13 Reasons Why Duskmourn’s Horror Hits the Spot

13. UNLUCKY FOR SOME

It’s great when we get numberplay in spooky Magic sets, and Duskmourn doesn’t fail to disappoint. We’ve got the “unlucky” land cycle debuting here. They enter tapped unless a player has 13 or less life, which is going to happen pretty quickly, actually. 

The artwork on each evokes classic horror tropes and locations, which results in on-point flavor for this new set.

12. IT’S GENUINELY CREEPY

I don’t care what else you say about Duskmourn – it’s genuinely creepy. Some of this art is downright spine-chilling, and reminds me of some of the creepiest art we’ve had in the history of game – such as the body horror of original Phyrexia. 

I certainly wouldn’t want to meet the Cackling Slasher down a dark alley. Or even a perfectly lit alley, to be honest.

11. A LOVE LETTER TO 80s & 90s HORROR

Duskmourn feels decidedly American in its Horror references, but also decidedly 80s and 90s. We’ve got Gremlins, Blair Witch, Alien, It… chances are if you’re a fan of the genre at all you’re going to find something to make you Chuckie chuckle. There are even some more niche references – if you can find them. 

10. DUSKMOURN SPECIAL GUESTS

SPG returns for Duskmourn, bringing ten more Special Guests. Special Guests are reprints that fit the plane’s theme, and this time around, I’d say they did a great job of selecting some on-theme reprints.

A mix of big tickets items like Expropriate with some stellar new arts like Damnation and Phantasmal Image make for some spooky additions to your boosties.

9. OF SWORDS MEANS NIGHTMARES

In Tarot, the Nine of Swords represents the nightmare – the waking nightmare – of our own making. Just as in real life, we often jinx ourselves into having nightmares by being scared of things we actually have control over.

Duskmourn takes the idea of nightmares to a whole new level, with an entire cycle of “Fear of” cards. All the classics are here, from Fear of Falling and Fear of Sleep Paralysis, to Fear of Lost Teeth. I think we’ve all had these scary dreams, and I love the flavor evoked by these creatures. 

8/2/2002 WAS THE DATE GRAYS TERRIFIED A GENERATION

It’s not just classic Horror that we’re visiting with Duskmourn, but the sci-fi horror of our childhoods too. We’ve already seen reference to the Alien franchise with the aforementioned Rip, Spawn Hunter card, but there’s more than a smattering of references to aliens and abductions, too.

Released August 8 2002, Signs put fear into all of us with the found footage style clips of the elusive alien menace. They’ve definitely hit that vibe here. And hey, would you look at that. You can defeat a Fear of Abduction with a glass of water, too!

7. ARE YOU AFRAID OF MOTHMAN OR SLENDERMAN?

…Yes.

The artwork in Duskmourn is firing on all cylinders, representing the terror and dare I say beauty of the dark and twisted haunted-house plane.

6. 6-6, THE NUMBER OF THE DOOMSDAY EXCRUCIATOR

If you have too many friends, why not invite them to a game of Commander and drop this bad boy on curve without talking about it first?

All jokes aside, it’s cool to see a demon in the set with the 666 numerical flavor. After all, OG Griselbrand is infamous for being 877, which always felt annoying. 

If you’re on a Doomsday deck, this might actually be pretty playable.

5. APPENDAGES IS NOT NORMAL Y’ALL

There’s something downright shudder-inducing about the uncanny and gross humanoids of horror, and Silent Hallcreeper evokes the infamous Rake and many other “found footage” cryptids.

It’s also the kind of blue creature that really makes me want to run blue. Getting to turn this into a copy of something else you control after a couple of turns? That’s brilliant, and slots this thing in alongside Thieving Skydiver in the cool club.

4. GREAT COMMANDER DECKS

Duskmourn has four Commander decks, and they have some sweet mechanical themes and even sweeter art.

Miracle Worker gives Esper some new generalist Enchantress Commanders with a side order of top-deck manipulation. Master of Keys, IMO, is a really fun design.

Jump Scare! Features a Simic deck with… a lot of admin work? But rewarding admin work, because getting to Manifest Dread on landfall and then just turn face down cards face up with additional landfall… is really good?

Death Toll features an emphasis on Delirium and reanimator. Winter is coming for Meren’s throne, it seems. If you wanna mix up your Golgari reanimator strategy, Winter seems a direct upgrade to Kagha in many ways.

Finally, Endless Punishment, the Rakdos deck, looks to be edging in on the life loss of opponents strategy that people have enjoyed on cards like Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin.

3. PLAYERS AGAINST AN ARCHENEMY

There’s something special about the Duskmourn Commander decks, and that’s that they will each contain 10 Scheme cards for use in the Archenemy format. Archenemy is a really fun way to play multiplayer magic, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, then perhaps it’s time to give it a go. 

2. UNSETTLING TWINS

Duskmourn captures as much of the abstract horror as it does the more in-your-face kind. Unsettling Twins hearkens back to Stephen King classic The Shining, and features a foreboding shadow in the art. In fact, many of the cards in the set have two art versions to look out for: one with a foreboding shadow, and one with the threat realized. 

1. THE FINAL GIRL

There are many horror tropes, and most of them involve grisly ways to go. Still, there are some that offer a “Glimmer” of hope, and one is that of the Final Girl, represented here with The Wandering Rescuer. She’s gonna survive until the end, until light breaks. And she’s going to do her best to not emerge alone.

If you want an accompanying soundtrack to the 80s nostalgia of Duskmourn, then check out the violent delights of CHVRCHES Screen Violence. 

In the final cut / In the final scene / there’s a Final Girl / and you know that she should be screaming

To find out if she succeeds, check out the Duskmourn story. Or, if you need a handy recap, Jacob’s Duskmourn Story Summary is for you.