Deadeye Navigator
Creature — Spirit
Soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enters. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Deadeye Navigator is paired with another creature, each of those creatures has "
: Exile this creature, then return it to the battlefield under your control."
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Modern Masters 2017
- Price
- $3.20
- EDHREC rank
- #1447
Deadeye Navigator turns any enters-the-battlefield effect into a repeatable engine the moment it hits the table — soulbond a creature, pay two blue, blink it, repeat indefinitely if you have the mana. The cost is real: six mana is a lot to ask before you've generated value, and it paints a target, but pair it with Peregrine Drake or anything Loot, the Pathfinder cares about and the game ends on the spot.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Loot, the Pathfinder
Loot, the Pathfinder's ability to trigger on creature casts and ETBs turns Deadeye Navigator into a loop engine — soulbond Loot to a value creature, blink repeatedly, and you're drawing cards or generating resources every single cycle.
Gyruda, Doom of Depths
Gyruda, Doom of Depths mills four cards whenever it enters the battlefield, so Deadeye Navigator's blink loop mills the entire table and cheats every even-mana creature from any graveyard into play.
Roon of the Hidden Realm
Roon of the Hidden Realm already wants to blink its own creatures, and Deadeye Navigator gives it a second blink axis that doesn't require tapping Roon — any ETB creature in the 99 becomes a repeatable threat.
Cynette, Jelly Drover
Cynette, Jelly Drover creates Food tokens on creature ETBs, and Deadeye Navigator's on-demand blink loop turns that into an arbitrarily large Food pile with a single soulbonded creature.
Círdan the Shipwright
Círdan the Shipwright triggers on creatures entering under your control, making Deadeye Navigator's blink loop a draw engine that digs through the deck as fast as you can pay two blue mana.
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 |
Commander is where Deadeye Navigator lives — the singleton format's abundance of ETB creatures and the game-length required to recoup a six-mana investment make it a natural fit, and the combo density is high enough that it slots into dozens of archetypes. In Legacy and Vintage, it's technically legal but never played; the format speed means a six-mana do-nothing-until-you-pay-more creature can't compete. Oathbreaker shares Commander's ETB-friendly environment and Deadeye Navigator sees occasional play there, though the smaller deck size makes redundancy harder to build around.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Peregrine DrakeDeadeye Navigator
Infinite blinking; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite mana lands you control can produce
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
PalinchronDeadeye Navigator
Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite mana lands you control can produce; Infinite blinking; Infinite untap of lands you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Deadeye NavigatorIntruder Alarm
Infinite blinking; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite untap of creatures; Infinite untap of creatures you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$3.20 cheap tier
At $3.20, Deadeye Navigator sits in the cheap tier despite being a staple combo piece in one of the most popular formats — that price reflects a reprint history that has kept supply healthy. It's a safe pickup at this price; demand is consistent and the card shows up in thousands of decks, so it's unlikely to crater further.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.