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Man, do I love a Sphinx. If I had to name the quintessential Blue creature, I would likely choose the Sphinx. They fly, they can often protect themselves, and they almost always involve some form of card drawing.
If my searching is correct, there are seemingly only 88 Sphinxes in the game, which makes sense. They're not an abundant typal creature like Goblins or Merfolk are, and you typically only find one per set, if that. Ironically, the first Sphinx ever printed in Magic was actually a White card in Petra Sphinx, way back in Legends in 1994! There wasn't another Sphinx printed for nine more years, until Isperia the Inscrutable in 2003's Dissension. Since then, they've been much more consistent.
As usual, these are going to be a combination of cards that are fan favorites, iconic staples, and competitive all-stars, so nothing is really off-limits.
Let's begin!
Consecrated Sphinx
Consecrated Sphinx might be one of my all-time favorite cards. In fact, I like it so much, I've literally lost Cube matches because of it. To clarify that, there were turns where I could play something to win the game (or to not lose the game), or I could play Consecrated Sphinx because I wanted to draw some cards. I chose to draw the cards. Unfortunately, I'd probably do it again.
Despite being printed 12 separate times, the cheapest version is still around $30, which tells me that I'm not the only fan of the card.
Curator of Mysteries
The Curator isn't the most exciting Sphinx on the list, but it's seen high-level competitive play numerous times, first in U/W Control and cycling decks in Standard, and more recently in Modern as a key component in Living End decks. Turns out cards that cycle for one mana will typically always find a home somewhere.
Dream Trawler
Dream Trawler is one of my absolute favorite Sphinxes. It turns out I really like a ton of Sphinxes because they're often really strong win condition for control decks, and as I mentioned, nearly all of them allow you to draw cards in some fashion. The nice thing about the Trawler is that it also protects itself, which can be extremely obnoxious - for your opponent, anyway. While Dream Trawler's best days were in Standard, it does still see some niche play in Pioneer from time to time.
Elenda and Azor
I really liked a lot of the March of the Machine dual cards, where they had two legendary characters on each card. Elenda and Azor was no exception, especially since it was doing a really strong Sphinx's Revelation impression. But that's not all! You can also make a number of Vampires with lifelink each turn equal to the number of cards you've drawn! So, at the very least, you can make one Vampire per turn. While this ability does cost four life, when you're drawing a lot of cards, you can end up amassing a lot of Vampires very quickly.
Quantum Riddler
Quantum Riddler is a brand new Sphinx, and as such, it's a little difficult to determine how good or iconic it will be, but as a $30 card from Edge of Eternities, it's off to a good start. It does a reasonable Mulldrifter impersonation, and whenever you're low on cards, it's great at helping refill your hand! The warp ability is also nice, as it tries to mimic Mulldrifter's evoke ability.
Raffine, Scheming Seer
While Raffine hasn't seen much play since it rotated out of Standard, while there, it was one of the best threats you could ask for. At three mana, Raffine might be one of, if not the cheapest Sphinx in the game, and you get a good amount of value for that cost. Connive really comes in clutch here, letting you pump your other creatures, or even buff Raffine to an eventual 3/6 or 4/7, all while being able to loot away some of the junk in your hand. While ward 1 isn't the best defense, considering how early you can get Raffine down and for how cheap, it's just another part of a great deal.
Sharuum the Hegemon
Sharuum is a real one. This is a card that was much more popular in Commander than it was in Constructed, but that's okay. Six-mana for a 5/5 flier that reanimates any artifact from your graveyard is a pretty sweet deal, especially when you're getting some of the bigger, more broken cards back.
Sphinx of Lost Truths
This was a cool Sphinx and it ended up turning up in various Standard decks in the Zendikar Standard format. If you could afford to kick it, it allowed you to draw three cards in addition to getting a 3/5 flier. If you couldn't afford to kick it, you at least got to loot for three cards, which was still a great way to filter your hand.
As you might imagine, it was also somewhat popular in different Dredge decks, since it was great at getting cards into the graveyard.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
While Sphinx of the Steel Wind has been cast very few times, the number of times it's been reanimated or put into play with cards like Tinker has to be significantly higher. In fact, this Sphinx has mostly been seen in both Legacy and Vintage, in decks like Reanimator and Show and Tell. It has a perfect storm of abilities that allows it to just dominate the games where your opponent doesn't have the correct answer.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll catch ya next time!
Frank Lepore
