Clue and MTG should have been a perfect crossover, but fans are already expressing their disappointment in this Murders at Karlov Manor product.
MTG’s Murders at Karlov Manor sees the venerable TCG branching out and treading new ground. Magic’s designers went all-in on the Murder Mystery theme, including puzzles within the set, and tieing in several crossover products for players to test their deductive mettle.
Ravnica: Clue Edition should have been a fun and engaging crossover, celebrating Magic’s first-ever murder mystery set. Everything seemed lined up for success, but following the product’s launch, MTG players have been discussing Ravnica: Clue Edition and making their disappointment known.
The Problem with Ravnica: Clue Edition
From the off, it was apparent that Ravnica: Clue Edition would take inspiration from the classic board game without being a simple re-skin. Classic Clue suspects, murder weapons, rooms, and more are all represented in MTG card form. Each copy of Ravnica: Clue Edition comes with Clue-inspired cards, 8 booster packs, and extras like evidence notepads.
The issue that many players are having is that the booster packs are not regular boosters – that would go some way towards offsetting the product’s price – but instead are ready-to-play boosters, similar to Jumpstart packs
Jumpstart packs allow players to build a complete, playable MTG deck from any two Jumpstart boosters. The point of using Jumpstart is its reliability, but it seems that Ravnica: Clue Edition has introduced more unpredictability than most players would welcome.
Each Ravnica: Clue Edition box comes with a different selection of 8 out of the 20 total booster types. In this, no two boxes are completely alike, removing some of the consistency that players might expect from a board game-inspired product.
MTG Players discuss Magic’s Clue crossover
In a Reddit thread discussing Ravnica: Clue Edition, commenter freakincampers said:
“I ordered it, and when I found out it was not a fixed set, canceled my order.”
Other users were quick to agree, with commenter bigdammit replying:
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“If it were a fixed set with 16 packs that could be resealed up to provide a changing gameplay experience for 4 people I think it would be a great game. As it is I don’t know who it’s for.”
It seems as though by trying to replicate a board game experience, while still including some of the variety and unpredictability between boxes and packs that Magic is known for, Wizards has missed the mark on catering to fans of either style.
In further evidence that this randomness is a sore spot for players, Reddit user kuz_929 made their displeasure known:
“Wait so it’s random with the packs inside? I bought this thinking it would be a fun “board game” to play if people come over. I haven’t actually even opened it yet. That’s really, really lame.”
Fans looking to collect the valuable shock lands and new clue-style lands included in this product have been put off by ready-to-play packs’ lack of variety and the frequency of duplicate packs within a single box. Meanwhile, players just looking for a reliable board game-esque experience have been left feeling as though they’ve invested too much for a product with an element of randomness to its release.
MTG’s Lead Designer discusses Ravnica: Clue Edition
MTG Lead Designer Mark Rosewater expanded on the logic behind Ravnica: Clue Edtion changing on his blog. Rosewater states that variance is one of MTG’s cornerstones. It seems that the intent was for players to enjoy their copy of the game being slightly different from a friend’s or other players, giving it a more personalized feel.
Unfortunately, that intent seems not to have hit the mark, as this variance has proven to detract from the product for many people instead of enhancing it.
While Murders at Karlov Manor was a success and a creative breath of fresh air for many players, not all of its elements have hit the mark. At least future spin-offs can learn from Ravnica: Clue Edition and its negative fan reception.
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