Since Duskmourn: House of Horror was released in 2024, it's an excellent time to look back on a set. Duskmourn's major theme was Enchantments, which included the introduction of Rooms and the Eerie mechanic, in addition to the inclusion of the powerful Overlords.

Less talked about, but no less important, was the introduction of the Glimmer Creature type, which were the golden ephemeral Creatures summoned in desperation by the survivors of the house of horrors.

Top 5 Glimmers in MTG

In physical Magic, there are only eight Glimmer Creatures (although with the caveat that all Changelings are also Glimmers). Arena has eight more, some of which are extremely interesting designs, but unless they show up as physical cards in the future, they're not relevant for our discussion.

1. Enduring Innocence
2. Enduring Courage & Enduring Vitality
3. Inquisitive Glimmer
4. Enduring Tenacity
5. Enduring Curiosity

Likewise, Lionheart Glimmer, while a fine Limited card, is not going to make anyone's top five lists. Of the remaining seven, here's how they rank up.

5. Enduring Innocence

Enduring Innocence is an excellent support card for White decks and synergizes well with what those decks do best: deploy small Creatures and trigger Enchantress effects. The card draw effect may only trigger once per turn, but if you're creating tokens on other players' turns with The Queen of Dale or Kambal, Profiteering Mayor, you're perfectly happy even with that restriction.

If you're running Delney, Streetwise Lookout or a Hare Apparent build, Enduring Innocence keeps the cards flowing and must be dealt with twice or Exiled to effectively stop the draws.

For the cost, it's quite an upgrade to Mentor of the Meek or Welcoming Vampire. Basically any White token deck wants Enduring Innocence.

4. Enduring Courage & Enduring Vitality

Both Gruul () Glimmers are well designed and powerful cards, but three other Glimmers are just a notch above them. Still, if you're playing a Gruul Enchantment deck like Terra, Magical Adept or Wildsear, Scouring Maw, then Enduring Courage and Enduring Vitality are immediate includes.

Anything that makes a grip of tokens works exceedingly well with the Gruul pairing of Glimmers. Fans of Rin and Seri, Inseparable should make space in their lists for the Glimmers, as you're trying to churn out as many Dog and Cats as possible and Enduring Courage (a Dog itself) can enable a massive alpha strike.

If you're building Iron Man, Tony Stark or have a long-cherished Krenko, Mob Boss deck, Enduring Courage is a crucial card for your strategy that vastly outclasses Ogre Battledriver or Roar of Resistance.

Enduring Vitality is in the same class of cards as Cryptolith Rite and Elven Chorus, which always overperform, and it's an easy inclusion for The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl or Jetmir, Nexus of Revels.

3. Inquisitive Glimmer

Coming in at the middle of the pack is Inquisitive Glimmer. The little Fox Glimmer may not be as immediately exciting as the Enduring Cycle, but anything that reduces the cost of a card type deserves consideration.

The Unlocking aspect is much less important than the general cost reduction on all Enchantments, but it's a pure bonus and its value goes up as (or if) more Rooms are printed.

Eriette, the Beguiler wants to play expensive Auras that the Glimmer discounts, while Tom Bombadil wants the same for Sagas and Hei Bai, Forest Guardian benefits from a critical mass of Enchantment Creatures.

For generic Enchantment Matters Commanders like Kestia, the Cultivator or Zur, Eternal Schemer, Inquisitive Glimmer is a small but crucial part of the puzzle. The Tempest Medallion cycle is a classic for a reason, and with a density of Enchantments, Inquisitive Glimmer becomes a backup Medallion.

2. Enduring Tenacity

Sanguine Bond has been a well-loved and -hated combo piece for over fifteen years now, and Enduring Tenacity shaves off a mana and adds a 4/3 body to the classic Enchantment. That alone would be enough to push it near the top of the rankings of all Glimmers, but the fact that Enduring Tenacity is difficult to deal with ramps up its power.

In conjunction with Bloodthirsty Conqueror or Exquisite Blood and any source of damage, Enduring Tenacity can drain out an entire table. The Sanguine Bond plus Exquisite Blood combo has existed since 2012's Avacyn Restored, and now, with Tenacity and Conqueror, any base-Black deck has a redundant version of the combo.

This, of course, pushes you up to the higher brackets, but if you like combos, this is a resilient and easy-to-assemble total table killer in decks like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Even if you want to stay away from the Exquisite Blood/Bloodthirsty Conqueror loop, Enduring Tenacity is a great asset in decks like Y'shtola, Night's Blessed and Karlov of the Ghost Council. For maximum fun, new nuisance Blech, Loafing Pest can power up Enduring Tenacity while benefitting from its trigger.

1. Enduring Curiosity

The Flash on Enduring Curiosity is huge, as it can come in mid-combat once blockers have been assigned and draw cards off of anything left unblocked, or Flash in on an opponent's combat to eat a 2/2, or drop at the end of turn if your opponent doesn't deploy anything that had to be countered.

The flexibility and power of Enduring Curiosity make it a security blanket that powers up Dimir Flash/Midrange in Standard and seems primed to obviate Coastal Piracy or Reconnaissance Mission and supplement Bident of Thassa in Commander. Notably, it's also a Cat, and Magic players love their Cat decks.

The decks that want Enduring Curiosity are numerous; basically, if you are running a Blue deck that prioritizes attacking, Curiosity would suit your deck. That said, decks that should absolutely be running Enduring Curiosity include Namor the Sub-Mariner, Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima, Kotis, the Fangkeeper, and any Faerie Commander.

Wrapping Up

While the first Creature that was also an Enchantment came as a one-off in Future Sight, Enchantment Creatures were introduced as a major theme in 2013's Theros and were immediately popular. They trigger Enchantress effects and count as two different card types in the graveyard. They are a bit more fragile, as Disenchant effects double as a Doom Blade, but the trade-off is worth it.

The Enduring cycle even breaks with that tradeoff, as they require two board wipes or removal spells to deal with.

Duskmourn was a deceptively powerful set, with even the quirkier cards creating new archetypes and finding niches in a high-powered Standard environment. The Glimmers may not have hit that level of adoption, but they play well and will age better, especially if we return to Valgavoth's domain.