Betrayal at (the Duskmourn) house on the hill.
Magic: The Gathering’s fall 2024 Standard set is Duskmourn: House of Horror. Releasing September 27, the set introduces players to the adeptly named plane of Duskmourn. The plane of Duskmourn centers around an ever-growing house, a dwelling closely tied to the demon Valgavoth. Creepy vibes and dwellers inhabit the House, waiting for outsiders to enter its doors.
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Wizards of the Coast’s First Look at Duskmourn introduced players to the set’s storyline, which featured several familiar faces. Tyvar Kell, Kaito Shizuki, Niko Aris, and other rescuers visit the House to find Tamiyo’s missing son, Nashi. Will these heroes succeed in their mission or face a tumultuous end to the Bellow of the House?
Early spoilers for Duskmourn revealed the return of the Delirium mechanic on Fear of Missing Out. Previously included in 2016’s Eldritch Moon and Shadows Over Innistrad, Delirium activates when there are four or more different card types in your graveyard. A new mechanic found in Duskmourn is Impending, an alternative casting cost, where casting a creature spell like Overlord of the Hauntwoods for its Impending cost results in Overlord of the Hauntwoods entering the battlefield with four-time counters that remove one by one at the beginning of your end step. Overlord of the Hauntwoods becomes a creature once all its time counters are removed. As players patiently wait for Duskmourn’s spoiler season to begin officially on August 31, here are four cards players hope to see in the set.
Multicolor Enchantment Creatures
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Introducing enchantment creatures in Duskmourn means there are more to come. While enchantment creatures are nothing unusual, multicolor enchantment creatures are scarce. Under 30 multicolor enchantment creatures exist in Magic, including the God cards from the Theros block.
Like Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Wizards of the Coast can insert multicolor enchantment creatures into Duskmourn. Including multicolor enchantment creature cards in enemy color combinations would be helpful. Moreover, enchantment creatures aligned to color wedges or shards would be fantastic additions to Duskmourn.
Enchantment Special Guests
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Revealed cards from Duskmourn foreshadow an enchantment-centric set. Slotting a few much-needed enchantment reprints as Special Guests would excite players. One such enchantment is Anointed Procession, a White enchantment originally printed in Amonkhet. Anointed Procession’s ability says if an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many tokens instead. We’ve already seen Collected Company is part of the Duskmourn’s Special Guests, so it would be exciting to see some desirable enchantments added to the growing collection.
Another token-synergizing enchantment players want from the Special Guests is Doubling Season. Not only does Doubling Season have the same ability as Anointed Procession, but it also provides the same effect for counters placed on permanents you control. One other Special Guests consideration is Aura Shards. Casting Aura Shards for 1GW nets an enchantment that destroys an artifact or enchantment whenever a creature you control enters the battlefield. A repeatable source of enchantment destruction should be an excellent Special Guests in an enchantment-centric set.
New and Expanded Kindred Typing
Magic’s first venture into a 1980s horror film-like setting opens plenty of design space. In Wizards Planeswalker’s Guide to Duskmourn, they reveal several new-to-Magic creatures (and survivors) lurking in the depths of the House. Wickerfolk are former humans that turned into wooden constructs. What may be a riff from Treefolk, Wickerfolk look different as their appearance is more wickerwork than a living tree. Wizards could add Wickerfolk as a new Kindred type, although more colored Construct creature cards are a great addition, too.
Another Kindred type that could appear in Duskmourn: House of Horror is Survivor. Many survivors venture through the House’s corridors, rooms, and zones. Survivors can look different from each other depending on their physique, makeshift weaponry, accessories, and attire. Even though survivors are a human classification, having survivor creature cards with Human Survivor typing would be plausible.
Gremlins are an underrepresented Kindred type in Magic. According to Scryfall, only twelve Gremlin creature cards existed before Duskmourn. Gremlins roaming around the House means that Duskmourn could double or triple the number of Gremlin creature cards in the game. Furthermore, more playable Gremlin cards for Constructed formats are excellent for players.
Enchantment Lands
Did you know Urza’s Saga is the only Enchantment Land card printed in Magic? All other cards with Enchantment and Land typing are double-faced enchantment cards, such as Strength of the Harvest and Search for Azcanta. Room cards are a good fit for Enchantment Land cards in Duskmourn: House of Horror.
Wizards has yet to reveal what room cards are, but they did share two pieces of related artwork in the set’s first look. Carlos Palma Cruchaga’s artwork seems to be split in half by black and white-themed rooms. Artwork by Helge C. Balzer more clearly depicts a black-themed and green-themed room. It would be reasonable for players to choose which side or color of an Enchantment Land room card to play. Choosing a side or color may come with mana production of a singular color, along with an incremental effect like gaining one life whenever a creature on the battlefield enters a graveyard.