The MTG card Abhorrent Oculus has risen in price by 200% since Duskmourn: House of Horror launched. In the last week, it’s gone up from its initial value of $10.80 all the way to $32, becoming the set’s most expensive card above Overlord of the Hauntwoods and the nine mana Valgavoth.
This Duskmourn card has surged in value because it’s seeing loads of play across numerous MTG formats. It might be that Standard and Modern metas will adjust to the card and send it tumbling back down, but for now it’s looking like this giant eyeball monster was badly underrated ahead of the set’s release. Poor giant eyeball monster!
What’s so special about Abhorrent Oculus? Well for starters, it’s an obvious upgrade for one of the Commander precon decks released alongside Duskmourn.
Zimone’s deck has not proven as popular as Endless Punishment or Miracle Worker, which have been the sole drivers of some massive price spikes in the past week. But it’s not done badly by any means, and the Oculus is an obvious card to slot into Jump Scare, as it manifests dread, bringing in three face down cards a turn cycle.
Abhorrent Oculus’ achievements go beyond EDH however, it’s also causing some havoc in Modern and Standard. In Standard there’s a controlling blue-white build that plays a bunch of self-milling card selection cards and wins either with a massive Haughty Djinn or Oculus and its army of 2/2s.
In Modern, meanwhile, Dimir Murktide players are using Oculus and seeing results. Strategies that cheat this card in with Unearth have performed well both on MTG Online and at physical events.
It’s worth nothing, however, that whether you cast it normally or cheat it into play, the card is very weak to graveyard hate. That might limit how successful it can be in the long run, as players will be able to sideboard accordingly now they know it’s power.
At any rate, right now, it’s one of the best cards you can open in this MTG set.
For more Magic: The Gathering content, check out our MTG release schedule guide, or our list of the greatest MTG commanders.
Source: Wargamer
