So far, it’s become clear that Duskmourn is leaning heavily into the horror theme. The mechanics are all quite flavorful, showcasing the level of suspense associated with the haunted house. Meanwhile, the various booster fun treatments really do a good job of making the creepy artwork pop.
As far as the cards themselves go, one of the scariest aspects of Duskmourn comes in the form of a cycle of Overlords. These cards are rather reminiscent of the Titan cycle from back in M11 but introduce an entirely new keyword to make them more flexible. The green and white mythic rares have both been revealed for a little while. Today, we’re going to focus on a newly spoiled part of the cycle: Overlord of the Boilerbilge. This card isn’t quite Inferno Titan, but there’s a lot to like about it in a Standard setting.
Inferno Titan Meet Flametongue Kavu
- Mana Value: 4RR
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 5/5
- MTG Set: Duskmourn
- Card Text: Impending 4- 2RR (If you cast this spell for its impending cost, it enters with four time counters and isn’t a creature until the last is removed. At the beginning of your end step, remove a time counter from it.) Whenever Overlord of the Boilerbilge enters or attacks, it deals 4 damage to any target.
As a six-drop, Overlord of the Bilge isn’t quite as remarkable as Inferno Titan. It can’t divide up damage among multiple targets, and it doesn’t have the fire-breathing bonus ability. However, that doesn’t mean Overlord of the Bilge isn’t a strong card.
Casting Overlord of the Bilge at six mana is very realistic, especially for a ramp-style deck. Yet, even at four mana, Overlord of the Bilge is still a scary card. Much like with Trumpeting Carnosaur, you always have the option of using your Avatar Horror early to take care of a problematic threat. The difference is that the opponent is now on a clock, as your huge haymaker will awaken in four turns.
Even if the opponent has a removal spell later, you still got a two-for-one out of the exchange. Of course, if they don’t Overlord of the Bilge ends the game very quickly. After all, you can always point the four damage at the opponent’s face.
Potential Archetypes for the Overlord
- Mana Value: 4RR
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/6
- MTG Set: Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Card Text: Haste. Whenever Calamity, Galloping Inferno attacks while saddled, choose a nonlegendary creature that saddled it this turn and create a tapped and attacking token that’s a copy of it. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step. Repeat this process once. Saddle 1.
As things currently stand, there isn’t exactly a tier one archetype where Overlord of the Boilerbilge slots in nicely. However, there are a couple tier two strategies that could see improvement with Duskmourn and the Overlord’s arrival. The first deck is Gruul ramp.
The goal of this Gruul shell is to abuse the power of Smuggler’s Surprise to cheat haymakers into play and Calamity, Galloping Inferno to copy your big bombs, attacking for a ton of damage. Alongside Terror of the Peaks, Calamity can let you copy Terror multiple times, doming the opponent for lethal before you even have to deal combat damage! Unfortunately, as cool as this strategy is, the deck’s high curve and lack of redundancy hurts its stock.
This is where Overlord of the Boilerbilge comes in handy. First of all, it works perfectly with the deck’s main gameplan. Just like Terror of the Peaks, Overlord of the Boilerbilge threatens to deal a boatload of damage to the opponent alongside Calamity. On top of that, you have the luxury of playing it for four mana to kill a problematic creature. This deck has such a high density of five-mana and six-mana plays, so being able to cast Overlord early is a big deal.
Besides Gruul ramp, Overlord of the Boilerbilge looks like a decent addition to Rakdos Cruelclaw decks. Obviously, Overlord is an excellent card to reveal off The Infamous Cruelclaw. This deck is grindy enough to get to six mana, and you can always pick off early copies of Preacher of the Schism and the like to pave the way for your Infamous Cruelclaw attacks.
These Overlords are truly not messing around. Overlord of the Boilerbilge’s versatility cannot be overstated. Combined with its raw power, we’re excited to see what it can do moving forward.
