Like the massive house in which the entire plane exists in, Duskmourn is an incredibly deep set.

Bloomburrow was all about simplicity, with easy to understand and linear themes among the ten color pairs, but Duskmourn is an interwoven mess of cross synergies and heavy modalities. Duskmourn cards do a lot of different things in a lot of places, and can be combined with each other and older cards in a wide variety of ways.

This means we'll be unpacking Duskmourn for quite a while, but we've gotta start somewhere!

As such, here are the early winners of Duskmourn so far in Standard and Pioneer!

Valgavoth, Terror Eater

I'm not a big fan of Wizards of the Coast trying to constantly one up themselves on "stupid huge lifelinking unbeatable reanimation threat" but here we are with Valgavoth, Terror Eater. Valgavoth is going to be even more scary in formats where it can enter the battlefield on turn one or two, but turn five is still mighty powerful for the lord of Duskmourn!

Standard has plenty of good reanimation options like The Cruelty of Gix, as well as the sleeper Coiling Rebirth, as seen in this deck played to high mythic by ShclbyMTG:

Rakdos Reanimator | DSK Standard | ShclbyMTG

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Harvester of Misery
• 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 2 Vein Ripper
• 3 The Infamous Cruelclaw
• 3 Trumpeting Carnosaur
• 4 Valgavoth, Terror Eater

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (4)
• 4 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Duress
• 4 Coiling Rebirth

• Enchantments (8)
• 2 The Cruelty of Gix
• 2 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Bitter Reunion

• Lands (24)
• 2 Mountain
• 6 Swamp
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 2 Restless Vents
• 4 Raucous Theater
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Cut Down
• 2 Duress
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 2 Abrade
• 3 Withering Torment
• 2 Brotherhood's End
• 1 Breach the Multiverse

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This deck has a lot going on, with Coiling Rebirth being extra special with Trumpeting Carnosaur and Vein Ripper for a plan B, two cards that are also just very castable.

Adding The Infamous Cruelclaw into the mix as another secondary plan is great; if your opponent is playing something linear and light on removal, Cruelclaw threatens a potential huge play on turn four, and if they slow themselves down to deal with it you gain plenty of time to execute on your reanimation plan.

With excellent discard outlets like Bitter Reunion (haste is huge here), Bitter Triumph, and Liliana of the Veil, the deck is well set up to put it all together, but also has the removal and tools to play a solid midrange game as well.

This is an exciting one!

Abhorrent Oculus

Abhorrent Oculus isn't quite Murktide Regent, but it is close, and even better in some ways!

While you'll never cast it for two mana and needing six cards in the graveyard is more than five, having the ability to spit out a 2/2 every turn is also huge game, and that's to say nothing of getting lucky and hitting another Abhorrent Oculus as one of your manifests.

But what's also nice is that it has a printed mana value of three!

Azorius Oculus | Pioneer | TandyMTG, 5-0 MTGO League

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Brazen Borrower
• 1 Monastery Mentor
• 4 Abhorrent Oculus
• 4 Ledger Shredder
• 4 Picklock Prankster

• Instants (22)
• 1 Into the Flood Maw
• 2 Dig Through Time
• 2 Get Lost
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Consider
• 4 No More Lies
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Helping Hand

• Lands (21)
• 3 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Restless Anchorage
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Aether Gust
• 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Into the Flood Maw
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 4 Portable Hole
• 2 Shark Typhoon
• 2 Unlicensed Hearse

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Todd Anderson has taken the Azorius Helping Hand shell that was making some waves in Standard and ported it over to Pioneer, immediately 5-0ing a league and showing great promise.

This deck borrows a lot of Izzet Phoenix, with Ledger Shredder and Picklock Prankster coming together to form a graveyard filling engine alongside various cantrips. This not only gives the incredible velocity to find the things you want, but also fuels the delve of Abhorrent Oculus and Dig Through Time. And it also enables Helping Hand, which can bring back Abhorrent Oculus or Monastery Mentor on the cheap and allow you to leave your mana up.

Leave your mana up for what?

It's like Azorius Control and Izzet Phoenix had a baby!

Quality countermage like No More Lies and Three Steps Ahead give the deck a sort of Delver of Secrets slant, putting your opponent in a difficult spot and leaning further into the Murktide Reagent "pay a small amount of mana for a threat with a counterspell up on turn four or five and take over the game when you untap." For this reason, Dig Through Time gets the nod over Treasure Cruise for being an instant, and you can't play too many of them because Abhorrent Oculus also wants to use the graveyard.

This is a really exciting deck, and a lot of these cards are legal in Standard too!

Turn Inside Out

Ah yes, you know, super exciting Duskmourn cards like... *checks notes* Turn Inside Out?

Surprisingly yes!

We've seen a lot of cards with very similar effects to Turn Inside Out before; one mana combat "tricks" that are never actually tricks because they don't boost toughness, but they give you some small benefit when your creature dies. This allows you to trade up, but often isn't worth the exchange.

Well Turn Inside Out is the best version of this effect we've ever seen by a wide margin.

+3/+0 is leagues better than +2/+0 for the same reasons that Lightning Bolt is better than Shock, making it a card's worth of damage when you're just firing it off to chunk in. But the card is also great when you're trading up too, as manifest dread is a very powerful mechanic that is far more than a 2/2 token. You get to put a card in the graveyard immediately, as well as the Turn Inside Out itself, usually pushing you much closer to delirium, and when the 2/2 dies another card goes to the bin.

Gruul Prowess | DSK Standard | MJ_23, 5-0 MTGO League

• Creatures (25)
• 2 Callous Sell-Sword
• 3 Manifold Mouse
• 4 Cacophony Scamp
• 4 Emberheart Challenger
• 4 Heartfire Hero
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Slickshot Show-Off

• Instants (12)
• 4 Monstrous Rage
• 4 Shock
• 4 Turn Inside Out

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Innkeeper's Talent

• Lands (20)
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Restless Ridgeline
• 1 Rockface Village
• 4 Karplusan Forest
• 4 Thornspire Verge
• 4 Copperline Gorge

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Pawpatch Formation
• 3 Urabrask's Forge
• 2 Scorching Shot
• 3 Obliterating Bolt
• 2 Sunspine Lynx
• 2 Snakeskin Veil

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Turn Inside Out has already started showing up in Gruul Prowess decks that have been running rampant in Standard lately, but I also think it has a future in more delirium focused aggro decks as well.

When they turn the dial to 11 on a draft card, it stops being just a draft card!

Norin, Swift Survivalist

Wait, what?

Yep, ole Norin is back at it again, but this time he's actually not just a goofy meme card!

A 2/1 for one Red mana that can't block was exciting back in 2008 (hello Tattermunge Maniac), but these days doesn't really move the needle. However, Norin has two things going for him. The first and perhaps less important is the interesting blocking condition, where if anything you control becomes blocked you can just exile it and cast it. This allows for safe attacks of a bunch of smaller creatures into one larger one, but also works very well with death or enters triggers in a pinch.

But the real draw is that typeline - "Legendary Creature" and the implications that it has.

Mox Amber is one of the few moxen to struggle to find a good home, mostly because of how much it needs to run with playable one mana legends. Well Norin is playable enough!

Boros Legends | Pioneer | d00mwake, 5-0 MTGO League

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
• 2 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
• 2 Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
• 3 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
• 3 Arabella, Abandoned Doll
• 3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
• 3 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 3 Zurgo Bellstriker
• 4 Norin, Swift Survivalist
• 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Instants (3)
• 3 Get Lost

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Mox Amber

• Lands (22)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 4 Plaza of Heroes
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 4 Portable Hole
• 1 Reidane, God of the Worthy
• 2 Rending Volley
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 3 Showdown of the Skalds

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Check out this Boros Legends deck playing by d00mwake to a 5-0 on a Magic Online league that has Mox Amber front and center alongside a motley crew of legendary 1-drops.

Listen, sometimes you just want three mana on turn two, and there's no doubt that Anim Pakel, Thousandth Moon is a nice card to play on turn two. All the 1-drops hit hard enough, with Skrelv providing a bit of protection too.

I mean, come on, Norin, Swift Survivalist helped Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice to probably her first recorded finish in a 5-0 Magic Online list ever, that's gotta count for something right?

The World Championship

Duskmourn is a very important set for competitive Magic, as it will be front and center at the Magic: The Gathering 2024 World Championship next month.

This is very exciting, because it feels like we're barely scratching the surface of this set. There's a whole bunch of moving parts and puzzles to unlock, and with Standard being perhaps the best Magic format all year, it's going to be a great one.

Hopefully someone breaks it, and hopefully it's us!