Magic: the Gathering's next set, Duskmourn, is unlike anything the team at Wizards of the Coast has done before. The story of the Magic multiverse takes place on various planes, such as iconic locations like Ravnica, Dominaria, and Zendikar.
These universe-sized Planes act as the setting for the many card sets the trading card game maker has printed over the last thirty years. Some lean into the high-fantasy, storybook style setting like Eldraine, while others like Amonkhet are steeped in the dusty sands and dripping with influences from Egyptian folklore.
However, Duskmourn: House of Horrors is exactly that: a haunted house. The house is the size of a plane itself, with the set's big bad, Valgavoth, taking over every inch of the plane with his haunted mansion. As the Magic: the Gathering team told us during a press preview ahead of today's panel, you're never really outside the mansion itself, even if the rooms evoke a feeling of outside.
Every piece of art in the set will remind players that they are trapped inside Valgavoth's mansion, whether they be stairs or a window or something in the background. So whether you're walking through what could otherwise be described as a forest, or very clearly in a furnished den, the mansion is always around you. This was originally a happy plane, but Valgavoth slowly took over the plane, making his presence known.
Valgavoth is represented through his incredibly powerful card, Valgavoth, Terror Eater, which even at a first glance you know this is a powerful finisher in most of the decks he'll find himself within.
Duskmourne itself is inspired by 1980s horror movies, games and other media from the era and beyond. The visuals themselves evoke much of the atmosphere from those inspirations. From static TV sets to creepypasta-style horror, Duskmourne probably has it in spades. Ovidio Cartagena, Senior Art Director on the set, described its many influences, even pulling from some of the folklore and mythologies of peoples from around the world. Also, you can thank him for the Moths.
Because Duskmourn: House of Horrors takes place on a plane that is fully encapsulated by a haunted house, the mechanics of the set should reflect this. One thing players will notice about Duskmourne is it's a very Enchanment-heavy set. Like Theros before it, there are an abundance of Enchantment cards, and a ton of ways to trigger abilities and win the game through playing enchantments.
One new card subtype is the Enchantment - Room, which is meant to give the feeling of moving from room to room in Valgavoth's world. Rooms might remind some of the dual cards we saw in sets like Amonkhet, such as Dusk // Dawn, which you could play one side or the other. Rooms act the same way, where you play either side of the card, and the other Room is "locked." You can, at any time you could play a Sorcery, unlock the other side, triggering that second ability, and in the case of a dual-color permanent, changing the color to whatever the new version of the enchantment is.
This is key, when you consider some spot removal checks for the color of the permanent it's targeting, and it gets even more interesting when a Room card is blinked in and out of existence. Since it was not cast, it enters the battlefield as an Enchantment - Room without any of the card's abilities triggering, nor does it have any color since that is also determined by the side of the card cast. Yet, for those decks that check for an enchantment on the battlefield, it still counts as that. It's a really interesting mechanic.
Many characters from Magic's recent history will make a return in Duskmourn: House of Horrors, including The Wanderer, now portrayed as The Wandering Rescuer. Simone from Strixhaven is also part of the party, venturing into the Haunted House to find Nahi, who is back from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. We also see Niko, whose card has the only ray of sunlight in the entire set, captured in one of their floating crystals in the art.
Kaito is the only Planeswalker in the set (the others, like The Wanderer, have been desparked since the events of Phyrexia: All Will Be One), and reflecting his Ninja heritage, he is the first Planeswalker card with Ninjutsu printed as a skill. Tyvar also makes an appearance, jumping into the fray with his spiked bat at the ready. Going back to the 80s horror theming, each of the characters in this....ahem...Collected Company....fit the various archetypes typically found in the group of teens in a slasher flick: the Jock, the Nerd, the Leader, and more.
New characters are also added to the mix, including the bad boy that everyone thinks they can save, Winter, Misanthropic Guide. Oh, and there is a clown who uses human heads as balloons. So that's fun.
Since Duskmourn is all about enchantments, there needs to be a way to get value from doing so. Enter a new mechanic keyword, Eerie. This mechanic cares about when either an enchantment enters the battlefield or you unlock a room. So once that happens, Eerie triggers. One example used was Scrabbling Crab, which whether Eerie triggers, an opponent mills cards (keeping with MTGs storied history of milling crabs).
Duskmourn brings back an old mechanic, Delirium, which checks for the number of card types in your graveyard to trigger an ability. Another older mechanic that is being brought back is Manifest, from Fate Reforged, though this time it's with a twist.
Whereas Manifest before would have you play a card from somewhere facedown as a 2/2 creature, and if it were a creature you can flip it face up by paying its mana cost, where was always a chance that you did not get a creature to Manifest. Manifest Dread allows players to look at the top two cards of their library and choose one of those cards to Manifest, meaning there is more of a chance that you could have a creature under there, causing your opponent to have to play a bit differently to try to evade the potential threat. Manifest Dread can flip a creature at instant speed, whether it has flash or not, so you also have that feeling that this could happen at any time.
Survival is a mechanic meant to evoke the lingering hope that threads through every horror movie. This keyword, which is mostly on White and Green cards, triggers if the card is still on the battlefield at the start of the second main phase. An example of this is Veteran Survivor, where if Survival triggers, you exile a card from your graveyard. If three or more cards are exiled by Veteran Survivor, he gets +3/+3 and Hexproof.
Impending is also a new mechanic, again, inspired by the feel that many horror movies, shows or pieces of art can evoke. There is always some impending doom, and the team at Wizards wants to portray that. This works a bit like Suspend, only the creature is face up the whole time. This means that, while players will have more information about what their opponent is trying to do, there is that feeling that they are facing some impending, powerful threat in just a few turns.
The whole set is a vibe, and I really do love just how much enchantments matter in Duskmourn. The Glimmer creature sub-type is a cool new way this is reinforced, and they can continue to work for you even after they are killed. Glimmers, of which there are a fully cycle in this set, are Enchantment Creatures where if they die, they are returned as just an enchantment, meaning if the enchantment has an ETB trigger, it triggers twice for example. So cool.
Duskmourn: House of Horrors also reinforces the horror vibe through its card treatments, from is Double Exposure frames to the Mirror Monster treatment that shows the moment a monster strikes from the perspective of the monster itself. One of the most striking versions of this shown off was Razorkin Needlehead, where it shows the reflection of the Razorkin through the lens of the glasses the victim is wearing.
Duskmourn will also feature a new recurring alternate card art type, the Japan Showcase, available in both regular foil and the new Fractured Foil treatment. Etched Foil Double Exposure cards will also appear in Collector Boosters, giving an even more stunning version of an already stunning art type.
You can check out the full details in the panel, which we've embedded above. Duskmourn: House of Horrors will launch
