Today at MagicCon Amsterdam, Wizards of the Coast revealed new cards and information about the next two main upcoming Magic: The Gathering sets, with a focus on September's Duskmourn: House of Horror. While they also shared some new cards from August's Bloomburrow, that was dwarfed by the amount of new information which was shared about the upcoming horror-themed set.
What did we learn about Duskmourn: House of Horror at MagicCon?
While we already knew that Duskmourn was a set based on modern horror aesthetics, ideas, and themes, today we got our first look at some of how that is being interpreted in the form of Magic: The Gathering cards. For months we've pondered what a set constrained to a haunted mansion, which we now know to be infinite in size, might mean in design, and how Magic might adapt ideas from some of people's favorite movies, games, and stories.
Time Counters Return
Last prominently seen in the Doctor Who universes beyond Commander decks, time counters are traditionally associated with the Suspend and Vanishing mechanics, since they first appeared in Time Spiral block. Now, we have a new mechanic in Impending that is a twist on suspend, and enchantment creatures, as like suspend you are waiting several turns for the creature when you cast it with Impending, but in this case the card is on the board as an enchantment. Whatever enters the battlefield (nowadays shortened to just enters) effect happens, and it lurks, waiting for its chance to crash down on the board. This would seem to be one of, if not the, major counters in the set and part of how they are showing a looming sense of dread. If you are wanting to pick up any cards that manipulate time counters, now may be the time before they spike later this year.
Booster Fun: Lurkers, Japanese Showcase, Tech, Monsterous Reflection and Double Exposure
As teased in the opening segment, there's some really unique booster fun variants coming in Duskmourn. A major initiative is the 10 Japanese Showcase cards, which include Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and Enduring Tenacity, with art done by Japanese artists. Also teased is the lurker art variants, as monsters sometimes hide in the very art of otherwise ordinary cards. Come Back Wrong shows us three different variants with a base art, a Lurker art, and a Paranormal booster fun variant capturing looks of movies where things like the VHS tape was out to get you.
That's not all though, as monsters get a style all of their own with the Monsterous Reflection borderless booster fun variant. These see the monster through a different angle, off of mirrors or eyes instead of the traditional Magic look and seem to have a variety of takes on them as seen with Doomsday Excrutiator and Screaming Nemesis. Fighting back against them though are heroes, like the newly desparked Wandering Emperor who is captured in The Wandering Rescuer, and the boy with his monster friend Toby, Beastie Befriender. Their special form is channeling the double exposure trend of art to give a distinctive look with vibrant colors.
Duskmourn Is an Enchantment Set, but that's not all
One of the early things we can see here is that Duskmourne seems to be an enchantment set. There's plenty of enchantment creatures, and even more enchantments as we can see here with Leyline of Hope, Nowhere to Run, and Fear of Missing Out. We may or may not have a cycle of Leylines, as who knows after Leyline of the Guildpact in Murders at Karlov Manor, but it seems more likely to happen in an enchantment set. Much of the use of enchantments here seems to be to represent emotions, things like dread, fear, impending doom you can sense, or feelings of hope that struggle against them in this genre.
Genre staples and tropes are also being reflected in the set in a number of ways. While we've seen monsters, and cursed recordings, another area is capturing an iconic weapon of horror movies: the chainsaw. Depicted here as a red equipment, it only gets stronger as creatures die. Meanwhile, on the special guest list, we have Collected Company, showing how these movies often have groups coming together to fight back against whatever darkness there is.
Duskmourn Brings Back Archenemy in Commander
Much like how Planechase returned with March of the Machine, and Doctor Who, we have another old Commander optional format returning with Duskmourn: House of Horrors. This time it is Archenemy, a four player Commander format where three players team up against the titular archenemy. To help balance this the archenemy gets special scheme cards that let them do more. The preview showed us Time Bends To My Will, which lets the archenemy get another turn, and I Will Savor Your Agony, which functions like one of the conflux spells that lets you choose from a list of options three times.
Bloomburrow Update
Before we get to the horror set though, we're going to frollic off in the animal lands of Bloomburrow, where everyone is turned into an anthropomorphic version of themselves, like the previously revealed cute Otter Ral. We were shown 11 new cards from Bloomburrow which releases August 2nd, and has pre-release at the end of this month. The set will have a bonus sheet of various planeswalkers in anthropomorphic form, so even if they aren't in the story itself, you may know what animal your favorite planeswalker would be. Today's reveals shows us some cute lands, and what creature types we might expect to see predominantly in the set.
This land cycle leans into the typal theme of the set, and are focused on the various creature types that are present in this set. The five lands are all monocolored and encourage creatures so that you can get the color from them, and particular creature types to use the bonus ability. These range a lot as a loose cycle of uncommon, but should be of interest to anyone wanting to play some cute creatures.
We see here some of how sweet the world of Bloomburrow looks, with things like the rabbit approved Carrot Cake showing up. We also get our first look at the showcase frame for the set, with the Woodlands version of Salvation Swan, having a nice, foresty feel to it. It's a bit odd for a white card, but a nice look overall, and the Swan itself seems pretty sweet as either a straightforward protection piece, or something that works in a bird/x typal deck.
We learned a fair amount about what is coming up soon in Magic: The Gathering today, as plenty of new information about Duskmourn and Bloomburrow were shared with everyone. Stay tuned to TechRaptor for more Magic: The Gathering coverage in the months ahead as we explore these sets together and try to avoid coming down with cuteness overdose, or hiding in a closet for eternity.
