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Ophidian Eye

Enchantment — Aura

Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
common
Set
The List
Price
$11.43
EDHREC rank
#1746
Buy on TCGplayer
Ophidian Eye card art
Ophidian Eye turns any ping or combat damage to an opponent into a free card — staple it onto Niv-Mizzet, Parun and the draw-damage loop assembles itself, or drop it on any creature in a Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph deck and every 1-damage trigger becomes card advantage. Three mana for a Flash enchantment that draws cards at instant speed is exactly the rate these engines want.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph

Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph

68.8% of decks · synergy 0.54

Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph pings every opponent whenever another source deals exactly 1 damage, and Ophidian Eye converts each of those triggers into a card draw — the deck essentially gets paid to do what it was already doing.

02
Kediss, Emberclaw FamiliarMalcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

60.8% of decks · synergy 0.47

Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator deals damage to players on each combat hit, and Ophidian Eye attached to him means every pirate connect translates directly into cards — Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar then spreads that pressure across the table.

03
Vivi Ornitier

Vivi Ornitier

60.7% of decks · synergy 0.46

Vivi Ornitier deals damage as a core part of his gameplan, and Ophidian Eye turns those damage triggers into sustained card flow that keeps the hand full through the long game.

05
Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Niv-Mizzet, Parun

52.0% of decks · synergy 0.38

Niv-Mizzet, Parun deals 1 damage whenever its controller draws a card, so attaching Ophidian Eye creates an infinite draw-and-ping loop the moment Niv-Mizzet connects — it's the most popular reason to run this card.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Ophidian Eye earns its slot: the format's slower pace gives aura-based draw engines time to set up, and the damage-dealing commanders who want it most are everywhere in the format. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but rarely played — faster formats punish three-mana enchantments that don't immediately win the game. Pauper is the interesting outlier: Ophidian Eye is legal there, and blue-based tempo or control shells can use it as a repeatable draw engine on an evasive creature when answers are stretched thin. Skip Pioneer and Standard entirely; it's not in those card pools.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

If $11 is too steep, Curiosity does the same job for under $1 — it's the direct predecessor to Ophidian Eye and the only meaningful difference is the lack of Flash, which matters on combo turns but rarely elsewhere. Keen Sense is another near-identical green option at similar bulk pricing, though it forces you into green; either card covers 90% of the use cases Ophidian Eye fills at a fraction of the cost.

Price Context

Current price

$11.43 mid tier

At $11.43, Ophidian Eye sits in the mid tier — expensive for a single aura, justified only in decks running the Niv-Mizzet, Parun loop where it's essentially a combo piece rather than incidental card draw. Curiosity exists at bulk pricing and does nearly the same thing, so the premium here is specifically for Flash and the combo redundancy it provides.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.