Duskmourn is the penultimate premiere set of 2024, takingMagic: The Gatheringto a plane inspired by the horror genre (particularly during the 80s). The plane sees a variety of characters go on a rescue mission on Duskmourn, where Valgavoth rules over all.
Duskmourn introduces about 280 new cards to MTG. Their power level varies drastically, but there are plenty of amazing cards that are sure to be a staple across Magic’s many formats. From Standard to Commander, these cards are sure to make a splash and make their way into the many decks of the various formats.
10Demonic Counsel
The Demon Demonic Tutor
Tutors are among the best kind of cards in MTG. Demonic Counsel is one that, at its base power, can only search for Demon cards. However, once delirium is turned on, you can add any card you want to your hand.
If your deck is built with it in mind, delirium is a very easy mechanic to make active. Even without delirium, if you’re playing a deck with a lot of Demons, it’s just a solid tutor on its own since it can get you to any of your key creatures.
9Rite Of The Moth
Reanimate With Flashback
There is no shortage of cards that canbring creatures back from the graveyard. However, Rite of the Moth is one of the only ones with flashback that has no restriction on the creature it brings back. The creature does come with a finality counter, but sometimes all you need is its enter the battlefield trigger.
Four mana is a decently low price to pay for reanimation, especially in slower formats like Standard and Pioneer. White and black are both great colors for enabling reanimator strategies, letting Rite of the Moth fit right into those decks.
8Leyline Of Mutation
Make Everything WUBRG
Duskmourn introduces many new Leyline cards to the format, with Leyline of Mutation being one of the best. Even if you don’t cast it for free at the start of the game, four mana isn’t a steep cost to pay to get it on the battlefield.
Leyline of Mutation lets you cheat around high mana costs by paying one color of each mana instead. You do need to dedicate space to your deck to enable it, but in formats like Commander, where you’re able to easily get all five colors active, it’s especially strong.
7Split Up
Modal Board Wipe
Split Up is a great board wipe since, most of the time, it will actas a one-sided board wipe. Generally, all your creatures will be untapped when you can cast Split Up, so you can choose the mode to destroy all tapped creatures to keep your battlefield around.
Three mana is a great cost for a board wipe as well. Even though it is a bit specific on what it can destroy, there are enough situations to make it worth a sideboard card, especially against the likes of aggro decks like Convoke and Mono Red.
6Leyline Of Resonance
Double Up On Spells
Leyline Of Resonance is a new Leyline released in Duskmourn and a large boon to decks that pump up their creatures with one mana spells. While it’s not great if you’re not playing it at the start of the game, the decks that can play it are often fast enough for it not to matter.
With the right combination of cards, if Leyline of Resonance hits the battlefield right away, you can win the game by the second turn. While it may seem specific, it fills a similar role to Leyline of the Guildpact, which has already proven itself.
5Abhorren Oculus
Manifest Opponent’s Dread
Abhorren Oculus is a great creature that you are usually not actually going to be casting. Thanks to its mana cost, you may reanimate it with cheap reanimation cards like Helping Hand. Since the effect triggers on your opponent’s upkeep, unless they have removal ready for it, you are getting at least one manifest dread trigger.
Even without reanimation spells, exiling six cards is fairly easy in the kinds of decks that would want to play Abhorren Oculus. A cheap 5/5 with flying and a solid effect is good value and has a home in tempo decks like Azorius Mentor in Standard.
4Kona, Rescue Beastie
Putting Any Permanents Into Play
Kona, Rescue Beastie has a high ceiling that allows you to put any permanent card onto the battlefield so long as it’s tapped when your second main phase starts. This can be done the turn it comes into play by either crewing or saddling it or even using it for a convoke spell.
The only downside to Kona is you need to build your deck around it. Luckily,there is a good amount of solid Mountsand Vehicles so it’s not a major downside and lets you play large permanents worth cheating in.
3Unwanted Remake
Trade A Creature For Dread
Unwanted Remakejoins the suite of one-mana removal spellswhite has access to. It can destroy any creature but lets your opponent manifest dread in exchange. While they still keep a creature, a 2/2 face-down creature is much better than a massive threat that can run away with the game.
Unwanted Remake lets you use just one mana to get rid of a creature that an opponent had to invest deeply in, all while letting you keep extra mana up for other forms of interaction or casting spells to set your battlefield up.
2Unidentified Hovership
Removal On A Permanent
Unidentified Hovership is a fantastic effect that has been proven by similar cards before it. It can exile a creature with five toughness or lower, which hits most of the major creatures across many formats. The exiled creature never returns, only manifesting dread if Unidentified Hovership leaves the battlefield.
Since Unidentified Hovership is a Vehicle, you can simply not ever crew it to keep it safe from creature removal. A 2/2 with flying isn’t the greatest creature, so often keeping it uncrewed will be the best use of it, as artifact removal is much less common.
1Verge Lands
The New Dual Lands
The Verge landsare the new rare land cycleand one of the best land cycles Magic has released. They are, at worst, a basic land substitute, and at best, an untapped dual land. The only downside is they don’t have land types, but being able to generate two different kinds of mana is what makes them so good.
They’re strongest in decks only running two or three colors, as you are more likely to have the right land type to be able to tap for both mana. Many dual lands have land types as well, making them easily slot into various decks and replacing lands that risk entering tapped.
