Given its prerelease events just happened, Duskmourn: House of Horror is understandably the talk of the town right now. It’s only been a few days, but this set is already being heralded as a fantastic time all around. There’s no shortage of flavorful references, spooky monstrosities, and soon-to-be staple powerhouses, too.
Even following off the back of the wildly popular and successful Bloomburrow, there’s a lot of love for Duskmourn. Many MTG players can’t wait to get their hands on the new cards and decks they facilitate. The new preconstructed Commander decks, in particular, have been causing a lot of buzz.
Thanks to all this attention, we’ve seen all manner of spice spikes over the past few weeks. These haven’t stopped since Duskmourn: House of Horror has technically been released. Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin is the latest MTG card seeing a substantial price spike thanks to its powerful synergy with a new commander.
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin
Mana Value: 2BR
Rarity: Mythic
Type: Legendary Creature – Demon
Card Text: Flying, trample
Whenever one or more opponents each lose exactly 1 life, put a +1/+1 counter on Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin. Exile the top card of your library. Until your next end step, you may play that card.
Since being released in March of the Machine: The Aftermath, Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin has flown under the radar somewhat. This card hasn’t ever seen any major competitive appeal and it never really stole the limelight in Commander. Sure, this card can facilitate some mean infinite combos, but none of them ever made huge waves.
At long last, Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin is finally returning to the spotlight thanks to the Endless Punishment Commander deck. Led by Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, this deck is all about group slug effects and dealing chip damage to opponents. Blood Artist, Stormfist Crusader, and Rampaging Ferocidon are all staples in this archetype that appear in the Endless Punishment deck.
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin works wonders with every one of these MTG cards. Since they each deal one damage, they provide Ob Nixilis with a steady stream of +1/+1 counters and impulse draw. This gives the deck a major scaling threat which piles on the pressure and dishes out the hurt.
Interestingly, the abilities of Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin and Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls are incredibly similar, to the point they’re almost interchangeable. In fact, Ob Nixilis may even be the better card since there’s one “for the first time each turn” restriction. While Ob Nixilis only offers impulse draw rather than pure card draw, swapping these cards out is a viable strategy at least.
Regardless of which dastardly demon you have helming your Commander deck, they obviously play incredibly well with one another. By playing both of them together, your deck should have added redundancy which is always a benefit. Ultimately, if you’re picking up the Endless Punishment Commander deck from Duskmourn, you really want to add this card.
The Spike
Since Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin doesn’t come included in the Endless Punishment deck, many MTG players have been rushing to buy it. This has caused the card’s price to spike over the last few weeks. At the start of last week, Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin was selling for around $2, but now they’ve got up to $10!
Currently, listings on TCGplayer for the normal variant of Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin start at $20, which seems insane. Understandably, players have hesitated to pick up the last few remaining copies of this card at these prices. Ultimately, it appears Ob Nixilis has been bought out following the new surge in demand.
As if the price didn’t make it obvious enough, this buyout has been rather successful thanks to the card’s scarcity. March of the Machine: The Aftermath was not a popular set by any means, making the set’s mythics rather rare. This, in turn, makes the price of these cards rather volatile and subject to dramatic spikes like this.
Thankfully, you won’t have to fork over $20 just to play this card in your Endless Punishment deck, as other variants exist. While supply for the showcase and extended art variants is draining fast, they’re nonetheless a cheaper alternative. The same is true for foil copies of Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin, which appear to be less desirable at the moment. That said, if you want to snap up a copy of this card, you’ll have to act fast, as the market is moving quickly.
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