The final puzzle that tied the overarching Alternate Reality Game (ARG) together from Murders at Karlov Manor was released yesterday, and the Magic: The Gathering community quickly solved it, unlocking the final story chapter for set.
To match the tone and setting of the murder mystery expansion, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) released one puzzle every day (starting on February 2, the start date of the Murders at Karlov Manor Prerelease) for the community to solve. Players could find the puzzles and clues on Magic’s website and submit answers until they found the correct one. Each puzzle was its own standalone event, but the final puzzle from yesterday was a metapuzzle using all the solutions from the previous puzzles.
Each answer to the daily puzzles was a Magic: The Gathering card name set in Ravnica that had similar art features in the card’s illustration to a card from Murders at Karlov Manor. Keeping track of the cards from Murders at Karlov Manor would eventually lead to the metapuzzle answer. For example, the first puzzle’s answer was Murder Investigation which displayed a murder victim with three knives in their back. That similar depiction was found in the Murders at Karlov Manor card Homicide Investigator. While this puzzle featured a clue and answer with a similar name, this was only a coincidence on the first puzzle.
Other examples include the same doorknocker in Keymaster Rogue and The Prize of Hull Clade from the eighth puzzle and a sealed letter with a blue ink stamp from Dimir Informant and Furtive Courier from the fourth puzzle.
Solving The Case
The 12 puzzles in order can be seen below with the clue card name, its corresponding Murders at Karlov Manor card name, and two more pieces of information from yesterday’s final puzzle.
| Puzzle Order | Case Name | Clue Card Name | MKM Card Answer | Number | Letter |
| 1 | The Intriguing Interrogation | Murder Investigation | Homicide Investigator | 1 | H |
| 2 | The Hidden Homunculus | Showstopper | Meddling Youths | 9 | Y |
| 3 | The Strange Scenes | Cult Guildmage | Case of the Stashed Skeleton | 10 | S |
| 4 | The Perplexing Prism | Dimir Informant | Furtive Courier | 5 | I |
| 5 | The Confounding Kidnapper | Saruli Caretaker | Reckless Detective | 6 | E |
| 6 | The Mysterious Museum | Treasured Find | Extract a Confession | 3 | T |
| 7 | The Arcane Agency | Perilous Forays | Novice Inspector | 1 | N |
| 8 | The Weird Window | Keymaster Rogue | The Pride of Hull Clade | 4 | P |
| 9 | The Unusual Unlock | Nikya of the Old Ways | Glint Weaver | 6 | W |
| 10 | The Radiant Riddle | Cry of Contrition | Granite Witness | 3 | A |
| 11 | The Ruby Ruse | Tithe Drinker | Leering Onlooker | 2 | E |
| 12 | The Fractured Fingerprint | Hatching Plans | Out Cold | 1 | O |
The number and letter columns come from the hints given in yesterday’s puzzle titled The Cunning Conclusion. It listed the 12 puzzles in a new order with a number in parenthesis.
- The Mysterious Museum (3)
- The Intriguing Interrogation (1)
- The Ruby Ruse (2)
- The Unusual Unlock (6)
- The Radiant Riddle (3)
- The Hidden Homunculus (9)
- The Perplexing Prism (5)
- The Strange Scenes (10)
- The Fractured Fingerprint (1)
- The Weird Window (4)
- The Confounding Kidnapper (6)
- The Arcane Agency (1)
Count that many letters into the Murders at Karlov Manor card answers to find a letter. So, with The Mysterious Museum, count three letters in “Extract a Confession” to get the letter “T.” Do that for each puzzle and you end up with “The Way Is Open.”
By entering the final answer on the puzzle website, the final chapter of the Murders at Karlov Manor story “Episode 11: Portents and Omens” was published on Daily MTG. However, there also was an MTG Arena bonus reward. Creating a deck on MTG Arena with a copy of each card from Murders at Karlov Manor (you don’t have to have the cards) and naming it “thewayisopen” rewards you with a message from Alquist Proft, 5,000 mastery pass XP, and a card back.
The 5,000 XP will complete five levels on the current mastery pass, unlocking three packs of Murders at Karlov Manor from the free track and additional rewards for those who bought the premium track. If one has finished the mastery pass they would receive five uncommon Individual Card Rewards (ICRs). Another mystery, however, is the reasoning behind awarding a sleeve to players that uses art from a previously used splash page from Streets of New Capenna.
As for the final reward of solving the metapuzzle, the community can read the last chapter of the story for Murders at Karlov Manor. Notably, Blake Rasmussen mentioned on the Weekly MTG stream from December 5 giving players a first look at the set that, “Once it [the metapuzzle] is solved it will unlock information about the future of Magic.”
However, the first look article on Daily MTG noted that, “Across Murders at Karlov Manor cards and products, you, too, can uncover clues to something bigger—with a final reward for the most assiduous of sleuths out there.” This reads as much less game-changing than Rasmussen’s messaging. Maybe breaking down the final chapter of the story could give more hints to this “future of Magic.”
The story opens with Proft and Etrata meeting Niv-Mizzet in his chamber. Proft asks Niv-Mizzet if he has earned the answer to a question from solving the murders. Niv-Mizzet grants him this, leading Proft to ask The Firemind how he could not know who was committing the murders. Niv-Mizzet replies that he was busy with other matters, which Proft knows to be the project Kylox was working on. A project so important it cost Kylox his life.
Proft expounds to Niv-Mizzet that he must be working on some much larger scheme that Niv-Mizzet must see “as a much larger and more existential threat than a few little murders.” Proft said that he has found out more people than just Kylox have been working for Niv-Mizzet. Proft recovered and decoded Kylox’s cryptex revealing Niv-Mizzet’s Omenpath Project. Proft notes that he has discovered Omenpaths opening all over the city of Ravnica and that Niv-Mizzet has been mapping and studying them so that he can control them. He alleges that Niv-Mizzet plans to make Ravnica the center of the newly-connected Multiverse. Niv-Mizzet confirms Proft’s suspicions.
The story ends not with Proft pressing Niv-Mizzet for his reasons, but asking that he and Etrata can join Niv-Mizzet on his project. Niv-Mizzet agrees to bring them on, stating, “Your deductive skills would not be unwelcome.”
This conclusion to the Murders at Karlov Manor story has led the community to speculate on what this revelation of Ravnica being the new center to the Multiverse could mean. Some think Niv-Mizzet could be trying to make Ravnica the new Dominaria and is taking a path similar to Urza. Others pointed out that the mapping of Omenpaths makes it clear the paths are not going random places like was suspected at the end of the March of the Machine: The Aftermath story.
Who else could be working for Niv-Mizzet on this project? Some think Kellan could be as a mapper of the Omenpaths. Others think that Rakdos could be sent as envoy to the plane of Outlaws of Thunder Junction as seen in the preview art for the set also depicting Vraska and Oko.
What do you think all of this means for the future of Magic? Let us know what you think in the comments on social media.
