Summary
Duskmourn is the firstMagic: The Gatheringset after Bloomburrow, with quite the change of scenery. As opposed to the cuteness of the set before, Duskmourn brings the horror with a plane that has become nothing but a large, ever-changing house loomed over by a demon by the name of Valgavoth.
As with many sets, Duskmourn includes ten cards listed as Special Guests. Special Guest cards are cards from Magic’s past that are given new card art that fits into the theme of the plane. These cards are only legal in formats where they were already legal in, and are usable in Limited formats if you open them in your packs.
10Hallowed Haunting
Turning Enchantments Into Creatures
Hallowed Haunting gives you creature tokens whenever you cast enchantments, acting as a solid support card for any strategies that rely on casting a ton of enchantments. Hallowed Haunting saw a ton of play when it was legal in Standard, but has fallen off after it rotated out.
Despite being weaker now, Hallowed Haunting is still a great choice in formats like Commander where there are a lot more enablers to make the most of Hallowed Haunting. The mana value of the cast enchantment doesn’t matter, so low-cost ones can lead to aton of Spirit Clerics tokens.
9Maddening Hex
Burn Damage Everywhere
Maddening Hex is a card that gets put on one opponent, then is constantly hopping around to all your other ones. While the burn damage is on the smaller side in Commander, when you combine it with other cards that cause damage to be doubled (or tripled), this can get out of hand quickly.
Maddening Hex sees very little play in constructed formats, making its home in Commander. However, it is a very useful tool for burn-based strategies in the format. It’s a spell that doesn’t cost much to cast either, letting you get the engine going early.
8Damnation
Classic Board Wipe
Originally released as a color-shifted Wrath of God in Planar Chaos, Damnation returns as a Special Guest in Duskmourn. Damnation isone of the best black board wipes in Magic, giving you a low-cost board wipe that requires no payment of life as most of the best black ones tend to do.
Damnation sees play in Modern in Mono Black Necrodominance decks, as well as a staple of black decks in the Commander format. There aren’t many great board wipes in Duskmourn, so if you open it in a Limited format, you’ll likely want to at least splash black to ensure you’re able to play it.
7Soul Warden
Life Gain Staple
Soul Warden has been astaple of every life gain deckin every format. The ability to gain a life when any creature enters the battlefield, not just your own, is fantastic. Thanks to it only costing one mana, Soul Warden starts impacting the game as soon as it starts.
Soul Warden sees play in Historic in Energy variants, as well as a staple of Mono White lifegain in the Pioneer format where it’s one of its key cards. For Commander, it’s especially strong since there are four battlefields constantly putting creatures onto them.
6Unholy Heat
Delirium Removal
Unholy Heat isone of the best creature removal spellsyou can play for just one mana. If you have delirium active, there are very few creatures that can survive an Unholy Heat. Even if your delirium isn’t turned on, two damage can still get rid of a lot of creatures that hit the battlefield early.
Unholy Heat sees a lot of play across multiple Magic formats. Legacy Grixis Tempo decks play it, as well as Murktide and Breach decks in Modern. In Duskmourn Limited formats, it’ll be one of the best red cards you may open.
5Phantasmal Image
Illusionary Creature
Normally, creatures that enter as a copy of another creature cost a bit of mana. However, Phantasmal Image can do it just for two mana at the cost of making it easier to remove the copy. While it’s easy for an opponent to target the copy with a spell or ability, sometimes you just need the one turn to win the game.
There are a ton of creatures you’d want two copies of, and that is why Phantasmal Image is a staple of Commander formats. Even if the copy gets removed, you still have the original to work with and get value from both while the copy is on the battlefield.
4Sacrifice
Trade Creatures For Mana
Sacrifice is a card that hasn’t seen a proper reprint since 1994’s Revised Edition until its Special Guest appearance in Duskmourn. It turns any creature you control into black mana. This is a very useful way toturn a high-mana creature that is targeted for removal into mana you can use.
While Sacrifice sees little play in constructed formats, it is a great choice on Commander decks, especially ones that can cheat out creatures easily. Instant speed mana generation is fantastic, and Sacrifice is a great answer to removal and board wipes.
3Noxious Revival
Phyrexian Recursion
Noxious Revival is a surprisingly powerful card, and that’s largely thanks to its phyrexian mana cost. Since you may pay two life instead of a green mana, any deck can run it without having to actually play any green sources. If there are cards you constantly want access to, Noxious Revival is a great way to make sure you don’t lose it.
While Noxious Revival is great for recursion, it’s also great for Storm decks that want to cast as many spells as possible. Since you can pay life, you can save your mana for other spells while upping your storm count to copy spells later.
2Expropriate
Theft Or Extra Turns
Expropriate is one of the best blue cards you can be casting in the Commander format. You are guaranteed to get at least one extra turn, if not more. If no onegives you extra turns(which they likely won’t), you get to steal your opponents' best permanents instead to take advantage of them.
Expropriate only works well in Commander, as its effect is significantly weaker in one-on-one formats. It does cost a hefty amount of mana, but in Commander, there are a ton of ways to cheat around its casting cost to cast it for free.
1Collected Company
Sticking Together
Featuring artwork of the main rescue team that enters Duskmourn, Collected Company is the best Special Guest card in the set. Being able to get multiple creatures onto the battlefield at instant speed is fantastic, and it’s such a good card it’s worth building your whole deck around.
It sees widespread play in Pioneer, primarily in Angel and Elf decks along with niche play in Modern combo decks like Heliod and Samwise Combo. Collected Company has been a Magic staple since its original release, and will likely continue to be for years to come.
