At long last, we have finally seen every new MTG card from Duskmourn: House of Horror. This follows a massive 25-card reveal which truly finishes off the set’s spoiler season. As usual, this last batch of cards is exclusively for MTG Arena players since they’re part of Alchemy: Duskmourn.
Releasing on October 15th, Alchemy: Duskmourn looks interesting, to say the least. Between Brawl gems and potential Alchemy all-stars, this micro set should impact multiple formats. Should this not be enough to get you excited, Alchemy: Duskmourn also contains some absolutely wild card designs.
Fear of Change
Fear of Change is one of the weirdest MTG cards to ever be printed, digitally at least. Capable of conjuring a completely random creature from the vast pool available on MTG Arena, this card is just silly. While it’s different in a few distinct ways, it’s obviously rather similar to the Momir format and Midweek Magic event.
Unlike the Momir Vig Avatar or Emblem found in these formats, Fear of Change requires much greater investment. Rather than just discarding a card, you’ll need to exile a creature you’ve already played. The reward for this is getting a new creature that’s 2 mana value higher, but that does change the dynamic significantly.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to easily break Fear of Change, in Alchemy at least. Since it requires a creature to exile, you can’t use an Impending Overlord like Overlord of the Hauntwoods. Instead, you’ll just have to roll the dice after casting a creature the old-fashioned way. Thankfully, in Timeless there is more opportunity for shenanigans.
If you can Evoke out a Fury on turn two, it’ll be a prime Fear of Change target. This will net you a random seven-mana creature from the pool on MTG Arena. In theory, this could mean you get a turn two Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. While this would be an insane play, you could equally find Yoked Plowbeast or Siege Wurm.
Sadly, while there is the potential for insane plays, there’s a much higher chance of randomly Conjuring a dud. Even if you play another Fear of Change, there’s no guarantee of greatness. Nine mana may have a higher density of powerful game-ending creatures, but you could still find an Arboretum Elemental.
Ultimately, this means Fear of Change is probably nothing more than a very random meme deck.
Razor Demon
Razor Demon is another pretty weird MTG card that feels right at home in Alchemy. Just like Abhorrent Oculus, this card is an insane deal on the surface. Getting a 7/7 Flying creature for three mana, with Ward no less, is genuinely disgustingly powerful. The catch, however, is that you have to give your opponent one of three free cards.
For better or worse, Razor Demon’s spellbook only consists of Demonic Bargain, Ever After, and Demonic Pact. This guarantees your opponent their choice of these three cards, which is potentially devastating. The only really bad choice is Demonic Pact, since that puts your opponent on a four turn clock.
Considering how early you’ll play Razor Demon, the only right choice may be Demonic Bargain, but that’s still seriously strong. As a result, you’ll ideally want to not directly cast Razor Demon to avoid giving your opponent anything. Thankfully, this is rather simple to do through either Manifest Dread or reanimation effects.
While you do have to get somewhat lucky, hitting Razor Demon with Manifest Dread on turn two is ideal. This will allow you to flip and attack with Razor Demon on turn three with no dastardly downside to fear. Alternatively, if you can put it in the bin, using Helping Hand in Alchemy, or Reanimate in Timeless, also works.
Ultimately, Razor Demon probably isn’t worth the faff that’s necessary to not give your opponent anything. Reanimation decks in Timeless have a lot better options to bring back, and it’ll be far from consistent in Alchemy. While it is possible some players crack the code and create a viable deck, it does seem somewhat unlikely.
Alchemical Delights
Now that all of Alchemy: Duskmourn has been revealed, thanks to the video by Amazonian, there are a lot of exciting cards to admire. Anguished Recollection, for instance, is a fantastic Seek engine that can stem the tide of being flooded by lands. Speaking of Seeking, Lurker in the Deep duplicates and Manifests your Seeked cards which is unique if nothing else.
With a lot of new Glimmers, a fair few Survivors, and new monsters too, Alchemy: Duskmourn offers an interesting mix. The only aspect that is arguably lacking is the number and quality of legendary creatures. Effie, Fast Learner is an interesting Survivor Typal card for Brawl, but Ethrimik, Imagined Fiend is just a bit meh.
Read More: Hated MTG Mechanic Makes Surprise Return in Duskmourn