Tapping into murder mystery themes found in the Standard-legal Magic: The Gathering set, Murders at Karlov Manor, is a new MTG mechanic called Disguise.
Solving murders has become a priority among the guilds on the MTG plane of Ravnica. Containing 276 normal cards and over 100 cards with “booster fun” treatments, the Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM) set introduces a new Magic mechanic called Disguise. The Standard-legal set uses other new mechanics as well to solve the murders, from collecting Evidence to sorting out Suspects.
Using the MTG Disguise mechanic, explained
Disguise is an evolved version of Morph and is similar to the MTG mechanic Foretell in that your opponent doesn’t know what card you’ve played. Rather than sitting in exile like Foretell cards do, the Disguise mechanic has you cast the spell face down on the battlefield. Each card featuring the new mechanic has a Disguise cost you can pay to flip over the card and reveal it to your opponent.
- Disguise part one: You may pay a designated cost to cast this card face down as a creature with 2/2 stats and Ward two.
- Disguise part two: Pay a designated cost to turn your card face up. You can pay at Instant speed and Disguise can’t be responded to on the stack. Some cards don’t require a cost to turn face up.
- Cloak: Upgraded Manifest mechanic that has you play a spell face down as a 2/2 creature with Ward two.
Not being able to interact with Disguise will significantly impact formats like Limited. Your opponent may attack with open mana, threatening to pay the Disguise cost and catch you off guard with a creature that has evasiveness, like Aurelia’s Vindicator.
Examples of MTG cards that use Disguise
Adding mana fixing to the MKM set is the land Branch of Vitu-Ghazi. The land also uses the Disguise mechanic. Play it face down as a creature and then flip over at no cost to add two mana of any one color until the end of the turn.
Creatures like Aurelia’s Vindicator may use the Disguise mechanic, too. Paying the cost of three allows you to play the angel face down as a 2/2 creature with a Ward of two. You can pay the Disguise cost of X3W to turn Aurelia’s Vindicator over. And since Disguise isn’t put on the stack, your opponent can’t respond to the transformation.
