Eye of Ugin is a legendary land that first appeared in Worldwake in 2010. Its ability to discount colorless Eldrazi spells and tutor up creatures made it one of the most powerful support lands ever printed.
That power eventually broke Modern outright. Eye of Ugin was banned in that format on April 4, 2016, after a wave of extremely cheap Eldrazi creatures turned it into a format-warping engine.
This guide covers the full card text, its complete printing history, and the ban story that made it one of the more infamous lands in Magic's history.
Collectors and players researching this card should understand both what it does and exactly why it earned its reputation.
Few lands in Magic's history carry as much name recognition purely from a single ban story, which makes Eye of Ugin a genuinely useful case study for how a card's design can outlast its original set entirely.
Eye of Ugin taps for colorless mana like any basic land. Its second ability costs seven mana and a tap to search the library for a colorless creature card, reveal it, and put it into hand.
Its static ability makes colorless Eldrazi spells cost two less to cast, which is the piece that made it dangerous once cheap Eldrazi creatures entered the card pool.
Eye of Ugin debuted in Worldwake in 2010, was reprinted in Modern Masters 2015, and again in 2026's Reality Fracture Special Guests, a limited-insertion product line that reprints high-demand cards at a low pull rate.
Each printing carries a distinct price profile driven by scarcity and collector demand rather than gameplay differences, since the card functions identically across every version.
Oath of the Gatewatch, released in early 2016, introduced very cheap Eldrazi creatures costing as little as zero or one mana. Combined with Eye of Ugin's cost reduction and tutoring, these cards created an overwhelming, extremely fast strategy.
Eldrazi decks took roughly 20 of 32 available Top 8 slots across a Pro Tour and three Grand Prix in that stretch, a level of format dominance that led directly to Eye of Ugin's ban on April 4, 2016.
Outside Modern, Eye of Ugin remains legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. It also saw a newer, digital-only ban in MTG Arena's Historic and Brawl formats following its September 2026 Reality Fracture reprint, though this does not affect paper legality anywhere.
Competitive Brawl on Arena, which uses a separate ban list from regular Brawl, still allows the card, underscoring how format-specific these bans can get even within one platform.
Cards banned for genuinely breaking a format tend to carry lasting name recognition well beyond their competitive relevance, and Eye of Ugin is a clear example of that pattern.
Its role in the Eldrazi Winter era gives it a collector story that outlives its Modern legality, which is part of why it keeps getting reprinted in premium collector-focused products.
Databases like Scryfall keep Eye of Ugin's current Oracle text and legality status up to date across every printing, which is the most reliable reference for confirming a format's current rules regardless of which physical copy a player owns.
Eldrazi Winter is frequently cited internally and publicly as a cautionary example of how a new set can retroactively break an existing, previously fine card through unexpected synergy rather than a flaw at original release.
Set design teams have since referenced this exact interaction pattern when evaluating whether a new card might combo unexpectedly well with older, already-legal cards still sitting in a format's card pool.
No, Eye of Ugin is legal in Commander and remains a playable colorless land in Eldrazi-focused decks.
April 4, 2016, following the Eldrazi Winter era sparked by Oath of the Gatewatch.
Yes, it remains legal in both formats today.
Extremely cheap Eldrazi creatures from Oath of the Gatewatch combined with Eye of Ugin's discount and tutoring to dominate tournament results.
Not at printing; the problem only emerged after a later set introduced unexpectedly cheap Eldrazi creatures.
Its role in the well-documented Eldrazi Winter ban story gives it lasting recognition beyond its raw power level.
No, it only produces colorless mana, in addition to its discount and tutoring abilities.
Protect this infamous land with sleeves built for long-term storage, and browse more colorless and Eldrazi-focused singles in the Magic: The Gathering collection.
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