Magic: The Gathering – Duskmourn: House of Horror Panel Gives Fans A Bloody First Look

At PAX West, Wizards of the Coast and the Magic: The Gathering team held a panel for the latest Duskmourn: House of Horror , giving fans a sneak peek behind the curtain of horror.

At PAX West 2024 , Wizards of the Coast (for the first time) invaded a panel with their upcoming Duskmourn: House of Horror set releasing this spooky season. The panel included many of the Magic: The Gathering developers including Executive Producer Mike Turian, Senior Art Director Ovidio Cartagena, and Senior Game Designer of Duskmourn: House of Horror, Emily Teng.

While it’s clear passion pervades everything when these creators are brought together to make a new set, they are also the driving force when it comes to the creation of the plane, and implementation of the story and artwork is paramount for the cohesiveness of a new plane to explore. Of course, what would a new Magic: The Gathering set be without new mechanics, and Duskmourn has uncorked a large amount of them, including exciting new specialized artwork to mark the occasion (including spicy showcase cards). Below is an introduction into the House of Horrors story, with a new trailer featuring an unlikely rat hero introduced in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty , Nashi.

Duskmourn: House of Horrors – New & Returning Gameplay Mechanics

Rooms – a new card enchantment type is coming to local game stores everywhere called Rooms. These enchantment types can be played just like any other enchantment, except when you cast it, one side can be unlocked for its cost and the other side of the room can be ‘unlocked’ (as a sorcery) at any other time the enchantment remains on the field for its secondary cost. This is similar to cards with two effects (think Wear/Tear introduced in Dragon’s Maze ) except both sides can be used as the player sees fit.

Delirium – For those wondering if ‘retired’ mechanics will ever make it back to MTG, a mechanic introduced in Shadows Over Innistrad is making a return in Duskmourn: House of Horrors called Delirium. This ability word activates a secondary effect if certain conditions on the card are met (in Delirium’s case, four or more card types being in the player’s graveyard).

Manifest Dread – This returning ability allows players to look at the top two cards of their library and turn one facedown as a 2/2 creature, and toss the other in the graveyard. Players can then cast the other side of the card for its mana cost (in cases where it’s a creature card, this card can be played at instant speed).

Eerie – This newly introduced ability word goes hand in hand with Duskmourn: House of Horror ‘s new Room enchantment type. It lets players choose another player to mill two cards whenever another enchantment you control enters, or whenever a Room is fully unlocked.

Survival – Another new mechanic introduced in Duskmourn , Survival lets players exile up to one target from any graveyard if the creature is tapped at the beginning of your second main phase. Which basically means if you swing an attack with the Veteran Survivor, after the battle phase ends you can activate the Survival ability. Introduced with this new mechanic is the new creature type, Survivor.

Impending – The grown up version of Suspend, allows players to cast a spell for an alternate cost and enter with a set number of time counters on them. Instead of being facedown and being unable to use, Impending allows the card to be played face up, striking fear into your opponents (while also making the card vulnerable to removal).

Glimmer Card Type – A new cycle of cards (one for each colour) is introduced in Duskmourn. Following the theme of enchantments, these cards are cast as Enchantment Creatures, and when they die they return to the battlefield as Enchantments that are no longer creatures.

Duskmourn: House of Horrors – New Card Treatment Types & Where to Find Them

In Duskmourn: House of Horror , MTG is forgoing serialized cards for the set and instead option for more stylized card types for collectors to hunt down. The above example is a difference of the regular base card which can be pulled from packs, the full art version that fans are familiar with, and the Japanese-styled artwork of the card.

These variants can be found in 67% of collector boosters, with the remaining 33% being reserved for even rarer versions of the same card that is printed in full japanese with a Fractal treatment to the holo foil. Aside from these Japanese artwork & Fractal treatments, the rest of the card types and variants can be found in play boosters.

Duskmourn: House of Horror also introduces Mirror Monster variants of certain card types, showcasing inspiration from classic horror films that use mirror imagery to strike fear into audiences. Duskmourn cranks the horror up to 11, and has also added their own spin on a Paranormal Frame as their showcase for the set, this can be seen below. Both of these card variants can be found in every type of booster of Duskmourn.

Lastly, Duskmourn has introduced Double Exposure cards, embracing the television VHS horror of the 80s and 90s, but now printed on visibly appealing MTG cards. These come in two variants, a textured foil, and a non-textured variant. The non textured variants can be found in every type of booster, but the textured can only be hit in collector booster packs. Below is the non textured variants of the big bad of Duskmourn , Valgavoth, Terror Eater and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

Duskmourn: House of Horrors – Four New Face Commanders Revealed!

Duskmourn: House of Horrors has let fans in on another sneak peek, the four face commanders of the set’s four pre-constructed decks. Three of the decks are designed with ‘good guy’ themes, whereas the Rakdos element of the set is reserved for the big bad moth Elder Demon of the plane, Valgavoth. While MTG has only given the briefest glimpse at the new commander cards, it appears they went all out on horrific card designs.

That concludes the Duskmourn: House of Horrors preview at the PAX West panel. Fans looking for more information, or more in depth explanations of the House of Horrors lore can head over to the Magic: The Gathering story website to catch up on what’s been happening in the plane.