Glasses of Urza
Artifact
: Look at target player's hand.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Collectors' Edition
- Price
- $5.16
- EDHREC rank
- #9696
Glasses of Urza lets you look at target player's hand at any time for free — perfect information, no mana investment beyond the one-time equip cost of zero. It's a staple in decks that want to know exactly when to strike, and Marchesa, Dealer of Death runs it in nearly a third of all builds for exactly that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Marchesa, Dealer of Death
Marchesa, Dealer of Death cares about picking the right target at the right moment, and Glasses of Urza turns that guesswork into a guaranteed read — you know whose hand is empty before you point her trigger at them.
Gisa, the Hellraiser
Gisa, the Hellraiser wants to attack into open boards, and Glasses of Urza tells you whether the player across the table is holding a fog or a removal spell before you commit your zombie horde.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Glasses of Urza is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is essentially its only competitive home. In Legacy and Vintage, hand inspection on an artifact that does nothing else is too slow and too passive — those formats want Gitaxian Probe, which replaces itself. Pauper is theoretically legal but the card sees no real play there. Commander is where Glasses of Urza earns its slot: multiplayer tables reward sustained information advantage, and an equip cost of zero means you pass it around freely as threats shift.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Glasses of Urza is already a budget card, but if you want pure hand-inspection for less, Spy Glass and Peek exist at bulk prices — the trade-off is that both are single-use, while Glasses of Urza gives you repeatable looks for the entire game. Nothing in the sub-$1 range matches the sustained, zero-equip-cost reusability, so if the effect matters to your deck, the $5 tag is the budget option.
Price Context
Current price
$5.16 mid tier
At $5.16, Glasses of Urza sits in mid-tier pricing for what is ultimately a narrow utility artifact with no competitive eternal demand. That price is driven almost entirely by Commander play and collector interest in the original printing — functionally, the effect is worth maybe $1–2, so buylist copies or reprints are worth watching if budget is a concern.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.