Horror has been a part of my life from as early as I can remember. Among the first books I ever read were those of the classic Goosebumps series, which simultaneously terrified and inspired me as a kid. Then came the show version of that series, as well as the similar Are You Afraid of the Dark? series. Bruce Coville books and the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series also became mainstays.

It wouldn't be long until I started checking out the more adult side of the genre either. Stephen King and Clive Barker became some of my favorite authors as I entered my high school years, and I quickly dove into the mountain of horror films. During those formative years, I went deep into the annals of horror films and have seen many of the greatest of all time. From the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera to the more recently fantastic A24 selections, I've seen all kinds of terror on the silver screen.

There're all kinds of subgenres to horror too. Slashers, possession flicks, monster movies, even horror comedies, but there's one that gets too often overlooked that I love: folk horror. This shouldn't come as a huge shock from the person who's into Norse folklore enough that I wrote a whole article talking about how that mythology was reflected in Kaldheim itself. Heck, folk metal is one of my absolute favorite genres of music to listen to. Folk horror, though, is often way too underrepresented in the genre.

For a long while, there were only a handful of real examples of folk horror that I'd see get mentioned in horror circles. These include the classic The Wicker Man (no, not the Nicholas Cage one), Children of the Corn, and the much lesser known films The Blood on Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm in the US). They provide a more interesting dynamic of a time period from a long distant past and/or rely heavily on folklore and myth - something that I've always been intrigued by.

Unfortunately, the subgenre didn't really take off. It's quite a shame because the majority of the handful of offerings that we'd gotten were fantastic. The original Wicker Man is one of my all time favorite films, even, telling a deeply gripping mystery that keeps you guessing right to the end. Thankfully, we've seen a small resurgence in the subgenre thanks to recent outings such as The Witch, set in colonial-period America, and the sun-filled nightmare Midsommar. This brings us, of course, to Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.

It's clear that the humans of Innistrad are taking a lot of inspiration from many of the films in this genre. Predominantly, they seem to be taking imagery from the best two known of these films, which would be The Wicker Man and Midsommar. In fact, many people online clearly identified many of these cards as drawing heavily from the films:

Join the Dance especially has a lot of obvious inspiration from both of these, featuring people decked in crowns of flowers dancing around a burning wooden statue. Pagan style dances happen in both films, and one does happen around a burning wooden colossus, though I won't say anymore on that one. The imagery clearly evokes both films, which makes sense so as to draw from horror tropes and the things people expect of the horror genre.

The Harvesttide celebration and the Dawnhart Coven no doubt draw from this genre as a whole, as well as the general "witches in horror" trope. Naturally, this made me want to touch on it and build something for Commander. In truth, though, as I put together my Sigarda list last week, I realized that any deck I tried to build around a Selesnya humans folk horror theme (likely Katilda, Dawnhart Prime) would likely end up feeling a lot like a retread of that deck. So, I started looking at others that could work instead. Old Stickfingers has a bit of that spooky folkish vibe to him, but I instead went with Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant from the Commander decks instead.

Kurbis is, as laid out by the New Legends of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt article that was posted to the Mothership, actually an ancient spirit. Indeed, he is one of the earliest Harvesttide Sovereigns, and so was well versed in the old ways. This helped the Dawnhart Coven in reviving these bygone customs for a new age - which is also a bit of a trope in folk horror as well. The Coven fused the spirit with an ancient tree and gave Kurbis life once more, allowing him to bring in and celebrate the harvest with the humans... if he can resist the temptation to bring horror from his new treefolk side.

Let's check out a deck!

Kurbis, Who Brings the Harvest | Commander | Kendra Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Bane of Progress
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Biogenic Ooze
• 1 Cytoplast Root-Kin
• 1 Duskshell Crawler
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Fangren Firstborn
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Herd Baloth
• 1 Heronblade Elite
• 1 Incubation Druid
• 1 Iridescent Hornbeetle
• 1 Ivy Lane Denizen
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Lifeblood Hydra
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Loyal Guardian
• 1 Oran-Rief Ooze
• 1 Polukranos, World Eater
• 1 Primal Adversary
• 1 Primordial Sage
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
• 1 Ridgescale Tusker
• 1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1 Steelbane Hydra
• 1 Stumpsquall Hydra
• 1 Swarm Shambler
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig

• Instants (4)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Inspiring Call
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood
• 1 Verdant Confluence

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Bow of Nylea
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Curse of Predation
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Primeval Bounty
• 1 Ranger Class
• 1 Song of Freyalise
• 1 Sylvan Library

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Fractal Harness
• 1 Moss Diamond
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 The Great Henge

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1 Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
• 1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
• 1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger

• Lands (36)
• 21 Forest
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Garenbrig
• 1 Forge of Heroes
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Memorial to Unity
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Slippery Karst
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 War Room

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Unfortunately, Kurbis doesn't really lend himself quite so well to the theme of the Harvesttide and folk horror the way the Selesnya legends would. If anything, he fills a more supplemental and supportive role to those commanders - which is admittedly fitting of his character. The biggest issue we have is there aren't many humans in Mono-Green that really seem to care for his +1/+1 gameplan. That said, there are a ton of great cards that utilize this theme.

Of course, as you'd likely expect, Hardened Scales is a must, much like the similar Branching Evolution. You could maybe also run Primal Vigor or Doubling Season if you want, but either card will likely put a pretty big target on your head. From there, there's no shortage of ways to get counters onto your creatures. Renata, Loyal Guardian, the classic Forgotten Ancient, The Great Henge, Fangren Firstborn, and many more all dish out the counters en masse. These creatures get big fast and can close out games quickly enough if your opponents aren't too careful.

Kurbis himself relies on getting lots of mana down as well, so there's plenty of mana ramp in the deck as well. After all, what would a harvest be without being able to reap the rewards of the land? All your typical Mono-Green ramp spells are here. Mana dorks, Rampant Growths, and so on. The deck also benefits quite nicely from Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter and Rishkar, Peema Renegade. Both cards not only give out +1/+1 counters, but they make every creature with counters able to tap for mana! This way your team can go a long way to buffing up Kurbis, who in turn helps your team survive as well.

The deck ends up being pretty simple and straightforward as it gets, and relies predominantly on getting there using the combat step, so there isn't ultimately too much to talk about specifically. I hope you enjoyed this along with me gushing a bit about my love of horror and in particular the folk horror subgenre. Check it out sometime because there's a lot of great stuff to offer, and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt does a great job of representing it. Kurbis is a great representation of this trope, and should prove for a fun deck to try out at your next Commander pod.

Kendra Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

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