Legacy Set Review: Duskmourn

My dear Legacy friends, I'm back from my well-deserved vacation! Patagonia is a wonderful place, but that's not what we're talking about today. Today things are much more sinister... Let's take a look at what Duskmourn: House of Horror, Magic's newest expansion, brings to Legacy.

The set has 276 regular cards (including the 5 basic lands and 6 reprints), 40 new cards in Commander decks, plus a ton of Promos and alternative art and frames, and is based on several horror movies, such as slasher movies and haunted mansion stories. Definitely a big departure from the cuteness that was Bloomburrow!

The mechanics of the set can be studied in this article by our judge Antônio Faillace, who explains them in detail.

White

Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery

In aggressive decks that can quickly fill the board, the first half of this Room helps to increase the pressure while the threat of opening the second half should make the opponent cautious, as it is capable of ending the game instantly (just like a Craterhoof Behemoth would).

Enduring Innocence

This innocent sheep can solve a problem in Aether Vial decks, which is running out of gas. It allows you to draw cards on your turn and, through the Vial, on your opponent's turn. Although its first life is fragile, its resurrected form is much harder to remove and continues to keep the gas running.

Split Up

Sweeper effects in Legacy tend not to see play when they cost 4 or more mana, so when a 3-mana option appears (Toxic Deluge and The Battle of Bywater are some examples), it's worth paying attention.

Split Up even offers options to eliminate opponents' creatures while leaving yours alive. The cost is something that could make this sorcery find a home in the format.

Splitskin Doll

Hello? A white creature that draws cards? At worst, you filter the draw by being forced to discard a card, but decks like Death & Taxes have enough creatures to avoid this drawback. The body is also more relevant than that of a similar creature, like Elvish Visionary.

Blue

Abhorrent Oculus

Another card that can be compared with Delve, like Murktide Regent or Ethereal Forager, or with those discounted by Sorceries/Instants in your graveyard, like Sailor’s Bane. If it is not instantly removed the turn it comes into play, the Oculus already generates card advantage through Manifest Dread. 3 mana might be a bit much, but having only 1 Blue in the cost helps open up possibilities in decks with Sol Lands.

Particularly nasty if you can Manifest a Phyrexian Dreadnought.

Floodpits Drowner

The card that comes to mind when I see Drowner is Gilded Drake – a blue answer to opponent's huge threats. While Drake is more brutal when resolved, Drowner is more flexible, even against other decks, and has a larger window to be slotted due to its Flash ability.

Marina Vendrell's Grimoire

This card smells like a combo, similarly to Necrodominance. Paired with Nourishing Shoal, you can draw a ton of cards. While it only generates initial card gain through its 6 mana cost, other ways to ramp Grimoire into play already enable combinations with life gain effects.

The Tale of Tamiyo

With the right setup – Brainstorm, Ponder, Brainsurge – Tale of Tamiyo can generate a huge amount of value while stocking your graveyard for another round of future recursion. I can see it being used in Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath decks.

Black

Ancient Cellarspawn

It’s a card that stands out for the good scenarios it can generate – performing a Force of Will and throwing 5 at your opponent’s face, Soul Spike for 11 life loss. But I don't see a home for this card and a potential great ally, Grief, has just been sent to the banned card zone.

Metamorphosis Fanatic

Fanatic is perhaps one of the most hyped cards of the expansion, but in my opinion, it is an overrated card. In the ideal scenario, you end the turn with a 4/4 and a creature resurrected with Lifelink. But this ideal scenario depends on so much preparation, which is much simpler to stick to the good old Entomb + Reanimate or Animate Dead.

Red

Cursed Recording

I can only think of this card as a backup for Burn decks to gain extra value for final damage, although 4 mana is a lot for this archetype.

Enduring Courage

There is a huge potential for damage here allied with creatures like Goblin Rabblemaster or Legion Warboss, but 4 mana, 2 of which are Red, complicates the life of our canine friend.

Screaming Nemesis

The phrase “for the rest of the game” is very eye-catching. But besides not being easy to activate the condition, there aren't many decks that are interested in this ability. I think it will show up in the sideboard of Burn decks.

Razorkin Needlehead

“Mom, can we have Orcish Bowmasters?”

“We already have them at home.”

At home: Razorkin Needlehead.

Jokes aside, Needlehead punishes the main mechanic of the game and can be an option for aggressive decks that for some reason can't use Orcs. But it seems unlikely.

Green

Formless Genesis

Here we have an alternative win condition for Lands, one that is immune to Wasteland, unlike Dark Depths and one that you have no problem milling with Life from the Loam.

Hedge Shredder

With Hedron Crab, Shredder can put an obscene amount of Lands into play at once. This can pave the way for a deck that wants to win the game via Card Advantage or for decks that aim to win via combo, whether through Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or Desert lands like Bristling Backwoods or Sunscorched Desert.

Walk-In Closet // Forgotten Cellar

In decks with access to Green mana, it seems like an upgrade over Crucible of Worlds, first because it's harder to deal with Enchantments than Artifacts, and second because it offers a value option in attrition games.

Multicolored

Kaito, Bane of Nightmares

Naturally, Kaito should be tested in Ninja decks. 3 mana is a lot, but once in play, the card is quite strong and has synergy with the deck. I don't see any other archetypes interested in him.

Peer Past the Veil

Gruul Initiative is a deck on the rise in the current meta and can make good use of a replenishment provided by this card. The deck has access to almost all card types to get more value from this, surprising for this effect, Instant.

The Jolly Balloon Man

I confess that I have visions of Balloons that trigger the Take the Initiative ability. The Jolly Balloon Man is in the right colors of Boros Initiative and has good synergy not only with the key cards of this deck, but also with cards like Solitude, Fable of the Mirror-breaker Tokens and Broadside Bombardiers, in addition to being a Human to take advantage of Cavern of Souls. It is already on my list of future tests.

Artifact

Ghost Vacuum

Here we have a light version of Unlicensed Hearse: it costs half the mana for half the effect and also offers a late game win option. Decks that don't care about their own Chalice of the Void and/or don't have the advantage of having Sol Lands may see Vacuum as a valid alternative to graveyard hate.

Marvin, Murderous Mimic

This Chucky cosplay begs to gain the activated ability of Phyrexian Devourer. Or some combo with Pili-Pala.

Just like Bloomburrow (and Standard-oriented sets in general), Duskmourn doesn't add much to Legacy and, except for perhaps Hedge Shredder and Marina Vendrell's Grimoire, it shouldn't create any new archetypes.

However, it does have some interesting things for some less mainstream archetypes like Ninjas, Burn and, to my current dismay, Boros Initiative. Split Up and Splitskin Doll get my vote for sleepers of the set, and Ghost Vacuum is similar enough to Unlicensed Hearse at a very efficient mana cost to see it as a graveyard hate option for some decks.

This review of darkness ends here. A diabolical hug, and until next time!