Before a new premier set is released for tournament play, it’s always interesting to try and predict what new cards will have the biggest impact on Constructed formats. In some cases, a set will even give rise to a brand-new archetype that is primarily made up of cards from that set alone. Take Rakdos Lizards in Standard, for example. This deck is quite strong. Without Bloomburrow powerhouses like Hired Claw and Gev, Scaled Scorch, this deck would be nonexistent.
Well, Duskmourn spoiler season has now concluded. The set certainly looks very powerful overall, and there are some potent mechanics that could help give rise to entirely new archetypes. In fact, according to head designer Mark Rosewater, the play design team believes that a new deck whose core lies with Duskmourn cards is expected “to see a lot of Standard play.” Our goal is to try to figure out what strategy is poised for a Standard breakout. To help narrow down the possibilities, we first need to analyze Mark Rosewater’s full Blogatog response.
Implications of Mark Rosewater’s Response
- Mana Value: R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/2
- MTG Sets: Bloomburrow
- Card Text: Whenever you attack with one or more Lizards, Hired Claw deals 1 damage to target opponent. 1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on Hired Claw. Activate only if an opponent lost life this turn and only once each turn.
The original post that prompted Mark Rosewater to provide some additional insight began with a player stating that they enjoyed the fact that some of the themes utilized in Bloomburrow were viable in Constructed as a whole. The player voiced that they enjoy when entire themes and mechanics make waves in Constructed, not just individually powerful cards. They also made it clear that they felt like Duskmourn wouldn’t have the same effect upon release.
Mark Rosewater then gave his input, saying that while the play design team does focus on building decks around new themes and mechanics where possible, this process “depends on what mechanics they have to work with.” However, Mark Rosewater then concluded by telling us that the play design team believes there actually will be a new deck heavily focused on Duskmourn cards that should see extensive Standard play, contrary to what the original post implied.
Based on this answer to the full post, it’s clear that whatever deck he’s talking about isn’t just some powerful midrange pile with a few new cards thrown in. Instead, some theme or mechanic that’s woven into the fabric of the set was deemed strong enough to give rise to a unique strategy. With this in mind, let’s dig a little deeper into some potential options.
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A Range of Ideas
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/3
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: When Fear of Missing Out enters, discard a card, then draw a card. Delirium- Whenever Fear of Missing Out attacks for the first time each turn, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Duskmourn is full of strong options, but for a deck focused on Duskmourn pieces overall, there has to be a large foundation of support. Take one of the more unique mechanics in Duskmourn in the form of Rooms, for instance. While many of the Rooms are cool by themselves, they all do vastly different things. For a Rooms deck to exist, there would need to be enough cards that actively incentivize you for putting them into your deck.
The reality is, most of the mechanics in this set don’t seem to fit the bill. Much like Rooms, a selection of Survival cards seem decent, but there isn’t much of a reason to build a deck around a bunch of them. Manifest Dread is a keyword that could technically lend itself to a neat strategy, since we’ve seen Morph decks in the past (think Standard when Khans of Tarkir block released). However, those decks typically relied on absurd payoffs like Deathmist Raptor, and it doesn’t seem like many elite Manifest Dread payoffs exist.
Delirium is one example of a keyword that rewards you heavily for staying on-theme. Cards like Omnivorous Flytrap and Fear of Missing Out go from mediocre to incredible on rate if you’ve put in the effort to enable Delirium. Perhaps we’ll see a Delirium deck with some sweet graveyard synergies emerge. Nonetheless, there’s one more theme we should talk about that we believe stands head and shoulders above the rest.
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Enchantments Galore
- Mana Value: W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- MTG Sets: Return to Ravnica, Time Spiral Remastered, Wilds of Eldraine Commander, Duskmourn
- Card Text: Enchant creature. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control and has first strike.
In the comments section of the Blogatog post, Tumblr user izzet-always-r-versus-u discussed the potential for a white-based enchantments deck to be the archetype Mark Rosewater is talking about. Of all the ideas present, this seems by far the most competitively viable. First of all, enchantments are heavily supported in Duskmourn to help maximize the Eerie mechanic. Eerie doesn’t actually require playing any Rooms to get things going.
Second, there are a large number of incredibly efficient payoffs that actively pull you towards filling your deck with a high density of enchantments. In the Eerie category, Optimistic Scavenger is a perfect replacement for Generous Visitor, which sadly rotated earlier this summer.
As for the enchantments themselves, Ethereal Armor is an absolute powerhouse. There are plenty of other strong auras in Standard to help make Ethereal armor give you creature a massive buff. This even includes Shardmage’s Rescue as a form of protection and Sheltered by Ghosts as a catch-all removal spell with lots of upside.
As izzet-always-r-versus-u concludes, there are plenty of different directions players can take this shell. Pairing white with green gives you access to Audacity as another cheap aura and Calix, Guided by Fate as another enchantment payoff. At the same time, blue provides Inquisitive Glimmer. Jukai Naturalist used to see play in Standard before rotation, and Inquisitive Glimmer is very similar. You could even go the route of pairing these white enchantments with the well-established red Valiant threats in Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger.
There’s a ton of potential here. Building around cheap enchantments is a tried-and-true formula for success, and Duskmourn definitely delivers. Ultimately, we look forward to seeing how Duskmourn Standard shakes out early on and if the play design team’s instincts are indeed correct.
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