Abhorrent Oculus was the most powerful Magic card released in 2024 outside the Modern Horizons 3 expansion. Its mix of abilities, low cost, constant board pressure, and four-turn offensive clock have put it in a privileged position in all competitive formats of the game, usually in Tempo strategies aimed at putting it into play early.
One of these, whose popularity has increased in Standard, is Dimir Oculus, which essentially uses the same proposal as the Azorius version in reanimating its win condition from the graveyard, but with combinations of disruption and complementary threats that make this variant more focused on attrition, with more answers for the current Metagame.
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In this article, we delve into this new category of Standard Tempo decks, with a Sideboard guide for the main matchups in the format!
The Decklist
Compared to the Azorius version, Dimir Oculus plays a bit more like the Murktide decks from Modern, where we look to interact with the opponent with cheap removals and counterspells while proposing ways to put a big threat into play early.
That threat will usually be Abhorrent Oculus, which we can bring back from the graveyard as early as turn two with No One Left Behind. If we can untap with it, the amount of value Oculus offers only builds up with each turn, and it becomes increasingly difficult for the opponent to hold off our aggression and/or deal with our main creature - and still have to deal with it a second time if we have another No One Left Behind in hand or graveyard to reuse with Founding the Third Path.
The sideboard is full of one-ofs and the numbers can be adjusted to each player's taste. I like to diversify my answers in lists that dig deep into their library, but each Metagame requires specific answers, and perhaps your RCQ calls for more copies of Disdainful Stroke and Malicious Intent than an extra Duress or Gix’s Command.
Maindeck
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Our threats.
Abhorrent Oculus is the reason this deck exists and the main win condition of the list. On its own, it is a four-turn clock with Flying that puts a 2/2 on the board every turn, and with many interactions in the list that allow to cast it very early.
Preacher of the Schism is a mix of a source of card advantage and a perfect blocker against Aggro. Since it doesn't specifically have a "downside" in Game 1 in any matchup, I opted for four copies of it instead of more removal.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is our complementary win condition and punishes strategies like Dimir Midrange or Mono White Caretaker for drawing too many cards, in addition to having a body capable of holding off Aggro's pressure for a few turns.
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The "Reanimate" package.
Picklock Prankster and Founding the Third Path are mainly used to fill the graveyard for Abhorrent Oculus while they can also find No One Left Behind to animate some creatures. Its other abilities are relevant during many games - Prankster, for example, is the best target we have for Kaito, Bane of Nightmares in the Sideboard while Founding the Third Path allows us to reuse spells from the graveyard.
No One Left Behind will almost always have Abhorrent Oculus as its primary target, but it can bring Preacher of the Schism back for only , and in the late game it can be used to reanimate Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Some lists like to use Atraxa, Grand Unifier with this card, but this plan seems too greedy.
Chart a Course can discard an Oculus to bring back, but it is also a source of cheap card advantage in longer games, complementing the added value that attacking with Preacher of the Schism provides.
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Duress and Negate are the cheapest and most comprehensive means of disruption and protection available in Standard today, and ensure that Abhorrent Oculus stays on the battlefield longer. Three of each seems like the ideal number today because we need room for removal.
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And those include Cut Down as the best one-mana removal in the format and Go for the Throat to deal with larger creatures. It's possible to go up to four copies of each in the maindeck if we reduce the number of Preacher of the Schism to two, but I like the 14-creature setup and Priest is a good wall against Aggro.
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In addition to the 12-card pack of duals that come into play untapped, we have Undercity Sewers as a land drop that increases the number of cards in our graveyard. With any luck, it will find an Abhorrent Oculus on the first turn, which will allow us to play No One Left Behind for on the following turn.
Sideboard
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Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is still the best Planeswalker in Standard and operates as a complementary threat in this list in games where we want a threat that is difficult to remove, such as against Midranges, or in the Mirror.
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The extra Cut Down and Go for the Throat round out the removal package with Anoint with Affliction for games where exiling creatures matters and Blot Out as our main answer to a Kaito, Bane of Nightmares that comes into play via Ninjutsu.
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With the rise of bounce decks, having ways to respond to enchantments is almost mandatory. Feed the Swarm has the advantage of being cheaper and its life cost against Stormchaser’s Talent is lower, while Withering Torment can be used in response to This Town Ain’t Big Enough and also works in midrange games to deal with Enduring Curiosity.
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Duress and Negate come in games where we need more protection at the expense of less removal and/or conditional threats. They also replace part of our engine in games where we expect a greater focus on our graveyard.
Disdainful Stroke comes in against Mono White Tokens and Four-Color Zur, but there are also some games against Golgari and Dimir lists where its side-in is useful to answer key cards.
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Gix’s Command has a high cost, but it guarantees a definitive answer against low-power creatures, can turn games against Midrange, recurs the Oculus that were destroyed and its Lifelink and counters mode are essential against Aggro.
Malicious Eclipse is already a more targeted answer against Aggro and go-wide, not having the same flexibility, but costing less to run.
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If Omniscience decks continue to grow in the coming weeks, a second copy of Ghost Vacuum may be necessary to hold the combo, but between Duress and Negate, we already have enough pieces to hold the game for long enough.
Sideboard Guide
Dimir Midrange
IN
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OUT
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Abhorrent Oculus and Reanimate’s plan becomes much weaker in Games 2 and 3 because the number of responses against it tends to increase, so cutting cards from the engine in favor of a plan with more attrition and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares as a win condition is advisable - you want to play Oculus as a threat that won’t be removed in the next two turns, and you need to prolong the game to have Duress and Negate backup.
Gruul Aggro
IN
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OUT
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Gruul Leyline
IN
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OUT
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Domain Zur
IN
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OUT
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Exper Bounce
IN
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OUT
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Jeskai Convoke
IN
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OUT
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Azorius Oculus
IN
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OUT
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Selesnya Cage
IN
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OUT
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Mono White Caretaker
IN
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OUT
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Dimir Oculus
IN
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OUT
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Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
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