Duskmourn Best Commons and Uncommons

Last updated on October 10, 2024

Boilerbilges Ripper | Illustration by Kai Carpenter

The first few drafts of any MTG set can be a daunting prospect. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered! Here’s my breakdown of what I believe are the early frontrunners for the best commons and uncommons in each color to draft in Duskmourn.

If you want the rankings for every single card in the set, check out our Duskmourn Limited Set Review!

Commons

Unsettling Twins | Illustration by Lauren K. Cannon

White

#4. Fear of Immobility

These sorts of 5-drops have consistently overperformed in the past, from Chillbringer to Berg Strider. Now we have a white creature with absolutely no conditions on it, and Fear of Immobility even enables your own survival triggers. Fear of Immobility is one that could easily land higher in pick orders as the format moves on.

#3. Trapped in the Screen

Like Trapped in the Screen, a lot of the best commons and uncommons are removal spells of some description. Removal isn’t as important as it once was, but you still need to kill important creatures, and this white enchantment does so well enough.

#2. Unsettling Twins

Four mana for a pair of 2/2s is just really good value. This is great in aggro decks, but it’s even fine for slower decks, because you’re putting up a pair of chump blockers. You just can’t go wrong with Unsettling Twins.

#1. Grand Entryway // Elegant Rotunda

You’ll be looking for cheap, efficient ways of triggering eerie abilities in DSK Limited, and Grand Entryway // Elegant Rotunda ticks that box for you right away. Two mana to double trigger eerie in one go is exceptionally good, and 5 mana to get three triggers in the same turn sounds like this white room will be capable of some truly disgusting turns. It’s also a great aggro card. I’ll probably want to pick up as many of these as possible whenever I’m drafting white.

Blue

#4. Creeping Peeper

I like blue’s mana dorks, and I especially like that Creeping Peeper touches on all of blue’s main themes. I could definitely see this blue creature not being good enough as we learn more about Duskmourn Limited, but for now it seems like a blue card I’ll want to use a lot.

#3. Glimmerburst

The biggest issue with card draw spells is that they don’t affect the board. This blue instant does, and it does so while also triggering eerie abilities. I really hope that’s enough to make Glimmerburst good, because who doesn’t love casting good draw spells?

#2. Don’t Make a Sound

Cheap interaction is always likely to be high on my list of good cards for a color. I don’t like Don't Make a Sound as much as counterspell versions in previous sets, but it should still do the trick when you need it.

#1. Tunnel Surveyor

Three mana for a 2/2 and a 1/1 is always fantastic. The trick here of course is that the 1/1 Glimmer token is also an enchantment, so you also get to trigger eerie abilities. Tunnel Surveyor is just a great value card with good theme synergies, exactly what I’m looking for in a number one common for a color.

Black

#4. Final Vengeance

Black’s top commons, as always, is basically a list of black removal spells. This black sorcery is obviously more at home in the sacrifices deck, but Final Vengeance is efficient enough that it could easily find its way into other decks.

#3. Murder

You can never go wrong with Murder. Killing any creature for 3 mana is perfectly fine, no matter which deck you’re in.

#2. Winter’s Intervention

While obviously a “weaker” card than Murder, Winter's Intervention is a lot better at keeping you alive in the early turns of the game. This black instant‘s more efficient against aggro decks and the lifegain can make all the difference when trying to buy yourself extra turns to deploy bigger threats.

#1. Innocuous Rat

Innocuous Rat basically does everything I want a black 2-drop in this format to do. It fuels the graveyard, it manifests dread when it dies, it’s a great chump-blocker, and it’s great sacrifice fodder. The only thing I could possibly ask is for it to be a black enchantment, too.

Red

#4. Turn Inside Out

I have high hopes for this red instant. Turn Inside Out’s a solid combat trick that ends up filling your graveyard and maintaining your board presence, and it only costs 1 mana. Awesome.

#3. Boilerbilges Ripper

Boilerbilges Ripper looks like one of the best cards that red has to sacrifice a creature or enchantment with. You don’t just have to be in a sacrifices deck for this to work. Rooms are also happy with this red creature, and aggro decks won’t mind the extra 2 damage to finish off an opponent.

#2. Glassworks // Shattered Yard

Three mana for 4 damage is fine removal, though not particularly exciting these days. Glassworks // Shattered Yard is a room though, which is something that blue/red and red/black are going to want to prioritize extremely highly.

#1. Scorching Dragonfire

There aren’t many MTG sets where the 2 mana, 3 direct damage spell isn’t the best common by default. Scorching Dragonfire is always good to clear out a pesky blocker or stop an attacker, and this is efficient enough that it will always make the cut.

Green

#4. Monstrous Emergence

Green’s removal spells are rarely all that good, but it’s still important to have them. Monstrous Emergence goes above and beyond the typical bite spell and will presumably be a very solid green card in the format.

#3. Wary Watchdog

2-drops always carry a premium as you need to get on the board quickly. Wary Watchdog is one of the better ones I’ve seen in the set, as this green creature provides adequate board presence while also doing a good job surveilling cards into your graveyard.

#2. Say Its Name

Filling the graveyard for delirium is going to be very important, and Say Its Name is one of the best and most efficient ways of doing that.

#1. Spineseeker Centipede

Land searchers like Spineseeker Centipede are always great and typically end up high on the pick order. You just can’t underestimate how good it is for a card to draw you a land, fix your colors, and affect the board all at the same time.

Uncommons

Fear of Falling | Illustration by Maxime Minard

White

#4. Splitskin Doll

A 2-drop 2/1 toy that draws a card? That’s excellent. Sure, you have to enable Splitskin Doll, but all you need to do is make sure you have other small creatures in your deck, and that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

#3. Exorcise

There are 142 creatures in Duskmourn, and 70 of them are valid targets for this white removal spell. That’s a pretty good chance of Exorcise finding something to hit against any deck in the format, and that’s not to mention all the other random artifacts and enchantments that you’ll need to answer.

#2. Sheltered by Ghosts

Sheltered by Ghosts is certainly a less reliable Oblivion Ring variant, but it’s also very swingy. The turns when you play this and get a huge lifelinker attacking in are going to be really painful for your opponent, even if they’re able to deal with it later on.

#1. Optimistic Scavenger

Optimistic Scavenger is potentially one of the most powerful eerie abilities, and it’s on a 1-drop. Generous Visitor ended up as one of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s best non-rare cards, and this white human scout is even stronger than that was.

Blue

#4. Fear of Falling

Blue has a lot of powerful uncommons that could have made this spot. Ultimately, I’ve settled on this blue nightmare because it’s the most powerful in a vacuum. I could definitely be wrong, but Fear of Falling just looks like an excellent win condition for the top of your mana curve in any deck.

#3. Duskmourn’s Domination

I’m assuming that -3/-0 and losing abilities, while a big downside, isn’t enough to sour you on playing this particular Mind Control. I could be wrong, but I think Duskmourn's Domination is still good enough to steal an opponent’s creature, even if it then becomes a vanilla weakling.

#2. Fear of Impostors

Fear of Impostors has got to be so annoying to play around. Getting to counter anything while also being a 3/2 enchantment creature just sounds great to me, even if you do give your opponent a free manifest dread.

#1. Unnerving Grasp

I mean… this blue sorcery is basically a Man-o'-War. That’s pretty good. Sure, it’s not technically that good, but it hits all the right notes, fills your graveyard, etc. Unnerving Grasp is just a great card, and I’d be very surprised not to see this as one of blue’s best cards.

Black

#4. Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab

Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab is definitely not a Gravedigger, but it does have a lot going for it. You can just spend 5 mana and get your two-for-one right away, but you also have the flexibility of casting the doors separately, or just cashing in the Cadaver Lab on its own if you need to. Black’s themes all work well with this black room, and that makes it a strong pick for me.

#3. Withering Torment

I’m coming down on removal spells a bit, like many other frequent Limited players, but Withering Torment still looks very good to me. It not only deals with any creature for 3 mana, but also destroys enchantments. It’s splashable, which is important given that blue and red will also struggle to access good enchantment removal.

#2. Osseous Sticktwister

This black creature might not look that good, but I think it’s extremely powerful. A 2/2 lifelinker for 2 is just great, but it also helps to fuel delirium cards while having a great delirium ability of its own. Once delirium is enabled, Osseous Sticktwister can just sit idly by, being annoying for your opponent and still do well in combat when you need it to.

#1. Nowhere to Run

This is simply black’s best removal spell in Duskmourn as far as I’m concerned. -3/-3 for 2 mana is very solid, but unlike a simple Last Gasp, this black enchantment sticks around on the battlefield, waiting to be used. You can sacrifice it for value and return it to your hand in some way, and it also triggers eerie abilities. It just does everything you want.

Red

#4. Norin, Swift Survivalist

I thought the top three red uncommons were fairly clear-cut, but I was lacking a fourth. I had to go with my boy Norin, Swift Survivalist. It’s cheap and aggressive, and it has the ability to protect itself and others when they get into combat. Sounds fine to me.

#3. Infernal Phantom

Even without triggering eerie, Infernal Phantom is a dangerous red spirit. Trading with it in combat nearly always results in losing two creatures or taking a chunk of damage to the face. Eerie makes it absolutely disgusting. You can trade off for even bigger creatures and force your opponent into some very difficult spots.

#2. Fear of Burning Alive

This is perhaps one of my biggest fears, and perhaps now it’ll be yours, too. Six mana is a lot to ask for a big Flametongue Kavu and I was wrong about how good Skoa, Embermage was going to be in Modern Horizons 3, but this still looks very good to me. Enabling delirium by turn 6 shouldn’t be too hard, and even without that, Fear of Burning Alive hits really hard at the top of the curve.

#1. Betrayer’s Bargain

Instead of raw power, Betrayer's Bargain wins it for me just for being cheap and efficient. Even outside of the sacrifices deck, there’s plenty of fodder lying around, especially since unlike Final Vengeance, you could use this red instant to sacrifice a creature in response to removal.

Green

#4. Overgrown Zealot

Mana dorks are always pretty good, so Overgrown Zealot had to make my list. A 0/4 is great at soaking up some early game pressure and the ability to give you more mana towards the biggest mana sinks in Duskmourn is surely going to come in handy.

#3. Under the Skin

Gotta love a simple two-for-one. Green should be the best at filling its own graveyard in this set, which means you’ll often have a variety of permanents to choose from when casting Under the Skin. Saying this green sorcery is Eternal Witness is too much of a stretch, but it’s honestly not as far off as you might think.

#2. Wickerfolk Thresher

Every green deck would be happy to use this scarecrow. It’s an above-rate 4-drop that’ll draw a card every turn. Wickerfolk Thresher requires delirium to be enabled, but green should be able to do that no problem.

#1. Threats Around Every Corner

This green enchantment functions as a build-around for the blue/green archetype, but most importantly, as a powerful card for any green deck. Threats Around Every Corner is essentially like an Ondu Giant with some upside and that’s something I’d be happy with in most green decks.

Wrap Up

Fear of Burning Alive | Illustration by J.P. Targete

I hope this has helped to give you a quick overview of this new Limited format. I didn’t enjoy Bloomburrow as much as I’d hoped, so I’m really looking forward to a fresh new format to sink my teeth into.

What are you most excited to try and draft?

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Until next time, take care of yourselves!