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The writers over at Cool Stuff Inc. are exploring a new series that examines the top creatures for each given creature type. I love this series as it gives us the opportunity to shine light on a broad array of powerful and interesting creatures from cross Magic's rich 33-year history.
While most writers claim popular creature types such as goblins, elves, dragons, and angels, I must admit that my mind goes to the whackiest creature types I can find. While there may not be as many instances of the more bizarre creature types to compare, I find the creatively obscure creatures are the most interesting to explore.
This week, I'm reviewing a creature type that dates back to Legends while also having representation as recently as Final Fantasy. Despite spanning over 31 years of Magic history, there are a total of ten creatures of this type ever printed. The creature type I've got my eyes on is...Eyes!
Top 10 Eye Creatures
It's always fun to showcase a group of cards by ranking at Top 10. Funnily enough, across the game's history, there are precisely ten eye creatures! Thus, every single creature with type "eye" makes the list. The top cards on the list are surprisingly powerful, and likely won't generate much debate. The middle and bottom of the list are less clear, so I'll do my best to present an order based on my own experiences, understanding the ranking may vary from one player to the next.
Without further ado, I give you: the top 10 Eye creatures in Magic!
10. Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore (Legends)
While Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore has the distinct honor of being Magic's first Eye (originally "Summon Evil Eye"), the ability to circumvent walls is not powerful enough to justify the creature's drawback. Considering that in 1994, this was the only Evil Eyes creature, it basically meant you could only attack with copies of Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore. The creature was later updated to read, "Non-Eye Creatures you control can't attack," meaning you could still attack with any of the other nine eye creatures in Magic. Still, a five mana 3/6 creature that severely limits your attacks is actually quite the terrible card.
9. Evil Eye of Urborg (Time Spiral)
For 12 years, having an Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore out meant that you could only attack with that one creature. Finally, with the release of Time Spiral in 2006, Wizards of the Coast gave us a second creature that could attack alongside the first eye creature: Evil Eye of Urborg. In true throwback fashion, this creature was given the same casting cost, a flipped power and toughness (6/3 vs. 3/6), and similar rules text as the first eye. Instead of circumnavigating walls, this one destroys any creatures blocking it, making it difficult to kill in combat. The creature is still unimpressive because it severely restricts your attacks--plus, that three toughness is highly vulnerable to removal.
8. Spy Eye (Unstable)
In order to round out a complete top 10 list, I must include the lone silver-bordered card that fits the description: Spy Eye from Unstable. Despite its whacky nature, I still feel the creature belongs towards the bottom of the list. This creature is basically a Thieving Magpie that draws cards from your opponent's libraries. This is typically worse than drawing from your own library because, in theory, your deck synergizes better with itself than cards from your opponent's deck would. Not to mention Thieving Magpie hasn't been a good card for years now, I felt this creature deserves to be fairly low on the list.
7. Eye of Duskmantle (Murders at Karlov Manor Commander)
I mean no offense to surveil-aficionados out there. It just seems like a seven-drop creature should do more to impact the board when it enters the battlefield these days. Instead, you have a 3/8 flying, lifelink creature (what kind of stat line is that??) that only does something when you surveil. I'm sure surveilling is core theme to this particular Commander deck, but I still feel seven mana should get you something far more powerful in this day and age. At least this creature can attack alongside Evil Eye of Orms-By Gore.
6. Atraxi Warden (Doctor Who)
I am admittedly a huge fan of the Suspend mechanic--the idea that you can pay a significant discount on your card at the expense of having to wait a few turns is a creative interaction. Unfortunately, having suspend doesn't do too much to help Atraxi Warden. Sure, you can pay two mana instead of six for your 6/6 flyer (not a bad stat line), but the key drawback is that your opponent sees the creature coming! Since Atraxi Warden can only exile a tapped creature, it wouldn't be hard for your opponent to avoid tapping their creatures the turn before you remove that last time counter from Atraxi Warden. Sure, you still have a 6/6 flying creature--in modern Magic, however, a 6/6 flying creature for six that does basically nothing else is a dime a dozen.
5. Creeping Peeper (Duskmourn)
I remember jamming this creature in my rooms-based Limited deck...it didn't do very well. A two-mana 2/1 that taps for Blue mana would be pretty decent. Having that Blue mana restricted to casting enchantments, unlocking rooms, or turning permanents face up is far less exciting. Perhaps that's why Creeping Peeper ranked third-to-last in game-in-hand win rate amongst Blue commons on 17lands.com. Unfortunately, this creature fell below the bar. Still, as far as eyes are concerned, this one did see Limited play and earned its spot in a Draft deck from time to time.
4. Ahriman (Final Fantasy)
Another Limited card, Ahriman ranks above Creeping Peeper on the list of eyes because its game in hand win rate was significantly better (54.5% vs. 51.6%). While still filler level, Ahriman carried its weight a good bit more than Creeping Peeper. Its stat line is more relevant for starters--a 2/2 flying, deathtouch does a great job blocking just about anything. Its sacrificing ability was also relevant in the right Draft deck. It's interesting to note how eye creatures from 2025 look far more playful and cartoony than the days of Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore. Apparently, they fly and have wings now!
3. Eyetwitch (Strixhaven: School of Mages)
We're getting to the good cards now, starting with Eyetwitch at number three. This creature is somehow a hybrid of an eye and a bat, hence "Creature - Eye Bat." This one also flies, and is the cheapest of all the eye creatures at just one Black mana. Not only was Eyetwitch the second best Black uncommon in Draft (according to game in hand win rate), it also broke into competitive Standard play as part of a
2. Concealing Curtains // Revealing Eye (Innistrad: Crimson Vow)
While hardly an early pick, Concealing Curtains // Revealing Eye is powerful enough to be in Vintage Cube! It starts as a one mana 0/4 Wall, but can transform into a menacing 3/4 Eye Horror creature. The popular play pattern here is to cast Concealing Curtains on turn one as an early blocker, and then flip it a turn or two later to nab the best remaining card from your opponent's hand. If only this was the main theme associated with eye creatures from the beginning--being able to see your opponent's hand and interact with it is just so much more powerful than "can't be blocked by walls." Insert ironic comment here about how Concealing Curtains couldn't block Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore.
1. Abhorrent Oculus (Duskmourn)
Fun fact: 20% of eye creatures are in the Vintage Cube--not bad for an underappreciated creature type! That'll never be the case for the more popular creature types!
Abhorrent Oculus has to be the most powerful eye creature in Magic today. Gone are the days of 5 mana 3/6's that prevent you from attacking with non-eye creatures. Abhorrent Oculus hits extremely hard as a three mana 5/5 flyer. Even more powerful is its second ability, manifesting dread at the beginning of each opponent's upkeep. That means that even if your opponent can kill it on their turn, you've already gotten a 2/2 manifest dread trigger for your efforts.
Now, it's true that Abhorrent Oculus has a drawback--you have to exile six cards from your graveyard in order to cast it from your hand. Fortunately, in both Standard and Vintage Cube, there are ways of circumventing that cost by reanimating the creature. With a little finagling, you can bring a 5/5 flying creature into play early enough in the game to take over. Not to mention those 2/2 bonus creatures you receive every turn thereafter. Bonus points if you manifest dread into another Abhorrent Oculus! This is undoubtedly the best eye creature ever printed.
Wrapping It Up
According to a Blogatog post from November 7, 2024, Eyes are a 7 on the Beeble Scale. That means eye creatures are unlikely to return, but possible if the right environment comes along.
Well, Mark Roseater can say whatever he'd like about the likelihood of eyes to return to Standard. Clearly, they are here to stay, albeit only infrequently. If anything, Wizards of the Coast has been accelerating the pace of printing eye creatures. The first one was printed in 1994, the second was printed in 2006, the third was printed in 2017, and the other 7 were all printed in the 2020s! As a fan of eye creatures, I like the momentum we're seeing!
Granted, you can't drop eye creatures into just any set. They wouldn't really fit in Lorwyn Eclipsed ormany of the Universes Beyond sets. That being said, I'm convinced that they have enough support at Wizards of the Coast--we'll see them again. I'll be excited when we do, because clearly their power level has been greatly increased over the years. They've gone from a pitifully bad creature in Legends to a Standard all-star of 2024. Despite making infrequent appearances, I see exciting things ahead for Magic's eye creature type.
