getting land cards. In the game, there are nine rooms, and in addition to the Dining Room, there are the Kitchen, Ballroom, Conservatory, Billiard Room, Library, Study, Hall, and Lounge. If there were ten, I’d guess the other room lands would follow the guilds of Ravnica, since Dining Room is Gruul, but since there are only nine, I’m unsure. Will they come up with a new “room” for the tenth guild? Or will there be a mix of two-color lands and mono-color or tri-color or colorless lands to balance things out?
Senator Peacock from Ravnica: Clue Edition hints that at least some of the Clue characters will care about Clues, so it’ll be fun to see the other designs. Senator Peacock herself suggests a Clue-heavy build, but lots of other artifact synergies too, along with ways to make one or more of your creatures large, and unblockable when you sacrifice a Clue or artifact that Peacock has made a Clue.
Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth offers us a good Clue commander, especially given the Sphinx’s Revelation ability attached. Since it has vigilance and no time restrictions on the ability, you can hold up mana and activate it when and if you need to.
Let’s take a look at already-printed commanders that could lead a new Clue-centric deck!
Clue Commanders
It’s wild just how many legendary creatures from the Doctor Who Commander set mention investigate or Clues in some way, giving us numerous options for commanders or to round out the 99. Many investigate when they enter the battlefield, and Sally Sparrow investigates whenever one or more other creatures you control leave the battlefield, so it suggests you could layer in some blink cards to churn out extra Clue tokens. I want to build a deck around Osgood, Operation Double with the idea of making lots of copies of Osgood and having a fair number of ways to cast spells from anywhere other than my hand in order to investigate a bunch of times with the Paradox triggered ability.
Outside of Doctor Who cards, Tivit, Seller of Secrets looks like an excellent choice for a Clue commander. As an Esper commander, it grants access to a wide swath of excellent Clue synergies in addition to interaction and removal options. Most opponents will prefer not to give you Treasure tokens with the Council’s dilemma trigger, but if your deck wants all those extra Clues the choice gets much harder.
Using the friends forever mechanic, you could have a four-color Clue deck pairing up Elmar, Ulvenwald Informant and Wernog, Rider’s Chaplain (that’s Max, the Daredevil and Will the Wise as the Secret Lair: Stranger Things originals). Not having blue will be a substantial drawback, but restrictions breed creativity, and there might be enough non-blue Clue support in the upcoming sets to round out the deck nicely.
Clue Stuff – Colorless
Most of these colorless cards can and should slot into just about any Clue-centric deck. Academy Manufactor doesn’t make Clues, but it does provide other resources each time you make a Clue token; most notably, those Treasure tokens will be quite handy. Back when Shadows Over Innistrad brought us Tamiyo’s Journal, it was way too slow and clunky to get much traction, so I imagine it’s off most radars these days, but within the next month, we might be awash in Clues and this card might be a powerhouse.
Clue Stuff – Blue
Blue offers up some excellent investigate synergies with Trail of Evidence and Erdwal Illuminator, but the eye-popper has got to be Five Hundred Year Diary. Tap to add a blue mana for each Clue you control? Wow, sign me up!
Clue Stuff – Green
Tireless Provisioner’s ability to generate Treasure tokens – and even sometimes Food tokens in Food decks – has overshadowed its old-school predecessor Tireless Tracker, but I’ve a feeling it’s going to be stepping back into the limelight. I’m intrigued with the possibility that we’ll be able to generate so many Clue tokens and sacrificing them for other effects that Briarbridge Patrol’s end step trigger might do some really cool stuff! The strange Thijarian Witness might be surprisingly good too.
Clue Stuff – White
I’m a huge fan of the dungeon mechanic, so Thorough Investigation is already in a lot of my decks; but even in a Clue-centric deck, that extra value will be sweet. If you’re playing white in your Clue deck, I’d definitely recommend Astrid Peth in the 99. While she just makes a Food token when she enters the battlefield, the Brand-new Sky trigger that lets you explore from sacrificed Clue tokens should add up to some nice value over time.
Angelic Sleuth has some hoops to jump through. You’ll want to put counters on things that might die. It might be worth keeping an eye out for something like that in the upcoming sets.
Clue Stuff – Black
Black on its own doesn’t offer too many Clue synergies outside of these two cards. I do really like Havengul Laboratory (or Hawkins National Laboratory in its Stranger Things version); it should be pretty easy to transform, and then you get to reanimate a creature for free.
Clue Stuff – Gold
I really like Disorder in the Court a lot, especially if you’ve already got some Clues on the battlefield along with some way to use those Clues for mana (I’ll get to that in a minute). As an instant, you can use it to disrupt attackers or blockers, or even to save your own creatures from a battlefield sweeper. Ongoing Investigation is a terrific way to generate extra Clues, assuming you’re playing a fair number of aggressive creatures. And you can even plunder your own graveyard for more Clues!
Tokens Matter
Clues are tokens, so don’t forget all the token support that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) have printed for us over the years, particularly recently – I mean, as if Anointed Procession and Doubling Season weren’t enough, now we’ve got Mondrak, Glory Dominus too? Jaheira, Friend of the Forest will be an awesome inclusion for your green decks, since it can let you use Clues to generate mana; keep in mind that sacrificing a Clue doesn’t require tapping, so you can tap the Clue for mana to use to sacrifice itself.
Junk Winder is just an uncommon, but it’ll be a powerhouse card in a deck that can generate a bunch of Clue tokens. Mirkwood Bats is just a common, but it can very well be a win condition if you are making and sacrificing a lot of Clue tokens.
Artifacts You Control
Inspiring Statuary will find a lot of great uses in our new juiced-up Clue decks. Kappa Cannoneer has been quite scary in my Simic Food deck, and I expect it to be just as scary in our new Clue decks. Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender isn’t just for Food decks; any decks where artifacts like Clues are being sacrificed will get excellent triggers from Syr Ginger. I’d also likely put a Whirler Rogue in my Clue deck to randomly make things unblockable, including something huge and threatening your opponents have if it’s not attacking you.
The bargain cards might be useful for some of your Clue decks, since odds are good you’ll have extra Clue tokens lying around. I really like Farseek Ritual if you’re playing Blue.
What Clue synergies are you looking forward to building around once Murders at Karlov Manor releases? Have I overlooked something awesome that should have been on my lists?
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