Magic: The Gathering’s newest set, Duskmourn: House of Horror (DMH), introduces a suite of eerie and suspenseful mechanics designed to capture the essence of a haunted house. Let’s explore these spooky new keywords and mechanics that will haunt your games and add a layer of mystery and dread to the battlefield.

Rooms

"You may cast either half. That door unlocks on the battlefield. As a sorcery, you may pay the mana cost of a locked door to unlock it." Rooms are a new enchantment subtype appearing on split cards. Each Room card has two halves, called "doors," and you can cast either half. When cast, the chosen door "unlocks" on the battlefield. You can later pay the mana cost of the locked door to unlock it as a sorcery. This creates a dynamic experience of exploring the different sections of a haunted house, unveiling secrets as you go.

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. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card." This new mechanic combines the existing manifest mechanic with a graveyard twist. When you manifest dread, you look at the top two cards of your library, manifest one of them (placing it face-down on the battlefield as a 2/2 creature), and put the other into your graveyard. Manifest Dread enhances the feeling of impending terror, bringing creatures from the unknown directly onto your battlefield.

Eerie

"Whenever an enchantment you control enters and whenever you fully unlock a Room..." Eerie is a new triggered ability that activates when an enchantment enters the battlefield or when a Room is fully unlocked. Each new enchantment or Room intensifies the haunted house atmosphere, with hidden threats slowly surfacing as you unlock more doors or cast enchantments.

Impending

"If you cast this spell for its impending cost, it enters with N time counters and isn't a creature until the last is removed. At the beginning of your end step, remove a time counter from it." Impending is a new ability found on enchantment creatures, offering an alternative casting cost. When cast for its impending cost, the card enters with time counters. At the beginning of your end step, you remove a time counter. While the card has time counters, it isn't a creature yet, creating a sense of building dread as the threat grows closer each turn.

Survival

"At the beginning of your second main phase, if ~ is tapped, ..." Survival is a triggered ability that activates at the beginning of your second main phase if the creature with survival is tapped. This rewards you for surviving the horrors of combat, providing extra value after a grueling battle.

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