Do you know what’s also terrifying about Screaming Nemesis? It’s price.
Since Standard has come to the forefront due to the beginner-friendly release of Magic Foundations, several Standard cards have since been on the move as more players enter the format. Especially with notable events such as the Magic Spotlight Series, Standard is primed to see more attention this year, which will further increase the value of current sets, such as Duskmourn: House of Horror.
Even though Duskmourn: House of Horror was released last year, there’s still plenty of value in the Standard set, as the cards will remain legal until early 2027. So, let’s look at some of the most valuable cards you’ll be thrilled to open in Play and Collector Boosters, or happen to already have in your collection!
The Most Expensive Cards from Duskmourn: House of Horror
One thing to mention before discussing the most expensive cards from Duskmourn: House of Horror is that we’re talking about base printings of cards today. No Showcase, Extended Art, Japan Showcase, or otherwise. However, if you’re looking for the most valuable Japan Showcase cards, we’ve got you covered right here!
#10 Enduring Curiosity
Enduring Curiosity
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare
Duskmourn: House of Horror introduces the Enduring cycle, a class of cards that offer an effect as a creature but can return to play as an enchantment if the card dies (through removal or combat damage, for example). Enduring Curiosity is one of the more-played options in Standard due to the growing popularity (and success) of Dimir Midrange and Dimir Enchantments. Coastal Piracy on a creature is one thing, but one that can generate value at instant speed or become a surprise blocker in combat is fantastic versatility. While most of the card’s value is due to competitive play, the card also features in a mixture of Commander builds led by Alela, Artful Provocateur and Niko, Light of Hope with further applications in Rogues and Pirated-focused builds.
#9 Fear of Missing Out
Fear of Missing Out
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare
Fear of Missing Out was one of the first reveals from Duskmourn: House of Horror and generated a ton of excitement since you can initiate multiple combat steps if you’ve hit Delirium. If you aren’t familiar, Delirium is a mechanic where if you have four (or more) different card types in your graveyard (for example, creature, instant, land, and enchantment), you’ll receive a bonus effect. So, if you’ve managed to hit Delirium with a Fear of Missing Out on the battlefield and it attacks, you’ll untap Fear of Missing Out, and there will be an additional combat phase.
Market Price: $19.53
What made the value of Fear of Missing Out rise as of late was the recent Banned & Restricted announcement that saw Faithless Looting unbanned in Modern. As Faithless Looting discards two cards upon resolution, it further synergizes with Fear of Missing Out because you’re able to reach Delirium quickly and deal a ton of damage. Modern’s Rakdos Hollow One is the best home for Fear of Missing Out right now as it uses Faithless Looting as fuel for Nethergoyf and helps discount the costs of Hollow One due to the amount cards you discard within the strategy. In the realms of Commander, Fear of Missing Out sees play in strategies that want to output as much damage as possible, such as Arabella, Abandoned Doll and Winter, Misanthropic Guide, which are both from Duskmourn: House of Horror.
#8 Enduring Vitality
Enduring Vitality
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare
The other Enduring card that remains valuable from Duskmourn: House of Horror is Enduring Vitality, where interest is primarily from Commander demand rather than competitive success. Sure, the Elk Glimmer sees play in the impressively complicated Standard Temur Otters, but in Commander, the card serves as a second copy of Cryptolith Rite that is a popular way to ramp into game-ending spells. Having additional copies of a strong effect is desirable in Commander, and while Enduring Vitality does cost one extra mana, you’re getting a 3/3 vigilant threat that can tap itself for mana if needed. If you play Tokens or a “go-wide” strategy in Commander and happen to be in green, the Enduring Vitality is a fantastic pickup that is currently cheaper than Cryptolith Rite.
#7 Overlord of the Mistmoors
Overlord of the Mistmoors
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
Another cycle of cards introduced in Duskmourn: House of Horror is the Overlord cards that use the Impending mechanic. Impending is where you may cast the Overlord for its impending cost, and if you do, it enters the battlefield with a number of time counters equal to the number specified on the card and is an enchantment. Then, you remove a time counter at the beginning of your end step. Once the final time counter is removed, the Overlord enters play as a (enchantment) creature. Since Duskmourn: House of Horror’s release, the Overlord cards have seen play in Standard and Pioneer, with Overlord of the Mistmoors trending upwards due to recent competitive success.
Market Price: $13.25
What makes Overlord of the Mistmoors such a powerful card is that you create 2/1 flying Insect tokens when the card enters play (or attacks) — which includes casting it for its Impending cost — this means you’re paying four mana for two evasive bodies which is already a decent rate. It’s due to this incremental value and this inevitability it has made Overlord of the Mistmoors a desirable card to own from the set, as Mono-White Token Control and Selensya Tokens are two of the Standard archetypes that are accommodating the Overlord best right now.
#6 Gloomlake Verge
Gloomlake Verge
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Rare
Duskmourn: House of Horror also saw the introduction of the Verge Lands, which are a new cycle of mana sources that encourage you to play a land subtype (so Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest) to gain access to a second color. So with Floodfarm Verge, you would be able to tap the card for black mana if you have an Island or a Meticulous Archive on the battlefield under your control. This also extends to other lands with subtypes that are in play under your control, such as Raffine’s Tower and Hallowed Fountain. At the time of writing, Gloomlake Verge is the most valuable of this selection, and this is due to widespread competitive play.
We’ve already discussed how Dimir Enchantments and Dimir Midrange are some of the popular Standard decks to play right now, and the value of Gloomlake Verge plays into that sentiment. Another reason this particular card is expensive is because of the popularity of Dimir (the black and blue color pairing) in Commander, with Yuriko, Tiger’s Shadow and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver being the desirable options to play in the singleton format. In Commander especially, the Verge Lands are almost “free” because it’s an untapped mana source that gives you access to one of your colors with the hope it “unlocks” the other half through playing other lands. While the Verge Lands in Duskmourn: House of Horror isn’t a complete cycle, we can hope Aetherdrift or Tarkir: Dragonstorm will introduce the other color pairings soon.
#5 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
Valgavoth, Terror Eater
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
It isn’t much of a surprise to see Duskmourn: House of Horror’s primary antagonist becoming a valuable card from the release in Valgavoth, Terror Eater. For a whopping nine mana, Valgavoth is probably one of the harder threats to answer due to the annoying Ward cost, combined with the fact you can re-cast your opponent’s spells by paying life (rather than spending mana) during your turn. Since release, Valgavoth, Terror Eater has become the hottest target to recur from the graveyard (or from the library, with Pioneer’s Jund Creativity incorporating the Elder Demon without much issue and to notable success. Demons are a popular creature type to play in Commander since the release of Be’lakor, the Dark Master from Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000, allowing you to generate value by playing (and cheating) demons onto the battlefield while giving you access to other colors.
#4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
Overlord of the Hauntwoods
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
While Overlord of the Mistmoors is becoming a valuable card from Duskmourn: House of Horror due to recent competitive success, it’s Overlord of the Hauntwoods that’s the most valuable out of the cycle due to the synergy with Llanowar Elves in Standard, where you can cast an Impending Overlord of the Hauntwoods on turn two if you’ve played a Llanowar Elves on turn one. Another reason the Avatar Horror remains a valuable card from the set is due to Standard’s Domain Control, which uses Wilds of Eldraine’s Up the Beanstalk to draw cards while casting these Overlord cards for their Impending costs (which triggers Up the Beanstalk, fun fact).
Market Price: $14.88
Overlord of the Hauntwoods offers a fairly unique effect where whenever the card enters play (or attacks), you create a tapped colorless token named Everywhere that is every Basic Land type (so Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest), meaning you can passively ramp as the game progresses. It’s this flexibility in mana that allows you to play more mana-intensive cards in Domain Control such as Zur, Eternal Schemer, which gives enchantment creatures you control (such as the Overlords) deathtouch, lifelink, and hexproof – so essentially, a robust win condition. With Duskmourn: House of Horror remaining in Standard until early 2027, cards like Overlord of the Hauntwoods have a bright future.
#3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
Speaking of cards with a bright future, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is quickly becoming one of the best cards to play in Standard at the time of publication due to the aforementioned success of Dimir Midrange and Dimir Enchantments. What makes Kaito so unique as a Planeswalker is that he comes with Ninjitsu, where if you attack with a creature and the opponent doesn’t block, you may return that card to your hand and put the Ninjitsu card into play tapped and attacking instead. Kaito makes this much more interesting, as he enters play as a Ninja creature with four loyalty counters that can be activated post-combat if Ninjitsu’d into play.
Ninjitsu aside, the abilities on Kaito, Bane of Nightmares are versatile as you can Surveil (and then draw a card), put Stun counters on creatures, or create an emblem that gives all Ninjas you control +1/+1. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough Ninjas in Standard right now to fully profit from creating the emblem, but it is worth mentioning the emblem buffs Kaito during your turn and can end up being a convincing threat in the late-game. With this versatility in mind, it’s no surprise to see Kaito, Bane of Nightmares becoming a valuable card from Duskmourn: House of Horror due to applications in Standard and the popularity of Ninjas in Commander.
#2 Screaming Nemesis
Screaming Nemesis
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
One card that continues to see demand is Screaming Nemesis, which is also becoming one of the most expensive cards from Duskmourn: House of Horror. Since Magic World Championship 30 late last year, the Spirit has become a mainstay in Mono-Red, Gruul, and Boros Aggro in Standard. This is because Screaming Nemesis comes with a unique set of abilities where if Screaming Nemesis is dealt damage, it will deal that much damage to any other target. However, Screaming Nemesis also says if a player is dealt damage this way, that player cannot gain life for the rest of the game. We’ve seen iterations of this design in the past with Boros Reckoner, but Screaming Nemesis takes it one further by punishing players (that can include you) to prevent them from ever gaining life during a game of Magic.
It’s this unique effect in particular that has made Screaming Nemesis a desirable card to own from Duskmourn: House of Horror just because it curbs the one pitfall that aggressive strategies can suffer from, and that is the opponent gaining any amount of life. In Standard, aggressive archetypes have incorporated the card to notable success as it’s able to ignore the one common pitfall which is the opponent gaining any amount of life.
#1 Abhorrent Oculus
Abhorrent Oculus
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
And lastly, it isn’t much of a surprise to see Abhorrent Oculus as the most expensive base card from Duskmourn: House of Horror as it’s become a multiformat all-star, seeing play in Standard, Modern, and even Legacy to notable success. What makes this incredibly imposing eye so good is that it compliments a selection of cards that return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield, such as Unearth, Helping Hand, and Recommission. Leading up to Duskmourn: House of Horror’s release, Abhorrent Oculus saw trepidation from players as it’s similar to Skaab Ruinator, which saw a ton of hype around the original release of Innistrad, and didn’t live up to expectations competitively.
Market Price: $12.06
The most surprising impact came from Modern, where Abhorrent Oculus is now a feature of Dimir Oculus (or sometimes called Dimir Murktide) where you play this value spell-based strategy and then turn the corner with haymaker cards in Abhorrent Oculus and Murktide Regent. You’re never looking to cast the Oculus due to the demanding cost of exiling six cards from your graveyard, but there are multiple ways to discard the card and return to the battlefield at a later stage. There are unique cases where you’ll want to cast the card and exile cards from the graveyard, though, especially if there’s a Murktide Regent on the battlefield. Unlike Skaab Ruinator, Abhorrtent Oculus creates an immediate impact on the battlefield by putting 2/2 creatures onto the battlefield on each opponent’s upkeep (by using excellent the Manifest Dread mechanic).