Duskmourn: House of Horror just keeps getting better and better. Today is the final day of the set’s spoiler season, and it seems to be ending with a bang. Not only are Commander decks being revealed, and leaked, but some insane new spoilers have been revealed too! It’s safe to say that Sheltered by Ghosts firmly falls in the latter category.
Offering a powerful removal effect and substantial buffs too, Sheltered by Ghosts is a real bomb. Expect to see a lot of this card in aggro decks, Limited, and Commander too once Duskmourn is released.
Sheltered by Ghosts
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Enchantment – Aura
- Card Text: Enchant creature you control
When Sheltered by Ghosts enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Sheltered by Ghosts leaves the battlefield.
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has lifelink and ward {2}.
For an uncommon, Sheltered by Ghosts is an incredibly pushed MTG card. Not only is it a two mana Oblivion Ring effect, but it also substantially buffs the enchanted creature. Giving them Ward 2, Lifelink, and a bit of extra toughness is a big deal, even without the Oblivion Ring attached.
Ignoring that all-important effect for a moment, the buffs alone make Sheltered by Ghosts a good aggro card. Put it on an established threat and the Ward 2 should keep it alive for a good deal longer. If you attack, the enchanted creature will do the same for you thanks to Lifelink. Even just having a blocker with Lifelink often makes your opponent’s decisions that much harder.
As for the exile effect itself, two mana is the cheapest you can get for unconditional nonland permanent removal. This makes Sheltered by Ghosts a pretty solid slam dunk, however, it’s not all perfect. If you’re just after the removal, you’ll need a creature to enchant, which is a significant downside compared to a non-aura enchantment.
To make matters worse, creature removal is incredibly plentiful nowadays and a lot more prevalent than raw enchantment removal. While opponents will have to pay the extra Ward cost, a four mana Fell isn’t terrible. Even worse, should your creature get targeted with instant speed removal in response to Sheltered by Ghosts, you will get two-for-one’d without any benefits. Despite this downside, if you use Sheltered by Ghosts right, it will be a bomb in a great many decks.
At worst, Sheltered by Ghosts is simply a better version of Chains of Custody. Sheltered by Ghosts is both cheaper and offers more buffs to the enchanted creature. Any deck currently running Chains of Custody is going to want to swap it out soon.
An Aggro All-Star
To start speculating where Sheltered by Ghosts might get played, we can look at Chains of Custody. Currently, this surprisingly only eternal-legal card from Jumpstart 2022 is solely played in Commander. Here, it’s found its way into around 15,000 decks, which is fairly respectable. As expected, the majority of these decks are enchantment or aura-focused.
Since Sheltered by Ghosts is just a better Chains of Custody, it’s bound to be played even more in Commander. While it’ll be great in any aura-focused deck, it’s poised to be even better in aggressive lists. Slap this bad boy on a Knight-Errant of Eos and your opponent will be in a world of hurt.
As Knight-Errant of Eos somewhat gives away, the best home for Sheltered by Ghosts is likely going to be in Boros Convoke decks. By providing both removal, protection, and buffs, Sheltered by Ghosts is a true triple threat. Unfortunately, however, no matter where you put Sheltered by Ghosts, it will get swept up by a Temporary Lockdown.
Otherwise, should an Aura deck make its way back into Pioneer, Sheltered by Ghosts is concerningly powerful alongside Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice. Any two-mana Aura attached to Lightpaws can find a Sheltered by Ghosts from your library. Conversely, Sheltered by Ghosts can also find an All that Glitters, which is an absurdly powerful combination.
Exactly where you put Sheltered by Ghosts is a very interesting decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. While putting it on a major threat makes it stronger and protects it, it significantly increases the need to remove it. Alternatively, you can equip this Aura to a weak token, forcing an opponent to divert resources to deal with it.
An Uncommon Threat
At the end of the day, it’s safe to say that Sheltered by Ghosts has a lot of potential in MTG. Even if it doesn’t worm its way into Boros Convoke, it could easily support a new enchantment-focused archetype. The card is bound to see play in both Commander and Standard at the least.
Despite all this potential, Sheltered by Ghosts is just an uncommon card. Due to this, it’s unlikely that it will ever be expensive. Even staple uncommons such as Imodane’s Recruiter are worth around $0.50. In theory, its price could reach around $2, similar to Gleeful Demolition, but even that’s not a high ceiling.
At the end of the day, Sheltered by Ghosts looks like a fantastic card and a real threat in multiple MTG formats. When prerelease events for Duskmourn roll around, you’ll certainly want to watch out and draft this one.
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