How to Ruin Duskmourn: The Survivors | Reviewing the Flavour - Part 3

Part 2: • The Brilliant Simplici...
Part 1: • The Surprisingly Effec...
I hate Duskmourn's survivors! For a plane I'm otherwise in love with, the surviving prey of the endless house of horrors are outfitted in some of the worst character designs I've seen in magic. Gaudy, unoriginal, and barely making sense within their own setting. And as much as the Stranger Things/80's nostalgia aesthetic of Duskmourn makes me feel ill, the truest nausea comes from its execution.
Let's learn how a bad idea was screwed up, by looking through all the cards of the survivors, in the Duskmourn set and its commander decks. To review their flavour and art and lore and stuff. Also included: Glimmers, to which I'm indifferent.
/ silvermyr
/ asilvermyr
/ silvermyrjame
#magicthegathering #mtg #Duskmourn #lore #dsk

[@silvermyr]

What do you find most off putting about the survivors?

[@danielaxc2900]

@@silvermyr how hot they all are. Especially Shrewd Storyteller.

[@brandonjensen586]

@@silvermyr lack of cohesion to the rest of magic. They feel like Universes Beyond characters

[@matthewkuehne5480]

Clean clothes 😳

[@MTGDuelist8870]

Honestly i wish they had made Duskmourn in a more Dark Victorian Era-style of magic where everything played out the same but just in a Victorian setting. like looking at the house as a whole and even Marina Vendrell herself, you get that sort of Mansion vibe from them, a sort of Decayed old timey Royalty which was once beautiful but now has fallen because of one mistake, one contract, one sacrifice, made by one girl. yet for her it's still beautiful. i hate every single one of the tacky, bad and completely out of place 80's looking survivors in general and i genuinely wish they had just not been included in the set at all. i hope IF we ever return to Duskmourn they all get removed because this plane is actually really really cool when the survivor's just don't exist period.

[@milkporch]

the tech BY FAR and a than the cloth

[@brandonjensen586]

Ironically enough, the plane where most of the survivors who were kidnapped from other planes, they all look too homogeneous to be from other planes. Much like the cowboy aesthetic from Thunder Junction, they all decided to wear the same clothes as everyone else for the audience’s sake instead of it making sense.

[@Kokuto_Cinoten]

its like they have a photobooth props that homogenize them once the entered Duskmourn. say cheese! pretty much says the nostalgia bait theyre trying to pull

[@TeaJay2119]

maybe the bloomburrow (and segovian) shape adjustment magic thingy is just a thing in some form for all planes?

[@brandonjensen586]

Are you suggesting a Kingdom Hearts esque magic field that changes people’s clothes to be cowboy themed when they go to Thunder Junction? If so, why did no character in the story mention it? Seems like a bug deal

[@Sunburnedhalo]

It’s worth noting that the house is making them clothes and materials to utilize; it does this to keep them alive for longer to feed off their fear and life energy longer.

[@brandonjensen586]

@@Sunburnedhalo that doesnt get around the fact that the Survivors are mostly human, with a couple of elves and one Kor thrown in the mix. Not only that, but they look like they are all natives to the plane. To really sell the whole “the house kidnaps people from other planes” thing, we should see humans with stuff from Kamigawa, vedalken with Kaladeshi technology, or hell add in a Kithkin.

[@sqentontheslime1967]

We really shoulda gotten more survivors with the “coward” subtype

[@joshelderkin9592]

Did we even get 1? Lol

[@TeaJay2119]

@@joshelderkin9592 norin is a coward (he can't block)

[@matadorr2513]

I had the exact same feeling about the survivors. They really don't fit in this environment, and there is no logic to their demeanor/clothing. The tech also feels amateurish in terms of prop design. I don't understand why they thought the joke about vintage ghost hunting cameras was a thing. The 80s aesthetic just harms the overall feeling and lore of the place. Great take all around!

[@l0u13__3]

I think the weapons could be cooler if they were magically enhanced equipment and tools, still could be a hockey stick but with carvings and runes that magically enchant the item

[@ghost_fueled_scarecrow]

It's the clothes. The bulky tech could look great over skinnier, darker clothes. The 80's aesthetic isn't just laser tag, they could have tapped into a more small town americana aesthetic with the survivor's clothes and added alot of distress to fit the atmosphere. (Rugged jeans, ripped tartan shirts, ect.)

[@magic_claw]

In the story, the survivors wear pieces of the house in an attempt to blend in and not draw attention from the house. Not one card depicts that. Completely discordant.

[@PhileasLiebmann]

Seriously, how is this even possible? That implies such a gigantic miscommunication with the artists, it boggles the mind.

[@magic_claw]

@@PhileasLiebmann everything happens simultaneously and multiple sets are in development at any time. They also don't care that much because we as players haven't cared that much. For most players, the story is just Cheeto dust. As long as it's somewhat coherent, they are fine with it because they didn't bother reading it anyway.

[@snowblindNomad]

As unorthodox an apocalypse as it was, Duskmorn *is* post-apocalypse. Why do none of these people look or act like they're living in post-apocalypse at all.

[@PhileasLiebmann]

Well, there is Rootwise Survivor, I believe the one single Survivor card with clothing that has any visible wear and tear, and he genuinely looks rough. But ironically that makes him looks even more out of place with how fresh everyone else is. (Cautious Survivor is also a little dirty, but that hardly counts)

[@SuperPal-tr3go]

I wish they looked either like postapocalyptic survivors in rags from their original planes or actual people from the 1980s instead of people in a 80s costume.

[@Dlark17]

Another failure of the Survivors I don't think gets talked about enough: their aesthetic *completely* dissolves any ability to read their Class at a glance. Without looking at the type line or rules text, do you know which are Warriors? Wizards? *Detectives?* The art direction on Duskmourn is such a mess.

[@SuperPal-tr3go]

I get Valgorath providing food for the survivors but giving them new flashy and cool 80s clothing makes no sense to me. It would make more sense for it to give them rags or horribly uncomfortable clothin to make them more miserable.

[@AntiVectorTV]

Valgavoth clearly provided them those clothes to feed off of OUR suffering.

[@romulusnuma116]

​@@AntiVectorTVThat monster!

[@PhileasLiebmann]

Don't forget makeup for Cynical Loner, Gremlin Tamer and Winter. Also possible hair products for the mullet guy from Mirror Room/Fractured Realm.

[@soarel325]

I hate “theme park” Magic so much. The survivors are just revoltingly awful, you nailed it. We’ll never have a set as aesthetically resonant as the original Innistrad or Ravnica blocks again.

[@laszlokaszas1003]

If I want to fix the survivors aestetic I would do one of 3 things: 1. Make the mansion more modern. The tech and clothes should be visibly from the enviroment. Maybe if it was a hounted appartment or mall it could work. 2. Have the survivors match the style of the mansion. It didn't even have to be soo back in time, even the 50's style would work. 3. Make the tech and clothes more worn out out looking. Have it feel like this tech was one of the few things the survivors could keep from the outside. It doesn't have to be much, just the clothes being more faded, and the gadgets more visibly be the work of tinkering, not something a factory would make with the platic casing still intact.

[@bencox3641]

A mall would have worked if they just went full camp with it, but I will go number 3 if I want to have a serious horror setting.

[@Cobracon7]

I knew I was put off by the survivors, and I couldn't tell what it was... I can deal with the weird tech, that wasn't the issue... but you made me realize, it's all their clean clothes! I watch lots of horror movies, and their clothes are constantly ripped, or smeared with mud and blood... every survivor on Duskmourne looks like they walked out of a clothing store and posed for their picture...

[@JoeNeutrino]

To put it ineloquently, I just don't buy it. The concept of the world falls apart when you think about it for a second.

[@BijutsuYoukai]

I think the Vampire has more rights than most of the 'friendly' characters/creatures to feel/look confident/cheeky. He's also a supernatural creature and probably used to being fairly dangerous wherever he came from.

[@neminem233]

I have a lot of grievances with the survivors, as I'm sure we all do, but I feel like the biggest problem is that they don't look like *survivors* they look like *THRIVERS*. They look like the conquered the place, like they don't have any struggles and are doing just fine and dandy. They rarely ever look in danger at all 80s-esque fashion was a choice I wasn't fond of, but I can understand it. It does take me out a bit but I'm not against it on principle (I personally love the more modern aesthetics of planes like New Capenna and, yes, Thunder Junction. I've really come around to Thunder Junction, and New Capenna is in my top 3 favorite planes) The abundance of technology isn't a problem (I quite like "ancient lost technologically advanced civilization is actually suburbia", I think that's a nice twist on the ancient civilization trope), so much as the LACK OF MAGIC. In a game called "MAGIC" the gathering I want some survivors to be...y'know...actual spellcasters. Give me a survivor that can manipulate marble in the mistmoors, a hydromancer survivor in the floodpits, things like that. It's not that it doesn't feel like "Magic the Gathering" because that's super subjective, and people can say that for just about any plane, it's more like it doesn't feel Magical, full stop. Also, the overabundance of humans felt like a minor problem that really makes it feel more like our world. One kor. Three elves (not including Tyvar because he's an established character). One Vampire. One merfolk that's explicitly represented as monstruous and not a survivor. No goblins, vedalken, leonin, minotaurs, loxodon nezumi (Nashi doesn't count because he's an established character) nothin. Fuck it give me an orc, anything but there's too many damn people that it doesn't feel fantastical. I want to love Duskmourn, scratch that I DO love Duskmourn, even more than Bloomburrow, but loving something doesn't mean you ignore all the flaws. Because this plane does have some of the best worldbuilding, aesthetics, and art of any plane. I would much rather this be our main horror plane than Innistrad honestly (was never a fan of gothic horror), but this is a chance to see what works and what doesn't.

[@bencox3641]

I feel like the survivors would have worked better in a urban fantasy setting where magic had just returned to the plane for whatever reason, with most people still being terrified of magic, which is why most people are using ghostbuster gadgets. And all of the spellcasters are either crazy cultists, priests whose prayers are working a lot better than what they used too, college professors who study folklore, and the occasional hot goth girl who's really into the occult. With all of the non humans either being monsters who have been popping up out of nowhere, or are people from other planes who have been falling through the Omenpaths for whatever reason.

[@neminem233]

@@bencox3641 that sounds like a great plane honestly

[@neminem233]

@@bencox3641 I just wanted to say your modern fantasy idea got me and a couple other people in the Dicetry server working on our own. Currently we have 5 political parties, one for each color

[@bencox3641]

@@neminem233 That was fast, I will check it out.

[@neminem233]

@@bencox3641 it’s not done yet but @jacw212 for the thread if you want it

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Another issue I have with Marina is that she looks too... adult in the image. She looks like a woman in her early to mid-twenties rather than a teenager. And sure, there are teenage girls who look like this, but still, it's not what you probably imagine when thinking of a teenage girl. And more than physical appearance, it's her clothes and, even more importantly, confidence that makes her look like this. She's supposed to be a dorky bullied schoolgirl who has no idea what's happening around her, but here she resembles some sort of high-class young woman who owns the place and seems to be in full control of the situation she's in. This card honestly makes me think the story of the set wasn't yet finalized when the art was made, and who this character is supposed to be was changed almost at the last minute.

[@DuskyPredator]

The Most Valuable Slayer makes me think he has been taken part in the death games the Razorkin like Lord of Pain has created in Let's Play a Game and Claim Your Prize. There is some sort of matches of pitting survivors against each other.

[@jacopoarmini7889]

I don't understand why they put them in silly suits instead of regular clothing with some additional scavenged armor and tech, if they wanted an 80's reference they could have made them look like Mad Max survivors

[@daemonxblaze]

I am reminded of the necron set for the 40k commander decks. Lots of green lightning and funky looking "tech" (mind you it is still gorgeous and thematic to the necrons, but i think the artists weren't given authority over these colors, this legitimately feels like corporate interests took precedence over theme.)

[@MagusFlorren]

The Zaheer cutaways were TOO FUNNY dude!! I was laughing so hard.

[@kingdomh2lover]

Besides the generic ghostbusters green tech for every survivor, theres no old technology ! No records,cassettes, giant phones/ computers or pagers. Heck , make a glimmer be an old tamogatchi or furby. A lot of older horror movies have radio guy in charge of coordination that eventually gets eaten bc older tech wasn't mobile. It would be fun if a survivor base was shown doing well then under attack. A lore/storytelling reason why so many survivors look confident & clean.

[@steelcladCompliant]

I wonder why some survivors were Survivors, while some were other creature types like Warriors and Wizards I feel like the Survivor creature type was not needed, and makes them harder to reprint in other sets, in other planes, in the future

[@Dlark17]

It's a cheap and unnecessary way to link all creatures with the Survival mechanic. It reminds me of the use of Allies... just worse.

[@steelcladCompliant]

@@Dlark17 Yeah, except it doesnt even do that, because half the survivor characters dont have the Survivor creature type. At least in Zendikar it mattered mechanically wether creatures were Allies or not because there were some tribal abilities. Here it's just senseless

[@danielkubicek1323]

Valgavoth prefers his meals dressed snappily.

[@Ten_Tacles]

The survivors look like they just entered the house *after* preparing for anything they might find.

[@Thickolas]

Here's something else that bugs me (bugged me too on the "frontier" plane of Thunder Junction): why does everybody take their time to do their hair and makeup? Their clothes are perfect, sure, but they obviously spent a lot of time in front of the mirror before heading out into certain peril. Hell, the close up on Gremlin Tamer shows she *painted her nails* before going out to risk her neck in the Boilerbilge.

[@ChangelingRain]

Honestly, it feels like all the green neon was painted onto the tech afterwards - if the tech itself wasn't added in post also. It's that jarring.

[@christopherb501]

Earliest half-elf in magic is Freyalise. Also: just do what I do and assume assimilated malls for clothing, and assume the most out-of-place ones are either the result of Val playing Mojo and allowing certain scenarios to play out for amusement only to crush them mercilessly after allowing for a few years somewhere of legitimate hope to swell or that they're the initial generation and they'll all be crushed more mercilessly soon.

[@srpad]

I think one of the issues with the way the survivors looks is part of a bigger aspect of modern Magic art. All the character art is now done with Cosplayers in mind (and the hope that someone will imitate every character) so now instead of Cosplayers imitating the art, you have the art imitating Cosplayers which I think limits it in some ways.

[@oshawhat87]

To my mind, the survivors used their sports as ways to train their children, thereby passing them along as traditons from the "before times". Most of the sports referenced are team sports that emphasise split-second decisions, not letting your opponents know your next move, quick reflexes, and spacial awareness. It would also have the added benefit of keeping them fit and healthy. American football would teach "grab and go" perfect for stealing lures and escaping pursuing monsters, plus tackling and quick recovery from being tackled. Hockey teaches you how to hit hard with a big stick and fast movement in "armour" (same as american football). Cheerleading teaches stamina and endurance as well as fast reflexes and unpredictable movements. A scenario where a group would have to quickly climb over an obstacle would be easy for an in sync cheerleading squad used to throwing each other around. The word cheerleader would also stick around in a place that only creates fear as an act of defiance. Running track feels self-evident. Bascically, in the same way that play fighting teaches wild animals, sports would do the same for survivors as they were living in a modern plane that didn't need to teach proper survival skills to their kids.

[@Dlark17]

So what's the survival benefit of training in cheerleading?

[@Mordrevious]

I know in the lore they state that Duskmourn periodically produces new clothing for the survivors, but they also mention them making clothes out of available materials like draperies which is basically unrepresented in any of the art. They really leaned way way too hard in the 80's nostalgia direction with these guys when they should have actually leaned into the interesting 'everything we have is scavenged from the house' aesthetic. I don't even mind the glowing green blocky NES tech looking weapons, but they definitely feel way too put together, like something manufactured to spec in a factory, not something a starving person put together out of crap they found in the halls and smacked together. Put some duct tape on these things for god's sake.

[@SuperPal-tr3go]

I think a more Victorian aesthetic would have worked better for the survivors.

[@Mordrevious]

@@SuperPal-tr3go Victorian horror is for Innistrad, Duskmourn is trying to do 80's horror and I think keeping those two flavors of horror separate is a good idea. Unfortunately Duskmourn is not as well considered as Innistrad.

[@AzazinNote]

So, just thought I'd bring it up, there were half elves in Mtg, in Dominaria and Ravinica as far as I know, the most relevant being Freyalise and Radha.

[@obadijahparks]

They should have gone full horror for this set. The cuddly set prior to this would have evened out better.

[@Gabriel-qh4yx]

For what it’s worth, the new clothes are new because Valgavoth is able to dilate and contract time. So there are some survivors who haven’t been in the house for that long from their perspective.

[@hatsudopia5085]

Clean clothes complaint could be solved by a laundry room/ dry cleaner room card in set.

[@someguy4405]

lmao

[@barbedwire9975]

I normally don’t go in for intense speculation over behind the scenes things, but I can’t shake the feeling that the monsters and world was designed and then hasbro were like heeeeey can you cash in on 80’s nostalgia with the humans please and that’s how we get this ghostbusters looking vibe. It’s just so out of line with the aesthetics of the rest of the set that I kind of can’t believe the same team that did the art direction for the world and monsters also made the survivors look like this of their own volition.

[@bencox3641]

Yeah, it feels like they wanted to do a few 80s references, but someone told them to 'make it more like stranger things'.

[@PastelesdeMono]

The marvelization of mtg has been a disaster

[@marcocamaiti212]

Literally everything but the survivors is acceptable in this set. The slashers? Cool. The monsters? acceptable (perhaps with the exception of the Aliens). The cultists? Yeah, pretty cool. The survivors? just cringe.

[@danielaxc2900]

As someone who generally wasn’t bothered by the cleanliness of the survivors and over-stylization of Duskmourn, Marina’s card art definitely bothered me. She looks straight up plucked out of Innistrad, not like a teenager in the 80’s cheese inspired plane of Duskmourn.

[@charcharmunr]

To be strictly fair, the story calls Marina out as dressing in an archaic style even before moving into the house. She's just a weird goth.

[@jakefaas8816]

I think of her as a reference to Winona Ryder’s Lydia from Beetlejuice. She had a very overdone aesthetic. Just in general, the house gives me Tim Burton vibes. It would surprise me if, beyond Ghostbusters, beetlejuice wasn’t also a main source of reference.

[@DeviilReaper]

Gremlin Tamer looks like Princess Diana

[@ghost_fueled_scarecrow]

It's the clothes, they look like they came out of laser tag. The bulky tech could have worked wonders on skinnier, darker clothes. They could have played into the 80's aesthetic expertly by evoking small town americana in concert with the post apocalyptic setting, giving the survivors ripped jeans, torn tartan shirts, ect. Cynical Loner and Rip, Spawn Hunter are great examples.

[@greylacewing3492]

So, I think the mesa enchantress art may be a pun. She is an enchantress… on a table.

[@matadorr2513]

this freaking sucks tbh xD

[@alexisaravenagonzalez7787]

It's a pun, beacuse mesa in spanish is table

[@Dlark17]

The artist confirmed this in their reveal post on the MtG subreddit.

[@pawelekqwert]

37:27 phenomenon investigators- it's a call out for ghost busting shows where there is a believer - someone who sees and hears paranormal stuff everywhere And sceptical person, denialist even sometimes. He goes through recordings again and again and bounces them off as nothing special and thanks to that show can go forever

[@TheTobaccoman]

All I can imagine is the high tech ghost hunter guys are from maybe earlier in the time line before the house took over everything ? That’s my best hunch as flavor they do feel really wonky otherwise.

[@soarel325]

I think the survivors’ aesthetics are downstream from how Magic looks now in general. Everything has to glow and look “big”, with no real subtlety. All sets have to be on-the-nose “I clapped when I saw it” reference spam. Things weren’t this bad before the last few years!

[@kalenbrands3628]

To my mind Star Athlete is drawing your opponent into a trap, when he runs (attacks) your opponent has the choice to let him get away with whatever he took (sacrifice the permanent) or chase him into the trap (take 5 damage). Blitz may represent him getting stuck in the trap with your opponent but attempting to bring them down with him

[@crankthatrebecca12]

Idk why but it feels like the tech is AI generated in the way it looks. I dont think the art kin the cards itself is ai generated, but i could see someone high up giving the artists a folder of ai generated art and telling them that they want this in the set because they thought it looked cool

[@nuttysboythatoneguy6566]

My read on the flavor of Star Athlete’s effect is that it’s trying to be a play on the football aesthetic. The targeted permanent being the ball so the opponent has to either get rid of the ball or get tackled for 5 damage. Doesn’t gel amazingly with the art but I think the concept works

[@faerievandal]

poggers I just finished the other two videos like an hour ago

[@danielreal1989]

Merina's aura bubble looks like a screaming face, if you focus on the edge. Kinda hints about this she feels about her role in the events of the story

[@lucasriddle3431]

"Run by a moth" Oh. Oh yeah. I mean, I understand that playing up 'haha Valgavoth is a moth, moths eat clothes' would reduce the horror factor (except just *maybe* if you spun it in ways that... would violate the game's age rating). But still, that contrast between the main horror demon antagonist being themed around a creature KNOWN FOR DAMAGING CLOTHES, and the survivor's annoyingly clean and new outfits (like, I dunno, seemingly more clean and put-together than even what you'd see in an average magic set?) Generally, land-animating effects grant haste, because otherwise you're technically required to remember which land you played this turn, which is not something the designers like to ask of players.

[@nicholalehtimaki3597]

The art direction feels like a manager ai generated reference images and made all the artists follow that

[@roondar6141]

I was so ready to love Duskmourn until I started looking at all the 80's stuff. It very much feels like they had an idea for a genuinely creepy horror set and then someone from the marketing department told them to "make it like Stranger Things, the kids love Stranger Things." And I know the art lead's done interviews where the 80's stuff is supposed to be old and foreign to a younger audience, which might have been true if a lot of 80's tech wasn't a) still laying around here or there b) still recognizable as the tech we still use (the headphones still look like headphones, a rotary phone is still recognizably a phone) and c) 80's nostalgia hasn't been exploited for the past 20 years. Even if you were fully ignorant to seeing Walkmans and chunky tech you'd still know about it if you watched Stranger Things or any other nostalgic throwback

[@HexatheonRPG]

I think with Marina it would be cooler if she was retrofit into the house itself, almost as much as Valgavoth is, it's an old house when her and her family move in, instead of being preserved in what she destroyed, she's instead playing a role as someone who "belongs" in the house.

[@DuskyPredator]

The Phenomenon Investigators makes me think of the idea of investigating missing people. The believing choice means that there really were horrors there, so they start appearing. And doubt means that there actually wasn't anything bad, and people thought dead are actually okay. It is like a tone shifting effect, tjat when you play it are choosing if it is actually a horror story, or just misunderstandings tgat everyone is actually okay.

[@kamikazebanzai1005]

Phenomen investigator doubt could be seen as the monsters hiding away from the sight of the survivors to sew doubt about them being really there

[@RazerBlaze1]

I'm pretty sure a lot of the survivors were transported in time so Valgavoth could stretch out his food supply over many years. That's how there is a cheerleader and a sports ball player, who are well-kept. They were in pre-duskmourn a couple days ago from their perspective. Though I agree they look out of place.

[@brandonjensen586]

Is there anything to suggest Valgavoth has the ability to do time shenanigans?

[@Demosthenes6666]

@@brandonjensen586 The author of the Duskmourn stories has suggested as much on her blog and in comments she made on the podcast TapTap Concede. It's not so much that Valgavoth can stop or speed up time as that time, as is everything in the House, is fundamentally broken and works more like it would in a nightmare.

[@RazerBlaze1]

@@brandonjensen586 The archenemy scheme "Time bends to my will" seems to be a reference to Valgavoth doing this

[@MarcelBudde]

I miss the days that we had blocks and we could explore various things with more depth, I can see a first set with prevalent scared survivors and a second one with these more heroic ones, people would still complain(I probably would) but at least we would have had plenty of both :/

[@Rain_lights]

The entity tracker card annoys me, it _really_ seems like they removed the monster for the normal one so they could do their gimmick

[@Luke-wt2ph]

The whole aesthetic on the people/humanoids is so camp, corny and heavy handedly directed at the fortnite generation for an inoffensive palette of matte primary colours. The tech is unnecessary and superfluous to anything but flavour. Feels like an unbranded secret lair. Current media is a graveyard and the word 'references' is written on the headstones.

[@fikamonster2564]

I thought that saviour of the small was saving a monkey in. The art

[@clockworkmenagerie]

Radha is an example of a half-elf prerevisionist character. Edit, @Christopherb501 has pointed out that Radha was introduced in Time Spiral block's story.

[@christopherb501]

No...they first appeared in TIME SPIRAL...

[@clockworkmenagerie]

@@christopherb501 Ah, you are correct. Still. A Half-Elf who is a canon character and doesn't have human on the card, and has been in the game since 2007.

[@RiddleOfLightning]

don't worry, the next set will be nothing but AI art

[@LadyLagsalot]

Star athlete could possibly have been from Arcavios. If he's from there he could have been a mage tower player.

[@WolffangLightwood]

It's okay to have wrong opinions about the survivors aesthetics (and Fallout for that matter), I still love you and your content

[@fastpuppy2000]

Oh, waiter! Waiter! More slop please! (I just fucking love the rapid decay of brand identity in the crossover-reference-era.)

[@ty_sylicus]

Confused about what order you review the cards but, another great video. I'm also not a fan of the designs of the Survivors. The 80s esthetic, the clean clothes, the weird tech...

[@Itachi45481]

I mean the 80s aesthetic was fine but yeah if it looked rough beat up and old the weapons more bruised and bettered I think marina was fine she wore old vintage clothes not a big deal and her young look might be due to being connected to the house and valgavoth

[@BREAKERisDEAD]

You caught the X-Files reference! I love Paranormal Investigators just for that alone lol

[@holgerdanielsen3781]

This this is Why duskmourn is a miss for me :P

[@themrrental2509]

My hot take: the alt arts where a survivor is being stalked by a monster SHOULDN'T be alt arts and there should have been way more cards with art like that. It would fix a lot of my issues with the survivors, turning their cocky attitudes and 80s clothing into a dig at how stupid and oblivious horror movie characters could be back then. I'm not a fan of card art basically being censored in order to make money on "alternate arts" when it's just them cutting something out of the original piece. Reluctant Role Model is particularly bad to me. Without the monster in the background the piece just feels empty, with a very prominently lit window in the background drawing your attention to something that should be there but isn't.

[@mattrogers77]

I lost all hope for the art when I saw the first proton pack.

[@joshelderkin9592]

14:29 nah man they deffinetly have to part of somebodies job along the way absolutly shouldve been making your weapons thats your survivors count on practical in any way 😂

[@paulharrison8152]

They really should have made the cards match the story or the story match the cards.

[@tgilly1751]

Bravissimo!

[@joshelderkin9592]

Why does valgavoth have so many megaphones

[@flantos23]

this shit looks like its from a lego set

[@natehicks8000]

What if the survivors who are less afraid of their surroundings are literally safer since the house manifests fear

[@DuskyPredator]

Okay, I have finished the video to get all the complaints, and while you are allowed to express your feelings, I think there is some inherent aspects you are not understanding. Duskmourn isn't just horror, Innistrad is a gothic horror plane, Duskmourn is horror in the 80s movie sense. And while that includes some scary things, another important part of that horror is camp, and that is what the survivors are meant to show. Some definitions of camp: "something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing" and "a style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture". Keep in mind those definitions nderstand this setting needed that. Just as much as Innistrad vampires needed to be regal, flamboyant and menacing, Duskmourn survivors needed to look outrageous and artificial in their appearance. They needed to be ridiculous in hiw they acted to the situation and either inappropriate or out-of-date to the rest of the plane or even MTG in general. And even the ridiculous equipment that either looks mundane modern technology, or like they are just props of high and popular culture. It is "Camp", it is the flip side to some of the most scary influences of modern horror, that you have these absurd that make you laugh as much to a silly jumpscare to tension finally being let out from a building dread. Saying it is out of place is like saying the silly talking animal movie should not have had a big scary animal acting like a force of nature. I can only say that Duskmourn actually kept an identity by having survivors that are: Cheerleaders that are super acrobats, losers forced to become heroes, mean girls that abandon their friend, strong quarterbacks, and all the other quirky trope characters represented. The big flavour issue is the story failed to justify these specific tropes are still ongoing as of the time the story takes place. Maybe giving the idea these were the types of people that existed a couple years into the house taking over. I really think there could have been ways to write it into the story that would not have downplayed the other horror.

[@caderain8304]

I honestly love the survivors, the razorkin (except for the clowns i like them) and cultists are the ones that honestly seem bland to me. And I especially love retro sci-fi tech in anything cave story, aliens, the matrix. Agree to disagree I guess.

[@DuskyPredator]

I might be in a minority in actually being into the aesthetic. If we can have the sort of cyberpunk ninjas, I think there is a place 80s magic punk as a style. As long as it lets itself be ridiculous as just the real 80s, but like how standard fantasy is not an accurate reflection of middle ages. My only problem is the story felt like it undercut it by saying the plane was lost quite a while back, with no large survivor settlements which undercuts putting in the signature looks. If I was to come up with ideas to make the pieces fit, I kind of like the idea of maybe a couple stable settlements. A place where they might be sourcing their magic technology as either trade hubs, or a settlement that has somehow avoided being taken over entirely by the house like an insular suburb. Survivors would then either be scavengers looking for anything to trade for some time in a safe place, or investigators trying to figure out what is making some places safe or trying to infiltrate the safe places. I think some of the lore said the plane used spirits as servants or something, so the ubiquity of ghost hunting tech feels like the mesh to highlight the fantasy. Maybe these parts should have been clearer.

[@DuskyPredator]

And they could have something like clean clothing and stuff is still available because infrastructure like tailoring via spirits or something had continued. I kind of chuckle at the idea of a setting playing on the sort of camp of 80s horror has the surviving inhabitants really caring about their fashion. Maybe people from other planes have to adopt to the fashion to be treated well by the survivors. Throwing in a trope of an 80s movie makeover that the survivors do on people new to Duskmourn.

[@reiner4369]

why wouldn't he have mentioned the wary watchdog with survivors?

[@silvermyr]

Oh goddammit I knew I'd forget something! Ill add the dog into the next one