Horror

Horror is a catch-all creature type used for horrible, black-aligned fiends and beings that defy normal descriptions. Horrors originate from different sources such as nightmares, scientific experimentations and hellish planes. The first creature to bear the type was Cosmic Horror in Legends. Many cards received the Horror type retroactively in the Grand Creature Type Update. Notable creatures from early sets, like Abomination and Hell's Caretaker retroactively became Horrors.

Horrors don't have a prevalent ability, but most of their abilities do some sort of harm to the controller of the Horror. Many of them also have some kind of evasion.

Between 1995 and the fall of 2002, Horrors replaced Demons as the black iconic creature.

Storyline

Amonkhet

The Desert Lands of Amonkhet are not only inhabited by undead abominations, but also horrors who prey on those that dare the live outside the Hekma. Some of the creatures rival even the gods in size.

Several of of these, like the Grim Strider and the Scrounger of Souls have elongated forelimbs and a mask-like bone plate instead of a face with a glowing rhombus of light modeled after an eye in its centre. Other Horrors are spawned from enchantments or are warped inhabitants of the plane, like the Wasp of the Bitter End.

Dominaria

A cosmic horror. Art by Jesper Myrfors.

• A powerful Cosmic Horror was summoned by the dark planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada to sack the city of Sedouris on Corondor after Sol'Kanar the Swamp King had held the city under seige for five years.
• The Ice Age was plagued by Krovikan Horrors and Void Maws.
• Urborg was one of the regions of Dominaria with the most concentrated amounts of black mana in modern times. It attracted such creatures as the Fetid Horror, the Urborg Mindsucker and the Abyssal Gatekeeper. Some of these may have been of Phyrexian origin.
• Greel, Mind Raker was a strange demon controlled by the Keldons during the Keldon invasion of Jamuraa.
• Dementia casters like Chainer, Dementia Master and other members of the Cabal on Otaria have the unique ability to summon horrors from their personal "dementia space," a place populated with the caster's greatest fears and all beings he or she has killed. These so called Nightmare Horrors appear also in white, blue, red and green. Whenever one of these creatures (originally from the Odyssey block) comes into play, another card (of a type specified in the Horror's rules text) in play is removed. When the creature leaves play, the card it "replaced" is returned to play.
• Odyssey features a white Angel Horror in form of Wayward Angel, which can change into black when Threshold is active. This ablity is also seen in the "Possessed" creatures cycle from Torment (white, blue, red and green) which have the activated ability to destroy creatures of their previous color.

Grixis

• Alara was a whole world before the Sundering broke it into the five Shards. The shard Grixis became a vast wasteland dominated by horrors, demons, necromancers and undead. The event known as the Conflux has recently reunited the shards, causing much chaos and mayhem to their respective residents. Grixis horrors include the Shambling Remains and the Nemesis of Reason.

Innistrad

• The "horror block" of Innistrad of course harbors several Horrors. Some, like Ludevic's Abomination are created by men, some like Unholy Fiend are not. A large variety of these are blue aligned zombies, while others are normal creatures that are transformed into horrors, perhaps to accent the unnatural creation. In recent times, as a consequence of Emrakul's corruption, a variety of horrors have appeared in other colors of mana, such as the red aligned Scourge Wolf and the green Kessig Dire Swine, the transition between organic creatures and full-blown Eldrazi.

Ixalan

Indescribable creatures of nightmare lurk in the ruins and dark places of Ixalan. Many are thought to be the corrupted remnants of the life energy and brilliant light left behind in places the Sun Empire has abandoned. Such creatures include a monster that lurks in the darkness of the jungle and feeds on the blood of mammals and dinosaurs, called the chupacabra. It is stealthy and elusive, known more by the blood-drained prey it leaves behind than by actual physical sightings (Lurking Chupacabra, Ravenous Chupacabra).

Mercadia

• Horror mercenaries were to be found within and without the Cateran Guild of Mercadia, like the Cateran Overlord and the Misshapen Fiend.

Phyrexia

• Phyrexian horrors, among them the Phyrexian Negator first showed up in full force in Dominaria during the Brothers' War of the Artifacts Cycle.
• Urborg was the first location where the horrors from the vats of Phyrexia revealed themselves anew, the first being the brothers Morinfen and Gallowbraid.
• Again at Urborg, the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria was led by Tsabo Tavoc and accompanying horrors.
• From early on horrors, like Greater Harvester appeared on Mirrodin. Later, many more were featured in the takeover of Mirrodin, and the creation of New Phyrexia.
• Carriers are related to Phyrexian Horrors.

Rath

• When the Dauthi of Rath were trapped within the "Shadows", the extraplanar space between Rath and Dominaria, they were left in an incorporeal state. They were unable to communicate with people on either plane, yet able to see into both the Dominarian reality and that of Rath. This predicament led the Dauthi to lose their sanity, and some of them manifested as horrors (Dauthi Horror).

Ravnica

Ravnica has several kind of horrors, most creations of one of the more unsavory guilds. The Dimir employ Horrors like the Abyssal Nocturnus, the Dinrova Horror, the Consuming Aberration and Horror of the Dim, who are created from a combination of necromancy and mind magic with the intend to guard their secrets. The Orzhov use Horrors to collect their debts from the unguilded by sending them into their quarters to collect their souls (Slum Reaper). The Rakdos cryptwitches employ their own brand of Horror, like the Cryptborn Horror, who are the results of their experiments, sometimes wrung from the collective nightmares and phobias of the inhabitants of the city (Dread Slag). And finally, the Golgari have command over Horrors wrought from plant matter and mutated insects that are able to spread on their own by infecting their surroundings with their essence (Woodwraith Corrupter). Sometimes horrors are hunted by the centaurs of the Selesnya Conclave (Hunted Horror).

Shadowmoor

• In Shadowmoor, the shadow phase of Lorwyn, the races that have survived the change have been thoroughly altered by the tainted darkness covering the plane. Some like Canker Abomination are still recognizable, but others like Grief Tyrant aren't.
• The lieges from Eventide have enemy-color costs and the Horror creature type — Deathbringer Liege, Mindwrack Liege, Murkfiend Liege, and Balefire Liege, Creakwood Liege.

Zendikar

• On Zendikar, only the Thought Gorger qualifies as a horror, but it could be a argued that the Eldrazi are horrors to the extreme.

Horror tokens

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Horror	Black	Creature — Horror	3/3		Delight in the Hunt For Each of You, a Gift My Forces Are Innumerable There Is No Refuge
	Black	Creature — Horror	4/4		Hunted Lammasu
	Black	Creature — Horror	X/X		Flesh Carver Spoils of Blood
	Blue/​Black	Creature — Horror	1/1	Flying	Call of the Nightwing
	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Horror	X/X		Profane Transfusion
	Black	Creature — Horror	1/1		Zellix, Sanity Flayer
Blue Horror	Blue/​Red	Creature — Demon Horror	2/2	Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature deals 1 damage to any target.	Pink Horror
Eldrazi Horror	Colorless	Creature — Eldrazi Horror	3/2		Desperate Sentry Extricator of Flesh Extricator of Sin Enlightened Maniac Emrakul's Evangel Foul Emissary Hanweir, the Writhing Township Howling Chorus Otherworldly Outburst Wharf Infiltrator
The Atropal	Black	Legendary Creature — God Horror	4/4	Deathtouch	Tomb of Annihilation
Nightmare Horror	Black	Creature — Nightmare Horror	X/X		Chainer's Torment
Phyrexian Horror	Red	Creature — Phyrexian Horror	X/1	Trample, haste	Urabrask's Forge
	Green	Creature — Phyrexian Horror	X/X		Nissa, Ascended Animist
	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Horror	X/X		Phyrexian Rebirth
Zombie Horror	Black	Creature — Zombie Horror	X/X		Corpseweft
Uchuulon	Black	Creature — Crab Ooze Horror	*/4	Uchuulon’s power is equal to the number of Crabs, Oozes, and/or Horrors you control. Horrific Symbiosis — At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target creature card from an opponent’s graveyard. If you do, create a token that’s a copy of Uchuulon.	Uchuulon

Horror manlands and artifacts

Horrors are also created by:

• Woodwraith Corrupter (4/4 black and green Elemental Horror).
• Phyrexian Totem (5/5 black artifact Horror with Trample).
• Dimir Keyrune (2/2 blue and black Horror artifact creature).

Creature Type Update

In (and before) the Grand Creature Type Update the following creature types were changed into Horror

• Abomination (Abomination)
• Eater (Eater of the Dead)
• Fiend (Moor Fiend, Timmerian Fiends)
• Gatekeeper (Abyssal Gatekeeper)
• Hell's Caretaker (Hell's Caretaker)
• Mindsucker (Urborg Mindsucker)
• Undead (Hidden Horror)
• Evil-Eye (Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore) became a Horror but was later reverted to Eye