Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Mana Curve Dynamics of Jar of Eyeballs
Magic: The Gathering loves artifacts that reward careful setup as much as explosive plays, and Jar of Eyeballs fits that bill like a well-polished lens. This colorless artifact from Commander 2013 has a quiet, reliable path to card advantage that scales with your board state. At a casual glance, it’s a 3-mana artifact with a tap ability that looks fairly modest on turn four. But the moment a creature you control dies, the jar accrues eyeball counters, and the real potential begins to pulse through your turn tree 💡🧙🔥.
What the card does, distilled
- Cost and type: Artifact with mana cost {3} (colorless) from the Commander 2013 edition, rare in a set built for legendary combos and wild table stories.
- Triggered growth: Whenever a creature you control dies, you add two eyeball counters to Jar of Eyeballs. Each creature death fuels the jar, slowly turning it into a draw-and-filter engine 🎲.
- Activated draw mechanic: For {3} and tapping the jar, you remove all eyeball counters and look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of counters removed. You may put one card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. This is your built-in tutor-lite with a built-in filter next step.
The permutation of counters is the heart of its mana-curve story. You invest three mana to start, then you wait for a cascade of creature deaths—whether from your own sac effects, value trades, or attrition—before the jar’s power peaks. By design, it rewards a patient, sacrifice-friendly plan and punishes haste where you neglect the board management. The top-deck-filtering payoff becomes tangible once you’ve seeded a handful of eyeball counters, turning board control into readable foresight ⚔️🎨.
Why this matters in Commander and eternal formats
In EDH, Jar of Eyeballs isn’t about burst acceleration; it’s about sustained card quality as the game unfolds. The rarity and set positioning (Commander 2013) place it squarely in the realm of players who love long, thoughtful games where resource edges matter more than raw speed. The artifact is colorless, so it slots neatly into any color identity, and its legendary-free nature keeps it generic enough to shine in every pod. It’s also legal in Legacy and Vintage, and highly relevant in Commander circles where sacrifice outlets and recursion are commonplace 🌟🧙♂️.
The synergy hinges on your creature death pipeline. Cards that force trades, sacrifice outlets that sustain your engine, or token creation that fodders for your board all amplify Jar of Eyeballs’ value. The more your creatures die on your terms, the more counters accumulate, and the bigger your X becomes when you eventually tap to draw. This is a subtle kind of “delayed payoff” that fits well with stall-control, aristocrat-style, or big-mombo-style Commander builds. It’s not an instant windfall, but it’s a dependable trick that rewards plotted, considerate gameplay 💎⚔️.
Mana curve simulation: turning counters into decision power
Let’s think through a rough, hypothetical simulation (emphasis on “illustrative” rather than a guaranteed table-ready statline). Suppose you design a light-sac or aristocrat shell around this artifact, and you manage to trigger a handful of creature deaths per few turns. As eyeball counters accumulate, your potential X grows, and the decision space expands: which card do you take now, and which remain to be filtered later?
- Casting Jar of Eyeballs costs 3 mana, so you need to reach that mana threshold without sacrificing tempo. If you lean into small, repeatable death triggers (or tokens that naturally die to enable your board state), you start laying the groundwork for eyeball counters in the mid-game. Expect 0–2 counters early; the draw payoff remains modest but sets the stage for later turns 🧭.
- Counter stacking accelerates as your sac outlets and board interactions accumulate. Reaching 3–5 eyeball counters becomes plausible in a typical three- to four-player game, turning your activated ability into a real-card-filter engine. When you remove 3–5 counters, you peek at the top 3–5 cards and pick the best fit for your current plan. This starts feeling like “draw one, filter a few more” rather than pure memory-deck digging 🎯.
- If your deck leans into value from death triggers, Jar of Eyeballs can spin up into a late-game draw engine. The top-of-library glimpses, when properly sequenced, set up not just a single draw but a string of decisions—shock-and-awe moments that feel like you’re peering through a lens that sharpens with every demise. The risk of decking out rises with long, grindy games, but the draw discipline usually balances out with careful shuffling and selection 🧙♂️🎲.
In practical terms, the “curve” is less about immediate acceleration and more about the reliability of incremental advantage. The card teaches us to think in lines: what death-trigger synergies currently exist, how quickly can I seed counters, and when is the most advantageous moment to tap and draw? The simulation would show a gentle ramp rather than a cliff—which is exactly what makes Jar of Eyeballs feel flavorful and true to the EDH spirit 🔮💫.
Deckbuilding tips to maximize the curve
- Lean into sacrifice: Include sac outlets that ensure consistent creature deaths when you want them. Aim for a steady cadence rather than a single explosive turn.
- Value engines: Pair Jar with cards that generate value from death or that recur creatures. The incremental draws compound as the game goes long.
- Protection and recourse: Include ways to protect your engines and reset your library state if things go awry. Card draw that doesn’t risk losing you a game is invaluable in long EDH sessions.
- Mana timing: Because the jar is colorless, you can weave it into any ramp plan. Manage your mana so you can afford the initial 3 and still have options for ongoing sacrifice or recursions.
Lore, art, and collector’s snapshot
Jaime Jones’ art for Jar of Eyeballs captures a curious, slightly macabre charm—an evocative image that sits at the crossroads of whimsy and dread. The artifact’s flavor fits the Commander 2013 era’s love of unusual contraptions and bizarre solutions to complex board states. It’s a rare that often sits below the radar on casual budgets, with market figures reflecting its niche appeal: approximately $0.17 in USD and around €0.19 in Euro pricing, with TIX activity modest. It’s a gem for completionists who enjoy the weird, the wonderful, and the wry side of MTG collector culture 🧙🔥💎.
Whether you’re chasing a flavorful table moment or engineering a patient draw engine, Jar of Eyeballs invites you to think in terms of counters, cards, and confidence. In the grand tapestry of MTG, it’s a tiny, quirky engine that reminds us: sometimes the smallest spark—an eyeball count—can illuminate a whole strategy. And if you’re crafting a display or a themed desk setup for your next table, a neon mouse pad can be the perfect desk-side companion to celebrate the glow of your jar’s glow-up. A little spark for your home game space—and a wink to all the practice you put into reading the top of the library 🧙♂️🎨.