If you already thought the main villain of upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Duskmourn was a pretty bad guy, just wait until you hear how he feels about dogs.
That’s right, it’s not enough for the moth demon Valgavoth to consume an entire MTG plane and doom all its denizens to miserable, fear-filled lives, he also has it out for man’s best friend. That’s according to the newly revealed Duskmourn card, Wary Watchdog, anyway.
Revealed on Thursday, Wary Watchdog is a common green card that doesn’t look like much more than a decent two-drop for draft. It’s got aggressive 3/1 stats, and lets you surveil when it enters the battlefield or dies.
But what caught our eye was the flavor text, which states that “Valgavoth harbors a special loathing for dogs”. If that isn’t a sure sign of a truly horrendous villain, I don’t know what would be. I mean, we’d have probably worked it out already from the glowing red eyes and general demonic appearance, but this really clinches it.
It’s a pretty good way to make your audience hate a villain – you know, just in case constructing a world designed to torture innocent people didn’t set you against him. The only thing I can think of that would further color our opinion on the guy is if they’d depicted Valgavoth crunching down on an apple.
At least this bad guy has a reason for hating dogs, as their “mere presence provides a powerful antidote to the fear he craves”. Sounds like they’re as problematic for this MTG set’s main villain as the glimmers, incarnations of hope that protect people from the perils of the house.
For more Duskmourn spoilers check out the set’s take on a classic horror movie slasher, or its version of Beetlejuice. And for other Magic: The Gathering content, you might find our MTG release schedule a helpful read.