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Abhorrent Oculus Modern Archetype Analysis

1 requestsStarted 8/31/2025, 9:21:56 AM
let's talk about Abhorrent Oculus. In which format is it used? in which deck? how are they performing?

I'll help you analyze Abhorrent Oculus usage across formats. Let me start by searching for the card and then checking its presence in different formats.

Now let me check its presence across the major formats over the last 60 days:

🛠️Get Card Presence

I don't see Abhorrent Oculus in Modern. Let me check the other major formats:

🛠️Get Card Presence

Still no Abhorrent Oculus in Pioneer. Let me check Standard:

🛠️Get Card Presence

Let me search specifically for Abhorrent Oculus across all formats to see if it appears in our data:

🛠️Query

It appears Abhorrent Oculus isn't being played in any of the tournament formats I have data for. Let me double-check by looking for it with a fuzzy search to make sure I'm not missing any variants:

🛠️Query

The card is in the database, but let me check if there are any tournament entries with it at all:

🛠️Query

Interesting! There are 2,351 copies of Abhorrent Oculus in the database. Let me check which format and when:

🛠️Query

Now I see the issue - most of the Abhorrent Oculus data is from before the last 60 days I was searching. Let me get recent data for the last 30 days and see what archetypes are playing it:

🛠️Query

Perfect! Now let me get some recent performance data and tournament sources:

Based on my analysis of the tournament database, here's what I found about Abhorrent Oculus:

Format Usage

Abhorrent Oculus is primarily played in Modern (4.5% presence historically), with smaller appearances in Legacy, Standard, Pioneer, and Vintage. The card sees most competitive play in Modern format.

Primary Archetypes (August 2025 data)

Modern:

  • Grixis Reanimator - 81 entries, ~51% winrate
  • Simic Ritual - 19 entries, ~44% winrate
  • Esper Frog - 17 entries, ~55% winrate
  • Prowess - 15 entries, ~57% winrate (typically 1-2 copies)

Standard:

  • Jeskai Oculus - 5 entries, ~54% winrate
  • Various other "Oculus" builds in smaller numbers

Performance Analysis

The card shows mixed results across archetypes:

Best performers: Prowess (~57% WR), Esper Frog (~55% WR), Jeskai Oculus in Standard (~54% WR)

Struggling: Dimir Frog (~28% WR), various experimental builds

Key Insights

  • Grixis Reanimator is the most popular home, leveraging the graveyard exile cost as a feature rather than drawback
  • Ritual-based strategies use it as a cheap threat after filling the graveyard
  • Control decks play it as a finisher with manifest dread value
  • The card appears in both main deck (typically 3-4 copies) and as sideboard tech

Sources
Data from 37 tournaments (89% MTGO, 11% Melee) in August 2025. Tournament examples: https://www.mtgo.com/decklist/modern-challenge-64-2025-08-2312812166, https://www.mtgo.com/decklist/modern-showcase-qualifier-2025-08-2312812131