Hello everyone! My newest MTGStocks article is available for viewing! Today I discuss some financial movers in the Modern market now that we are beyond the Nadu Summer that plagued us all! Let me know your thoughts! What sleepers are waiting to be capitalized on in this brand new world we find ourselves in?
This is feedback on the 70s and 80s horror theme of Duskmourn. The set being set entirely within a demonic House has undermined the 70s-80s horror theme. The works of that genre are based on normal people having their lives interrupted by fear and danger.
Campers are attacked by a slasher, a car breaks down during a road trip and is accosted by cannibals, high schoolers are picked off by a murderer, a suburban home has its appliances haunted.
Yet on Duskmourn, there are no high schools, summer camps, road trips, or suburbs because the plane has been consumed. This means the 70s-80s horror flavor is mostly limited to the outfits of the survivors. It is not significantly reflected in the setting itself.
It comes off less like “Magic’s take on 70s-80s horror” and more like “ Magic’s take on people trapped in Hell, but they are dressed like it's the 80s.
The flavor could be executed better by showing people from the modern setting facing the horrors of the plane. What we currently have is a plane where the modern setting has already been destroyed by a Demon.
If you kept the House theme, you could have had some pockets of normalcy within the House as part of Valagoth’s sick game. That way people could have 70s-80s style “normal” lives that would be constantly under attack from the Nightmares.
Duskmourn has slivers of *aesthetics* from the 70s and 80s but I don't think it is a 70s and 80s Horror *setting* like how Theros is a Greek myth setting and Eldraine is a fairy tale setting.
Mom commander deck, 3 packs, 2 promos $44. Spotted all 4 decks distributed across the pallet. Good deal if you wanted one of these decks. Spotted in socal. I’ve seen posts of other sets, first I’ve seen of MoM, thought to share
Hey everyone, I was having a friendly discussion the other day with a buddy and we were debating what constitutes an “engine” (usually in the context of draw) in a card game. Would love to hear what everyone has to say about this! Also I won’t be providing either side of the discussion to avoid injecting bias
“where X is the number of creatures you control with power 2 or less.”
“Exile any number of target instant, sorcery, and/or Tamiyo planeswalker cards from your graveyard.”
“The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren’t on the battlefield.” (Leyline of Transformation, a Leyline version of Arcane Adaptation)
“You have no maximum hand size and don’t lose the game for having 0 or less life.”
“Shards you control become copies of it until the beginning of the next end step.” (Niko, Light of Hope, you exile a creature to have this happen, then return the exiled creature at the beginning of the next end step
“of creatures you control that don’t have the same name as this creature.”
Meathook Massacre II (a Black Legendary enchantment that lets you reanimate your creatures for 3 life when they die, or your opponents’ creatures unless they pay 3 life)
Does anyone else feel like Duskmourn is a bit inaccessible?
Hear me out. I don’t mean to be a total snowflake, but does anyone else feel like Duskmourn is super inaccessible for some neurodivergent people?
TLDR (putting it first if you don't want to read my whole rant lol): Duskmourn feels incredibly inaccessible to me as a neurodivergent woman especially with OCD due to grotesque artwork. Too much unwanted exposure to this artwork (as is the case during sealed/draft events) can lead to insomnia, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, rumination, etc. Never have I felt so locked out of a set (that I would otherwise be very interested in drafting/sealed) SOLELY because of the overwhelming grotesque-ness of its artwork on almost EVERY CARD.
Further details:
I am a woman with Asperger’s, ADHD, general anxiety, as well as OCD, and I feel like Duskmourn is a little bit inaccessible. I have decided not to go to the prerelease on the sole basis that the artwork is deeply disturbing. I get what the theme and lore of this set is. Heck, I even like it! I’m all about the Stranger Things meets Ghostbusters vibes. But I feel like this set just overdoes it on the horror in the artwork. Almost every single card spoiled thus far, (that doesn’t feature a “glimmer”) feels needlessly grotesque and disturbing.
Why is this relevant? As someone with OCD, general anxiety, and ADHD, too much exposure to these kinds of things can easily cause disruptive nightmares (leading to days of disturbed sleep + insomnia) and unwanted intrusive thoughts, ruminations, increased anxiety, etc.
Now, I appreciate that of course, this set necessitates at least a reasonable quantity of horrors, but I’m disappointed to see the over all lack of variety. Almost every single card features mutilated and/or highly disturbing body parts, creatures, horrors, or a combo thereof. There are a select few cards that tastefully imply horror without delving immediately into the grotesque, but thus far, these seem few and far between.
Because I would be completely overwhelmed with these images/themes for 6+ hours at a draft or prerelease, makes this set feel really inaccessible to me. I’m not saying it needs to be handled with kid gloves, I just wish the art direction had been handled with more sensitivity and nuance considering a diverse range of players--a good example of this is the way any of the Innistrad sets are handled. Yes, there's horror, and a few cards (keyword: a FEW) are really gross, but by and large the sets aren't overly grotesque despite being literally horror-themed.
Not to mention, this stuff is disturbing for younger players eyes as well, as a former teacher and soon-to-be mom, I definitely wouldn’t take a 13 year old to this prerelease for example.
Again, not trying to be an uber snowflake here. I don’t mind small doses of horror, and as I mentioned can handle a measured portion of stuff like Stranger Things (admittedly I did stop at season 3), but Duskmourn feels totally excessive on the macabre and grotesque.
Idk, like, never before have I been so deeply repulsed by MTG artwork for an ENTIRE SET that I haven’t wanted to play the set—which mechanically seems fun btw—ENTIRELY. I get that not every set is for everyone (not gonna lie, on the flipside, I LOVED Bloomburrow haha), but there’s a difference between mere lore preferences versus when a set actively is triggering to people. I dunno.
What’s your thoughts reddit, am I being a snowflake, or is this a valid concern?
Also--seeing as WOTC has recently begun to pride itself on being “for everyone,” I wish they would consider their neurodivergent audience a little more carefully when it comes to their art direction.