(Wrenn and Seven | Art by Heonhwa Choe)

I Was Working at the Lab, Late One Night

It’s Halloween, and there’s nothing more frightening than seeing some of these cards across the table from you in Magic: The Gathering. I’m Josh, and I’ll be taking you on this terrifying journey through some of the most horrifying cards in Magic. This wouldn’t be a Preview Review article without some utility though! Each of these cards is playable and if you really want to scare your opponents, you might want to include them in your decks.

When My Eyes Beheld an Eerie Sight

The first card on this list is Shadow Kin from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. Shadow Kin’s art has always unnerved me. What makes this card so creepy is that you can just picture it: You’re walking along by the shore and you see someone gathering in the wetlands. You could swear for a moment before you looked away that the figure moved in some unnatural motion. Maybe it was just in the corner of your eye.

On Innistrad, it’s probably very difficult to walk ten paces without seeing something you want to run from. Let’s switch up the pace and think about why this Shapeshifter is one we’d like to run in our decks instead. Shadow Kin is a fairly interesting Clone which almost skirts the definition of a traditional clone effect. Typically, clones copy a creature that's already on the battlefield whereas Shadow Kin is looking to clone a card that an opponent mills into their graveyard. This makes it a little harder to utilize because you don’t quite know what you’re going to get.

Shadow Kin has particular utility in a Gyruda, Doom of Depths deck, or a deck where you’re running Gyruda as the companion. It’s got an even mana value so it fits with the theme. Shadow Kin will help increase the pool of cards you’re able to pull from; Each Shadow Kin trigger milling cards into your opponent’s graveyard. You’re not only able to copy something conveniently, but you can do it again with Gyruda. Don’t overlook the fact that Shadow Kin has flash. Scare the living daylights out of your opponent by flashing in a Shadow Kin after your opponent has cast a Worldly Tutor and enjoy your four mana Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider.

For My Monster from his Slab, Began to Rise!

The next card on this list is Swooping Lookout, because oh my god it’s the teeth. The year 2023 brought us many new and Magic-al things. We were all surprised with the addition of a new card type in Battles. We’ve been delighted with a trip through the universes beyond, and we’ve seen everything from Gandalf, Friend of the Shire to The Eleventh Doctor lead a Commander deck. What we didn’t see coming (and frankly may have willfully repressed by this point) was Phyrexia: All Will Be One and its obsession with teeth.

Phyrexia has always served to be a perversion of everything we know and trust in Magic: The Gathering. White is typically the color of truth, law and justice. This law and rule is turned on its head under Elesh Norn and her plans to dominate the multiverse and ensure that all will be one. Elesh Norn apparently decided to do this by making lots of beings out of porcelain, enamel, exposed sinew and teeth, which is where Swooping Lookout comes in.

But I hear you. You’re like, Josh. Surely this card isn’t playable in EDH. To which, reader, I say "If I have to look at the awful teeth bird, so does your playgroup." Sephara is a commander who cares about flyers. Notably, tiny flyers so you can ramp out your commander ahead of schedule. Odric, Lunarch Marshal cares about keywords. For one mana, you’re getting two sweet keywords: flying and vigilance. Great when applied to one horrifying teeth amalgamation, but even better when applied to each creature you control. Finally, there’s not much that isn’t scary when included in a Winota, Joiner of Forces deck. If you’re looking to make a Winota deck that’s a little less inherently powerful, this creature will do the trick. Lacking haste will give your opponent one chance to deal with your deck before it gets going. After that point? It’s going to be a bloodbath.

And, Suddenly... To My Surprise!

The next card on this list is Cut of the Profits.

Donato Giancola is a master of art and has put his talents into some of your favorite cards (I’m serious, take a look through your decks, you’ll find something). There’s one thing that artists fear more than anything, and that’s hands. Hands are so renownedly tricky to master that not even artificial intelligence can get them right. Looking at Cut of the Profits we see a frankly uncomfortable scene. We see a poor victim, or perhaps some competition given this card’s origins in the Streets of New Capenna. Held down hard against a cold marble floor. There’s no escape, not that this individual hasn’t tried. The redness in their face could be from exasperation as they struggled to get free, or from pressure as they were held down to the ground remorselessly to suffer their fate. This card might not seem scary at first, but the implied struggle here makes this an uncomfortable viewing. Oh, and that’s before we point out that this individual is being cut into literal gold. What a weird scene.

Do you know who loves this scene though? Rowan, Scion of War. Rowan loves this card. Our latest bad girl from the Wilds of Eldraine is looking for lots of ways to lose life and Cut of the Profits has her covered. Cut of the Profits helps you dig deep, albeit not as deep as the equally creepy Peer into the Abyss (But you’ve all heard of that one, and this is Preview Review) and there’s nothing scarier for your opponent than those few in-game moments as they anticipate whether you've found your answer or not. Don’t keep them in anticipation too long, though. Throw them a Crackle with Power and be done with it.

Wa-ooh, Wa-ooh!

Sometimes a card in Magic is so oppressive, that an answer needs to be printed to make sure that the card doesn’t overrun the format. I think you know the one I mean. It’s black, it was printed in 2022 and you never want to see it cast, no matter the format you’re playing.

That’s right, it’s not Sheoldred, the Apocalypse... It’s You Are Already Dead.

Thankfully, our fourth card on this list has come to the rescue. This card is a relatively new one, printed recently in Wilds of Eldraine.

It’s the perfect answer to You Are Already Dead. That’s right, it’s Not Dead After All.

Not Dead After All is one of the latest in this cycle of cheating death cards we can find in black. This one, you’ll find offers a bit of extra utility however and can give black that little something extra that staples like Malakir Rebirth don’t, for a fraction of the price (Yes, admittedly without the land utility, but it's Halloween, so sue me). Once the hilarity has settled in of telling your opponents that your commander isn’t dead after all, let them know that your Braids, Arisen Nightmare will now let you sacrifice your wicked role token created by Not Dead After All. Once you’ve sacrificed your token, you’ll find that each opponent will be sacrificing an enchantment too. There’s nothing scarier than something you don’t see coming, and your opponents will not be seeing black enchantment removal coming at all.

Run this card in an Eriette of the Charmed Apple deck to increase your enchantment count and drain your opponents for even more life, so you can stay young forever. Utilize the token left behind and bargain for more power, casting a Beseech the Mirror to find a number of threats from your library.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, wherever you are. We hope you get a spooky treat in your booster packs and you pull nothing but tricks for your opponents. If you’ve spotted some art that's stopped you from sleeping at night, let us know in the comments below. Magic: The Gathering is a storied game with a history of incredible art pieces. Back in the 90s, the news called Magic Satanic and dangerous. The art might have mellowed out and so too the media, but there are plenty of frights abound for those who wish to look for them.

If you’d like to chat Magic with me, you can do so on Twitter. Look forward to the return of this series in which we’ll be talking about some actual good cards, rather than ones that are covered in teeth.

From us at EDHREC, all the best, and Happy Halloween!

Joshua Clough

Joshua is a Medical Researcher from the UK. He's played Magic since Dragons of Tarkir and loves all things Commander, the more colours the better! When not playing Commander, he can be found insisting Jund is still a viable deck in Modern and painting tiny plastic miniatures on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan