Cyclops Gladiator
Creature — Cyclops Warrior
Whenever this creature attacks, you may have it deal damage equal to its power to target creature defending player controls. If you do, that creature deals damage equal to its power to this creature.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic 2011
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #23467
Cyclops Gladiator hits the board and immediately trades the best blocker your opponent controls for whatever blocks it, turning a 4/4 first striker into a two-for-one threat on contact. Four mana for that effect is fair, not broken — it earns its slot in aggressive red decks that need to punch through defenses, but it won't survive in pods that run efficient removal.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Cyclops Gladiator is a role-player in mono-red or aggressive Gruul lists that want to contest combat on a crowded board — the forced-block clause lets it eat an opponent's best creature while first strike keeps it alive, which is real value across a multiplayer table. In Legacy and Vintage it has no competitive presence; four mana for a vanilla-adjacent creature is nowhere near the power threshold those formats demand. Modern is similarly unkind — the four-mana slot in red is brutally contested, and Cyclops Gladiator doesn't generate card advantage or close games fast enough to compete. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander verdict: fine in red aggro, ignored everywhere else.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Cyclops Gladiator sits firmly in bulk territory — you're acquiring it out of a bulk bin or as throw-in, not tracking it down specifically. Bulk rares at this price point don't move unless reprinted into a popular precon, so there's no reason to expect the price to change.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.