Thanks to the sheer volume of cards produced each year, the tone of MTG tends to fluctuate wildly. Even just looking at premier sets in 2024, Duskmourn: House of Horror is following on from the cute and cuddly Bloomburrow. As if that wasn’t stark enough, major story moments have been side by side with jokey references throughout the year.
While the former variance has delighted many MTG players, the latter hasn’t been viewed so fondly. As fun as they are, meme-y references and essentially joke cards are starting to rub players the wrong way. Thanks to the sheer volume of these cards in Duskmourn, many MTG players have begun pushing back against Magic’s apparent overuse of tropes.
A ‘Film Set’ Set
Duskmourn: House of Horror is tonally a very weird set. On the one hand, it’s full of genuinely creepy elements and grotesque body horror. Many cards in the set, like The Jolly Balloon Man are downright unpleasant to look at. These cards, however, sit side by side with Ghost Vaccum and Dashing Bloodsucker.
In case it wasn’t clear from looking at them, these MTG cards are clearly inspired by iconic horror tropes and movies. The same is true for Unsettling Twins which appears to be a clear homage to The Shining. In isolation, this trope appearing on an MTG card is nothing new. Back in Shadows over Innistrad, Wizards printed Twins of Maurer Estate which wasn’t a problem at all.
While trope-inspired MTG cards may be nothing new, Duskmourn: House of Horror has a unique problem. Thanks to the sheer volume of tropes and references crammed into this set, players have begun pushing back. This problem has steadily been ramping up throughout 2024, and now it appears to have reached a boiling point.
From the moment 2024 began with Murders at Karlov Manor the year has been filled, arguably oversaturated, by tropes. Between Karlov Manor’s fedoras, Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s cowboy hats, and Duskmourn’s references, it’s been almost non-stop. This has put a lot of strain on cards that may have otherwise flown under the radar.
While Duskmourn has no shortage of references, Unsettling Twins has been the straw to break the camel’s back. Following this card’s reveal, MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, has been inundated by comments and complaints about Magic’s many references. These reference-filled cards, however, may not be as bad as many players fear.
Overdone and Obvious
According to Rosewater’s responses to the many complaints, there are two major problems with references in MTG. The first of these is simply the execution of tropes and references within an MTG set. Compared to past sets, Bloomburrow was lauded as a breath of fresh air that feels distinctly unique and Magic. According to Rosewater, however, “Bloomburrow is as trope-y as Murders at Karlov Manor.”
While Bloomburrow does have a rather unique setting, in the world of MTG at least, its story is nothing new. Epic fantasy is a well-trodden genre with countless tropes of its own that are almost always hit. As Rosewater and many players have noted, these tropes aren’t inherently bad. Instead, they’re inherently the building blocks of a genre.
As Rosewater states, “The issue for discussion is *how* should we use tropes, not should tropes be used.” When it comes to how, sadly, there have been issues. Not only are players picking holes in Duskmourn, but 2024 has just been a lot to deal with. Even Rosewater has freely admitted that 2024 is very trope-filled.
“Direct trope references is nothing new, but yes, I think the pendulum has swung heavily in this direction this year.”
Mark Rosewater
Due to the frequency of obvious tropes in 2024, they’re becoming more and more glaring. That said, it doesn’t help that Duskmourn’s tropes and references are especially obvious. While there is an in-universe reason behind the card Unsettling Twins has been criticized for just being the trope and nothing more. Compared to Twins of Maurer Estate, the reference is painfully on the nose.
The same was true of Holy Cow back in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Rather than being a cheeky reference to popular media or parlance, Holy Cow just was exactly that. Ultimately, this can make these cards end up feeling more like a Universes Beyond crossover rather than a genuine MTG card. That, however, doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad.
A Polarizing Problem
Rather than being complete disasters, Rosewater claims the referential MTG cards we’ve been seeing recently are instead “very polarizing.” Holy Cow, in particular, divided much of the MTG player base thanks to its wacky nature. As much as this card has its detractors, Rosewater states that it “definitionally means a lot of players enjoyed it.”
Ultimately, this is the deciding factor when it comes to references, memes, and in-jokes appearing on cards. If they have proved popular in the past, Wizards is going to repeat them because that’s what works. Even some vocal MTG players are upset by them, Magic has a huge silent majority of casual players who may love these trope-y cards.
The only unusual part about 2024 is the sheer volume of tropes we’ve seen throughout the year. Thanks to the development lead time of sets, Wizards typically scales up design elements, rather than going from 0 to 100. That said, perhaps that’s precisely what Wizards has been doing, and it’s just been slow enough that we’ve accepted it until now.
Thankfully for the disgruntled MTG players upset with all the tropes, 2025 should be better. Looking at the 2025 release calendar, we’re returning to both Tarkir and Lorwyn throughout the year. Hopefully, both these sets will feel more like classic Magic Adventures rather than decidedly themed sets.
For those interested in uniquely themed sets, 2025 shouldn’t disappoint. The other two premier sets are death race and space-themed, so there’s a good mix of content. Hopefully, themed sets won’t be quite as overboard as 2024’s roster; however, that remains to be seen.
