Duskmourn's Creepiest Cards

Do you like scary cards? What's the point?

What's the scariest card art in Duskmourn: House of Horror? I'm Eliza, Editor of EDHREC, and I'm back on Commander's Herald to review the artwork from Magic's most recent set.

You might remember me from our Bloomburrow cute review, where we looked at the cuddliest artwork in the set. There's actually no shortage of adorable cards in Duskmourn, despite its horror theme. From the Beasties, once-pets now helping to protect the survivors to the Glimmer creatures, magical representations of hope, there's plenty of cuteness to be found. There's even a case to be made for the Gremlins with their big puppy-dog eyes.

But we're not here to review how cute this set is today, because it's clear this set was going for a very different approach. (If you want to see me review how cute Duskmourn is, though, absolutely let us know in the comments, because I would.) Set in a plane that's an endless haunted house, Duskmourn is certainly not as appealing a place to get stuck in as the recent Bloomburrow. Ovidio Cartagena, Lead Art Director for the set, has talked about how this set was inspired by horror media from the last 40 years. Horror movie references are abundant; we see a nod to The Shining, with Unsettling Twins, while Cursed Recording takes inspiration from The Ring, to name only two. A love for the genre jumps out from behind every corner of these cards, so it seems only right to judge how horrifying they truly are.

Horror is one of my personal favorite genres, so I've been incredibly excited for this set. We're here today to answer a seemingly impossible question: which of the many incredible pieces of art on display in this set is truly the creepiest? We'll be ranking the top 10 (in my personal opinion)!

10: Marina Vendrell

This may seem initially like a far cry from the scariest card in the set, but stay with me. Marina seems quite approachable in this artwork, if a bit forlorn, but what really captures my attention is the hazy cloud around Marina, showing that her experience of the house and the reality are two very different things indeed. Marina is a central character within Duskmourn, where her discovery and initial friendship with the demon Valvagoth form a key catalyst for Valvagoth's rise to power and the subsequent bending of the plane into a giant endless mansion. After threatening to kill Valvagoth by destroying the house, which the demon is bound to, Valvagoth instead strikes a deal with Marina where he promises to return the world to normal. What Marina doesn't realize, however, is that once the deal is struck, the house only appears normal for her. The concept of being unknowingly stuck in an alternative version of reality is terrifying, captured beautifully here by Magali Villeneuve's depiction of Marina's wistful expression and the sharp contrast between two versions of the house. What's truly scarier, knowing you're at the mercy of a demon and trapped in a haunted house, or being blissfully unaware? Could we all be trapped right now? While not scary visually, the concept of this card and Marina's predicament are more than enough to send shivers down my spine.

9: Orphans of the Wheat

Orphans of the Wheat seems to be a reference to Children of the Corn, a short story by Stephen King that was adapted into a horror movie in 1984. Human sacrifice is a standout theme in the story, suggesting that whatever these orphans are getting up to is likely not good. The blank expressions and glowing green eyes immediately stood out to me as incredibly creepy, especially in contrast to the abundance of running, jaws snapping, and clawing happening in the rest of the artwork in this set. This card is comparatively quiet and atmospheric, but nonetheless horrifying.

The columns and windows in the background emphasize an important design element of Duskmourn, which is that everything is happening inside rooms in a house. To me, this card art builds off the practical effects and set design of old horror movies, where this wheat field has been created rather than grown naturally. These children seem like they're on a film set. It may seem initially that this might make the card less creepy, because it's not real, right? But then again, you don't know how the movie ends.

8: Painter's Studio // Defaced Gallery

Ovidio Cartagena mentioned he loves this piece in the panel on Duskmourn at MagicCon Amsterdam, and I see why. This may not seem like the creepiest card in comparison to creatures like Giggling Skitterspike, but that's until you notice everyone in the portraits is screaming.

I love the storytelling in the design of the Rooms, and this one is my personal favorite. A claustrophobic studio full of disturbing artwork becomes an endless, gaping gallery. The artwork leaves so much room (heh) for interpretation. Did the figures in the artwork rip themselves out of the paintings? If not, who destroyed them? How far does the gallery go? And finally, the true question at hand: what happened to the artist?

7: Don't click here!

I don't want to say anything about this card; it'll spoil it.

6: Seized from Slumber

This card is the full package of complete and utter creepiness. The mere implication that you could wake up like this is enough, let alone the concept of trying to scream but your lungs are very literally being torn apart. I don't know how anyone is even attempting to sleep in Duskmourn; I certainly won't be after compiling this list.

What I love about this artwork personally is that this reminds me of film reels, seeming like a great nod to the film inspiration behind the set.

5: Twitching Doll

This card was going to be much higher on my list, but then I decided perhaps everyone was not quite as afraid of spiders as I am. This is a very serious, objective list, after all.

What's delightfully horrifying about this card is that the doll seems fairly innocuous at first. Then you notice the word 'Twitching' and the spiders in the corner, and there's no longer anything remotely cuddly about this teddy. I love and hate the attention to detail here, where a broken doll's face lays next to a now seemingly woven animal face. Did the spiders... create that? 

Safe to say that I, like many horror movie fans, feel relatively certain that I wouldn't go to investigate the creepy basement by myself, and I'd run away from the ghosts. This doll, however, would absolutely be the end of me in the movie. 

4: The Jolly Balloon Man

Junji Ito is one of my favorite horror authors, so The Jolly Balloon Man had to make an appearance on this list. This seems to be a nod to The Hanging Balloons, a short story within Junji Ito's manga collection, The Face Burglar. Within the parameters of what we see happening in Duskmourn, it seems entirely likely that this character is making their balloons from real human heads; let's just hope they're not still sentient. The alternative is almost as horrifying, that these heads are created by The Jolly Balloon Man as replicas. Is there anything worse than the idea of finding a balloon version of yourself within a haunted house? If the Twitching Doll is anything to go by, I suppose the only thing worse would be if these were filled with spiders.

3: Fear of Lost Teeth

All of the Fears are depicted incredibly, with their monstrous creeping forms being a creative way to visually capture the feeling of having these fears yourself. I knew I wanted to feature at least one Fear, and it was very nearly the Fear of Being Hunted or the Fear of Falling. In the end though, I couldn't shy away from quite how horrifying the Fear of Lost Teeth is. I didn't even think I had this fear, but I think I do now. The flavor text adds so much to this card: you don't only have to fight these Fears within Duskmourn, but you also have to feel yourself being physically impacted by them.

All of the Fears feature ghostly heads protruding from their frames, implying that these monsters get bigger and are directly influenced or even created by the number of people who have the Fear. It adds an extra layer of creepiness to imagine these may be souls trapped by their own worst fear. 

We may all be slightly desensitized to teeth horror since Phyrexia: All Will Be One, but that doesn't stop this card from being one of the creepiest in the set.

2: Patched Plaything

Toys sure are making their mark on this list, and for good reason. A child has seemingly been sucked into their own teddy bear, creating a monster that is nothing except terrifying. The bear's gnashing bloody teeth and rip down the side only serve to make this card even creepier, forcing you to imagine what might have happened to the unfortunate owner. Truly nightmare fuel if I ever saw it.

This card may or may not be a nod to 2019 folk horror film Midsommar, one of my favorite horror films from recent years. I won't say exactly how, as it may be a bit of a spoiler, but it's pretty gross, just like this card. I know I've mentioned quite a few personal favorites throughout this list; if Duskmourn encourages you to do anything beyond building some great decks, I hope it encourages you to explore some of the amazing films and novels inspiring this set.

And finally, to my personal pick of the creepiest card in Duskmourn. Drum roll, please!

1: Stay Hidden, Stay Silent

The creative choice to make alternate art with monsters or without is the creepiest part of Duskmourn art, with Stay Hidden, Stay Silent being what I deem the best example of this. I'm excited to see the real jump scares players get when opening their packs at prereleases. What I love about these cards is you don't always notice it at first; seeing the two versions together, you might think you're just seeing the same card twice. And then you see it. 

Using a bedroom as the setting, where many of us have experienced our scariest nightmares and where we're typically at our most vulnerable, only adds to how horrifying this card art is. This card also plays on the scariest part of horror movies, which isn't really the jump scare itself or the monster actually attacking: it's the anticipation. It's the pit of dread in your stomach when you see something before the character does. Out of all the creepy characters and horrifying monsters in Duskmourn, it's this art that sticks with me the most. I'll be sleeping with one eye open for a while, just in case.

And cut!

That brings us to the end of our creepy cards review, although this is by no means an exhaustive list of scary cards in Duskmourn. Many equally horrifying entries didn't quite make my list: Spineseeker Centipede, Skullsnap Nuisance, Under the Skin... The list can go on.

While researching this article, I really didn't expect to feature quite so many white cards on this list. If anything, I predicted this list to be mostly black. Much like in many horror movies, the true villain isn't always who you expect it to be.

It's also important to note that the value in Duskmourn's artwork is not just in its scariness. There are also some beautiful pieces, too. My personal favorites coming out from this set that might not quite hit the mark for creepy but do hit the mark for incredible are Grievous Wound and Demonic Counsel. 

I'm sure I might have missed many of your personal picks for creepiest artwork. Let me know which cards are giving you nightmares in the comments below!