Duskmourn: House of Horror may have been released on September 27th, but the set isn’t done yet. Not only is the Nightmare Bundle releasing later in October, but there are brand new cards to admire too! As usual for a premier set, these extra cards are coming exclusively to MTG Arena.
That’s right, Alchemy: Duskmourn is now on the horizon, and will be released next week on October 15th. As controversial as the Alchemy format can be, the extra exclusive cards are still well worth looking forward to. Whether you’re a Brawl, Historic, or Timeless player or just a horror fan, there should be something to enjoy.
Solitary Study // Endless Corridor
- Solitary Study
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Creatures you control get +1/+0.
- Endless Corridor
- Mana Value: 1W
- Card Text: When you unlock this door, conjure a duplicate of this card into your hand. When you do, target creature you control gains first strike until the end of turn.
To kick off the mini week-long spoiler season for Alchemy: Duskmourn, Wizards has revealed a brand-new Room card. Costing two mana for each room, Solitary Study // Endless Corridor is a very cheap, flavorful, and potentially powerful Alchemy card. It’s also a card that you can play and copy infinitely, provided you have enough mana going spare.
Unlike many other infinite combos in MTG, this one-card loop is incredibly simple. When you unlock Endless Corridor, you simply get another copy of it in your hand. This obviously lets you play Solitary Study again, before later unlocking Endless Corridor afterwards.
On its own, this four mana loop isn’t that spectacular, even for a repeatable +1/+0 buff and occasional First Strike. While it’s expensive for a weak buff, the upside of playing it over and over again is insane. You don’t have to worry about drawing anything either, which provides fantastic long-term redundancy.
Of course, without a massive mana sink or some other payoff attached to using this Room, the card is incapable of winning the game on its own. While you can combine this with a card like Scrabbling Skullcrab to mill your opponent out, it will take time.
As if it wasn’t exciting enough, this combo can be easily upgraded by Inquisitive Glimmer or any other similar effect. Bringing the cost of the loop down to just two mana, suddenly this Room is a lot more attractive and well above rate.
Cautious Competitive Appeal
At worst, Solitary Study // Endless Corridor seems like a pretty solid card, even if you only play it once. Giving your creatures +1/+0 for two mana can work wonders in a go-wide token-based deck. Any White Weenie deck, for instance, will certainly have its eyes on this card to pack some extra punch.
Even if you’re just playing it for a cheap +1/+0 buff, the extra utility of Endless Corridor can work wonders. A dead land draw suddenly turns a nothing turn into an excuse to create another Solitary Study copy. This will be vital in any grindy matchups where aggro decks tend to struggle most.
Outside of aggro decks, Solitary Study // Endless Corridor should also be fantastic in Azorius Auras decks. Alongside Optimistic Scavenger and Inquisitive Glimmer, this one-card combo can provide obscene value. Rather than relying on cards like Entity Tracker for draw, you can just keep playing and unlocking Solitary Study // Endless Corridor.
On its own, enough copies of Solitary Study // Endless Corridor will turn any card into a substantial threat. Should you also play an Ethereal Armor, however, your opponents are really in a world of hurt. In theory, this could push the deck to be a real meta-topping force once Alchemy: Duskmourn releases.
Outside of Alchemy, Solitary Study // Endless Corridor seems like a great addition to many Brawl decks. Selesnya Enchantment decks will always enjoy an infinitely replayable enchantment and Marina Vendrell decks should enjoy the same. Similarly, any white-aligned go-wide token deck should warmly welcome this new value engine.
Sadly, I wouldn’t hold out much hope for any Historic or Timeless play. As useful as Solitary Study // Endless Corridor seems to be, these formats are in an ultra-refined league of their own.
Plenty More to See
While Solitary Study // Endless Corridor already looks like a rather powerful and playable card, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The release of Alchemy: Duskmourn is just over a week away, and there’s a lot more we’ve yet to see. In total this micro-set should contain 30 cards, which are due to be revealed throughout the coming week.
For better or worse, it seems we’re not going to be getting any new mechanics with this latest Alchemy set. This is based on the fact that Wizards tends to reveal and explain any new mechanics on day one of spoiler season. While this may be disappointing to some Alchemy players, considering the hatred against Heist, it may be for the best.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what gets revealed throughout Alchemy: Duskmourn’s spoiler season. Even if we just get new rooms and enchantment support cards, there will still be lots for Brawl players to love. Hopefully, there will be a few new competitive darlings too, but we’ll just have to wait and see about that.
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