What Happens in Duskmourn: House of Horror?

[@jaboidoug]

Winter: Don’t trust anyone Also Winter: trusts Valgavoth

[@comlitbeta7532]

Domri : bow to no one Also domri: bow to bolas

[@donb7519]

​@@comlitbeta7532only in card art

[@jacob4920]

@@comlitbeta7532 Both of you guys just threw up two prime examples of how the story writers at Wizards have completely lost their talent for writing, and now just sorta throw up words that kind of make sense, hoping that players won't focus on the nonsense.

[@danalbert7166]

A new "What Happens In" video? This is the most anticipated sequel since Meathook Massacre II

[@agbo]

Electric Boogaloo

[@lisebaronart]

I love how you make "a face" when there's an inconsistency or something strange coming in the story it's always so fun 😂

[@sovietpersonman]

You left out the funniest part about the plane Valgavoth was going to send Winter as a reward was Innistrad of all places. Overall I really did like the story but the biggest thing that bugged was the Nashi stuff because you are right it isn't very clear with how it went down

[@clasherking4528]

Wait really? That's hilarious, to make it even funnier just drop him off in the middle of a zombie horde or house of vampires. Should be fun

[@mcedeias7788]

@@clasherking4528 afais it wasn't confirmed, but very much implied to be Innistrad

[@VI_VA.]

​@@mcedeias7788i think it was? The author made some notes on her blog about the Duskmourn story bits

[@HereticalPreist]

I thought it was Winter’s choice and Valgavoth was like “yeah we don’t go there it’s too scary” 😂

[@CaulkMongler]

Sent to (probably) innistrad is hilarious 😂

[@TwoTonTiger]

I agree with your view that marketing kind of gutted the mysteries aspecy of this set. Even something inconsequential like "what's behind the beasties' masks?" is just unceremoniously answered before the set dropped.

[@tulejumal]

Remember the murder mystery set where they spoiled the killer in the opening trailer :D (mkm)

[@3ndlessL00p]

Yeah the marketing team hasn't been great at keeping from overexplaining. Even at the live event unveiling the set, they couldn't help themselves from explaining. every. reference. and. joke. on the cards shown. Like, they showed "Unwanted Remake" and let the audience chuckle for 20 seconds before they explained how that's a subtle reference to bad remakes of horror movies. jfc 🙄

[@jacob4920]

Wizards of the Coast: Ruining the Magic story, even as they continue to enrich the game-playing experience.

[@eunomiac]

Nashi's such a badass. "Rat Ninja Wizard" has gotta be one of the best creature types in the game :D

[@tersecwalsingham5778]

I agree, I hope one day that make a Nashi card that I like...

[@joeferreti9442]

I hate the Nashi character in MTG.

[@baileylaviolette543]

The bit with Kaito and the dragon is probably a poor attempt at foreshadowing our return to Tarkir, the nod specifically to time magic gives it away since the Khan's era was the more beloved history so unraveling the timeline will probably be the focus of that story Or something

[@PAX-East]

I'm cautiously optimistic about the return to Tarkir. It should fall around my birthday. I want to see what they do with the 5 clans this time around.

[@jacob4920]

Wouldn't unraveling the timeline kind of... screw UGIN?!!? Tarkir became the "Dragonlords' Realm" because Sarkhan went back in time, and saved Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, from Nicol Bolas' betrayal, which originally killed him. The only way I can think of, to undo that, would be to undo Ugin's salvation, which would basically send the poor spirit dragon right back to the realm of "deadness," wouldn't it?? Ugin's one of my favorite PW characters in the whole game!

[@jacks1368]

@@jacob4920 When history on a plane changes, only people who were on that plane at the time are changed with it. Ugin's in the Meditation Realm for the forseeable future, so he should be fine.

[@aaron9797]

i like when niko sees nashi and thinks that its weird that there are no rat folk on theros

[@Rococorico]

I like how Zimone and Tyvar got to twist "the body horror bit" to their advantage and even got some time to reflect on phyrexian compleation and their invasion traumas and grief. Best story perspective by far, their nerd & jock dynamic was hilarious. It's also funny to me that Magic Story has spent so many years trying to make Jace a sympathetic, likeable character and then he shows up, is called out as a jerk and... proceeds to act as a jerk. The logical choice in that moment was to help Kaito then have him help rescue Vraska and Loot. Even if he knew that Kaito could planeswalk away to safety, there was nothing to gain in getting further on the bad side of someone who already wants to punch your face.

[@VI_VA.]

I feel like Jace is in that villain phase of "well I will end the multiverse so nothing else matters anymore except those i love and the one who can help us end the multiverse"

[@lolazaurus]

I think I like Jace better as a prick, lol. I love the idea of MTG's poster boy being a total dickhead. It's a bit refreshing.

[@charcharmunr]

@@VI_VA. Also, let's be fair, if the roles were reversed and Kaito saw the Wanderer, he'd absolutely leave Jace to die to go try and save her.

[@jacob4920]

Jace should have just stayed dead, after the Phyrexian Invasion was defeated. His presence in the MtG timeline is really just a burden that I don't think anybody at Wizards really wants to deal with anymore. And I know a lot of fans who are pretty sick of Jace's continued existence as well.

[@wormer104]

@@charcharmunr To me it’s understandable. The two people he cares about most are stuck in a plane wide house of horrors. While Kaito represents a possible ally his goals and Jace’s are not the same. Plus Vraska and Loot are essentially his wife and child.

[@c.r.bledsoe9322]

One thing to explain the continuity of Nash's disappearance is that it's been explained before that time doesn't work the same on every plane so he could have only been gone for a couple days inside the house but it felt like 3 months on kamigawa.

[@JoeyBBiden]

@@c.r.bledsoe9322 na just bad writing, but I like your idea a lot.

[@AnimeProfilePicture]

​@@JoeyBBiden but that truly was how time was explained, it's why we visit Kamigawa in the future after it's initial visit

[@JoeyBBiden]

@AnimeProfilePicture Then, the people on Kamigawa should be much more aged between visits to other planes. You can't pick and choose how time works. Either it is lazy writing or different explanation.

[@Salty_SeaBear]

Despite the little flaws of the story you pointed out in mustache minute; I thoroughly enjoyed how you presented the story and agree with you that it did better than just jamming tvs and horror movie tropes in the set.

[@clasherking4528]

I watched the videos they put up here on KZbin basically reading the story to you. My favorite part was when zimone and tyvar are fighting the cultists and zimone uses her magic on tyvar and tries to explain how it works, tyvar understands nothing that she says and just yells out "BEHOLD THE POWER OF MATH!!!!" I was rolling on the floor with that one tyvar was my favorite character through the whole story, and the reason why can be summed up in a quote from fairy tail about natsu "he seems so empty headed, but when he fights his mind moves at lightning speed"

[@as95ms98]

Tyvar is MTG's best Himbo

[@punahougirl84]

As a newer player, I do appreciate Story Time! I am one who would have enjoyed more time on Bloomburrow LOL. I cannot keep up the pace of releases. Thank you for doing these!

[@alexwilliamfisher]

Okay as someone who loves playing mtg and looking at minimal spoilers, this video is where I'm finding out the whole plane is a giant haunted house and your right the twist is super dope

[@NKMitch42]

I wish we spent a little more time everywhere. It rarely feels lile we get enough of a plane and its residents to really build a connection anymore. Maro has clearly stated that blocks were bad for business but I earnestly think they were better for the game and story is a big part of why.

[@TheKingNaesala]

Dont worry, now we'll get even LESS time as 50% of all sets are Universe Beyond! Seriously, magic's story is gonna be blitzing through stuff when it gets the opportunity to show up at all and it's really sad

[@CarmenCards]

My thought is either jace underestimated how dangerous duskmourn as a plane is, or that showing loot the danger of the omen paths is part of the plan

[@Empress-Sky-of-Brynn]

That's the thing about Jace: both can be true as he's somehow the most ingenious planeswalker and also makes the most witless of decisions. Truly an enigma as it doesn't feel like that's changed at all since we first met him.

[@petereng1977]

My thought was that Jace was looking for something on Duskmourn, and needed Loot to find his way there. It might be useful to make note of any legendary items in the set, on the grounds that those are likely to be plot points a few sets down the line.

[@MTGDuelist8870]

what i wanna know the most is why jace and vraska even went to Duskmourn in the first place and what they were even doing there. all we see of them during Duskmourn is Jace running into Kaito, ditching Kaito cause he saw that Loot and Vraska were getting swarmed by horrors, and then at the end of the story Loot was taken by Valgavoth. we see on the card "don't make a sound" that Jace was in the mistmoors cause of the shroudstompers he's tiptoeing around in the art but other then that, we don't get any expo as to what they were doing there. and what happened to Vraska and Jace afterwords?, cause Vraska can't planeswalk without Loot and Jace wouldn't leave Vraska sooooooo, are they just stuck on duskmourn trying to get Loot back?. wish we knew

[@brotquel1592]

While I overall enjoyed the story I still wish we had two sets worthy of time to develop the plot. I feel like the buildup was good and thrilling, but the resolution was really rushed. "Team Wanderer is in place X facing these horrors, Team Zimone is in place Y doing research and uncovering the history of the plane, Kaito is back on Ravnica where they are theorizing how to open artificial omenpaths... and then they are all together, big final battle, Tamiyo dies AGAIN, spooky sequel bait." It's like having a great dinner at a restaurant only for the waiter to come up when you are still midway through your seconds with coffee and dessert and forcibly shoving them down your throat all in one big gulp wrapped in the check. It could have been good but... holy manoly, what has just happened? Also prompt to Tyvar for being an icon and his hatred for any form of shirt and for how adorable Zimone is for calling Niv-Mizzet "Mr Guildpact".

[@Dailytrueevil]

I don’t get how Aminatou got so nerfed. I get the spark thing but she could control fate so much she decided when she wanted to have parents or not. She created them out of nothing at a whim. Even if she couldn’t influence so many fates during the phyrexian invasion, she could at least have changed fate so her spark is safe,no? Or forsee the events? I would have totally accepted it if she had said: I did help. This was the only outcome where the my didn’t win. Dr Strange style. But I do like the idea that she’s careful to not take agency from people.

[@wormer104]

It would depend on how much of that talent came from her spark. And we know from Bolas that the spark is tied to their power. Maybe only a planeswalker can move fate in such a titanic way.

[@Dailytrueevil]

@@wormer104 true, but she literally ignited her spark out of sheer will so there should be some control over it that prevents her from losing it🤔

[@wormer104]

@@Dailytrueevil Ignored it?

[@Dailytrueevil]

@@wormer104 typo, I meant ignited

[@wormer104]

@@Dailytrueevil I thought of that but we have seen that sparks do something even pre ignition. It’s possible that the existence of said spark gave her the ability to ignite it. So when the spark went away her ability to influence it went as well.

[@VI_VA.]

Btw, the author of the magic stpries of Duskmourn; Seanan McGuire has a personal blog where she expands a bit on each episode and explaining some bits, called "DvD extras"

[@MagicArcanum]

That's nice and all, but I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation that a player can understand the story just by picking up the cards and reading the official story (which has a featured url on the spotlight cards for that reason)

[@VI_VA.]

@@MagicArcanum oh no, I inderstand. I only meant it as some fun extra things in case people wanted to see

[@joenap17]

If I had to guess, that scene with the dragons burning a "city" down was a vision of the old plane Duskmourn used to be, during the Ascension while people were struggling to destroy/contain the house. There's a side story where an elven holdout briefly manages to delay the house's expansion by setting up nonstop watches of it all along the borders of their territory, but eventually someone looks away and it immediately absorbs the last forest on the plane. There's some wonderful weird horror about an endless eldritch house that endlessly expands and corrupts, I agree with you they shouldn't have leaned so heavily on 80s movies.

[@mrruniccross1226]

The Tyvar House mode could be really brilliant as a Chekov's Gun in a later arc by having the demon use him as a way to force open a door elsewhere in a different plane

[@manadorkuk]

The flavour text on coordinated clobbering is so good

[@svandermate1]

Every time i decide to binge watch these Magic Arcanum videos, there are always a new one the next day, pulling me back in. Keep it up!

[@robertgronewold3326]

I actually got the feeling that Winter was going to wind up as some sort of planes traveling avatar of Valgavoth. And as far as story structure goes, I think it would have made more sense to have Winter being the sole guide to the Emperor and Kito, while Tivar and Zimone had the glimmer leading them on.

[@KingMadDog7]

Tyvarr kicks ass, dude. I love the idea of punch man but also absorbing man in a haunted house situation where his whole plan is to just punch things. Like hell yeah, dude. Turning into Dr. Tyvar House MD to travel through the house and punch things? Say no more, boss. I’m on the edge of my seat for all of his scenes like “Oh boy, here he goes punching again. 💪😎”

[@SuperSimputer]

Given that the length makes deep development pretty difficult, I'm also glad we have Punch Man the Punching Man who Punches Things Real Hard, since he doesn't need much focus to be fun.

[@Blu_Moon_Owl]

I was always under the assumption until now that this took place between planes, and Valgavoth basically had a giant ever shifting house as his turf. To think he was a lowly demon that got one followed and exponentially grew to become the plane (however big that is) Now, he has Loot and knows of the Multiverse so this feels like setup for him to be the next big bad

[@tactlesswordace9711]

If the cultists now understand, there’s a Multiverse and have loot they can navigate the Multiverse causing a complete chaos

[@ty_sylicus]

I like the idea of Valgavoth being able to somehow escape Duskmourn and invade other planes. Perhaps it can do so unnoticed at first and build a large army....

[@bradley8690]

well being bound to the house means it may just bring duskmourn to the other planes eventually

[@underfale8742]

@@bradley8690 imagine the multiverse becoming one big house lol

[@neminem233]

wait...Teferi's time manipulation with the dragons...Tarkir had some time-travel shenanigans that caused the dragons to rule.

[@Dlark17]

The Emperor *finally* can stay on Kamigawa instead of being randomly blipped to another plane against her will (the ONE good outcome of the desparking)... and she's immediately dragged away into some BS on another world. There is no justice in the modern Magic story. It died with Gideon.

[@lukenzur1667]

You are BY FAR the best MTG story-teller - straight to the point with your own thoughts, PERFECT!

[@BrensExhausted]

I agree with most of your points - perhaps especially about Bloomburrow. Duskmourn is an interesting concept solidly executed with some very creative gameplay, interactions, and story bases for them, but has the poor fortune to come immediately after an adorable and well executed tail that seems to be one of the most popular years..

[@davidbrasher3595]

I was sort of left with the impression that we have a new multiversal threat. A bit like Phyrexia or the Eldrazi. Valgavoth is still out there and hungry and is going to continuously kidnap random people from various planes. If he gets really hungry, he might even find a way to consume a whole plane and turn it into an extension of Duskmourn's haunted house. So in the storyline, there is going to have to be a return to Duskmourn to defeat Valgavoth once and for all and end the threat.

[@wormer104]

Well that’s the thing isn’t it? Thanks to the omenpaths there could be any number of them. Hell Ob Nixilis could be back in play. Or the Eldrazi O.O

[@alkorkrus5152]

So we could end up with Rath 2.0? Not sure how I feel about that...

[@terrabull1431]

I do like that the face Commander's from the pre-cons have a place in the story

[@nerdaccount]

I'm not sure I would leave my mom's magical research in the blind eternities. I also think someone needs to go to Nico Bolas and tell them a dumb demon took over a whole plane... why couldn't you? LOL

[@Thatposer444]

I really like the set and the story articles aren’t bad either, but I do really wish we had more Bloomburrow.

[@7Alberto7]

I was waiting for this so much ! Thanks Ryan!!!! Cannot wait to see why Loot is so important! I hope they do not trash it😅 thank you!!!!

[@ThatJakers]

Tyvar was jacked in to the house’s matrix for many parts of the story, he was probably able to find the location of the final confrontation the way you can feel an itch on your body. The text does say the house’s personality was passing into the camouflaged duo which is why they had to keep turning it off and on.

[@SladeWeston]

I thought this was one of the better written stories in recent memory. Particularly the "side stories", which did an excellent job of both telling an interesting story and giving exposition. The main story was a bit contrived, of course, but I suspect that has more to do with the brevity required of the story, than actual writing skill. Speaking of which, I don't think enough props are given to the story team. I guarantee you that the team/person who decided on this sets theme was not the same person who had to come up with the story. The fact that they could squeeze an 80's Horror movie theme into the mtg story at all, and make it halfway reasonable, is a feat that deserves some praise. Can you imagine being on the story team and being told, "Okay, the upcoming sets are, Fairytales, Murder Mystery, Western, Redwall, 80s Horror, Planar Death Race. As you come up with a story arch to tie those together, don't forget to cover the post Phyrexian invasion and lost planeswalker sparks".

[@nik700]

16:27 This is my issue as well. People complain about the '80s nostalgia and references (a baseball bat here is the equivalent of DJs and skyscrapers in Kamogawa, but somehow NEO was beolved? even when cyberpunk is filled with '80s nostalgia and it's born from it? But to be fair, people did complain about NEO during preview season), but those things in themselves are not a problem for me. I have a problem with references diluting and hiding the cool and unique stuff from Duskmourne, like the wickerfolk and the beasties

[@VexylObby]

Televisions and cheerleaders though? Seems too specific to Earthen things, less magical.

[@Ardenemhazik]

Bloomburrow. More Bloomburrow please.

[@aerotanlightpaw1183]

200% this. I want to see more of Ral trying to track Jace down to "talk to" him. I'm also more than a little concerned that they're going to pull Mable, Hugs, and Helga into another plane and make them -boring- humans.

[@gigipianuz97]

Time to understand what’s going on!

[@imnindigo44]

It’s always so much more fun to watch these than sit through the multiple videos of the stories

[@TheAweDude1]

You know what I want: A new plane with no returning characters. Just "One day, on plane Fliborth, the kor Jash is working away on a plot thing." Then the plot happens, new characters are met, explained, and defeated, and the whole plot wraps up in a self-contained bow. Then, later on, it turns out the plot think Jash was working on was connected to the Dragonstorm. Maybe, they should pivot to having "between set" plots that talk about the overaching story, and have the main set plots be about the planes themselves.

[@STS-qi1qy]

I can definitely relate with enjoying this story much, *much*, more than I anticipated. I'd be happy with more Duskmourn in the future but, yes, give me more Bloomburrow first.

[@SlycerZ]

So LRR interviewed one of the writers of Duskmourn so watching that interview might solve some of the questions in the mustache minute

[@grosguerrier]

I agree with you, I think my own critique has been altered by the poor choices the marketing department did make about the huge reveal about modern props, and so on. But I kinda love the execution after all, I was really curious about how the author will capture the essence of a "backrooms/liminal space setting" and connect it with the big fantasy magic the Multiverse had gave us for thirty years! I'm more and more curious about... How it would weave with itself to link with a Mad Max setting and a return to Tarkir; cause a lot of very rude people were upset by the timey-wimey event (and the multiple references to alt characters, with Narset, or Alesha... etc)! So I'm curious, and enthusiastic. Great video! Always a pleasure to hear from you and Nicole about story!

[@christopherlee9026]

Valgavoth seems like the new Yawgmoth

[@tcsmagicbox]

Love it when you point out the inconsistencies in the stories.

[@vbkllr]

I love the story for this set! Even with all the references, it's the most original thing they've done in years. Bloomburrow is just Redwall on fast forward without any real meaningful story hooks, the western story was convoluted and cringey, the Phyrexian story had more plot holes than the multiverse has omenpaths, and the Ravnica story was like bad fan fiction. Not since Kamigawa have we had a story so compelling, with awesome art and mechanics to match. I know people love Bloomburrow, and animals are cute, whatever, but it was such a departure from the story I care about, and so paint by numbers with the mechanics, that I stopped playing standard all together. This set, with a compelling story, awesome characters, and really great cards to match, all with gorgeous (but very gross and scary) art brought me back. Can't wait to draft it, and to see what happens next!

[@yarrrthekraken]

This is without question the thing I most look forward to every new set.

[@Muppi9]

I love it when his head aligns with the arch on the background

[@FettFan42]

I hadn't made the Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar until you brought it up and now I need to make a Valgavoth food deck.

[@RazgrizAce67]

I enjoyed the story, definitely had some cool elements. Sad you didn't mention my favorite line when Tyvar shouts, "Behold, the power of Math!"

[@anthonydelfino6171]

for your end question, more Bloomburrow is something I'd never be upset about I ADORE otters, and while I do love that we've got Alania now to build an otter deck around, there's just not enough of them and not enough good ones yet. more time on that adorable plane would really have helped to round out that creature type more. not to mention some of the other creature types are also lacking general support, such as mice and raccoons

[@michaelpowers8685]

Thank you for explaining this one I was having trouble finding story related info for this set 👍👍👍

[@TheLoneAlpaca]

im a sucker for horror tropes and i love this set. thanks for the awesome breakdown!!

[@JainusVt]

It's good to see vlog rat is home safe from therapy 🙏🙏🙏 Valgovoth best therapist

[@Aerix]

The audio dramas were amazing and really sold the setting even if it wasn't perfect. I also wish the art of the survivors better reflected the story's description with bits of the house worked into their outfits and weapons as a camo. Not random perfect cheerleader uniforms, intact windbreakers, and pristine track suits. Like it woulda been cool to show recognisible fragments of their lost civilization worked in to their hodgepodge clothes.

[@aquaticdemon1]

This story really makes me want another one fast. Like the ending, oooh mysterious!

[@TheFangTiger]

The part about how Duskmourn came to be because of Marina and Valgavoth makes the butterfly simbol quite fitting for the expansion, cause that's an insane butterfly effect.

[@OzxGG]

Are we getting a “what else happens in duskmourn” video? I just got into mtg about two months ago I’ve binged all of these to get caught up on the story and who everyone is. Lovr the series. I wish i was around during Neon Dynasty, and am glad some of those characters returned for this one.

[@MagicArcanum]

I am considering it, but the side stories for Duskmourn feature characters and events that don't have cards in the set, which makes it hard to illustrate the story and keep things interesting. I'd still do it though if that's something people would want to watch.

[@sammccullough2428]

I do believe when Tyvar does shift into House Mode, the house does de-maze, so navigation is significantly easier. Also it's possible with the house mode on there might have been tracking in the devices that were given which allowed them to find each other. But only the de-mazing was ever explained.

[@7ItalianStallion]

Great video as always! Really great storyteller

[@MM-lv7iy]

24:18 A theory that could excuse this weird plot point is that Loot had an old map: the area that Duskmourn now encompasses could have been safe when Loot was locked away however many eons ago.

[@MagicArcanum]

So unfortunately, when Jace first meets Loot and reads his mind, he sees the map, and notices it updates in real time. He literally sees a new omenpath open while their minds are connected, and Jace realizes how incredibly helpful this ability will be, as he and Vraska navigate the multiverse.

[@MM-lv7iy]

@@MagicArcanum Oh. Well then this plot point is actually kinda stupid. I guess maybe a mcguffin that Jace is too cryptic to tell people about is the only reason why they would travel to this swanky hellhole.

[@bradley8690]

@@MM-lv7iy i mean the general out is that the house uses lures, like its very possible that loot just walked in when jace and vraska weren't paying attention jace is a bad dad who could have imagined.

[@rx-42-s]

@@MagicArcanummaybe there's something important left on the plane even though it's now just the house? (And maybe it has something to do with the dragons, which were very much unlike any of the other magic we saw in the house)?

[@RazgrizAce67]

The "...but it has undying" line got me😂😂😂 well done.

[@KnicKnac]

I always look forward to storytime since I don't play the game anymore. Just enjoy the stories.

[@L363NDK1LL3R]

Thanks for the story!

[@lanibentz9976]

Something that just occurred to me, what was the point in desparking all the planeswalkers if they were still just going to be using planeswalkers as characters for the entire thing? Like of the named natives to the plane we see three, and only one of them assists the main group, before betraying them. We could have had Rip or Toby show up, why instead fill the group with just the same characters we’ve seen before

[@MagicArcanum]

Because now we get to explore how they each handle having lost their spark. Some take it well (Tyvar, The Wanderer) while others do not (Niko, Vraska). We also get tension between the haves and the have-nots (Kaito vs the rest of the party, since he could flee the house at any time while they couldn't) We'll probably also see some people motivated by the loss (Bolas, for sure) and other non-planeswalkers get dragged into bigger conflicts (Oko's band out outlaws) so I think overall it does improve the variety of stories Magic can now tell, while keeping a thread of familiarity, which is important in a game 30+ years old.

[@lanibentz9976]

@@MagicArcanum a fair stance

[@lenajohnson6179]

Commander. The answer to this question will ALWAYS be that Commander ruined planeswalkers.

[@lanibentz9976]

@@lenajohnson6179 this was a story discussion? I don’t see how commander would have that big of an impact on the discussion at hand

[@lenajohnson6179]

@@lanibentz9976 Because the desparking of walkers is a direct ramification of WotC wanting to sell their popular characters as commanders. This affects the storytelling inherently by it's nature, causing such stupid plotlines as the EMPRESS of Kamigawa being sent on a rescue mission for a street urchin kid to a plane suspect of being incredibly dangerous, rather than a delegation of more expendable people being sent. Imagine now the de-sparkings never happened. The Wanderer, still unable to act as Empress due to her condition, travels with the group to the haunted mansion plane, and find themselves cut off and held there by an unanticipated force, both allowing the wanderer and Kaito to finally have some mutual character development, AND allowing for Wanderer to be a main character of the area without constantly bamphing off... without the incredulity of her presence being there at all. Sending your empress on a dangerous mission to save 'effectively' a 'nobody' is absolute madness. The game impacts the story, always has, always will.

[@3ndlessL00p]

Having Jace and Vraska there with Loot seemed like such a weird addition to an otherwise pretty decent story.

[@ReadyAimFire_]

I discovered your videos today and try to catch up, already subscribed. I like how you present lore and also give your opinion about it and flaws. I like this set as I really like 80s movies and horror atmosphere. Bloomburrow was a miss for me, didnt have this cool vibe or Magic vibe for me. This one is really climatic, and demon cards are awesome.

[@terrabull1431]

My headcannon is that Duskmourn is Earth

[@jakegray1723]

@terrabull1431 this is also something I've considered. Magic seems very 'vanilla' here, iirc there are native no fantasy creatures (i.e. dwarves, elves, ratfolk) and everything non human seems to have come from either other humans and or demons. There is one elf card, but that could be explained as a non native survivor. It doesn't help the plane is simply so Earth like in appearance, tone and general 'tech' anyway.

[@TheKingNaesala]

@@jakegray1723 There are native elves, the story of the last day on duskmorne is about the last holdout of elves in the forest. There's also two suns. It's not earth, they've made it clear it's similar but different.

[@dfeyder]

I want to see more Bloomburrow-- I wish that had been a three part set like Stronghold, Tempest, Weatherlight

[@Leivve]

Kind of wished Winter had also made an escape with the rest. Not necessarily with them, so much as "Oh there is a door, I'm taking that!" Unwittingly bringing the house with him everywhere he goes, because everything he has was part of the house.

[@ThatJakers]

I rolled my eyes hard when they first foreshadowed the Tyvar Zimone ship. I completely ship Zimvar now, their little flirting was so cute and it was a gentle chemistry I usually don’t get to read about in the fiction I pick.

[@kylehedge6280]

I do think this set is fun and has a unique aesthetic. However, as someone who really enjoyed the lightheartedness of Bloomburrow as a change from the more serious and grim sets we've seen a lot of, I can't help but feel sad that it didn't get to stick around a little longer.

[@lilkingpanda1760]

Sir I would just love to thank you for the time you put in these. 🙏 Thank you for being another reason as to why I could never fully hate magic (except for the bs ofc😅😂)🙏

[@jollaffle]

I actually surprisingly enjoyed the main story. There were lots of neat character interactions - particularly Tyvar and Zimone teaming up, and how Kaito and Tyvar have forged a nice friendship after All Will Be One. But the overall absence of the 80s aesthetic was very notable to me. I was expecting the way those elements are employed narratively to tip the scales on my opinion about them being there, but they just... weren't, really. Which I guess in its own way does still influence my feelings; it makes the story feel even more dissonant with those tropes and references.

[@randomguy6232]

Personally while the concept of a plane wide mansion run by a fear hungry demon is great, I hate the campiness and aesthetic they chose, it feels cheap, goofy, and doesn't take itself seriously which makes the whole feel and look harder to enjoy. This is not helped by the modern clothes and technology on top of weird ghost hunting gear everyone is decked out with for some reason. I think the set would have done great if they settled on a more grim and mysterious tone closer to innistrad, but kept a focus on more unique and classic early horror over the usual vampires and zombies. They had a huge missed opportunity not sticking to a victorian theme and look especially with the manor, or perhaps early industrial revolution, keeps the tech and fashion more reasonable. I just don't like how far magic has gone with omenpaths making crossovers so lazy, theme sets sacrificing characters backstory and personality just to include them and make them fit the aesthetic, and trending more and more into sci fi and modern technology which is uninspired and jarring

[@Hacibeyrocks]

Well, during the marketing period before revealing the set, sharing cards that has movie references and whatnot THEN not showing those in the story is a real bummer for me. Feels like a dirty trick to be honest...

[@goth_fraggle]

yeah...as off-putting as the idea of TVs in MTG was at first, over the last couple of weeks the concept grew on me (after all we already hat Cyberpunk stuff thanks to Kamigawa) and then it's just...not int he set. This could have helped to differentiate Duskmourn from Innistrad.

[@ajh22895]

Oh cool, they have Divine Pulse. Also, I feel like Aminatou at least did in Jin-Gitaxias. That kind of death is specific.

[@Ryan-lr9gw]

I wish we could have stayed on Bloomburrow, for sure!

[@momothedragon]

This series was so jumpy between story lines, came to this climax at the end battle, and then the heros "door"us ex machina'd their way home without actually dealing with the conflict.

[@twinixsn6679]

Im new to MtG and join 2 weeks before Bloomburrow and I really liked that expansion and its kinda sad for me that is going away already

[@htg9702]

The bassist from Ram Jam sure does know a lot about MTG.

[@Jay-yr9oi]

I definitely preferred the side stories to the main story, which, when they've done them, has often been the case. They really do a fun job flushing out the world in a way the main stories can't do, since they have so much main narrative to carry and often involve mostly characters from outside the plane. The beasties story was super fun.

[@goth_fraggle]

do the tech-y things show up in those? I was kinda curious how Duskmourn would handle all these modern things like TVs and chainsaws but going by this video, they are not in the story at all. Do the side stories feature them?

[@Jay-yr9oi]

@@goth_fraggle Not really, at least in a way that was really relevant to the written story. They're more for the art (or, I just missed it, which also probably says something). I actually like the story being told (I'm also a fan of the author, and was before she war writing Magic stories), but I think the way the set was marketed (as Ryan pointed out) and the limited number of chapters did result in an okay story that could've been really good, and that kind of tech stuff would've fit in well with her writing if she were doing this as a novel.

[@andrewfornes5320]

So, this may be a stretch & it probably is, but there was definitely foreshadowing in the story that seemed to point at air flow being important. So, Kaito & Zimone randomly have this talk & agreement about how someone can tell when someone or something has been in a room due to air flow & pressure changes. I think this was on purpose & during the end, when we are with Alquist Proft, if I remember correctly.. a random door/portal opens & he feels a cold air current. Okay, the ending with Winter still in the house with Valgavoth is kind of up to Interpretation; we don't know if Valgavoth killed him or what. Well, I have a theory, Winter's colors are Jund & he seemed to be someone that uses any means to get his way & is very clever. Maybe he made a deal with Valgavoth to keep him alive but in retuen Val could use his body as a vessel. He truly either wants safety from the house or being away from it completely. There are too many odd things within the story that seem to have more meaning. 1) Winter's name. It stands out because of his color identity. He is Jund/Golgari but when most people think about winter or the themes of the season, like snow & the cold tempature, WotC usually ties to Azorius (see Hylda from Eldraine). I think that name was intentionally given. 2) The conversation I mentioned above with air & how people can pick up on things within it. Anyways, I believe that Winter either willingly released Valgavoth from his pact (Jund colors can do stuff like that) or he made a deal with Val, to not kill him but use him as a vessel. I believe that the portal Alquist sees at the end that has COLD air flowing from it, is a nod to WINTER being the person coming out of it but this time, it really isn't him alone but a possesed version of him & a newly freed Valgavoth coming out of a portal (that we already know from the story Val can make because he makes one with a moon and tentacles on it for Winter at first...which means he was going to send him to freaking Innistrad as a reward lol.) He, now free & within a human vessel can use the portals & pretty much act like a psuedo-planeswalker; we just don't really know what he is intending to do. TLDR: Valgavoth doesn't kill Winter at the end but uses him as a vessel & creates a portal to Alquist Proft at the end of the story. That is why they take the time to mention cold air flowing from the portal... its a slight nod to Winter.

[@Onattamato]

I would have LOVED staying in Bloomburrow. Just from the set itself Duskmorn seems like another of the "too on the nose" sets like MKM or OTJ.

[@grantmurdock7385]

The true terror is being old enough to indeed be able to smell the cloves on Winter by looking at him.

[@Toasty373]

I missed this despite having notifications on!

[@SuperSimputer]

So to recap, Winter: - Says to not trust anyone or anything, but trusts the monstrous malevolent fear demon. - Has years of experience in the house, having met enough people to have a list of warnings in like twenty languages on him at all times, yet never found anyone else to sacrifice besides his friend. - Finally gets to escape, but trips over himself at random, and apparently just lays there saying "welp, I tried" for the next several minutes. Instead of, you know, trying to get up. What an........interesting character.

[@crayyonnyadrav4055]

I am not really a horror movie Fan or a horror genre enjoyer per se, but one Horror Movie I really enjoyed was Thirteen Ghosts, which takes place in a mysterious House. Just like this Set. But unlike The Set here, That house of Thirteen Ghosts had a way to be solved or navigated through. They really should have given Zimone some sort of Navigation ability akin to such one.

[@joeferreti9442]

It's a shame that WotC cut Bloomburrow short, we basically had only 1.5 months with BLB. :/

[@lenajohnson6179]

The fact the Emperor is on this field trip remains an improbable element that could easily have been solved by just not removing her spark. I'm sorry, if they wanted to keep using the Wanderer as a wanderer, they shouldn't have removed her spark, removing HERS specifically was one of the dumbest decisions of the current story arcs. The desparking of walkers remains a general con of basically all their character arcs, but none so terribly as the Wanderer (Whose name we really ought to know by now) NOW she's JUST the 'empress' and sending her off on dangerous missions instead of delegating to her people makes NO sense.

[@cristianisamuel]

So Tamyo's scroll, which probably holds knowledge of her sealing the Eldrazi Titans, is floating freely in the Blind Eternities, home of said Eldrazi?

[@chasebalcziunas4289]

Winter definitely smells like the basement all extracurriculars take place in.

[@Salaundre]

Yeah, I think they should spend more time per set. BLB was only a just over a month the DM was just one month and Foundations is coming out next week. They should space it out more.

[@Dragetsuyatamiki]

Seems to me we’ll go back there again which is interesting. I find that plane to be unique and interesting. I wonder if profft takes the bait and if jace and vraska break loot free

[@wizard42069]

This story is basically how I imagine Beetlejuice would be if Lydia was like Mandy from grim adventures.

[@BreakingPtuck]

I think Magic stories are suffering from only one set per Plane. Imagine a two-set Duskmourn block that starts with Jace, Vraska and Loot looking for something on the original Duskmourn plane as Volgavoth is starting to expand. The second set is this current set with others entering the house as doors open on other Planes. This helps not only solve the questions of why Jace & co. are there and how Volgavoth knows about the multiverse. I didn’t pay much attention to the story of Murders at Karlov Manor or Bloomburrow, but I imagine it would be similar for those stories as well.

[@lz9275]

or they can make the second set a "prequel" story before the group arrived and focuse the perspective of jace and his crew