Hello again, precon aficionados. Welcome back to EDHREC for another round of precon guides. This week we're digging into the preconstructed decks of Duskmourn: House of Horror. As a longtime horror fan myself, I'm more than a little excited to see what kinds of creeps and chills this set has to offer. So let's kick things off by reviewing the first deck revealed. It's Jump Scare!, led by Zimone, Mystery Unraveler.

Who Are the Commanders of Jump Scare!?

Zimone is a 3/3 Human Wizard for four mana (). She has a Landfall ability that makes you “manifest dread” when you drop your first land in a turn. For every other land that enters your field beyond the first, instead you'll flip a face-down permanent you control. Manifest dread is a new mechanic for this set, and to do it you look at the top two cards of your library, put one onto your field face down as a 2/2 manifested creature and the other card into your graveyard. The creature can be turned face up at any time if it's a creature card by paying its mana cost. 

This is obviously another iteration of the morph mechanic, which has been riffed on before with the mechanics manifest, cloak, and disguise. We've also seen other precons that dealt with face-down permanents, like Faceless Menace led by Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer, and the more recent Deadly Disguise led by Kaust, Eyes of the Glade from last year's Murders at Karlov Manor.

As a Simic Landfall deck, we'll also expect a few similarities to the Reap the Tides deck from Commander Legends. Lots of ways to drop extra lands, but this time with face-down synergies.

Our backup commander is Kianne, Corrupted Memory, a 2/2 Illusion that gets a +1/+1 counter for every card you draw. Yep, you read that right. Every card you draw. And whenever her power is an even number, you can cast noncreature spells as though they had flash. Conversely, whenever her power is an odd number, you can cast creature spells as though they had flash.

Here's the full deck list:

What Are the New Cards in Jump Scare!?

We're gonna change things up a bit for this set and give you the new cards closer to the top. After all, that's why a lot of you are here, right? Each of the Duskmourn precons comes with eight new cards. Let's start with some creatures.

Curator Beastie is a 6/6 with reach that gives your colorless creatures two additional +1/+1 counters when they enter. And whenever Beastie attacks or enters, you manifest dread, meaning you'll drop a colorless face-down creature on the board, which will get the counters. The fact that it specifies “colorless” creatures rather than face-down creatures getting the buff gives the card a lot more versatility. With the recent explosion of popularity for Eldrazi decks, thanks to Modern Horizons 3, it's safe to say that this could find a home in many Ulalek, Fused Atrocity decks. But most artifact creatures are also colorless, so it could see play in artifact decks with green as well. Although, both might be put off by the manifest dread ability, since not all decks want to drop that many cards in the graveyard. I'll also note that Beastie makes an infinite combo with Lesser Masticore and any free artifact/creature sacrifice outlet. 

Similarly, we have Glitch Interpreter, a 2/3 Human Wizard that draws you a card whenever one or more colorless creatures you control deal combat damage to a player. Again, the colorless adds more appeal to the card, but in most cases you're probably better off just running Reconnaissance Mission or Bident of Thassa.

Shriekwood Devourer, a 7/5 Treefolk with trample, can go infinite combats with Aggravated Assault, assuming the Devourer is attacking, and also assuming it somehow survives every combat. If that's not doable, throw in a big indestructible attacker, like Purphoros, God of the Forge or Darksteel Colossus, and you basically have the game in the bag. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with all that extra mana. Also, Treefolk decks are a thing. I expect this card to see a ton of play.

Our last creature is Giggling Skitterspike, the latest iteration on Stuffy Doll and a nightmarish glow-up of Sid's creation from Toy Story. And I gotta tell ya, I think I'm in love. I can't imagine a game where I won't want this on the board. Granted, I'll have a hard time finding a slot for it in my decks, but I know I'll never be sad to have it in play. Once you've put the counters on it, people are gonna really think twice about attacking you. It's gonna see a lot of love in Zada, Hedron Grinder-style decks, as well as Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain. 

Up next we've got some enchantments, starting with a new enchantment subtype: Rooms. Experimental Lab // Staff Room lets you manifest dread on one side, while putting some buffs on the manifested creature, and the cheaper side lets you flip a face-down creature if it deals combat damage to a player, or put a +1/+1 counter on any creature that deals combat damage to a player. The Staff Room side has a lot more universal appeal than the Lab side, but neither one is going to grab a lot of attention outside of decks that are desperate for counters. For a full rundown on all the rules and explanations of Rooms, check out this article here.

Next we've got They Came from the Pipes, which manifests dread twice when it enters and draws you a card whenever you flip a face-down creature. This one's a lot more niche, strictly relegated to the face-down decks. Because of that, it's pretty forgettable. However, getting two 2/2s and two cards drawn for just five mana is a lot of value, and the card draw will make it an auto-include in all face-down decks going forward. 

We've got one instant with Zimone's Hypothesis, a tricky removal spell similar to Extinction Event, though the removal isn't so forever as the black spell. If it was a sorcery I'd say it's pretty meh. But as an instant…it's still kind of meh. Our last new card is Disorienting Choice, which is much more intriguing. For four mana you choose an artifact or enchantment controlled by each opponent, then the opponents choose to let their chosen card go into exile or let you fetch any land from your library and put it into play. So they lose their best stuff or you fetch up Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. It's a win-win for you, and an extremely fun and playable card.

What Are the Themes and Strategies of the Deck?

Let's start by looking at some of the face-down synergies in the deck. First up are the classics, Trail of Mystery, Kheru Spellsnatcher, Whisperwood Elemental, and Temur War Shaman. There are also a couple of reprints from Commander 2019 with Primordial Mist and Scroll of Fate. We've also got a couple cards from the main Duskmourn set: Overgrown Zealot, a great ramp piece; and Growing Dread, which puts a +1/+1 counter on things you turn face up. But the coolest tech here is definitely Yedora, Grave Gardener. This Treefolk Druid makes it so all of our creatures that die will come back face down as a Forest, which will trigger all Landfall abilities. And they don't have to stay face down, since we can flip cards with Zimone, or even replay them with Primordial Mist.

Landfall plays a big part in this precon. There's no Avenger of Zendikar in sight, but Scute Swarm is certainly here to play, as well as Tatyova, Benthic Druid, and Retreat to Coralhelm. Other lands-matter cards include Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, which ensures that all creatures that enter your field also trigger Landfall abilities, Kefnet the Mindful and Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar, who can return lands to your hand so you can play them again, and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, who gives extra land plays and card draw. There are also plenty of land ramp spells, like Explosive Vegetation, Rampant Growth, and Cultivate.

The deck also has a small sub-strategy for +1/+1 counters, so we've got cards like Growing Dread, Experimental Lab // Staff Room, and Curator Beastie. There are a few token makers as well, like Scute Swarm, Cackling Counterpart, and Sandwurm Convergence. 

How Do You Play Jump Scare!?

The deck feels a bit like spinning plates; keeping track of all of your face-down creatures might be a bit more tedious than some players will be willing to tolerate (I think I'm one of them). There are also a lot of triggers, from lands entering, face-down creatures entering, and from drawing cards. While this is pretty normal for a lot of Commander decks, it's a bit much for a precon. So if you're a beginner, or it's the end of the night and you've already had three Mai Tais, this deck might not be for you.

However, if you're up for the challenge, and you love Simic value, then this deck should be right up your alley. The way cards play off of each other is a real treat for players who love Rube Goldberg-esque machines. 

Let's take this scenario as an example. You'll need Zimone, Mystery Unraveler on the board, obvs., and Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Start by playing a land, which triggers Zimone to manifest dread. Put your face-down creature into play. Guess what, it's a Forest because of Ashaya! This triggers Zimone's Landfall again, which will allow you to flip a face-down creature. Assuming your face-down creature is a permanent, you just got a free permanent just by playing a land. 

Here's another fun one. You'll need Zimone, Yavimaya Elder, and Yedora, Grave Gardener. Play a land to get Zimone's first trigger out of the way, so for each subsequent trigger you'll flip a face-down permanent. Pay two to sacrifice Yavimaya Elder. Yedora brings it back as a Forest (and you go grab two basics and draw a card). Since it's a land, it'll trigger Zimone to flip a face-down card. Before resolving the flip trigger, tap the Forest for mana, then flip it over to Yavimaya Elder. You've got a green mana floating, so use that and another mana to once again sacrifice the Elder. As long as you have an extra mana to spare, you can keep doing this over and over. Also, it works at instant speed, so you can do it on someone else's turn, all while filling your hand with the Elder's effects.

The deck is fun to play, if you can't already tell. All the various synergies working together make it an interesting, and somewhat unique, way to play. But how does it win? After all, “value” isn't exactly a win condition (although it does help you get to your win cons). Jump Scare!'s ultimate goal is to set up for a big alpha strike. And that's where Overwhelming Stampede comes in. With a large handful of manifested 2/2s on the board, which is not a difficult task, as well as a much larger creature (I suppose Worldspine Wurm will do) you're set to take out one or two players pretty easily. There's also Biomass Mutation, which isn't nearly as good as Stampede, and I wish it would have been another Overrun effect. But that's what upgrades are for, right?

One problem with the deck is that not everything is a creature. While Zimone gives you ways to flip other permanents, it's not exactly reliable. And creatures only account for a third of the deck, so you're gonna find yourself frequently manifesting cards that can't be flipped without Zimone's help. Or if they're instants or sorceries, even Zimone can't help, and your only option to get those cards back will be Primordial Mist - which means you're losing a lot of good cards. Couple this with the fact that you have to put something in the grave when you manifest dread, and you're gonna get a lot of feel-bads of losing access to cards that you wish you could've played. Still, there's enough fun stuff in the deck to mostly overcome this drawback.

Is Jump Scare! Worth Buying?

Is the deck any good? Should you spend your money on it? Here's my final grade:

B

The deck is a lot of fun, as long as you're okay with endless triggered effects. It does a pretty decent job of getting to its combat win, although I would like it to have more consistency there (and maybe an alternate win condition). 

Where the deck falters a bit is mostly in the new cards. We have a few forgettable stinkers, like Zimone's Hypothesis and Glitch Interpreter. Although it's a bit balanced with a very powerful card (Shriekwood Devourer) and some very fun cards (Giggling Skitterspike and Disorienting Choice). Also, I'm not sure how I feel about our backup commander, Kianne, Corrupted Memory. She gets big fast, sure, but she has no evasion to get through with her massive body, and will most likely just eat removal anyway. And the flash ability is just okay, but frequently won't be relevant.

Our biggest plus is the reprint value. We got a real doozy here with Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, which was pushing $40 at the time of the deck reveal. Ashaya, Soul of the Wild is also a huge hit, as well as Worldspine Wurm.

Can I make this deck better? Find out in my Upgrade Guide here. And stay tuned for more precon guides for Duskmourn, right here on EDHREC. 

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Counterpunch - Ghave Precon Upgrade

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.