Officially releasing on September 27, Dusmourn: House of Horror sees the world’s biggest collectible card game venture into a setting wholly contained within a haunted house. After Magic: The Gathering’s wildly popular foray into body horror courtesy of last year’s Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Duskmourn’s many rooms will play host to different themes of horror with creatures and evils that players must manipulate or survive.
With the plane of Duskmourn being completely contained within a reality-warping domicile, players who favour board control and utility are going to want to acquaint themselves with the many ghosts of this realm. Fear not, WellPlayed is proud to reveal Sheltered by Ghosts by artist Mirko Failoni, an uncommon and cheap white enchantment with big implications. This two-mana cost spell is impressively broad in its application. It provides no less than three benefits to a player’s creature while simultaneously casting another nonland permanent on the table into exile and removing it from the board while the enchantment remains in play.
For one nonspecific and one white mana, Sheltered by Ghosts is so broad in its low-cost application that it begs to be played at almost any stage of a game. Provided you have one creature on the table and your opponent has a spell or two out, this enchantment will be ready to channel Duskmourn’s violent apparitions to your benefit. When paying its cost and activating Sheltered by Ghosts, its positive enchantment effects can be applied to a creature in the player’s control. That creature will gain a +1/+0 boost to its power and any player attempting to target the enchanted creature must pay an additional 2 mana due to ward (2). The trio of creature enchantments here is rounded out by lifelink, providing the player character with life points equal to the damage that the creature deals. All this is pretty good for a two-mana-cost white enchantment, but of course, there’s more. Finally, a target nonland permanent can be exiled from the board while the enchantment is on the battlefield.
In short, enchant a creature to boost its power and gain player health from its attacks. The assisting ghosts make it troublesome for enemies to target this creature. All this for a pittance of mana. The cherry on top is the exiling of a nonland permanent. It’s a nice little equaliser that might take a serious cog out of another player’s engine, be it a threatening creature or an opponent’s enchantment, for example. Once Sheltered by Ghosts is removed from the battlefield, perhaps exiled or removed by a spell, the enchanted creature (if alive) and exiled target will return to normal.
Duskmourn’s narrative is still a building mystery for players at this time, and this art gives us a glimpse into how planeswalkers and players will be navigating the halls of this mysterious house. Failoni’s art here shows a humanoid creature kitted out with radios, headsets and other digital technology that appears to be affecting the ghosts that reside here. Assumedly, this character is using devices to manipulate these ghosts into obfuscating and aiding allies. Likewise, these translucent beings must cause enough headaches for another target that it temporarily removes them from the situation entirely. I’m endlessly curious to see how this thematic hook of ghosts controlled by radio and electricity plays into other themes of horror.
Players eager to get exploring the dangerous and stressful wings of the House of Horror can get an early taste courtesy of pre-release events starting on September 20. More information on the various sets, new mechanics, previews and more can be found on Wizards’ official site ahead of the full release on September 27.
What horror inspirations or niche sub-genre do you hope to see get a nod in Duskmourn: House of Horror? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
