Terrifyingly fun Magic the Gathering Duskmourn House of Horror expansion is here

Magic the Gathering’s various expansions have typically explored almost all aspects of the fantasy genre and even dystopian science fiction thanks to the Warhammer 40,000 collaboration but they’re now taking an interesting turn towards classic horror films with their newly released Duskmourn House of Horror expansion set.

What is Magic the Gathering Duskmourn House of Horror?

In essence an entire plane of existence that has expanded to become a sprawling house of horror, Duskmourn House of Horror is literally what it says on the tin.

The premise of the story is that the son of a famous Planeswalker disappears into this plane and when the cavalry comes to the rescue, things go pear shaped.

The Duskmourn House of Horror expansion makes use of room cards that are enchantments representing locations in the house that can be explored with doors that can be opened by paying a mana cost.

Another key mechanic of note is is ‘dread’ where if the effect triggers, the affected player has to look at the top two cards of their library with one card put face down as a colourless 2/2 creature and the other going to the graveyard.

If the card is a creature card, the controller can pay its cost to flip it up at any time for its mana cost.  Another novel mechanic is ‘Survival’ where if they live to the end of a combat phase tapped, a unique ability triggers. You can see the official list of new features below:

● Room cards: nothing is as it seems in Duskmourn, and its rooms are no exception. Rooms are enchantment cards that represent locations in the house you can explore. Once cast, players choose which door they want to unlock first, unleashing what awaits within. Brave enough to continue exploring? Simply pay the other door’s cost later to discover what it contains.
● Manifest dread: a new keyword action that allows you to instil a fear of the unknown into your opponents. When a player manifests dread, they look at the two top cards
of their library. They then select one to put face down as a colourless 2/2 creature while the other goes to the graveyard. If the card is a creature card, its controller can pay its cost to flip it up at any time for its mana cost.
● Impending: look out ahead!! This new mechanic appears on the formidable mythic ‘Overlord’ cards. By playing these cards at a reduced cost, they enter the battlefield as non-creatures with a set number of time counters. These will gradually be
removed on each turn, instilling a foreboding sense of danger as players wait for the creature to be unleashed.
● Survival: creatures with survival trigger a unique ability when they live to the end of the combat phase tapped. If you can outplay your opponent, survival will be the reward.
● Eerie: an ability that triggers whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield or when the second door of a room is unlocked.
● Delirium: a returning keyword that grants an improved effect when its controller has four or more different card types in their graveyard.
● Glimmer: there’s light in the dark. Glimmers are new enchantment creature types that are benevolent representations of a survivor’s hopes and dreams. When they
die, these creatures return to the battlefield as enchantments but lose the creature type. This way, their effects live on, continuing to inspire hope.

The art treatment is unique for Duskmourn House of Horror this time around with Paranormal Frame cards that have a retro 80’s look about them and resembling images seen with bursts of static as if seen through an old CRT TV.

There are also Double Exposure cards that look like classic horror photography in normal and standard foil versions for Collector Booster.

Other interesting features for the set include Mirror Monster cards as well as Japanese Showcase cards and Fracture Foil variants of these cards in Collector Boosters. Horror fans will love the fact that SIlent Hill creature designer Masahiro Ito has a hand in it with him contributing the ‘Damnation’ card.

The entire set of Duskmourn House of Horror includes Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Commander Decks, Prerelease Packs and Bundles is now available nationwide in Malaysia while a special Nightmare Edition bundle this coming 18 October 2024. For more details on Duskmourn House of Horror check out their official page here.