Yesterday, I joked about Spooktober coming a few months early in a review, but I actually might be onto something here… In the latest bit of news, everyone’s favorite card game Magic: The Gathering is releasing a modern horror-inspired set. It will bear the name Duskmourn, and is set to launch later this year, with its official showcase set for PAX West on August 31.
The new set is coming just four months after the release of Magic: The Gathering’s most recent whimsical lighthearted Bloomburrow expansion, which debuted in early August. This once again sparked some heated discussions about product oversaturation for a time, but they seem to have quieted down at least for the time being. The sudden switch in themes is stark and somewhat unexpected, which only makes Duskmourn seem cooler!
Wizards of the Coast’s New Expansion Formula
If you look a little closer at some of Magic: The Gathering’s most recent expansions, you’ll start to notice a pattern forming. What’s the pattern, you may ask? A breakout from the high fantasy trope and relying on more modern or futuristic visuals, styles and weapons. A typical example of this would be Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Wizards of the Coast are looking to continue this trend in Duskmourn.
How do we know? Well, you need only look at some of the reveal cards and artworks at MagicCon: Amsterdam:
I bet you probably recognize some of the movies that have supposedly inspired these cards – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the V/H/S series (possibly), and even Monsters INC! How awesome is that! But those cards are only scratching the surface! There will certainly more reveals to come, and who knows what other familiar faces we’ll see reimagined as playing cards! Regardless, these cards are certainly not high fantasy, and have quite the modern look to them, despite not being a part of the Universes Beyond initiative.
If rumors are to be believed, there’s still more to come in the form of Archenemy – a highly anticipated 3 vs 1 Commander format with special themed cards, which will make players like they’re fighting a horror movie villain! But that’s not what excites me – I want to know what it would feel like to be an absolute badass horror movie villain! And while we don’t have any Commander decks revealed just yet, I just can’t wait to see what’s in store next!
Are you excited like me about all these horror themed hypetrains? Let us know what you think down below!
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