Forget Christmas: every Magic player knows that the most wonderful time of the year is Prerelease season. These events are some of the very best the game has to offer, letting you experience a new set to the fullest in a carefully curated Limited environment. Duskmourn Prerelease, which will be held this coming weekend, should be no exception.
Prerelease events are typically casual affairs, more for fun than anything else. That said they do have real prizes on the line, and if you want to claim them you’ll need to build the best deck possible. To help you do so, I’ve compiled a list of the very best commons in the set for each color. While splashy rares and mythics can absolutely carry a Sealed pool, more often than not it’s these low-rarity heroes you’ll be relying on. These are the cards that should pull you into their color if you see them.
White
White is one of the best colors in Duskmourn Limited overall, with a ton of powerful bombs at rare and mythic. Not satisfied with just that, however, it also has some of the best commons in the set too.
White has always been one of the best colors for removal, and removal has always been one of the most important elements of a successful Sealed deck. That core principle remains true in Duskmourn. Trapped in the Screen is the obligatory Oblivion Ring variant for the set, and it’s much better than usual. It hits pretty much all the relevant card types for Limited and comes with Ward 2 to boot. Duskmourn’s enchantment theme means there are also more answers to enchantments in the format, so this is a welcome addition.
If you prefer your removal more definitive, Seized from Slumber is a fantastic option. Five mana to destroy a creature is honestly a fine rate a lot of the time. The option to pay just two to take out a tapped creature is more than welcome, however, and elevates this from unexciting to a must-include in every white deck.
White has more than just removal up its sleeve. It also has some very efficient creatures, the best of which is Unsettling Twins. Two 2/2s for four is a solid deal, and Manifest Dread is slightly better than a 2/2 as well. You get some nice graveyard filtering here, as well as the option to flip the Manifested card later. They’re not particularly flashy, but these Twins can easily run away with the game at your Duskmourn Prerelease.
Blue
Blue tends to be one of the weaker colors in Limited Magic, and that’s still true in Duskmourn. It plays best as a support for other colors, given its overall weaker creature and removal suites. There are still some fantastic commons to grab here, though, which you should absolutely consider playing if you get them.
To start with more removal, Unable to Scream is an excellent piece of it. It does leave your opponent with a 0/2 blocker, which isn’t ideal, but it’s also only one mana, which is fantastic. Removing abilities means this can deal with annoying passives and turn off dies triggers, both of which can be very relevant. The final clause regarding face-down creatures is mostly just flavor since you’ll rarely want to risk wasting this on a mere 2/2, but overall this is a fine piece of removal.
Blue also has some nice options for aggressive decks, one of the best of which is Enter the Enigma. As long as there’s a creature in play, this is one mana to draw a card, which is good enough by itself. Most of the time this will let a creature through for damage as well, though, which is an excellent bonus. It can even end the game if things go to a stalemate later on.
Creature-wise blue isn’t great in Dukmourn, but Pirahna Fly is a nice aggressive option. Entering tapped isn’t a massive downside for a creature that doesn’t want to block anyway, and a two power flier for two is very good indeed. If you’re building a speedy deck, definitely consider slotting this in.
Black
Like white, black tends to be a solid pick in Limited thanks to its strong removal options. It certainly has a few of these in Duskmourn, as well as some surprisingly potent creatures that can rock your Prerelease.
Murder is one of the most straightforward removal spells in the game. It kills any creature, at instant speed, for three mana. Nothing more, nothing less. Despite being printed originally back in M13, this remains a great deal in Limited. You’d probably run this even as a sorcery, but the instant speed gives you a lot more options, making this a slam-dunk addition to any black deck.
Speaking of three mana cards you can play at instant speed, I’m also a big fan of Appendage Amalgam. Three mana for a 3/2 isn’t super impressive but Flash lets it act as a surprise blocker, or come down on your opponent’s end step if the Murder you were holding up wasn’t needed after all. You’re unlikely to get more than one or two Surveils out of this, but it’s still a notable upside, especially in a set with Delirium. The fact that this is an enchantment creature also helps out here and triggers all your Eerie effects to boot.
Finally, Spectral Snatcher looks very attractive to me in Limited. All five of the two mana landcycling creatures do, actually, but this is my favorite thanks to the Ward ability. This pretty much guarantees you a two-for-one when this drops later in the game, which is excellent. It also makes a fine curve filler on two if you have nothing else going on and want to thin your deck.
Red
Red is fairly middling as an overall color in Duskmourn Limited, but there are still some gems here for your Prerelease deck. Particularly if you enjoy piloting more aggressive strategies.
Clockwork Percussionist is one of the best Limited one-drops we’ve seen in a while. A 1/1 with Haste for one is absolutely fine, but this also draws you a card more or less. This makes it great early on for chip damage, and great later as a chump blocker that can generate card advantage. As if it needed more upside it’s also an artifact, which is relevant for Delirium.
The rest of red’s common creature line-up is mediocre, but it does have some excellent removal options. Glassworks/Shattered Yard is probably the best Room card at common, with two very relevant effects. Three mana to deal four damage to a creature? Solid. Five mana to start a clock that will slowly kill your opponent over time? Also solid. Put the two together, and you have a card that pretty much every red deck can play. The removal half is so efficient on its own that the damage is just a nice bonus.
Less exciting but still solid is Impossible Inferno. This deals a whopping six damage for five mana, which is enough to deal with pretty much everything in the format. Instant speed is nice, but it’s still quite inefficient in the grand scheme of things. Getting to ‘draw’ a card if you have Delirium is also a nice bonus, and is fairly likely to be online by the time you cast a five mana spell.
Green
In my experience, green always overperforms in Limited environments. It tends to get the chunkiest creatures and even solid removal in fight/bite spells. If you can’t go black/white with your Duskmourn Prerelease pool, green is a great alternative option to choose.
To start with one of those bite spells I just mentioned, Monstrous Emergence is a genuinely exciting card to see at common. It lets one of your creatures in play deal its damage to another, standard stuff. What’s interesting is the fact that it also lets you use a creature from your hand for the damage instead. This means you can play this on turn two and deal a five drop’s worth of damage, mitigating one of the innate downsides of removal like this. This could even be good enough for Standard, so it’s certainly good enough for Limited.
Shifting focus to creatures, Wary Watchdog is a great little early drop for green. The stat line is solid, and two Surveil triggers are a great bonus in this format in particular. The only real issue with this card is that you’ll feel awful sending it to its death to trade and filter your draws, but much must be risked in war, tabletop, or otherwise.
Finally, I really like Bashful Beastie as a big common threat in green. 5/4 for five is a welcome stat line, and the dies trigger essentially makes this a 7/6 for five instead. With some extra filtering tacked on for good measure. This feels perfectly placed as a curve topper for any green deck, be it aggressive, grindy, or controlling.
Read More: The Best MTG Commanders From Duskmourn
