I love it. In the same set as Training Grounds. You draw cards while pumping up an already aggressively priced beat stick.
AngelxLegna
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Sphinxes are really claiming the FATTY spot for mono blue. Like most all the other Sphinx before it, Wonderful.
Vedalken_Arbiter
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Amazing fatty flier. Is this what we get when everyone complains about blue being shafted?
Gezus82
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
WTF Training Grounds the +1/+1 counters are almost a side note, but they're a REALY GOOD side note
faisjdas
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The mad-hairdresser strikes again!
SleetFox
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This is a beautiful finisher for control decks, which are pretty much the only decks that will run enough blue to play this guy. I see a casual all-blue Training Grounds deck here. Who knows, maybe it'll work in tournaments as well.
Tobinator
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
if I pull one of these I don't care what other colors I was previously playing. I'm putting in three islands and playing this guy.
I mean seriously, draw a card AND put a +1/+1 counter?!
NeoSin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Going in my Grixis Control deck to replace Sphinx of Lost Truths as my draw engine. Draw a card AND pump my creature for 1 more than kicking Lost Truths? YES PLEASE!
Donovan_Fabian
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Everyones talking about training grounds, and I get that, but this sphinx still wont see huge amounts of play. It's ability is primarily drawing cards and getting big. Drawing cards is fine, but on the other hand playing with training grounds just so you can use this card to get lots of card draw, in the same set with jace the mind sculptor.. seems.. a bit over the top. Sphinx of jwar isle is a far better finisher. Also, compare this card to drana, who is just nuts and much better than this.
It's still a very good card draw engine, and an interesting sphinx though.
Razmataz24
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Very expensive... Great mechanic, it screams blue but most of the time you spend your mana putting it on the field to see it removed. Should be 4cmc for a 3/3 with the same effect. That would make it so you could actually cast him on turn 6 once you got 6 mana leaving 2 mana for negate.
However I expect this guy to be pretty pro in sealed or draft.
coyotemoon722
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This becomes ABUSIVE with Training Grounds.
hugemanatee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
AWE-FREAKIN'-SOME cool ability, good fatness and interesting artwork
True_Mumin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Really good on its own, absolutely nuts with Training Grounds. 5/5
FogRaider
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Could net a boatload of card advantage if it stays alive, which is a big if. You would want to protect it with discard, most likely, since leaving mana open for a counterspell would be even more prohibitive. And considering how color-heavy it is, running it in a tri-color deck might be pushing it. Sooo...U/B control?
Regardless, it's at least on par with most dragons. And it kills that damn Walletslayer angel, too, so it can't be THAT bad.
Lunarblade
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hand advantage and a high power flier that can take down a Bankslayer. Wewt!
thornraven
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cool creature. Under the curve. Great visual design. Will only see casual play at best. Would rather have Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Too bad, this guy is cooler. 2/5
Neutral_Bob
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I know their are better cards out there but I was so excited to get a foil version of this guy. I needed something with a little more oomph then the usual blue flying creature. It's not perfect, but I can't help but feel a little giddy when I draw this card.
RafiqTheMiststalker
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Zendis been good to sphinxes :) My favorite big ol' fat guys.
Zeha
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great finisher for blue control
Greyson97
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
its early monday morning, and when I read training grounds, i was like, wtf?!?? it's not a level creature. and when I got it a few seconds later, I almost spit coffee all over my monitor. wow, thats seriously op if you get a training grounds down first
Anggul
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Zendikar has been quite kind to us blue players, just got this recently along with a few other tasty blues, thanks WoTC!
Sironos
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
+1/+1 counter AND draw, this is awesome. Strange that no one has mentioned training ground ;)
Detharis
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Wow this card is a tool, AND BLUE NEEDS TOOLS. i mean in all reality, if you play blue and you dint have one of the bajillion good sphinx cards, just.... stop playing magic right now, go to your room and think about what youve done, i mean these cards make a blue beatdown potentially possible. Sure at the moment some color addition MAY be nessicary, but still, the thought of blue also having a beatdown possibility is scary, its just like "oh you played this awesome monster? well i play this sphinx, take your monster unsummon the rest and now.......... YOU ARE DEAD".
Roy1138
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome EDH general.
And those who say it can't see play are wrong. I pulled this in a draft and played it well. Yes it's a six drop, but it one turn you've gotten a card advanatge AND put it out of firebolt range.
a7d07c8114
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I love this guy, favorite card from RoE (and maybe even Zendikar block as a whole). Pulled together a Training Grounds deck with this as the main wincon...Filigree Sages+Training Grounds+Khalni Gem gives infinite mana, if I have a Sphinx out I play my entire deck at once. Wait a turn, Deprive or (oh yeah, they reprinted this) Mana Leak their Day of Judgment, and win.
Granted, I could have just played him without the infinite mana combo, he's certainly good enough as he is...but playing my whole deck at once is so satisfying.
MUC is back!
TheSwarm
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This guy plus training grounds, fantastic. a culinary masterpiece whos deliciosness knows no bounds, the flavors of inexpensive Pump and Draw Engine whisfully dancing together as two lovers entwined. However it does leave an interesting aftertaste in the mouth, one that no culinary chef can stand for.. Discard. It leaves you too full, you have to throw up some of the yumminess you have engorged. So chef Johnny decides to look in his book of spices to top off this wonderful combo..
He needs no counterspells..
Mana accel.. nonono.
Ahhh, he comes across the perfect spice to lift the curse of nausea and gas, and with the lovely casting cost of 0, who could go wrong? He throws this down, and instantly he feels relieved, the gas-x of combo cards if you will.
One of the best anti-infect creatures out there, and now with proliferate he gets even better! Especially since when your removing -/- counters you get to draw a card!
DacenOctavio
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Why is Blue getting ridiculously efficient fatties? That's Green's job. If this were in any way balanced, it would be getting -1/-1 counters like those Shadowmoor cards.
keeds4
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You can draw a card for every 2 you pay with no tapping? And, you get +1/+1 counters? Yeah, I can see absolutely no use for this creature. ;)
Anubisisking
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know what I liked about the Zen block precons? They were really really cyclical...
Example is this guy. For Zen, the blue deck had a cool sphinx in Sphinx of Jwar Isle, then Worldwake gave us the beastly Goliath Sphinx, and now Rise rounds it out with a cool guy who is kind of a combination of the two. On the one hand, he is gigantic and efficient, much like the controversial Goliath Sphinx, but he couples that with a cool ability. Maybe not as good as jar jar's, but really good nonetheless.
They did the same thing with the reds, having 2 be dragons and the third be basically a dragon (actually, why wasn't it a dragon? Conquering was not manticore like at all, it might as well have just been Conquering Dragon...
Black was basically vamps all the way through...
Green and white changed though, but you get my point.
Some people would call that boring, I call it cool.
NotACatPerson
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Niv-mizzet
MasterOfEtherium
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Buffalo Sphinx. Big Chief Gots Beats Andz Brains
Cheza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Both - this AND training grounds - should have been white, but maybe it's just me that believes that both draw effects and Empyrial Armor effects just belong to white.
However, the best Sphinx in my opinion would be like Captain Sisay.
Nagoragama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I could see this as a reprint in a core set. Just because it has a Zendikar specific name shouldn't preclude it, I mean, what's Sphinx of Uthuun?
Radagast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Extremely effective, though I've oddly not see this card played as much when compared with other Sphinxes, the Frost Titan, etc. The UUU in the mana cost might have something to do with that, but still, this card is solid. Even if you use its ability only a few times, you still have paid for itself in cards and created a huge flyer. The +1/+1 counters can be fun in other ways (Experiment Krajj, etc.)
AncientTimer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A 6/6 flier for 6 with great ability. But this was not enough and so we got Consecrated sphinx.
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is such an amazing card, it is the main finisher in my Grixis control deck on turn six, preceded by Sphinx of Lost Truths and followed by Goliath Sphinx...I find it crazy that this hasn't been finding any tournament play, but I would assume Jace, the Mind Sculptor has been stealing the thunder with his card drawing shenanigans and bouncing...but when I first saw this, I thought it was overrated...now, whenever I tap out for six, my friends moan loudly
Rediculous card. Air Elemental costs 1 less to play for just a 4/4, this costs 1 more to play with +2/+2, and 3 mana to draw a card AND to add a +1/+1 counter on it????? WTF?
ElCarl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just absurd. If they were -1/-1 counters it would still be pretty good.
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Training Grounds is the obvious combo ("I accidentally my whole deck"), but one that I haven't seen is quite surprising. You might know it. 5 mana, enchantment, green, released in 2005? Ringing any bells?
aboblyndsae
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A game-winning card for decks that generate a frightening amount of mana—it's like a self-sustaining Lorescale Coatl. I have a GUR Defender deck for multiplayer based around Axebane Guardian in which this drops, gets pumped up, and kills one or more players in the same turn thanks to the Swiftfoot Boots and Soul's Fire I inevitably draw.
Is it a coincidence that this and Training Grounds are illustrated by the same artist? I think not.
EotFactorfiction
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Continue: the card draw is the most important part of this card. Doubling Season wouldn't help that much because it wouldn't draw you two cards. A 6/6 flier is huge as is and making it a little bigger won't help all that much. This card will take over the game because of the card draw as is.
Anyway Doubling Season has hundreds of better combos (See any planeswalker ever).
Comments (50)
the +1/+1 counters are almost a side note, but they're a REALY GOOD side note
I mean seriously, draw a card AND put a +1/+1 counter?!
It's still a very good card draw engine, and an interesting sphinx though.
However I expect this guy to be pretty pro in sealed or draft.
Regardless, it's at least on par with most dragons. And it kills that damn Walletslayer angel, too, so it can't be THAT bad.
Will only see casual play at best. Would rather have Sphinx of Jwar Isle.
Too bad, this guy is cooler. 2/5
My favorite big ol' fat guys.
And those who say it can't see play are wrong. I pulled this in a draft and played it well. Yes it's a six drop, but it one turn you've gotten a card advanatge AND put it out of firebolt range.
Pulled together a Training Grounds deck with this as the main wincon...Filigree Sages+Training Grounds+Khalni Gem gives infinite mana, if I have a Sphinx out I play my entire deck at once. Wait a turn, Deprive or (oh yeah, they reprinted this) Mana Leak their Day of Judgment, and win.
Granted, I could have just played him without the infinite mana combo, he's certainly good enough as he is...but playing my whole deck at once is so satisfying.
MUC is back!
He needs no counterspells..
Mana accel.. nonono.
Ahhh, he comes across the perfect spice to lift the curse of nausea and gas, and with the lovely casting cost of 0, who could go wrong? He throws this down, and instantly he feels relieved, the gas-x of combo cards if you will.
Spellbook.
Example is this guy. For Zen, the blue deck had a cool sphinx in Sphinx of Jwar Isle, then Worldwake gave us the beastly Goliath Sphinx, and now Rise rounds it out with a cool guy who is kind of a combination of the two. On the one hand, he is gigantic and efficient, much like the controversial Goliath Sphinx, but he couples that with a cool ability. Maybe not as good as jar jar's, but really good nonetheless.
They did the same thing with the reds, having 2 be dragons and the third be basically a dragon (actually, why wasn't it a dragon? Conquering was not manticore like at all, it might as well have just been Conquering Dragon...
Black was basically vamps all the way through...
Green and white changed though, but you get my point.
Some people would call that boring, I call it cool.
For a blue creature, especially a Sphinx, I would rather have something that let's me search for a card, like Sphinx Ambassador, Isperia the Inscrutable, Sphinx Summoner or Kuldotha Forgemaster.
However, the best Sphinx in my opinion would be like Captain Sisay.
Anyway Doubling Season has hundreds of better combos (See any planeswalker ever).