Is Duskmourn a good set?

MTG Madness news

Welcome to the ninth installment of MTG Madness. We have a winner of the Squirrelled Away Bloomburrow Commander Precon and are wrapping up details as I write this. Make sure our emails are hitting your inbox and not spam because another giveaway will start shortly after the release of Duskmourn: House of Horrors. 

All the Duskmourn spoilers wrapped up on Sept. 13, giving us a good idea of what the set will look like in Limited Draft and Sealed (Prerelease), as well as Standard Constructed. The Duskmourn card grade spreadsheet is still being worked on but I will make sure everyone who is subscribed has a copy no later than the morning of Sept. 20 so you can use it at Duskmourn Prerelease events. 

I will also be participating in the MTG Arena Early Access Duskmourn streamer event on Sept. 18, which is why I'm holding the grades for now as I want to see how some of the new mechanics, like Manifest Dread, perform. 

Into the House of Horrors, we go

My spreadsheet may need some tweaks but that doesn't mean we haven't covered some of the best cards from the Duskmourn set. Here's a list of rankings and best-of cards to help get your Duskmourn preparations rolling. 

• Best Toy creature cards - A new creature type in Duskmourn.

• All Glimmers ranked - Enduring Glimmer is another new type in Duskmourn.

• All Draft and Prerelease archetypes - Get a head start on knowing the archetypes for Prerelease events.

• All Duskmourn Precon Commander decklists: See what the Precons have to offer.

• All Special Guest cards ranked for Limited - Ten MTG reprints that are legal to play in the Duskmourn Limited format. 

Be sure to check in on our MTG page as I'll be dropping the best removal spells and combat tricks over the weekend of Sept. 13 to 15. 

Duskmourn first impressions

Having seen around 85 percent of the Duskmourn spoilers so far, I feel like it's a good set and players will like how it impacts the Standard meta. I love the Manifest Dread mechanic but am skeptical that it will have a huge impact on the Duskmourn Draft meta. 

Limited players will likely also enjoy the set, but beware, Prerelease and Draft will play differently than Bloomburrow did. I expect the format to be slower and tempo-based, although I am curious to see how RW and BR perform as Aggro builds during the Duskmourn Early Access event, especially against WU Control and UB Tempo builds. 

Unlike Manifest Dread, I think Delirium will have an impact on Draft and Prerelease, especially if put together to maximize graveyard synergies. RG looks like a strong archetype, as does BG. Rooms will also have an impact on the meta but it's too early to say UR is the worst archetype in Duskmourn. View the full card list through the WotC website. 

What's coming to MTG after Duskmourn?

Prepare for Standard meta changes after the release of Duskmourn and for a wild Limited meta. Competitive players will have just over a month to prepare for the 30th Magic World Championship in October. Aggro in Standard will take a hit through new Duskmourn removal spells, but Midrange builds might be on the rise. 

Duskmourn is not the final set of 2024, with Foundations releasing on Nov. 15. The Foundations set contains mostly reprinted MTG cards, much like a Core Set, with some new cards as well. Players can expect over 300 cards in the Foundations set that are legal to play in the Standard format until at least 2029. 

And that's a wrap for this week's MTG Madness. Be sure to check your email to ensure our newsletter isn't getting tossed into spam. And expect next week's newsletter to drop early on Frida, Sept. 20 so everyone has time to prepare for Prerelease events at your local game store.