Sauron, the Lidless Eye
Legendary Creature — Avatar Horror
When Sauron enters, gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn.
: Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. Each opponent loses 2 life.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #10802
Sauron, the Lidless Eye lands as a five-mana 4/4 that punishes every spell your opponents cast by making Armies and draining life — the card advantage and pressure it generates are both immediate and passive. The catch is that it does nothing if opponents don't cooperate, and Sauron, the Dark Lord outclasses it as a commander for pure power, which pushes the Lidless Eye firmly into the 99.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sauron, the Dark Lord
Sauron, the Dark Lord triggers off Orcs and Armies entering the battlefield, so the tokens Sauron, the Lidless Eye manufactures every time an opponent casts a spell feed the engine directly — more Armies means more triggers, more damage, and a faster clock.
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 Sauron, the Lidless Eye actually earns its slot — a four-player table means three opponents casting spells each turn, which translates to a flood of Zombie Army tokens and a steady life drain that accumulates fast. The more spell-dense the table, the better it gets, so higher-power pods where opponents are constantly deploying interaction ironically make it stronger. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant — five mana for a 4/4 with a conditional trigger doesn't compete with the threats and interaction at those power levels. Oathbreaker is the one alternative format where it could see fringe play, again riding the multi-opponent structure to generate value.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data isn't available for Sauron, the Lidless Eye, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number. Given its niche role as a supplementary piece rather than a format staple, it typically sits in budget territory — worth picking up if you're building around the Sauron theme, but no urgency otherwise.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.