Duskmourn: House of Horror previews have finally finished, fittingly coming to a close on Friday the 13th. This spooky new set boasts a whole suite of new cards with some really powerful, some controversial, and others that just seem simply awesome. Today I'd like to walk you through some notable cards and showcase what the second and final week of previews has to offer us.

Let's dive right in!

The Latest and Greatest

One of the most famous examples of a card that was overhyped to death was Skaab Ruinator in the original Innistrad set. The card seemed impossibly large for the amount of mana that it cost to cast it. The catch was that you needed to exile three creatures from your graveyard to cast it, which seemed trivial, but it proved much more difficult to make work in the end. Abhorrent Oculus gives similar vibes, however it allows you to exile any cards, which can prove easy for something like a spellslinging deck. This has many players excited to try the card out in various decks.

Aliens are officially here in Magic. We knew this was coming sooner than later, as we're currently set to get a space opera set next year. However, it seems they decided to pull the trigger on the typical space alien tropes with regards to a horror setting. The 80's may have been known for friendly alien films like E.T., but the 80's and 90's were also filled with plenty of sci-fi horror like The X-Files and Fire in the Sky that made this an unexpectedly fitting callback to a bygone era.

Surprisingly, one of the most controversial cards of the set has turned out to be a simple uncommon Black removal spell. Only this one is a little different than ones we usually see, as it provides a way for Black to have targeted enchantment removal. Previously, the overwhelming majority of Black's enchantment hate was via edict-style effects, save for Feed the Swarm. This is the first instance of targeted removal in Black with minimal cost, and as such, it's generated quite a bit of controversy among players regarding the color pie.

Commander Horrors Abound

As Commander cards get revealed with an upcoming set, we occasionally see something pop up that's destined for serious competitive play. Metamorphosis Fanatic seems to be the primary example here for Duskmourn: House of Horror. With a dirt cheap miracle cost, it's not very difficult to Entomb a large finisher or else swampcycle a Troll of Khazad-Dum and then miracle this off the top of your deck. That's even easier to pull off with library manipulation such as Brainstorm, making this a sure-fire hit for Legacy where Reanimator is already quite a popular deck.

One fun thing about sets like this that play on pop culture is you get to have a Leonardo DiCaprio pointing moment every now and then. Case in point was Giggling Skitterspike, which many players were quick to note looked eerily similar to one Sid's toys from the classic animated film Toy Story. It doesn't hurt either that the card seems like an excellent design for a Commander setting, either slowly chipping away at opponents' life totals or else becoming gigantic and tearing through them.

If there's one thing Commander games are known for, it's their politics. Sometimes, though, the winning political move is to make all of your opponents fight amongst themselves. Sadistic Shell Game removes you from the entire equation and forces your opponents to choose creatures you don't control and wipe them out. This can lead to all kinds of tension and have some pretty wild impacts on the game, making it one of the more enticing options this time around.

Reprints

Typically, I don't get to cover the reprints until the second article with things like subsets, Special Guests, and more often revealed in the second week of previews for a new set. This time, however, we got most of this up front, meaning there's not much to cover. However, it's worth noting that the Commander decks have some pretty rock solid reprint value in them, as is usual of late.

Each deck has a lot of great value, with most lists including at least something that's been going for at least $10 prior to the reprint. The biggest and most surprising of the bunch here is no doubt Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait. This popular Simic legend was previously only printed in the Commander Legends preconstructed deck and only in foil, leading to it slowly climbing to be over $30 before being reprinted here.

Many cards have also gotten some great new art. Some simply look creepy, such as the new pieces of Putrefy and Feed the Swarm looking dark as they come. Others feature excellent art visibly not from the plane of Duskmourn, such as Citanul Hierophants and Mogis, God of Slaughter. One of the more interesting reprints here, though, is Diabolic Vision. This one is notable because it's the card's first reprint since Beatdown and as such is its first new art since the original was printed in Ice Age nearly 30 years ago.

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

With the set finally previewed in full, the next thing to do is attend your local prerelease! These events will be taking place at your local game store starting next Friday, September 20th. If you can't make it, consider checking out your local shop or go to the Duskmourn: House of Horror page right here on CoolStuffInc.com to pick up all your horrific needs. If you still want more Duskmourn coverage and are a fan of commons, don't worry: my Pauper review for the set comes next week. Make sure you check it out then!

Paige Smith

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