Spooky season is almost upon us once again, and this time around Wizards has been pulling out all the stops to give us a fitting set release to match. On Saturday, August 31, the first major rollout of official previews for the newest MTG expansion - Duskmourn: House of Horror - in all its terrifying glory. This set focuses much less on the typical gothic horror we've come to know from Innistrad and instead gives us a more modern horror setting themed after the horror of the 80s and beyond. Let's take a little look at some of the previews that have come out in the last week!

The Cards People Are Talking About

Everyone thought that The Meathook Massacre was an extremely powerful card when it was first released. The card was banned in Standard and remains a force to be reckoned with in older formats here and there as well. As such, no one could've expected a direct sequel for Duskmourn: House of Horror, but that's what we got. Fitting of the classic trend of horror film sequels, this is more of the same but it goes bigger and tries doing more, and everyone loved it when they saw it.

Few cards have received such universal praise for the design as Haunted Screen got when it was first previewed a few days ago. While the card may not be the best option as far as mana rocks go, the flavor was simply off the charts. The reason is that the first mana ability represents a black and white TV while the second one represents paying a little more for a color TV (which uses RGB display - or ). This got a lot of love from players all over - myself included - and is an excellent design amongst a set of hitters.

You know what's always certain to get players super excited? A whole new cycle of Leyline cards! These enchantments often prove powerful, with some being better in Constructed formats and others being better suited for Commander. Many of these ones look exciting and strong, which has players eager to try them out, though the Black one is once again Leyline of the Void simply because it's a classic design that works perfectly.

What's New and Pricey?

You know what card was incredibly popular back in the day? Whisperwood Elemental. The card dominated many midrange and Devotion archetypes in its Standard era on the back of repeatedly getting to manifest a card every turn. Hauntwoods Shrieker is similar in that it lets you repeatedly make creatures, but simultaneously gives you a choice in what you take and can flip over the card with ease. This enables you to cheat big things into play quickly, and the fact that it's all on a reasonably sized creature indicates it's sure to be a powerhouse of a creature going forward.

Planeswalkers are always bound to be some of the bigger cards in their respective sets given the history of the card type, but Kaito here is even more of an exceptional case. Ninjas are tremendously popular and this iteration of the Kamigawa planeswalker features the classic ninjutsu ability! This is possible by having Kaito be a creature in addition to a planeswalker, meaning it can get in for damage and then activate an ability the following main phase. Oh, and the fact that he can repeatedly buff all ninja cards every turn means any ninja focused deck is going to need a copy in it.

You know what decks are really popular in Pioneer these days? Sacrifice decks comboing Ygra, Eater of All and Cauldron Familiar as well as Selesnya Angels. You know what both of these decks have in common? They both gain a ton of life! Screaming Nemesis provides a cheap way to shut down that axis of those decks' gameplay and has players scrambling to find copies in case they need them for the upcoming Regional Championships. Pioneer aside, this is still a powerful effect on a rock solid, hasty bod that's sure to make an impact in other formats as well.

Notable Reprints

A rather major inclusion on the reprint front this set isn't a particularly expensive card, but instead is huge for being a major player going forward. That card is Pyroclasm, a powerful sweeper that hasn't been in Standard since 2011 with Magic 2011. Over the last decade or so, Red sweepers have cost a minimum of three mana, but now Wizards has finally opted to bring the original back. Not only is this expected to be big for Standard but also Pioneer where the card enters the format for the very first time.

Shown very early on amongst the previews was the upcoming Nightmare Bundle for Duskmourn: House of Horror. This is effectively the Gift Bundle of the set and comes with all kinds of extra special goodies. The big get this time around? Two of six promos - one of three promos themed after classic horror film posters and one of three promos featuring art by the artist of the classic Goosebumps books of the 90's, Tim Jacobus. Each of these proved exciting for tons of players and include worthwhile reprints of cards like Goryo's Vengeance and Archon of Cruelty.

As usual, the Special Guest slot is chock full of great reprints. This one features some really cool ones, like the super creepy Phantasmal Image and a needed reprint of Maddening Hex. One of the more interesting inclusions here, though, is Sacrifice - a card that hasn't seen a tournament playable printing since Revised. This printing of the card also puts it onto Magic Online which is big for a number of older formats that can potentially run it.

Additional Resources

If you'd like more information on this set, check out the following links to various official resources from Wizards of the Coast:

• Duskmourn: House of Horror official card image gallery
• Where to Find Duskmourn: House of Horror Previews
• Collecting Duskmourn: House of Horror
• Duskmourn: House of Horror Mechanics
• Duskmourn: House of Horror story

That wraps things up for week one of previews for Duskmourn: House of Horror. I'll be back at the end of the week to talk about all of the awesome cards that have been shown off since and see what other terrifying goodies Wizards printed this time around. And as always, if you'd like to get your hands on some awesome Duskmourn goodies, check out the official CoolStuffInc.com page for it right at the top of this article.

Paige Smith

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