Magic: The Gathering’sDuskmourn is a hopelessly dark world. Its corridors are full of monsters and horrors, murderous Razorkin, and ethereal nightmares. Its rooms constantly shift and hunt the living, and deep within its bowels lies the one who controls it all to feast on the fears of survivors: the demon lord Valgavoth.
But it’s not all darkness. There is one monster that fights against the horrors of the House, tracking down humans and keeping them safe for as long as possible. Beasties may look frightening, with their masks and many limbs, but they’re one of the few positive forces in the House, and one of these fearsome protectors is TheGamer’s preview card for the set. Meet Kona, Rescue Beastie.
First, the basics. Kona, Rescue Beastie is a legendary Beast Survivor, costing three generic and one green mana for a 4/3. Even with no evasive abilities that’s roughly on-curve for other green creatures of a similar cost, but what makes it more interesting is its survival ability.
Duskmourn’s story is fantastic, and one of the best chapters isKeep Them Alive. Written from the perspective of a Beastie introducing one of its own to their life’s purpose, it’s simultaneously heart-wrenching and makes you love these weird creatures even more.
Survival is a new mechanic introduced in Duskmourn that only triggers if your creature is tapped at the start of the second main phase. It doesn’t matter why it was tapped; it could have attacked during combat, been tapped down by an opponent, or usedto convoke another spell, for example.
If Kona starts the second main phase tapped, you get potentially one of the best survival triggers revealed for the set so far: you’re able to put a permanent card from your hand onto the battlefield for free.
We’ve seen similar effects like this before in green, thanks to cards like Monster Manual and, most recently, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant from The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan. The big difference is that these only let you play creatures, while Kona lets you play any permanent. Which, potentially, could be rather busted.
Breaking Kona
In Standard, one thing springs to mind with Kona: impending. Impending is another mechanic in Duskmourn that lets you play a creature for cheaper, with the caveat that it stays on the battlefield just as an enchantment for a few turns first.
As impending is an alternate cost, Kona completely ignores it. You could get an Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Boilerbilges down for free and have it immediately be online as a creature.
It’s particularly handy that convoke is a part of the current Standard format, thanks to its use in March of the Machine. Knight-Errant of Eos gets a fun new toy, as you may convoke Kona to cast the Knight-Errant, which puts a creature into your hand ready for Kona to put down for free. That is what we in the business like to call, “very tasty”.
Unfortunately, putting down a Room with Kona doesn’t avoid the cost of unlocking its doors. Neither door will be unlocked, and you’ll have to pay their individual costs first before their abilities are active.
Of course, Commander gives you even more ways to have fun with Kona. Cards like Springleaf Drum could reliably tap Kona to trigger survival, or you could use it as part of a cost for convoking spells like Chord of Calling.
From there, it’s simply a matter of going into Magic’s long, long list of permanents and picking its best ones. Craterhoof Behemoth? Old Gnawbone? Nyxbloom Ancient? Zopanderel? The aforementioned Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant to throw down even more cards for free?
Running Kona as part of the 99 rather than the Commander gives you even more options. Depending on the power level of your Commander pod, you could absolutely use Kona as part of a package that gets Omnscience out as early as turn two if you’re feeling particularly filthy.
You’ll be able to play with Kona and the hundreds of other cards coming in Duskmourn: House Of Horror when it launches on September 27.
Magic: The Gathering
Created by Richard Garfield in 1993, Magic: The Gathering (MTG) has become one of the biggest tabletop collectible card games in the world. Taking on the role of a Planeswalker, players build decks of cards and do battle with other players. In excess of 100 additional sets have added new cards to the library, while the brand has expanded into video games, comics, and more.
