We’re deep into Duskmourn previews now, with the full set lurching further into view with each passing day. Overall, it seems like a fairly balanced set power-wise. A lot of the cards we’ve seen look powerful, but not overbearing. Today’s preview, however, could well be an exception to that. Not only is Abhorrent Oculus an immensely well-statted MTG creature, but it’s also a grindy value engine that can easily get out of hand in a long game. Is this the best Duskmourn card we’ve seen yet? Eye wouldn’t be surprised, frankly.
Abhorrent Oculus MTG
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 5/5
- Card Text: As an additional cost to cast this spell, exile six cards from your graveyard. Flying. At the beginning of each opponent’s upkeep, Manifest Dread. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card.)
Three mana for a 5/5 flier, even now, when creatures in Magic are pushed to high heaven, is an incredible deal. It hearkens back to Skaab Ruinator, which was a similarly hyped card from a similarly horrific set. Both creatures also share the requirement of exiling cards from your graveyard as part of their costs. Ruinator had its own issues, which prevented it from having the impact players hoped for. Abhorrent Oculus, however, looks a lot more likely to hit the mark.
The biggest reason for this is that Oculus, unlike Ruinator, does something beyond just swinging in for five in the air. Manifesting Dread on each of your opponent’s turns does two things. It puts a 2/2 creature into play on the ground, and it puts something into your graveyard for later. Both of these play fantastically with other copies of Oculus, which means that decks running this card will almost certainly want the full four.
When you consider the steep extra casting cost of exiling six cards from your graveyard, that doesn’t sound quite so viable. Are you really going to churn through enough cards to fuel four of these? Well, as we’ll get into, hardcasting Oculus won’t always be necessary. Even when it is, there’s enough self-mill in Magic to cast one Oculus easily.
Bear in mind that it requires six cards, not three creatures like Ruinator. This means that Fetch Lands, cheap instants and sorceries, and even cantrip artifacts are all fair game. We’ve all seen how easily Delve cards can come down, and Oculus essentially has Delve too, albeit a less flexible version.
Standard In Its Sights
Abhorrent Oculus has very real potential in multiple MTG formats, but I think Standard may be where it shines the brightest. The format is very self-mill-friendly right now, with all ten Surveil Lands as well as solid support cards like Founding the Third Path and Cache Grab. You should be able to fill your graveyard early without too much trouble, in other words. Once you have, dropping Oculus on turn three is a very real possibility, and a lot of decks simply won’t be able to handle that.
The card will need a dedicated self-mill shell to truly excel. Within said shell, however, it should have plenty of different play lines. For example, if you mill an Oculus early, you can bring it back for just a single mana thanks to Helping Hand. Sure it won’t be able to block that turn, but the 2/2 it Manifests will. Alternatively, you can Manifest the Oculus, then flip it over on turn three, thus bypassing the exile requirement. The best options we’ve seen for this so far are Turn Inside Out and Innocuous Rat, though, of course, you can also use other copies of Oculus, too.
The current Standard format doesn’t really have any kind of self-mill deck in a prominent position. It does have Dimir Midrange, however, which seems like the most likely existing home for Oculus. The deck can churn through a lot of cards with the likes of Spyglass Siren and Restless Reef, and it also runs cheap removal to fill the yard early. Oculus is also a great Midrange-style threat, providing a big body as well as value over time. Outside of a new brew using multiple Manifest Dread cards and self-mill options, this is where I’d expect to see Oculus the most in Standard.
The Eternal Eye
Abhorrent Oculus could go far beyond Standard. The further back you go in Magic, the easier it is to fill your graveyard for very little mana. Izzet Phoenix is the most popular deck in Pioneer right now, and that’s a deck all about dumping things in the yard. It burns through cards with Ledger Shredder and Picklock Prankster, then uses that fuel to power out Treasure Cruise and its namesake, Arclight Phoenix. Oculus could easily slot in as another flying threat with a taste for the graveyard. Manifesting Dread will also let you dig for your key removal, or combo pieces like Temur Battle Rage.
Similarly, Oculus also has a shot in Modern’s premier graveyard strategy, Dimir Murktide. Oculus will often be smaller than Murktide, but it diversifies your threats by putting more bodies in play. It also offers card selection, which helps you dig toward answers in tight matchups. It’s fairly unlikely that Oculus will replace Murktide since it can only ever cost three instead of two. That said, it is less blue-intensive, so it could spawn a new variant of the deck. It really is that strong a card.
Interestingly, though it doesn’t look it at first, Abhorrent Oculus is also going to be a fantastic Commander card. Typically big bodies like this with casting restrictions don’t fare very well there, but the fact that Oculus triggers on each opponent’s upkeep really pushes it over the edge. You’ll get to Manifest Dread three times a turn cycle with this card out in Commander. That’s three 2/2s in play and three cards in the graveyard. You also get to go six cards deep in search of key cards. Not bad at all for three mana.
Read More: New Duskmourn Saga Lets You Copy Tamiyos From Your Graveyard
