Elemental

The Elemental creature token, bearing the collector number 009, was released in 2024 as part of the Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander set for the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. Wizards of the Coast commissioned these tokens to represent specific game states triggered by cards within the expansion, which draws heavily on 1980s horror tropes and haunted house aesthetics. As a thematic tie-in to a set focused on trapped souls and supernatural entities, the token serves as a functional companion piece for decks utilizing cards that manifest or summon ethereal, elemental forces.

Artist Nils Hamm was selected to illustrate this piece, bringing his characteristic painterly style and focus on lighting to the design. Hamm sought to evoke a sense of uncanny, shifting energy, utilizing muted, unsettling color palettes that align with the claustrophobic and atmospheric nature of the Duskmourn plane. The work was received by the player community as a distinct stylistic departure from the more rigid or heroic elemental tokens found in previous sets, valued primarily for its integration into the cohesive visual identity of the expansion.