Summary
Magic: The Gatheringlaunched two very diverse and equally interesting sets in the past few months in the form of the woodland critter-filled Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House of Horror, which is more appropriate for October. Duskmourn introduced several interesting cards to the mix, with a few key mechanics taking center stage within the set, such as Manifest Dread and Miracle being featured heavily in the newMTGCommander precons. WithMagic: The Gathering’s Foundations set coming as early as November 15, players would be wise to keep a few of the recently released cards in check if they end up spiking or dropping in price.
As far as Duskmourn is concerned, there are several good cards that are being played in Standard and other formats. Some of the best additions of the expansion are not even rares or mythic rares, such as Untimely Malfunction and Unwanted Remake taking the cake for greatMagic: The Gatheringredirection and removal for cheap. Still, there are some Duskmourn mythics that are currently dominating the charts in one or more formats, from Standard to Pioneer. Considering thatMTGFoundations will redefine which cards are available in Standard and other formats for the next five years, it may be wise to keep an eye on these three Duskmourn cards.
Best Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn Cards Explained - Overlord of the Hauntwoods
One of the best cards from Duskmourn to keep an eye on right now is the new Overlord of the Hauntwoods, which is simply incredible regardless of the format it’s played in. Overlord of the Hauntwoods is a 5-mana (3 colorless and 2 Green) 6/5 Enchantment Creature with a unique ability that creates the exclusive “Everywhere” token whenever players attack with this card or whenever it enters the battlefield. Everywhere is a land token that counts as everybasic land type inMagic: The Gathering, which can be combined with cards like Leyline Binding to reduce their mana cost dramatically.
Not only that, but Overlord of the Hauntwoods, like the other Overlords from Duskmourn, has an Impending cost associated with a number of turns after which it will come into play as a creature. However, its enters effect triggers when casting it for its Impending cost, meaning it can be a huge form of ramp for just three mana. As such,Magic: The Gathering’s Standard formatwill likely benefit from this card for a long while.
Currently, the base version of Overlord of the Hauntwoods goes for around $25 on TCGPlayer.
Best Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn Cards Explained - Overlord of the Balemurk
Much like its Green counterpart, Overlord of the Balemurk is a great card to use in pretty much any format, but the reason why it’s currently among the best in Duskmourn is that it can create a nasty combo inMTG’s Pioneer format. In Commander, Overlord of the Balemurk can be used as a way to place cards into the graveyard for its Impending cost and then use cards like Greasefang, Okiba Boss to bring them back.
In Pioneer, however, this Duskmourn card can be used in combination with Kroxxa and Kunoros as well as Enigmatic Incarnation to great effect. Players can cast Overlord of the Balemurk for its Impending cost, activating its milling effect, then sacrifice it with Enigmatic Incarnation to search the library for Kroxxa and Kunoros and put it onto the battlefield. This allows players to return Overlord of the Balemurk to the battlefield with Kroxxa and Kunoros, and then repeat the combo on the following turn. For these reasons, Overlord of the Balemurk is a good card to get ahead ofMagic: The Gathering’s Foundations set.
Currently, the base version of Overlord of the Balemurk goes for around $26 on TCGPlayer.
Best Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn Cards Explained - Abhorrent Oculus
The third and last great mythic card fromMagic: The Gathering’s Duskmourn setthat players should keep an eye on is Abhorrent Oculus. This creature costs 2 colorless and 1 Blue for a 5/5 creature with Flying, which may seem wrong, but there’s a catch. to cast Abhorrent Oculus, players also need to exile six cards from their graveyards as an additional cost for the card, which is not exactly very easy to do. However, once the card is in play, players Manifest Dread on each opponent’s upkeep, which is a pretty powerful effect (even more so in Commander, where this procs up to three times, potentially).
Manifest Dread allows players to look at the top two cards of their libraries, and then put one of them face down onto the battlefield as a 2/2 creature and the other in that player’s graveyard. Then, if the card that was put onto the battlefield face down is a creature, its owner can turn it face up by paying its mana cost at any time. This makes for some pretty powerful effects and combos, and it’s proving to be a staple in Standard, Modern, and Pioneer.
There are multipleMagic: The Gathering Legendary creaturesand other cards that interact in some way with face-down creatures, making Abhorrent Oculus good on its own and possibly even better in some combos.
Cards like Helping Hand and Recommission help cast Abhorrent Oculus from the graveyard, meaning that players don’t need to pay the extra cost of exiling six cards from the graveyard to cast Abhorrent Oculus. Since these are bothWhite cards inMagic: The Gathering, it makes sense to run Abhorrent Oculus in Azorius colors. Dimir (Blue and Black) can also work, given that some Black spells like Reanimate achieve the same goal. Considering thatMTGFoundations will have reprints in it of some of the best and most recognizable cards in the game, it’s likely that these three cards will see even more play than they do now.
Currently, the base version of Abhorrent Oculus is currently out of stock on TCGPlayer, and its average price ranges from $26 to $32.
Magic The Gathering
Magic the Gathering is a tabletop and digital collectable card game created by Richard Garfield and released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Players take on the role of a Planeswalker and use various cards to battle other players by casting spells, summoning creatures, or utilizing artifacts. It features two main rule categories, constructed or limited, and can be played by two or more players at a time.
