Summary
Wizards of the Coast is set to giveMagic: The Gatheringplayers another close look at its next upcoming expansion, the modern horror-themedDuskmourn.Magic: The Gatheringis ramping up its releases for the second half of 2024 —Duskmournis its fourth set release in four months afterBloomburrowin early August.
The completely animal-themedBloomburrowhas only been officially out for a couple of weeks, but Wizards is already raring to go withDuskmourn. A departure fromMagic’s usual sets,Duskmournis based on horror from the 1980s to today, with the game’s plane set in a strangely vast haunted house stocked with entities and happenings from modern tropes.
Wizards of the Coast will be debutingDuskmournin a panel at PAX West on August 31, officially marking the beginning of the set’s preview season. Executive Producer andMagicheavyweight Mike Turian, WotC Director of Communications Blake Rasmussen, Senior Art Director Ovidio Cartagena, and Senior Game Designer Annie Sardelis will be delving deep into the lore, mechanics, and the beautiful art of the set.Magic: The Gatheringdesigners like to give close looksat every new set, as many players love discussing the process and thinking that go into the crafting of each expansion.
Magic: The Gathering’s Duskmourn Set Is Make or Break For a New Approach
A number of cards from the set have already been previewed at MagicCon: Amsterdam in late June, revealing howDuskmournis taking a lot of cues from contemporary horror movies, TV shows, and other fiction, as opposed to the Innistrad plane’s influences from classical Gothic horror. It certainly hits differently as mainMagic The Gatheringsets don’t usually touch on anything modern in the real world, but it’s already generated a lot of buzz from players who want to see how WotC executes the contemporary feel. TheMagicteam has increasingly been experimenting away from the usual high fantasy atmosphere of the long-running TCG, with forays into tropes like theWild West inOutlaws of Thunder Junctionfrom April. IfDuskmournsucceeds in what it’s trying to do, it may likely mean more contemporary-influenced main sets that are not under the Universes Beyond crossover banner.
On the subject of Universes Beyond, the controversial line of products will still factor intoMagic: The Gathering’s long-term plans. Despite the Universes Beyond sets based onAssassin’s Creed, Doctor Who,andFalloutnot being the huge successes Wizards had hoped, smaller releases such as theMonty PythonSecret Lair Drop have fared better.Magicexpansions based onTomb Raider,Final Fantasy, and the Marvel universe are still in the pipeline, and the bigger fandoms for some of these properties may be what it takes to prop up the Universes Beyond idea.
Magic The Gathering
Magic the Gathering is a tabletop and digital collectable card game created by Richard Garfield and released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Players take on the role of a Planeswalker and use various cards to battle other players by casting spells, summoning creatures, or utilizing artifacts. It features two main rule categories, constructed or limited, and can be played by two or more players at a time.
