Duskmourn: House of Horror has been fully revealed and it’s time for our usual analysis of the archetypes and color pairs for each new set!
The prerelease is already playable in paper starting this weekend, while if you are a digital-only player you will have to wait a couple more days as Duskmourn will be available on MTG Arena starting September 24th.
There is no time to waste, so let's take courage and venture into the monstrosities of this house of horror like an exploratory group from an 80's movie... Hoping to be one of the protagonists or maybe the cameraman so as not to die!
This limited is structured on two main themes: enchantments and the graveyard!
- Enchantments trigger the new Eerie mechanic and are emphasized by two other new features: Room and Impending, as well as by the various enchantment creatures present, including Glimmers. They are also synergistic with the graveyard theme as they facilitate the achievement of Delirium, an ability returned and originally from Shadows over Innistrad.
- The graveyard is mainly characterized by two strategies: Delirium and Reanimator. Manifest Dread is instead a specially modified version of the old Manifest from Fate Reforged, precisely to send one of the first two cards of the library to the graveyard and help both of these game plans.
As with every limited set, here too we find the “signpost uncommons”, a first manifesto that defines the strategy and mechanics on which the archetype is based, but here, unlike usual, there are two of them for each color pair, in addition to one classic signpost rare.
Azorius: Eerie Tempo
Cards: Optimistic Scavenger, Scrabbling Skullcrab, Ethereal Armor, Shardmage's Rescue, Bottomless Pool // Locker Room, Creeping Peeper, Stalked Researcher, Fear of Surveillance, Fear of Isolation, Sheltered by Ghosts, Grand Entryway // Elegant Rotunda, Cult Healer, Erratic Apparition, Tunnel Surveyor, Unwilling Vessel, Meat Locker // Drowned Diner, Clammy Prowler, Glimmerburst, Fear of Immobility, Lionheart Glimmer, Fear of Failed Tests, Fear of Falling, Fear of Abduction.
White-blue is based on the Eerie mechanic, with creatures that are powered up by enchantments. Gremlin Tamer is almost Young Pyromancer, but with an improved ability since it triggers when enchantments enter and therefore also with Glimmer tokens from Tunnel Surveyor or Glimmerburst. Inquisitive Glimmer and Optimistic Scavenger are also premium uncommons for the archetype, both playing a very similar role to what we have already seen in NEO, with Jukai Naturalist and Generous Visitor respectively.
Combo:
- Fear of Isolation + Bottomless Pool // Locker Room + Gremlin Tamer = cast Bottomless Pool, return Fear of Isolation to your hand, play it again and return the Room, generating a loop. From this you get value with Eerie and in particular Gremlin Tamer, creating a 1/1 Gremlin for every 1 or 2 mana spent. It's also possible to use 2 Fear of Isolation as an alternative.
- Fear of Failed Tests + Clammy Prowler / Enter the Enigma = Fear of Failed Tests lets you draw at least 2 cards if it hits your opponent in combat. This will be extremely easy by attacking with Clammy Prowler, becoming unblockable potentially every combat, or for only one turn by using the quicker Enter the Enigma.
- Floodpits Drowner + Get Out = you can activate Floodpits Drowner's ability and in response cast Get Out to return it to your hand. This way only the enemy creature will be shuffled back into the library, while you can recast the Merfolk later and tap another piece.
Dimir: Eerie Control
Cards: Scrabbling Skullcrab, Fear of Lost Teeth, Final Vengeance, Unable to Scream, Bottomless Pool // Locker Room, Creeping Peeper, Stalked Researcher, Balemurk Leech, Cynical Loner, Fear of Isolation, Don't Make a Sound, Nowhere to Run, Erratic Apparition, Tunnel Surveyor, Unwilling Vessel, Fear of Impostors, Cracked Skull, Derelict Attic // Widow's Walk, Meat Locker // Drowned Diner, Dashing Bloodsucker, Glimmerburst, Vanish from Sight, Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab, Fear of the Dark, Fear of Failed Tests, Fear of Falling, Spectral Snatcher, Daggermaw Megalodon, Duskmourn's Domination.
In blue-black we find Eerie with the enchantments theme again, but the strategy is deeper and more control-based, removing the opponent's creatures and advancing in the late game to cast bigger spells.
Skullsnap Nuisance is an excellent blocker for the first turns that allows you to control the draw and maybe send Fear of Infinity to the graveyard, which can easily return to your hand, so it can be even discarded and sacrificed at will.
Alternatively, Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab can bring back a creature, as well as being a value engine throughout the match, just like Fear of Isolation.
Combo:
- Fear of Infinity + Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab = Fear of Infinity returns to your hand from the graveyard with any enchantment and this triggers Defiled Crypt, giving you a 2/2 token each time. You can also use Cynical Loner to tutor Fear of Infinity straight to the graveyard.
- Malevolent Chandelier + Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab = if in the previous case Fear of Infinity must die every time to get value, with Malevolent Chandelier it's possible to get a 2/2 every turn with only 2 mana, moving a card from your graveyard to the bottom of your deck.
- Fear of Isolation + Cursed Windbreaker / Killer's Mask = Cursed Windbreaker and Killer's Mask are two Equipment that create a 2/2 when they enter, following Cryptic Coat's design. By returning the artifact to your hand with Fear of Isolation, you still have the 2/2 in play and can recast the artifact to get another one and make value.
- Unwilling Vessel + Final Vengeance = Unwilling Vessel gets counters quickly with Eerie and the best way to capitalize on it is with Final Vengeance, getting a huge flyer and exiling an enemy threat in one fell swoop.
Orzhov: Reanimator
Cards: Possessed Goat, Valgavoth's Faithful, Found Footage, Fear of Surveillance, Innocuous Rat, Splitskin Doll, Cynical Loner, Surgical Suite // Hospital Room, Appendage Amalgam, Patched Plaything, Commune with Evil, Unsettling Twins, Fanatic of the Harrowing, Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab, Emerge from the Cocoon, Live or Die, Shepherding Spirits, Spectral Snatcher, Fear of Abduction, Miasma Demon, Vile Mutilator.
And from the enchantment theme we move on to the graveyard theme with black-white, which makes Reanimator its main strategy. Rite of the Moth is nothing more than a 4-mana reanimation spell with flashback, so it can be milled or reused, while the other signpost is one of the best uncommons to reanimate, draining 2 life and drawing 1 card when it enters and attacks, on par with the Titans cycle from M11.
Live or Die is another great uncommon for the archetype, being able to act as a removal but above all as a reanimation spell at instant speed, hoping to eat an attacking creature.
- Patched Plaything + Surgical Suite // Hospital Room / Savior of the Small = Patched Plaything only takes the negative counters if you cast it from your hand, which means it will be the ideal target to be revived by Surgical Suite or Savior of the Small, getting a 4/3 double strike.
- 2x Valgavoth's Faithful + Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab = Valgavoth's Faithful reanimates a creature without putting a finality counter on it. It's possible to reanimate a second Valgavoth's Faithful and create a loop, where, for every 4 mana spent, you get a 2/2 with Defiled Crypt.
Golgari: Delirium Grind
Cards: Patchwork Beastie, Fear of Lost Teeth, Found Footage, Keys to the House, Wary Watchdog, Innocuous Rat, Osseous Sticktwister, Cynical Loner, Say Its Name, Resurrected Cultist, Appendage Amalgam, Spineseeker Centipede, Fear of Exposure, Killer's Mask, Commune with Evil, Greenhouse // Rickety Gazebo, Fanatic of the Harrowing, Anthropede, Wickerfolk Thresher, Let's Play a Game, Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab, Fear of the Dark, Bashful Beastie, Slavering Branchsnapper, Spectral Snatcher, Altanak, the Thrice-Called.
Black-green is based on the graveyard too, but it makes Delirium its strategy. It aims to send 4 types of cards to the graveyard as soon as possible and to do so it has a good number of enchantment or artifact creatures, as well as both the Surveil and Manifest Dread mechanics.
An example of this is Broodspinner, which with Surveil 2 helps to reach Delirium, so that Drag to the Roots costs only two mana, and, from its second ability, in addition to that of Osseous Sticktwister, we can understand how this color pair aims to set up an attrition gameplan, going into the late game and overwhelming the opponent thanks to greater resources.
Combo:
- Flesh Burrower + Fear of Lost Teeth + Coordinated Clobbering / Final Vengeance = Flesh Burrower gives deathtouch to Fear of Lost Teeth making it basically unblockable since otherwise it can take up to 2 pieces to the grave (the damage from its triggered ability will also have deathtouch). In addition with Coordinated Clobbering or Final Vengeance it can eliminate any threat.
- Osseous Sticktwister + Frantic Strength / Saw / Conductive Machete = with Delirium online, your opponent will be incentivized to discard a card or sacrifice a nonland permanent, since otherwise they will take 4 damage per turn and you will gain 4 life.
Gruul: Delirium Stompy
Cards: Patchwork Beastie, Clockwork Percussionist, Violent Urge, Turn Inside Out, Wary Watchdog, Hand That Feeds, Ragged Playmate, Piggy Bank, Irreverent Gremlin, Grab the Prize, Betrayer's Bargain, Spineseeker Centipede, Grasping Longneck, Fear of Exposure, Fear of Being Hunted, Glassworks // Shattered Yard, Ticket Booth // Tunnel of Hate, Ripchain Razorkin, Anthropede, Wickerfolk Thresher, Razorkin Hordecaller, Impossible Inferno, Fear of Burning Alive, Altanak, the Thrice-Called.
The Delirium mechanic is present in red-green as well, but to favor a more aggressive strategy that aims to put big creatures quickly.
Wildfire Wickerfolk for only 2 mana is already a 3/2 haste, but can become a 4/3 trample if Delirium is active, while it can favor it if it's not, as it's both a creature and an artifact. The same thing goes for Wickerfolk Thresher that hits hard, but also provides advantage on every attack, making it a first choice for any Delirium deck, regardless of the strategy.
Combo:
- Flesh Burrower + Beastie Beatdown = destroy any creature because of deathtouch.
- Glassworks // Shattered Yard + Fear of Burning Alive = Shattered Yard deals 1 damage to your opponent at the end of each of your turns and Fear of Burning Alive with Delirium deals that damage to a creature they control.
- Fear of Being Hunted + Horrid Vigor = Fear of Being Hunted must be blocked and gaining deathtouch and indestructible turns it into a removal spell with legs.
Boros: Aggro
Cards: Clockwork Percussionist, Norin, Swift Survivalist, Optimistic Scavenger, Turn Inside Out, Trial of Agony, Ragged Playmate, Fear of Surveillance, Splitskin Doll, Irreverent Gremlin, Piggy Bank, Surgical Suite // Hospital Room, Vicious Clown, Hardened Escort, Living Phone, Patched Plaything, Fear of Being Hunted, Attack-in-the-Box, Glassworks // Shattered Yard, Painter's Studio // Defaced Gallery, Friendly Ghost, Unsettling Twins, Most Valuable Slayer, Ripchain Razorkin, Infernal Phantom, Razorkin Hordecaller.
As usual, white-red is the aggro archetype, which here is mostly characterized by Toys that come to life and creatures that gain benefits if they have power 2 or less. Arabella, Abandoned Doll is the legendary Toy that drains the opponent's life for each small creature you control and is therefore synergistic with the three small aggressive Gremlins of the second signpost, Midnight Mayhem.
Combo:
- Arabella, Abandoned Doll + Fear of Burning Alive = when Arabella attacks, it deals X damage to the opponent and Fear of Burning Alive with Delirium deals that much damage to a creature they control.
- Ragged Playmate + Vicious Clown+ Midnight Mayhem = Ragged Playmate can make Vicious Clown unblockable due to its 2 power. At this point, even if the latter grows, Vicious Clown will still remain unblockable and the ideal would be to follow up with Midnight Mayhem, giving it a huge +6/+0 without effort.
- Fear of Being Hunted + Hardened Escort = Fear of Being Hunted must be blocked but is very fragile. Attacking with Hardened Escort, it gets +1/+0 and indestructible and can potentially remove an enemy creature every combat.
Selesnya: Survival
Cards: Veteran Survivor, Jump Scare, Coordinated Clobbering, Acrobatic Cheerleader, Flesh Burrower, House Cartographer, Orphans of the Wheat, Horrid Vigor, Surgical Suite // Hospital Room, Defiant Survivor, Hardened Escort, Living Phone, Glimmer Seeker, Fear of Exposure, Frantic Strength, Savior of the Small, Friendly Ghost, Cautious Survivor, Fear of Immobility, Rootwise Survivor.
Green-white is based on the Survival mechanic and is the color pair of the adventurers who face the monstrosities of the house and survive. Shrewd Storyteller is one of these and should usually pass through the combat to get benefits, but luckily there is no lack of tricks and synergies that allow you to tap your creatures without them risking dying in battle.
The other signpost Baseball Bat is already an example of this, since, even if it will most of the time remove an enemy blocker, it can also be used on one of our pieces, thus triggering Survival.
Combo:
- Coordinated Clobbering / Orphans of the Wheat / Fear of Exposure + Survival = they allow you to tap the creature with Survival without it entering combat and risking dying.
- Hardened Escort + Savior of the Small = Hardened Escort allows creatures with Survival to survive in combat by giving them indestructible, but it can still die. Together with Savior of the Small it creates a winning combination, because even if in the worst case scenario it is knocked out, it will be immediately revived thanks to the Survival trigger.
- Glimmer Seeker + Glimmerlight = Glimmerlight is an equipment that buffs Glimmer Seeker, so it can better survive in combat, and creates a Glimmer token, so it draws an extra card immediately.
Rakdos: Sacrifice
Cards: Terramorphic Expanse, Clockwork Percussionist, Fear of Lost Teeth, Final Vengeance, Innocuous Rat, Piggy Bank, Friendly Teddy, Saw, Betrayer's Bargain, Sporogenic Infection, Nowhere to Run, Resurrected Cultist, Popular Egotist, Killer's Mask, Cracked Skull, Vengeful Possession, Glassworks // Shattered Yard, Cackling Slasher, Ripchain Razorkin, Diversion Specialist, Infernal Phantom, Boilerbilges Ripper, Razorkin Hordecaller.
In Rakdos colors we are already used to sacrificing creatures for value, but on top of that on Duskmourn we also add the sacrifice of enchantments. Disturbing Mirth does exactly that, sacrificing a creature or enchantment in exchange for 2 cards, but remaining on the battlefield so that it can then be sacrificed by a second Disturbing Mirth or Sawblade Skinripper and provide further value.
Combo:
- Vengeful Possession + Saw / Diversion Specialist / Sawblade Skinripper / Popular Egotist = a classic limited combo for the Rakdos colors! With Vengeful Possession you can steal an enemy creature for a turn, attack, and then sacrifice it somehow, getting value.
- Sporogenic Infection / Cracked Skull / Nowhere to Run + Disturbing Mirth / Saw / Popular Egotist = the first 3 cards remain in play even after having completed their task and it's therefore still possible to enhance them with sacrifice engines to gain some advantage.
- Fear of Lost Teeth / Winter's Intervention + Sporogenic Infection / Cracked Skull = a creature enchanted with Sporogenic Infection or Cracked Skull is destroyed as soon as it takes damage and the small damage from Fear of Lost Teeth and Winter's Intervention can be exploited.
- Fear of Lost Teeth / Innocuous Rat + Final Vengeance = Fear of Lost Teeth and Innocuous Rat are cheap on mana and perfectly designated to be sacrificed, in particular with Final Vengeance.
Simic: Manifest Dread
Cards: Creeping Peeper, Paranormal Analyst, Overgrown Zealot, Manifest Dread, Cryptid Inspector, Defiant Survivor, Cursed Windbreaker, Fear of Impostors, Under the Skin, Unnerving Grasp, Twist Reality, Break Down the Door, Threats Around Every Corner, Conductive Machete, Underwater Tunnel // Slimy Aquarium, Bashful Beastie, Moldering Gym // Weight Room.
Green-blue is the only color pair entirely based on the new Manifest Dread mechanic and is quite possibly the archetype with the strongest uncommons. Growing Dread is at least a 2/2 flash for 2 mana that buffs any creature is turned face up, but the best comes with Oblivious Bookworm, which in this archetype makes you basically draw an additional card every turn.
Similarly, Paranormal Analyst does the same, while Under the Skin is almost Eternal Witness and Threats Around Every Corner is almost Solemn Simulacrum, but which triggers repeatedly for any Manifest Dread!
Combo:
- Cryptid Inspector + Cursed Windbreaker = Cryptid Inspector triggers with Cursed Windbreaker, as well as any Manifest Dread, quickly becoming a huge flying threat with the equipment.
- Defiant Survivor + Stay Hidden, Stay Silent = Stay Hidden, Stay Silent is the classic blue removal spell designed to tap and not untap an enemy creature, but it can also be used on one of your creatures with Survival to leave it permanently tapped and make it trigger every turn. As well as with Defiant Survivor, getting a Manifest Dread every single turn basically for free!
- Fear of Isolation + a Manifest creature = you can return a Manifest creature to your hand so you can recast it and trigger its enter ability.
- Altanak, the Thrice-Called + Terramorphic Expanse + Under the Skin = by sacrificing the fetchland on turn 1, you can discard Altanak, the Thrice-Called for a Rampant Growth effect (or you can recover a land put into the graveyard with Manifest Dread) and then maybe return the legendary creature with Under the Skin and cast it with the help of the mana ramped.
Izzet: Rooms
Cards: Keys to the House, Scrabbling Skullcrab, Bottomless Pool // Locker Room, Underwater Tunnel // Slimy Aquarium, Creeping Peeper, Stalked Researcher, Fear of Isolation, Pyroclasm, Rampaging Soulrager, Ticket Booth // Tunnel of Hate, Meat Locker // Drowned Diner, Glassworks // Shattered Yard, Painter's Studio // Defaced Gallery, Ghostly Keybearer, Infernal Phantom, Fear of Burning Alive.
Finally, red-blue is perhaps the most particular archetype of all because it's entirely based on Rooms. Smoky Lounge // Misty Salon is certainly one of the key cards to make the archetype work, guaranteeing enough mana to cast the other Rooms, as well as providing what could be a decent flyer. Ghostly Keybearer is instead most likely more important than the other signpost: Intruding Soulrager, since it allows you to potentially unlock a door with every attack without spending mana and therefore using it for something else.
Combo:
- Intruding Soulrager + Fear of Burning Alive = with Delirium online, by sacrificing a Room, you can control the board with 2 damage to the opponent and to a creature they control. In this archetype, you can add the already seen combo between Fear of Burning Alive and Glassworks // Shattered Yard.
- Smoky Lounge // Misty Salon + Fear of Isolation = Fear of Isolation allows you to take the Room back into your hand to recast Misty Salon and create a new X/X Spirit with flying, probably paying only 2 mana thanks to the two red mana added with Smoky Lunge.
- Ghostly Keybearer + Ticket Booth // Tunnel of Hate + Bottomless Pool // Locker Room = Ghostly Keybearer allows you to unlock rooms simply by hitting your opponent and regardless of its mana cost. It can therefore easily unlock Tunnel of Hate which will allow it to gain double strike in the next combat phase and unlock up to two doors. With Looker Room active, it can even draw 2 cards.
- Ragged Playmate + Fear of Failed Tests = speaking of drawing 2 cards, Ragged Playmate makes Fear of Failed Tests unblockable so you can get a free Divination every turn!
That’s all for today! This limited seems to be incredibly interesting, with many different strategies and, as you’ve seen, many combos to put together without even having to bother with rares and mythics. Enjoy this new horror set and don’t be “scared” to explore it!
