Go Home

Fresh off a cozy fuzzy animal set, Magic_ The Gathering is going full horror again

Published on December 05, 2025

Haunted houses are a horror staple, but how do you do one in Magic: The Gathering, where a typical expansion represents an entire plane of existence? Duskmourn: House of Horror answers that by having a haunted house spread beyond its grounds to take over an entire world. The backstory has it that a kind of fear demon imprisoned within the bounds of a single mansion found a loophole, expanding the grounds until everyone on the plane of Duksmourn was trapped within.

Where Magic has done body horror in Phyrexia and gothic horror in the Innistrad sets, Duskmourn has more of a 1980s horror vibe, with VHS static and chainsaws—a new kind of terror in every room of its infinite house. Think of Stranger Things, Hellraiser, House of Leaves, and Stephen King's It, or videogames like Anatomy and MyHouse.wad. (There's a little Silent Hill in there as well, and Team Silent [[link]] legend Masahiro Ito contributed card art.)

Appropriately, a new card type in Duskmourn are called Rooms. Technically enchantments, each one has two effects you can choose from when playing it—the other effect remains locked until you pay the additional cost. This is represented by Rooms being played horizontally, an illustrated wall separating the two halves. When your opponent plays one you get a preview of what else they'll be able to do with it, creating a sense of dread.

Which is what Duskmourn is all about. A new mechanic called impending means that certain cards representing the house's most monstrous inhabitants are played with a stack of counters on them, one of which is removed at the end of each turn, coming to life only when the final counter leaves. Again, you know what's coming, and have to figure out how to stop it in time. No jump scares here.

(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

Other cards are designed to play off the Room cards, like those with eerie abilities which trigger when an enchantment is played or a Room is unlocked. Our preview card, Ghostly Keybearer (art by Marco Gorlei), is another, unlocking a Room when you deal combat damage to a player as it flies out of the house's [[link]] nightmare mirrors on a cloud of glitching TV screen fuzz.

Duskmourn: House of Horror will be playable at prerelease events from September 20, and will be available in Arena [[link]] on September 24 and in paper Magic on September 27. 

Reader Comments

SpinTiger706

Some games are a bit laggy on my phone at times, but the variety of games and the smooth desktop experience make up for it. Overall, the website offers a great gaming experience for both casual and serious players.

GameSeeker890

The bonuses are nice and offer great value, although they could be a bit more frequent. I love being part of the VIP program, which gives me extra rewards and makes me feel appreciated as a loyal player.

LuckyDragon826

I won a small jackpot yesterday and it was really exciting! The thrill of winning real money keeps me coming back. The website feels fair, and payouts are processed promptly, which makes me trust the platform even more.

Recommended Reading

Not all AI voice cloning is bad, I promise

Katie Wickens, person with opinions (Image credit: Future)This week I have been mostly playing Cities Skylines. In anticipation of Cities 2, I'm [[link]] reminding myself what the base game is like with zer...

Keep Reading

Why Counter-Strike players think Valve is about to announce 'Counter-Strike 2'

A perennial rumour in  the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ecosystem has been the theory that the now 10-year-old FPS will be ported to Valve's current in-house engine, Source 2. This past week, [[link]] the ...

Keep Reading

Everyone should use this Stardew Valley portrait creator immediately

Non-artists rejoice—you can now have a custom pixel art portrait of your [[link]] farmer in Stardew Valley. And it's not AI powered, either; it's a free character designer tool with art by Poltergeister, the p...

Keep Reading