Everything We Know About MTG’s Duskmourn: House of Horror

Spooky time.

As we slowly distance ourselves from the bright and adorable world of Bloomburrow, Duskmourn: House of Horror will be the next Standard release of the year, taking us to the vividly disturbing plane of Duskmourn that incorporates a ton of 80s-style horror themes.

While the themes contrast that of Bloomburrow quite starkly, there’s plenty of excitement around Duskmourn as the modern horror trope isn’t something Wizards of the Coast haven’t touched on proper. Before, it was the classical horrors of Innistrad that continue to be popular even today, but Duskmourn is looking to provide a more recent take on horror that is popular in media such as Evil Dead and Stranger Things.

With the release of Duskmourn: House of Horror dropping later this month, let’s dive in about everything we know (so far) about the upcoming Standard release.

Duskmourn: House of Horror Key Dates, Previews, and Event Schedule

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• Duskmorn Story Begins: August 26, 2024
• Preview Debut at PAX West: August 31, 2024
• Previews Start: August 31, 2024
• Previews End / Gallery Completed: Sept 13, 2024
• Prerelease Events: September 20–27, 2024
• MTG Arena Release: September 24, 2024
• Magic Online (MTGO) Release: September 24, 2024
• Global (Tabletop) Release: September 27, 2024
• Nightmare Bundle Release: October 18, 2024
• MagicCon: Las Vegas: October 25-27, 2024
• Duskmourn: House of Horror Set Code: DSK
• Commander: Duskmourn: House of Horror Set Code: DSC
• Special Guests Set Code: SPG

Duskmourn: House of Horror’s global release falls on September 27, with Magic Online and MTG Arena’s release falling a few days before on September 24. Prereleases will kick off a week before on September 20, where you’ll have the opportunity to acquire Duskmourn Boosters, Bundles, and Commander Precons from your local games store before global release. 

Duskmourn: House of Horror is a Standard release, meaning cards will become Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Pauper legal upon the September 27 release. As for the Commander Precons, these maintain the same Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Commander legality as usual. Duskmourn previews began on August 31, 2024 at PAX West, where previews will be ongoing until September 13 when with the Complete Card Gallery being updated throughout.

Duskmourn: House of Horror Lore

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Duskmourn: House of Horror takes place on a brand-new plane called Duskmourn, which used to be a high-fantasy plane with a thriving landscape that has since been consumed by fear. In (at least) three generations before the Omenpath Arc, the entire plane became engulfed by an endless haunted mansion brimmed with horrors and demons. As you may suspect, the House is no typical building and is a living plane, spanning and harvesting on the fears of those who dwell inside.

The rooms within the house are constantly shifting and growing, featuring moth iconography to represent Valgavoth who dwells on Duskmourn. Valgavoth is a demon who was once imprisoned on Duskmourn when it was once a more physical realm but has since taken control of the plane for their own bidding. Since the Phyrexian invasion and the accessibility of other planes due to the Omenpaths, this has allowed Valgavoth to entice new unsuspecting victims to the house on Duskmourn. Unfortunately, Nashi went through one of these doors, leading him to Duskmourn, leaving Kaito Shizuki, Niko Aris, Tyvar Kell, Zimone Wola, and the Wanderer to traverse the cursed plane to retrieve him.

If you’re interested in the Duskmourn: House of Horror Magic Story, you can read all the entries down below:

• Episode 1: Don’t Go Past the Old Dark Horse
• Episode 2: Don’t Split the Party
• Episode 3: Don’t Look Back
• Episode 4: Don’t Give Up
• Episode 5: Don’t Give In
• Episode 6: Don’t Die
• Side Story: Welcome Home
• Side Story: Children of the Carnival Part 1
• Side Story: Children of the Carnival Part 2
• Side Story: Keep Them Alive
• Side Story: Dead End
• Side Story: It’s a Beautiful Day

Duskmourn: House of Horror Previews 

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We had a smattering of Duskmourn: House of Horror previews at MagicCon: Amsterdam back in June, where information on the themes, products, and characters was also announced. Wizards have uploaded the Preview Panel on YouTube, where you can also find information on Foundations, Magic’s next Standard release dropping on November 15. As for Duskmourn, Wizards revealed a few cards that highlight the design and overall feel of the horror plane with more from PAX West not too long ago.

Screaming Nemesis

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

First up is Screaming Nemesis, a Mythic already seeing interest from Magic players. For three mana, the Red Spirit does quite a bit from being aggressive out of the gate to preventing opponents from ever gaining life. You do need to fire off a Shock or force an opponent to deal damage to Screaming Nemesis so it can pass the damage onto another player, but this could become a deadly card for aggressive Red decks.

Leyline of Hope

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare

The Leylines return in Duskmourn: House of Horror with Leyline of Hope, where it’s been confirmed by Wizards that there will be a cycle of Leylines in the set. These styles of cards play into an interesting space because if you have one of these Leyline cards in your opening hand, you may begin the game with the card onto the battlefield without paying any mana costs. If you have regular ways to gain life, Leyline of Hope adds an extra point of life each time you do, with a passive benefit if you manage to have (at least) seven life more than your starting life total. Buffing your board with +2/+2 is pretty strong, where Leyline of Hope could feature in Covoke and Mono-White Aggro builds upon release.

Chainsaw

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare

Chainsaw is a reference to the Evil Dead series which is one of the many inspirations Wizards took on board when designing Duskmourn: House of Horror. Inspirations aside, the card itself also reads pretty well, where it can be a Sorcery-speed Lightning Strike of sorts while passively adding counters to Chainsaw whenever one (or more) creatures die on the battlefield. The reward for those counters? Additional power whenever a creature equipped with Chainsaw attacks, talk about value! If you want to see more Duskmourn reveals, you can do so below:ARTICLE SPOTLIGHTThe Most Exciting Cards (So Far) from Duskmourn: House of HorrorEnter, if you dare. Or do, I ain’t going to tell you what to do.Emma Partlow9/3/2024

Duskmourn: House of Horror Mechanics

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While Bloomburrow offers a ton of creature synergies, Duskmourn: House of Horror offers an enchantment-matters theme as it highlights the fears and horrors you may experience as you wander through the house.

Delirium

Winter, Misanthropic Guide

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare

First appearing in Shadows Over Innistrad, Delirium cares about having different card types in your graveyard. If you have four (or more) different card types in your graveyard, cards with the Delirium keyword will trigger their effects. As seen with Winter, Misanthropic Guide from Duskmourn, you can influence the number of cards each opponent can have in their hand once you’ve met the Delirium criteria.

Impending

Overlord of the Hauntwoods

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

Brand new to Duskmourn is Impending, a mechanic that appears on the Overlord cycle of cards from the release. Impending reads similar to Suspend, but you remove time counters at the beginning of your end step rather than at the beginning of your upkeep. Take Overlord of the Hauntwoods as an example, if you pay the Impending cost instead of the casting cost, you put four time counters on the Avatar Horror and won’t become a creature until the last counter is removed. Once the final counter is removed, Overlord of the Hauntwoods becomes a creature, where you can attack and block with the card as much as you wish. Unlike Suspend, the Impending card is actually on the battlefield as an enchantment where then, it becomes a creature once the last Impending counter is removed.

Room Cards

Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

Rooms are a new enchantment subtype in Duskmourn: House of Horror, where these appear only on split permanent cards. Each Room card has two halves and each half is called a door. As you cast one of these Room cards, you declare which room you are casting where that effect occurs once it enters the battlefield. Take Dollmaker’s Shop as an example, if you cast Dollmaker’s Shop and pay the two mana, you’ll receive the benefits whenever you attack with a non-Toy creature. However, you can pay the other half (Porcelain Gallery) of the card for six mana at sorcery speed which then unlocks that room, and you’ll receive the effects of both sides of the card. As Rooms are new to Magic, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when playing with the new subtype:

• The mana value of the Room card depends on how much mana you’ve spent on it. So, if you only cast the Porcelain Gallery half of Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery, the mana value of that card will be six. But if you unlocked the other half of the card, the total mana value would be eight.
• This doesn’t apply in areas that aren’t on the battlefield such as the graveyard, library, and hand. Where Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery would have a combined mana value of eight. 
• If you happen to copy a Room card, it will keep the same unlocked doors as the original. 
• If you happen to blink or return a Room card to the battlefield without casting it, both doors will start locked. It will just be an enchantment on the battlefield with no abilities until you unlock those rooms.

Manfiest Dread

Unwanted Remake

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Uncommon

Manifest Dread is a riff on Manifest introduced in Fate Reforged, where if you’re instructed to Manifest Dread, you’ll look at the top two cards of your library and Manifest one of those cards, putting the other card into your graveyard. Manifesting in this sense means you’ll put the card face down onto the battlefield as a 2/2 colorless creature – it doesn’t have a name, typing, no mana cost, or abilities. However, it can do all the things a creature can do such as attack, block, become tagged by removal spells. and so forth.

Even though any card type can be manifested into a creature with Manifest Dread, there’s merit to actually manifesting a creature card into play. This is because the manifested creature card can be turned face-up for its mana cost which is considered a special action, meaning the opponent cannot respond to it and doesn’t use the stack. 

Eerie

Scrabbling Skullcrab

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Uncommon

Eerie is a triggered ability that triggers whenever an enchantment you control enters the battlefield or when you successfully unlock a Room. As a result, you could achieve two Eerie triggers from one Room card, one for when it enters play and the second when you unlock a Room. 

Survival

Veteran Survivor

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Uncommon

Survival is a triggered ability that occurs at the beginning of your second main phase (after the combat phase). If the creature with the Survival ability becomes tapped during the second main phase, you gain a bonus effect. For example, if Veteran Survivor becomes tapped during its second main phase, you exile up to one card from a graveyard and once Veteran Survivor has three (or more) cards exiled with it, the Human Survivor gets +3/+3 and Hexproof. Note, you don’t need to attack with Veteran Survivor to gain the Survival ability, there could be cards in Duskmourn: House of Horror that force you to tap creatures that would also meet the Survival criteria if done before the beginning of the second main phase. 

Duskmourn: House of Horror Products

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As with any Standard release, Duskmourn: House of Horror will feature Play and Collector Boosters along with Bundles and Prerelease Kits to support the September 27 global release date.

Duskmourn: House of Horror – Nightmare Bundle

Duskmourn: House of Horror

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Furthermore, there will be a special Nightmare Bundle that will be available from October 18 that features a couple of Duskmourn Collector Boosters (along with six Play Boosters), a glow-in-the-dark spindown, and a selection of Borderless Manor Basic Lands. You also have the chance to open one of three Movie Poster-themed and Borderless Promo cards in the Nightmare Bundle. There are three of each to collect where these will have some interest from players, especially as Exhume and Goryo’s Vengeance see Pauper and Modern play respectively.

Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Precons

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Duskmourn: House of Horror sees a selection of Commander Precons to support this terrifying release. In total, there are four Commander Precons each offering a unique aspect of the horror themes you’ll see in Duskmourn. As previews have kicked off proper, there’s now information on the Commander Precons and their Commanders, which are: 

• Miracle Worker (Esper – White/Blue/Black) led by Aminatou, Veil Piercer.
• Death Toll (Golgari – Black/Green) led by Winter, Cynical Opportunist.
• Jump Scare! (Simic – Green/Blue) led by Zimone, Mystery Unraveler
• Endless Punishment (Rakdos – Black/Red) led by Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls.

Another exciting aspect of Duskmourn is the return of Archenemy, which is a casual multiplayer format designed to have one player at the table become the Archenemy, who has an increased life total and a selection of Scheme cards to play with, with the other three players banding together to defeat the Archenemy. In each of these Duskmourn Commander Precons, there will be ten Archenemy Scheme cards some of which will be brand new, and some will be reprints of older Scheme cards from older releases.

The Special Guests in Duskmourn: House of Horror

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As with any notable release these days, Special Guests return in Duskmourn: House of Horror. These are a selection of Masters-style reprints, where a dozen or so cards see Borderless treatment that marries the horrors of Duskmourn. With previews almost wrapped up, here’s the Special Guests cards that will appear in Duskmourn: House of Horror Play and Collector Boosters. In total, there are ten to collect:

• Collected Company
• Damnation
• Expropriate
• Phantasmal Image
• Noxious Revival
• Unholy Heat
• Hallowed Haunting
• Soul Warden
• Sacrifice
• Maddening Hex

The Card Treatments in Duskmourn: House of Horror

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Duskmourn: House of Horror sees a variety of Showcase, Borderless, and Extended Art treatments to support this spooky release. There are a few more Showcase Frames this time around where these will appear in Play and Collector Boosters, so let’s break everything down so you’ll know what to expect when cracking Duskmourn Boostes! 

Toby, Beastie Befriender

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare

First up we have the Double Exposure Showcase Frame, which looks much like a photograph, highlighting something very sinister within the frame. As seen with Toby, Beastie Befriender, you can see Toby along with a clown-like demon of some kind.

Peer Past the Veil

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare

Called the Paranormal Frame, this vivid treatment looks like it was viewed on a very static television of some kind, featuring imagery that is fairly uncommon artistical direction for Magic. Another notable aspect of the Paranormal Frame is that the flavor text can display a haunting final message, which suggests there will be different collector numbers of the same card that feature different flavor text to marry the story together.

Hauntwoods Shrieker

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

Borderless Frame cards return in Duskmourn as the Monster Mirror treatment, where the artwork depicts the subjects at the center of their fear (or horrors) as they traverse the halls of the Duskmourn house. Furthermore, traditional Borderless treatments also return as seen on Kaito Bane of Nightmares who is the only Planewalker card in the set.

The Wandering Rescuer

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

And a unique riff on the Double Exposure Showcase Frame, there’s also a selection of these cards that appear in Textured Foil as seen here with The Wandering Rescuer. These unique variants will be extremely rare, where these can only be found in Duskmourn Collector Boosters.

Enduring Tenacity

Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic

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Another aspect of the “Booster Fun” experience is the Japanese Showcase cards in Duskmourn: House of Horror. These are a selection of cards featuring works from Japanese artists and illustrators that also pay homage to Japanese hobby stores. English copies of the Japanese Showcase cards will only appear in roughly 67% of Duskmourn Collector Boosters with a 33% chance of opening a Japanese copy. Furthermore, Fractured Foils of these Japanese Showcase cards will also be available to open in Collector Boosters, however, you can expect these to be incredibly rare. 

We’ve already mentioned the Borderless Manor Land cards you’ll find in the Duskmourn Nightmare Bundle, where these are also the Full Art Basic Lands of choice for Duskmourn: House of Horror. Designed by noted British illustrator Dan Mumford, these stunning Basics depict the atrocities of Duskmourn manor with various survivors trawling the area to avoid an unfortunate fate.