Arriving just in time for Halloween is the latest Magic: The Gathering (MTG) set release. This “House of Horrors” set lives in a retro-inspired plane, bringing new mechanics to the game. Check out some of the creepy cards available in the latest release and dig into all the mechanics. You’ll be ready to challenge your friends this Halloween.
Duskmourn: House of Horror
Unlike the previous set release Bloomburrow, or the Assassin’s Creed crossover set, the Duskmourn set gets a little darker. Cards are filled with glitches, lethal abilities, and lots of dread. Don’t worry if you don’t know what all that means, we’ll cover it. But first, let’s look at some of the cards available in this set.
First up, Lands. These are required in every deck, or you won’t be able to play the game. Lands are your equivalent of play points or mana if you’ve played similar Trading Card Games (TCG). There are many basic lands you can collect and each set comes out with some special lands.
I pulled a couple out of the Booster packs. You can see they have a spooky theme with eerie locations. Some of the cards are full sized art, and the one in the middle has the classic half art style.
Next, spooky toys. During the creepy season, there are many inanimate objects that become possessed, spiritual, or are just downright scary. The Duskmourn set plays on this idea and has released several inanimate object cards. Some of these are cards such as Saw or Glimmerlight, can be equipped to other cards to power them up. Saw for example gives a creature +2/+0, and an extra ability. Other object cards such as Toy can only be used as Token cards.
There are lots of key cards which you’ll want to add to your deck if you plan on winning some games. You’ll need creatures which can attack your opponents, and Sorcery cards to cast special abilities. Here are a few of my favourites that I’ll plan on adding to my deck. I love Split Up that allows you to either destroy all tapped creatures (creatures which have already made a move), or destroy all untapped creatures. Cards like this can turn the tides in a game and you’ll want to have plenty of these up your sleeve.
If you are cracking open card packs, you might get lucky and score yourself something really cool. Even if you aren’t into playing the games, collecting the cards can be a lot of fun.
New mechanics
Trading Card Games have a lot of mechanics. For example, The Human Warrior Card above has “Menace”, which means it only be blocked by two or more creatures. Mechanics like this make the game interesting, and players can use various tactics to suit their battling style.
When new sets are released, new mechanics are often released into the game. Here are the new mechanics you can look out for as part of the MTG Duskmourn set.
- Rooms – these are horizontal enchantment cards that represent locations in a house you can explore. When cast, the players choose a door to unlock, and follow the instructions on the card:
These room cards can rapidly change the momentum of the game. - Manifest Dread – action keyword that allows a player to look at the top two cards of their deck. They can select one to put facedown as a colourless 2/2 creature, and put the other in the graveyard. If the card is a creature card, the controller can pay the cost on the card to flip it. This allows players to plan their moves and quickly get an extra creature on the board without paying mana.
- Survival – a creature ability. When a creature remains untapped for the duration of your turn, a unique ability will trigger. This gives an extra level of choice to players; do you use your creature to attack, or wait it out and reap the rewards?
- Eerie – a special ability will trigger only when an enchantment enters the battlefield, or the second door of a room is unlocked.
- Impending – an ability reserved for mythic ‘Overlord’ cards. These can be played at a reduced cost, and enter as non-creature cards with time counters on them. The creature is unleashed once all the counters are removed. This will encourage opponents to try and end the game quickly before danger is unleashed.
Returning Mechanics
Sometimes card mechanics can fall out the current set, and return in another. Here are the mechanics returning with the Duskmourn set:
- Delirium – keyword that grants an improved effect when its player has four or more different types of cards in their graveyard. This will encourage players to have diversity in their decks and could make for some surprising outcomes.
- Glimmer – enchantment creature types that return to the battlefield after death as enchantments rather than creatures. Players will be able to have their best ability cards live on in effect only.
Play now
The Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn set was released on September 24 for Magic: The Gathering Arena, and on September 27 for tabletop. If you’re just starting out, the Commander Decks are the way to go. They come with everything you need to get started including a ready-to-play deck, play mat, tokens, Schemes, a Collector Booster sample pack, and deck box. Commander decks usually start around $74.99 AUD.
There are also Play Boosters to purchase, Collectors Boosters, and various bundles.
