Magic The Gathering: Arena – 10 Best Duskmourn Brawl Commanders, Ranked

Lock the door tight, because Duskmourn is here to terrify Magic The Gathering (MTG): Arenaplayers everywhere. This MTG set’s movie-inspired menagerie of monsters provides plenty of juicy options on which to spend your Wildcards.

But who are the heroes? Are those inclusions in Duskmourn worthy of commanding your new Brawl brew? Today, we’re taking a look at the ten Legendary cards most likely to send shivers up your opponents’ spines when spotted in the Command Zone.

10 The Mindskinner

Shred Enemy Libraries With Mill

Who cares about life totals? There’s other ways to win a game on MTG: Arena and The Mindskinner knows that all too well.

Lurking in the command zone, this nightmare threatens to shred your opponent’s entire deck and send it to the Graveyard. Despite being mono-Blue, The Mindskinner offers one of the best rates of power to mana in the game.

Better yet, because of The Mindskinner’s ability all damage you deal mills cards instead. If you’re looking for a more aggressive take on mill strategies, this creature is worth checking out.

9 Niko, Light Of Hope

Armies Of Flicker-Clones

Despite igniting their spark to escape the Goddess of Destiny on their home plane of Theros, Niko Aris is now trapped in the House of Horror as the Human creature Niko, Light of Hope.

With a new flicker-activated ability and copy-cat shards, Niko remains a potent force for good in Duskmourn.

Fill your deck with juicy flicker targets and additional enablers, and let the chaos commence!

Bouncing Niko themself nets you additional Shard tokens for duplicating your favorite Blue or White creatures. As an added bonus, any creatures you exile with Niko get their triggers upon entering all over again.

8 Norin, Swift Survivalist

Never Die To Blockers Again

Sure, he’s a coward—that doesn’t mean Norin, Swift Survivalist can’t put in the work, too! Norin’s a great enabler for Red’s aggro strategies and “Red Deck Wins” value options.

Whether you’re filling the board with Goblin tokens or stockpiling Treasure tokens for a ginormous Banefire, Norin’s ability offers opponents a tricky decision: take damage, or let you re-cast your creatures? With Red’s penchant for pain, this choice grows tougher and tougher as the match carries on.

Better yet, get Norin on the field and use spells like Act of Treason to swipe your opponent’s creatures and swing in. If they block, Norin lets you exile it—good luck getting THAT creature back!

7 Kona, Rescue Beastie

Pup Plays Fetch, Brings Permanents Into Play

Kona, Rescue Beastie is an adorable critter with the teeny-tiny upside of putting any permanent card into play. Wait, seriously?

Fill Kona’s pouches with your favorite humongous creatures, enchantments, and artifacts, and each time she survives into your second main phase, you’ll get to drop one of those haymakers onto the battlefield for free. Combined with Convoke cards, artifacts to give Kona activated abilities, and other methods of tapping her down without attacking, and Kona can pay off without even putting herself into danger.

Even if your opponent’s a cruel, inhuman monster who would cast removal on her, you’re still playing Green! And I’ve never known a self-respecting Green deck to lack mana ramp for casting its baddest bombs.

6 Rip, Spawn Hunter

The Evil Dead, Magic Style

Need a change of pace when brewing up Selesnya Humans? Team up with Rip, Spawn Hunter, and soon enough, your enemies will be resting in peace.

Rip is here to turn sideways and smack your opponent straight in their life total. If Rip’s tapped at the start of your second main phase, you’ll get to restock your hand with a fresh grip of creatures and Vehicles.

Putting this card draw machine into your command zone ensures you won’t run out of creatures to play, even in the face of removal.

Get Rip suited up with equipment and auras for additional damage and durability, and the extra power will draw you extra cards, too.

5 Winter, Misanthropic Guide

Control The Cards, Control The Game

Angsting for a different take on Jund? Winter, Misanthropic Guide will lead you to become the card-denial crown as your opponent is forced to discard down their hand at the end of each turn.

Combined with the additional card draw Winter provides, this gives plenty of fuel to lock your opponent’s options down in Duskmourn‘s basement.

Combined with discard spells and graveyard recursion, Winter is a potent commander for midrange and control Brawl strategies.

The quicker you hit four card types in the graveyard, the quicker your opponent will fall. Stuff the 99 full of multi-type cards—like the juicy new enchantment creatures Duskmourn offers—to turn on Winter’s delirium ability.

4 Marina Vendrell

Unlock Enchantments In The House Of Horrors

If Magic’s new Room subtype for enchantment cards entices you, there’s no better commander to brew than Marina Vendrell. Cast the cheap side of a Room enchantment, and Marina can unlock (or lock) the expensive side for free.

That’s a lot of mana advantage, if you’re unlocking the right room. Better yet, you can use Marina to repeatedly lock and unlock Rooms, generating incremental value. And in all five colors, you’re bound to draw your cards which untap her, or double her activated ability, or…

Better yet, sitting in the command zone Marina offers you consistent card advantage. When she enters, you get all enchantments in the top seven cards of your deck—even if they aren’t a Room!

3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares

Assassinate Opponents From The Command Zone

One really cool aspect about Brawl—compared to paper Commander—is that your commander can be a creature or a planeswalker. While not all planeswalkers make the cut, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is well-suited to slice you to victory.

Kaito has earned himself a spot in the top three because he synergizes two strategies together: a Ninja tribal creature-driven strategy alongside a direct beatdown.

Because of his ninjutsu ability, Kaito can always enter the battlefield for just 3 mana. Any creature your opponent lets slip through can turn into Kaito before damage!

Once he’s on the field, Kaito can keep striking the opponent while creating emblems which buff all of your Ninjas. Since emblems are in the command zone, Kaito effectively boosts all of your Ninjas forever. Can’t really remove something which isn’t on the battlefield!

2 Valgavoth, Terror Eater

Life’s Just A Resource—Let’s Spend It!

Surely you didn’t think we’d get through Duskmourn’s House of Horror without mentioning its creator, Valgavoth, Terror Eater? This plane’s final boss is a terror to behold, consuming every card that would go into your opponent’s graveyard and letting you cast it as well—for a price!

The only thing holding Valgavoth back from devouring all in your way is his oppressive 9-mana casting cost. Once he hits the battlefield, though, this Elder Demon is a definite game-changer.

With a massive flying statline and lifelink to drain your foes dry, Valgavoth gives his caster plenty of spare life to cast your opponent’s best stuff. In effect, you now have twice the number of cards.

Even if the opponent tries to remove Valgavoth directly, they’ll need to sacrifice a hefty three nonland permanents first due to his villainous ward cost.

Just remember, life is a resource. Surely your deal with a demon won’t go as poorly as it did for Liliana…

1 Tyvar, The Pummeler

Spend Mana, Smash Face

Oh, elves, you never change. Duskmourn features the latest and greatest installment in the elves’ march to dominate Green archetypes in every format: Tyvar, the Pummeler.

Tyvar is a fantastic synergy-driven commander for mono-Green. His combination of protection and damage—combined with an affordable mana cost—makes Tyvar a great commander for Green creature strategies.

So long as you have at least one untapped creature, you can give Tyvar indestructible at any time. Unlike hexproof or ward, this allows him to stick even in the face of a boardwipe.

Once your board is filled with creatures, swing out and see how your opponent blocks. With Tyvar’s huge instant-speed buff, you’re empowered to bluff and fence with your opponent until it’s time to land the pummeling strike.

Even though Tyvar lacks Elf creature synergies himself, this just means he fits into Elf shells but isn’t restricted to them, scoring the best of both worlds. If anyone’s going to fight their way out of the House of Horror, it’s this muscly man.