Wizards of the Coast has just shown off a ton of information about upcoming spooky set, Duskmourn: House of Horror. A love letter to modern horror media, we’ve spotted more than a couple of tropes and references amidst the new artwork, from Evil Dead chainsaws to Ghostbuster P.K.E. Meters.
Just as Innistrad gives us Magic: The Gathering’s spin on older stories like Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, this MTG set explores horror films from the 1980s and beyond. Duskmourn has static-dwelling ghosts, Escher-like malevolent architecture, and living toys – all examples of well-trod horror tropes. But already we can see that, as well as these are going to be some very direct horror references amongst these cards.
For instance, the artwork above, from the unrevealed card Unsettling Twins is an obvious Stephen King reference. While they don’t have the blue dresses, this is pretty much the Grady Twins, appearing just as they do in The Shining, right down to the yellow wallpaper and curtains behind them.
And then there’s a card called ‘Let’s Play a Game’, a (very) slight tweak to the catchphrase of Jigsaw in the Saw movies. Here we see a collapsing staircase, not a very Saw-like trap, we must say, but the laughing figure on the screens in the background matches this villain to a tee.
These are the most ‘played straight’ examples we found, but in other artwork Duskmourn seems to draw from:
The Ring, with ghosts emerging from TV screens.
Hellraiser, with a faction called the Razorkin, who “thrive on pain”.
And The Wickerman, though here this is ‘wickerfolk’ who are literally made out of living wood…
No doubt there’ll be plenty more familiar faces when the set releases. If Duskmourn doesn’t have its own versions of Freddy, Jason, Pennywise, and Ghostface, we’ll be truly shocked.
For more Magic content, check out our MTG release schedule guide, and our list of the remaining MTG Arena codes.