Duskmourn: House of Horror/Commander decks

This article documents an upcoming release. Information may change rapidly as the release date comes closer, and the current information may be unreliable.

Four Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Decks, a.k.a. Duskmourn Commander Decks, are released together with Duskmourn on September 27, 2024.^[2]

Description[ | ]

Each deck introduces 8 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering. Some reprints in the Commander decks have new art, suited to the Duskmourn theme: TBA.

Archenemy[ | ]

As a special feature, these Commander decks feature Archenemy cards (#TBA-TBA).^[2][3] Archenemy is a totally optional opt-in way to play Commander, and the decks work completely fine outside of Archenemy.

To help reimagine Archenemy for Commander play, R&D made some tweaks to how Archenemy works.^[2]

Traditionally, the way that Archenemy has worked with 60-card decks is that the archenemy has 40 life and each of the players has 20. But in Commander, you already start with 40 life. There was also one thing about Archenemy that's always been a bit more bug than feature. Because each of the three heroes had their own life total, the strategically best thing to do was to take down one player as quickly as possible. But that's not the most fun thing to do. For one, it picks on one player and then leaves that player on the sidelines for the rest of the game.

So, after a lot of iteration from Annie Sardelis and her team, they came up with this rules tweak that really helps it play smoothly: the archenemy has 60 life. And the entire hero team also has 60 life. They all win or lose together. While the archenemy still chooses who they attack for any effects where it matters, because any of the heroes can block, it becomes a lot more straightforward: the archenemy attacks heroes, and the heroes attack the archenemy, each group with one shared life total.

This does mean a few older schemes function weirdly, such as Mortal Flesh Is Weak. It is recommended to not using those schemes and to play playing the new shared life going forward. (With 40 and 40 for one on one and 60 and 60 for Commander life totals).

One other small tweak is that you only need 10 schemes to play. Additionally, unlike Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, these decks are built so any of the decks can be the archenemy.

Contents[ | ]

Each package contains^[4]:

• 1 foil Commander
• 1 additional foil Legendary card
• 98 regular cards
• 10 Scheme cards
• 10 double-sided tokens
• 1 helper card
• 1 deck box
• 1 life wheel
• 1 Collector Booster Sample Pack (2 cards)

Miracle Worker[ | ]

A (Esper) deck focusing on enchantments. It features the Miracle mechanic. Aminatou is the face commander.^[5]

The new cards are:

The scheme cards are:

Cards printed in Duskmourn, and therefore having that set symbol and code, are:

The double-sided tokens are:

Death Toll[ | ]

A Delirium deck. Winter is the face commander.

The new cards are:

The scheme cards are:

Cards printed in Duskmourn, and therefore having that set symbol and code, are:

The double-sided tokens are:

Endless Punishment[ | ]

A deck with a "group slug" theme, dealing damage to everyone all the time. Valgavoth is the face commander.

The new cards are:

The scheme cards are:

Cards printed in Duskmourn, and therefore having that set symbol and code, are:

The double-sided tokens are:

Jump Scare![ | ]

A deck focusing on casting cards at instant speed. Zimone is the face commander.

The new cards are:

The scheme cards are:

Cards printed in the Duskmourn set, and therefore having that set symbol and code, are:

The double-sided tokens are:

Tokens, emblems and markers[ | ]

The following tokens and emblems are created by cards in the decks and are thus included with the decks. However, they are not part of the Duskmourn Commander expansion. Instead, they retain the Duskmourn expansion symbol and collector number:

References[ | ]