A Look at the Duskmourn: House of Horror Nightmare Bundle
What is that sound in the middle of the night? It is the sound of packs being cracked. Magic: the Gathering is no stranger to a product bundle, but this bundle is far from a nightmare. Having a fair mix of products, cool extras, and fantastic packaging, Duskmourn‘s Nightmare Bundle switches up the usual script of bundles past. So, let’s take a look at what’s inside.
6 Duskmourn: House of Horror Play Boosters
2 Duskmourn: House of Horror Collector Boosters
20 foil Full-Art Manor Basic Lands
1 foil Borderless promo card
1 foil Movie Poster card
3 double-sided movie posters
1 glow-in-the-dark spindown life counter
Card storage box
What’s Inside – The Old
Like most bundles, there are some classic pieces here that regular buyers will be pleased to see. The card storage box that all bundles include is back in one of the most striking and aesthetically unique versions. Playing on the motif of the set as classic horror, we are treated to an old CRT-style television with a static screen on the outside. While inside, we get a double-decker box reminiscent of the days when everyone had VHS tapes. While both are great for storage and will look fantastic next to any variety of MTG products, it’s a bit of a miss that the VHS deck box is not large enough for a 100-card Commander deck to fit inside.
While the spooky season is often cloaked in darkness, the oversized glow-in-the-dark spindown is not hard to see inside this box. It is, however, hard to see…in the dark. It’s a bit of a letdown, but Magic is more challenging to play when you can’t see. All this being said, the classic components of the bundle are here, and they still look great.
What’s Inside – New Twists
While not a product that can allow someone to play “out of the box,” the bundle does set up buyers wanting to use the product to build decks for the express purpose of playing the game. In the past, bundles featured non-foil Full Art basic lands or foil non-Full Art basic lands. The Nightmare Bundle gives you 20 Full-Art foil basic lands instead. Every individual will have their own opinion on how good these lands look. To some, they will be the best, and to others, they might be the worst. But, the overall grade on these will be higher than in past bundles, thanks to the combination of Full-Art and Foil.
The other new twist is the coalition of packs inside. Thanks to the semi-recent introduction of Play Boosters, the Nightmare Bundle comes with six Play Boosters compared to the traditional eight Set Boosters. There has also been an increase in Collector Boosters from one to two. While there is one less booster per bundle box, the possible value of cards has increased. The additional Collector Boosters means the possibility of opening some of the chase cards from the set. I was lucky enough to open an Overlord of the Balemurk with unique Japanese alternate art by Mikio Masuda. While I did not get the Fractured Foil version of the card, having the second Collector Booster made the opening experience much more enjoyable.
Play Boosters do change the experience of this bundle a bit in the opposite direction. If the Nightmare bundle had Set Boosters inside, this would be an almost perfect product for a collector, putting strict playability second. However, that is not the case since Play Boosters give you the same booster used for playing Limited formats such as Draft or Sealed. This is a bit of a half-a-dozen or six-of-another scenario.
What’s Inside – Brand New
Possibly the most exciting thing inside this box is the promo cards. But we will get to those in a moment. A new addition to the Nightmare bundle is the three double-sided movie posters. Featuring the art of the cards Living Death, Archon of Cruelty, and Goryo’s Vengeance sporting horror movie-inspired looks. As well as Crypt Ghast, Exhume, and Damn, with new art from Goosebumps artist Tim Jacobus.
All of these look amazing in both card and poster form. Speaking of card form, that is what you can get in the box. One of the three movie posters and Goosebumps alternate art cards are inside this bundle. The Living Death and Damn that I was able to open look excellent, and postings of the cards online do not do this justice. As of writing this, the foiling on the cards has not caused any curling, which is a big plus anytime you deal with foil cards.
The Card Gamer Verdict
Duskmourn: House of Horror brings a bundle that is far from a nightmare. The biggest downside of this product is that it’s hard to find. While the product does have a stable price on Amazon, getting the product from a brick-and-mortar store can be a challenge if you don’t have a dedicated Local Game Store that can order the product. However, if you aren’t apprehensive about ordering through the World Wide Web, this product should be worth purchasing for most Magic players.
The mix of a higher-than-average chance to open chase cards in both power level and secondary market value, along with the additional add-ons and improvements to some of the mainstay products from previous bundles, boosts the grade of this product. The biggest downside would be that it would be a home run if the product had Set Boosters instead of Play Boosters. Bundles tend to act as a product that can be a quick way for a player to get a select group of products quickly and easily and play the game. With this specific Magic: the Gathering product, that is not the case.
Preferably, it should have boosters that skew more towards an established player base and collecting crowd. This and the lack of “glowing in the dark” mean that the spindown features are minor blemishes on a solid product.
Final Rating:
Aesthetics: 10
Value: 8
Quality: 8
Would Purchase Again?: Yes
Want more info on the various Magic: the Gathering booster pack types? Check out our article here.
