MTG Duskmourn red card completely shuts down lifegain decks

Screaming Nemesis is a new red-mana card hailing from Magic: The Gathering’s haunted house plane of Duskmourn. Alongside the plane’s harrowed survivors, players running lifegain decks that will soon be shrieking in terror.

MTG’s Duskmourn set is attracting a lot of positive attention following its first major surge of reveals at Magic Con Amsterdam. While players had previously been intrigued by the set’s modern horror theming, getting a more in-depth look at some of the set’s ghoulish trappings and powerful cards has led to anticipation building all the more.

Screaming Nemesis is a 3/3 red-mana Creature with Haste that can be cast for 2R. Hitting the board and being ready to deal damage right away is red’s bread and butter, but Screaming Nemesis’s additional effect is what makes it a true hassle for opponents to play around.

WotC

This Creature is has the ability to dish out as much pain as it receives and lock opponents off from healing over the damage they take. Whenever Screaming Nemesis is dealt damage, it deals an equal amount of damage to any target of its controller’s choosing.

While this ability can be used to damage Creatures and take them off the board, any opponents dealt damage by this effect is unable to gain life from any source for the rest of the game.

Other players will think twice about blocking your attacking Screaming Nemesis, allowing you to get some free hits in which will deal a good chunk of damage. Attacking you while Screaming Nemesis is on your board is an even more risky factor, as blocking a big swing using this Creature will allow you to send an equal burst of damage right back and assign its anti-lifegain effect at the same time.

Additionally, nothing is stopping players from dealing damage to their own Screaming Nemesis, using low-power red burn cards to shut down lifegain decks at will, or adding an additional burn benefit to a damage-based board wipe like Blasphemous Act.

Screaming Nemesis is an excellent debut card for Duskmourn, and promises more creative, powerful effects to come for what is shaping up to be one of 2024’s most exciting Magic releases.