Duskmourn Limited Set Review: Blue | Magic: the Gathering

Nothing like starting my Saturday morning with a banger! 🙏👏🫡

Fractured Realm looks so good in brawl. I play helga so activations for days.

With abhorrent oculus I think it's worth taking into account that if you manifest and flip it you don't have to pay the additional cost.

Manifesting Abhorrent Occulus will also feel great

You can also turn Abhorrent Oculus up if it was manifested for only 3 mana

Wtf is duskmourn's domination??? Its completely useless unless your opponent has like a 10/10

Feels like you were very brutal on the blue, fact there is common blue mana dork and several ways to decrease the cost will make some of the enchantments and enchantment creatures more accessible.

With the amount of manifest dread in green/blue I definitely think it will not be uncommon to have 2 abhorrent Occulus on the field without exiling your grave and at that point you kinda just win

I think the 3/3 defender is a c. And I could see it being a c+.

If blue is about rooms it's slow so being able to attack isn't super important turn 3 or 4. But a big blocker could just be good enough for you to do the grindy stuff.

Mirror room on abhorrent occulus and the fractured realm room on the green creature that flips a card face up for 2 mana so that you can flip over 2 creatures at once. Or any triggered effect that flips a card face up honestly.

People who played New Capenna know that Unable to Scream is going to seriously overperform. Witness Protection was super annoying to deal with and this one stops any shenanigans with Dread creatures blowing you out in combat. The fact that it only cost 1 mana is the real power. The only thing that makes me think this won't be as good as Witness Protection is all of the Enchantment hate in this set, but even if you only get a turn or 2 of their best creature being down, you come out ahead.

Blue looking kinda poo poo bad yet again

I think the megalodon is better than that, a 5/7 vigilance is going to be the biggest thing on the board 80% of the time , 7 toughness is a lot and it hits hard too. Everything 6 mana has to be a bomb these days but idk 🤷

The Mindskinner is not an F. C'mon. It trades with most creatures, must be addressed with a removal so it's at least 1 for 1 and it's only a 3 mana spell. There are lots of worse creature that were graded higher...

I feel like the Overload cards are either all gonna be bombs or a B or B+

Hmm, Isnt unable to scream a tempo card? Sure if they chump it’s whatever but I think it’s comparable to an unsummon

I was getting interested in Simic after your multicolor reciew, and now I am not feeling great about blue. Dear WOTC, please show blue a little more love.

Today is the day I noticed you set reviews go in the order of WUBRG

I'm calling it now: Paranormal Analyst is a rare in disguise and will be broken and abused. Also, is it seems a bit like a prince set? Lot's of A's compare to previous sets.

Floodpits Drowner flashes in at end of opponent's turn after your second turn, stuns a creature, vigilance attacks for 2 if there are no defenders, and then shuffles the stunned creature and itself back into the deck. The quasi-free shock is important in early game since Blue is not traditionally aggro.

TVs, baseball, VHS tape, cheerleaders (and football) all exist in the Magic universe now.

Clammy Prowler is an B+ because it is a common. Getting multiple of those is wicked. They even block well until you have the other ready.

Some crazy person is gonna fling Mind skinner in red blue

Something to keep in mind about Fear of Isolation is that it can sort of read, "1U, Reveal this from your hand: Trigger all of your Eerie abilities." (Have it bounce itself.) Doubt if's worth it, but you never know.

Mind skinner is way better than an F

Am I wrong in thinking that the Mindskinner isn’t that bad?

It’s a horrible blocker but if your opponent can’t remove it they will die in 3 turns. (Since they will have 30 or less cards in the library by turn 3).

If it dies to removal that’s completely fine too, since you only spent 3 mana on it and the removal would most likely kill most other creatures you pay 3 mana for.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not saying it’s a bomb, it’s not even close to a bomb. But I don’t think it’s an F.

It isn’t unreasonable for creatures to stick around a few turns. If that creature is Mindskinner, either they’re dead, or their library is stripped of most of its resources.

Grimoire being an F actually blows my mind. 6 mana draw 5 (and essentially “gain” 5 life) is a great rate (plus any actual life gain draws cards (which then “gains” more life)). Mind spiral from bloomburrow is a significantly worse version of this and that was certainly not an F. At the very least i think you should give this a build-around grade bc i see very real power in this card.

Edit: just reread this card, i take it back this is terrible for limited

Fear of falling seems like a decent air elemental. It's a big blocker for anything and when attacking can open up the board as well as diminishing your opponent's ability to race. This set also doesn't seem as aggro as recent ones. I reckon it will play well and close out games so is a good top end to have. C grade feels low, maybe more like high C+ / low B-.

Im not the only one weirded out by him saying cards are bad because they die to one mana removal when theres literally no shock or equivalent one mana removal spell in the format right. The cheapest 2 damage effect costs 2

cursed winddraker ;_; lmao

Putting mindskinner at F is absolutely outrageous. Its definitely not an A but in no way is the ability to deck your opponent in 3 turns bad. Yes it dies to removal, but most decks in limited dont run a ton of removal, and using it on mindskinner means theyre not using it on more impactful creatures. Not to mention the ability to mill a third of an opponents deck on turn 4 can absolutely be devastating. F is WAY too harsh a grade for this card. At worst id put it at a D+ and at best a C- or C

There might be some cool combos with survival triggers and Stay hidden, Stay silent. Tapping permamently your own creature to trigger its survival every turn and then, later when effect is not needed anymore - send it away and get dread instead :D

I mean... clunky at best, but still cool :D

I think you're way off about the Mindskinner. If they don't kill it they're dead. And that's the definition of a bomb. Playing it early, it eats a removal spell, and you go about your game like any other 3 drop. But it being unblockable means it never dies in combat. They HAVE yo have a removal spell.

Optimistic Scavenger, Grand Entryway, and Fear of Isolation is one heck of an opening hand!

I think the idea behind the Fear of Isolation is to bounce rooms with on time effects, but yeah it's situational

I have to disagree with your assessment of Unable to Scream, Nizza. There are a whoke bunch if creatures in this set with abilities that can just ruin your day. Turning off the abilities of an Overlord or any of the Enduring enchantment creatures will be back-breaking to your opponent, and that's the best case. UtS is going to perform at least a letter grade better than you assess.

Blue looks awful yet again

Is Central Elevator/ Promising door really that bad? The win con is asking for 8 different unlocked doors, nor rooms. So if you build a deck with 4 different rooms and build the rest of the deck with delaying in mind....doesn't this card deserve a build-around grade?

Get Out is notable that it's actually better than the movie namesake in that it returns creatures or enchantments you OWN and not just control. This might go into my Zedruu, after I give you something and I want it back, I can return it. Like did you really want to keep paying for the Illusions of Grandeur? I'll just put it back in my hand lol
Yes, I know this is a limited review, but it just jumped out at me