Duskmourn: House of Horror (DSK)

In figures

• 1,011,949 games analysed
• On the play: 56.8% wins, against 52.1% on the draw
• A game lasts 9.0 turns on average

What players think

Duskmourn is seen as a format of average to slow pace, with grindy games, plenty of bombs, Rooms performing better than expected, and fixing as the main limit on splashing. White is seen as the strongest color: Eerie and Glimmers and Small Attackers are named at the top, Face-Down Creatures has its fans too, while Survivors disappoints and black is seen as the weakest color. Our measured games confirm most of this: and decks win the most often, follows, and stays in the lower half. They qualify the black verdict: Sacrifices and Graveyard and Insects sit in the upper-middle of the ranking, while Returns from the Graveyard and Eerie Fliers really are among the last.

Colour pairs

Win rate of the decks of each pair, from real games of online draft players.

Pair	Share of games	Win rate	Strong players	Over time
Eerie and Glimmers	15.0 %	56.4 %	55.6 %	57.0 → 55.7 → 55.5
Small Attackers	13.9 %	56.9 %	55.8 %	57.4 → 56.2 → 56.3
Face-Down Creatures	11.6 %	55.5 %	54.1 %	56.1 → 54.7 → 54.7
Aggressive Delirium	11.5 %	55.3 %	54.0 %	56.1 → 54.3 → 54.7
Sacrifices	8.2 %	54.9 %	54.1 %	55.1 → 54.6 → 55.2
Graveyard and Insects	8.1 %	54.3 %	52.5 %	54.7 → 53.6 → 53.7
Returns from the Graveyard	5.4 %	52.0 %	50.8 %	51.8 → 52.4 → 52.2
Rooms and Damage	5.2 %	52.1 %	50.9 %	52.1 → 52.0 → 52.2
Survivors	4.8 %	52.6 %	51.4 %	52.7 → 52.4 → 51.9
Eerie Fliers	4.0 %	51.7 %	51.8 %	51.5 → 51.6 → 52.7

Archetypes: the gold uncommons

• Eerie and Glimmers

  56.4 % win rate15.0 % of games

  Eerie

  • 

    35. Gremlin Tamer

    7.3
  • 

    65. Inquisitive Glimmer

    6.6
  • 

    11. Niko, Light of Hope

    8.5

• Small Attackers

  56.9 % win rate13.9 % of games
  • 

    26. Arabella, Abandoned Doll

    7.5
  • 

    24. Midnight Mayhem

    7.6
  • 

    109. The Jolly Balloon Man

    6.0

• Face-Down Creatures

  55.5 % win rate11.6 % of games

  Manifest dread

  • 

    31. Oblivious Bookworm

    7.4
  • 

    64. Growing Dread

    6.6

• Aggressive Delirium

  55.3 % win rate11.5 % of games

  Delirium

  • 

    41. Wildfire Wickerfolk

    7.0
  • 

    59. Beastie Beatdown

    6.7

• Sacrifices

  54.9 % win rate8.2 % of games
  • 

    106. Sawblade Skinripper

    6.0
  • 

    29. Disturbing Mirth

    7.4
  • 

    52. Undead Sprinter

    6.8

• Graveyard and Insects

  54.3 % win rate8.1 % of games

  Delirium

  • 

    36. Broodspinner

    7.2
  • 

    62. Drag to the Roots

    6.6
  • 

    10. The Swarmweaver

    8.5

• Returns from the Graveyard

  52.0 % win rate5.4 % of games
  • 

    238. Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal

    4.0
  • 

    144. Rite of the Moth

    5.4
  • 

    151. Shroudstomper

    5.4

• Rooms and Damage

  52.1 % win rate5.2 % of games

  Rooms

  • 

    103. Intruding Soulrager

    6.0
  • 

    197. Smoky Lounge // Misty Salon

    4.8
  • 

    55. Roaring Furnace // Steaming Sauna

    6.8

• Survivors

  52.6 % win rate4.8 % of games

  Survival

  • 

    233. Shrewd Storyteller

    4.0
  • 

    210. Baseball Bat

    4.5
  • 

    122. Rip, Spawn Hunter

    5.8

• Eerie Fliers

  51.7 % win rate4.0 % of games

  Eerie

  • 

    156. Fear of Infinity

    5.3
  • 

    172. Skullsnap Nuisance

    5.1
  • 

    120. Nashi, Searcher in the Dark

    5.8

Mechanics of the set

• Delirium

  An ability word: the effect is active, or can happen, as long as there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.

• Eerie

  An ability word: the effect happens whenever an enchantment you control enters and whenever you fully unlock a Room.

• Survival

  An ability word: at the beginning of your second main phase, if this creature is tapped, the effect happens.

• Manifest dread

  Look at the top two cards of your library, put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard; you may turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.

• Rooms

  A Room is an enchantment with two halves: you cast either one, that door is unlocked on the battlefield, and you can pay the other door's cost later, as a sorcery.

• Impending

  You may cast the spell for its impending cost: it enters with time counters and isn't a creature until the last is removed, one counter at the beginning of its controller's end step.

The best cards

By colour

Rank by our rating, then rank by win rate when the card is in hand.

To remember

• Twenty cards in the set have delirium: vary the card types that end up in your graveyard (creature, instant, sorcery, land, artifact, enchantment) to reach four types.
• Fifteen cards have eerie and 23 cards are Rooms: playing plenty of enchantments (Rooms, Auras, enchantment creatures) makes the eerie cards much more effective.
• The ten common dual lands enter tapped unless a player has 13 or less life: take them early once you are sure of your pair.
• There are five Overlords: cast for their impending cost they act immediately but are not creatures for several turns, so they do not block right away.