The 45 Best Sphinx Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on September 29, 2026

Sphinx of the Second Sun | Illustration by Antonio José Manzanedo

Riddle me this: which MTG creature has wings, a human face, and a non-human body? If you said Skin Shedder, that’s both incorrect and mildly concerning. No, the answer is that lion-bodied human-faced sphinx from Greek mythology.

Magic has adopted the sphinx as a recurring creature type, with nearly 100 sphinges in print to this day. That’s right, did you know that the plural of “sphinx” can be either “sphinxes” or “sphinges?” (Editor’s note: I feel a pun coming on.)

What are the best sphinxes in all of Magic? Let’s get our thinking caps on and find out!

What is a Sphinx in MTG?

Defiler of Dreams | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

The sphinx creature type is what Magic R&D refers to as an “iconic” creature type, so it’s a creature that’s associated with a certain color. In the same way that hydras are iconic green creatures, sphinxes are iconic blue creatures.

Sphinxes tend to be high mana value blue creatures with flying. There are a few French vanilla sphinxes, but most of them have abilities meant to invoke the flavor of telling a riddle or peeking into the future. Some, like Conundrum Sphinx and Sphinx Ambassador, play guessing games, an homage to the Greek mythos of the riddle-telling sphinx.

#45. Inspired Sphinx

Sphinxes sometimes dip into the world of artifact synergies, as evidenced by Inspired Sphinx. It should net you two or three cards on ETB and then act as a Whirlermaker from that point on. It’s inefficient but perfectly playable.

#44. Sandstone Oracle

An uncommon colorless sphinx, Sandstone Oracle is fine but unexciting. It can refill your hand, or it can whiff if you’re already holding the most cards. I used to play this card more often but have since left it on the back burner.

#43. Isperia the Inscrutable

Isperia the Inscrutable plays a guessing game with your opponent’s hand when it hits them. Guess right and you can tutor a flying creature from your library. The mana cost is color-intensive and there’s a chance you’ll guess wrong on the first swing, but you’ll gain information for the next round of attacks.

#42. Conspiracy Unraveler

Collect evidence 10 for each spell is a far cry from the power of Omniscience, but Conspiracy Unraveler is also 3 mana cheaper and can attack and block. The card I’d want to be casting for free is, ironically, probably Omniscience.

#41. Sphinx of Enlightenment

Sphinx of Enlightenment fits more of a group hug mold than anything. There are plenty of sphinxes that enter the battlefield and draw cards, but this one just happens to spread the love around a bit.

#40. Arjun, the Shifting Flame

Arjun, the Shifting Flame is basically Mindmoil on a sphinx’s body. As a commander, it’s interested in effects that trigger off drawing lots of cards, which you’ll definitely be doing. Niv-Mizzet, Parun, The Locust God, and Psychosis Crawler all turn Arjun’s ability into damage.

#39. Ormos, Archive Keeper

Ormos, Archive Keeper won’t win you the game like Laboratory Maniac, but it’s a cute way to prevent losing via mill. Ormos can start one-shotting opponents left and right if you find yourself with an empty library, and it provides decent card advantage along the way.

#38. Dazzling Sphinx

Dazzling Sphinx doesn’t quite dazzle me, but it’s got a fairly strong saboteur ability. Dealing combat damage nets you a free spell from that opponent’s library, almost like a free spin from a Chaos Wand.

#37. Sphinx of Clear Skies

The Fact or Fiction reference frequently comes up on sphinxes to evoke the idea of giving your opponent a riddle or dilemma to sort through. Sphinx of Clear Skies does this with some fancy domain text that basically boils down to drawing extra cards when it connects in combat. Ward 2 is just annoying enough to help push it through for a solid hit.

#36. Uldaros Theorix

Uldaros Theorix casts casting multiple cards from your graveyard when you cast it. The casting requirement means that this card isn’t worth cheating into play, but 6 mana isn’t a terrible mana cost. You can cast several different card types with a total mana cost of 6 with the trigger, though you don’t have to go out of your way to diversify card types.

#35. Atemsis, All-Seeing

I once won an M20 Draft match with Atemsis, All-Seeing by revealing a hand with six different mana value cards, and it felt amazing. You have to do some work in Commander, but triggering the alternate wincon ability might be a puzzle worth pursuing.

Atemsis doesn’t have to deal combat damage, so cards like Chandra's Ignition can get the job done.

#34. Sphinx of False Conclusions

Sphinx of False Conclusions provides incredible value. Card draw when you attack vs on combat damage is killer, and this card has pseudo-protection by coming back as a token when it dies. This is a great midgame play to hold up alongisde counterspells.

#33. Ethersworn Sphinx

Affinity and cascade work amazingly well together, enough so to consider Ethersworn Sphinx in artifact-heavy decks. It’s not an all-star card, but you could potentially pay 2 mana for a 4/4 flier that cascades into just about anything.

#32. Enigma Sphinx

This gets a higher ranking than Ethersworn Sphinx because it’s still a respectable combination of stats and value, cascade scales well with higher mana value cards, and Enigma Sphinx can “reset” itself when it dies. You’re also in colors that love to scry, draw cards, and play with artifacts. Enigma Sphinx nets you a lot of value as long as you can cast it.

#31. Kwia Vigorbloom

Kwia Vigorbloom brings a ton of board presence as an attacker with great keywords, but also a potent ramp ability. Through lifegain, you can generate a Lotus token that provides 3 extra mana. Soul Warden and Essence Warden are the keys to make sure you’re getting the maximum number of Lotus tokens per turn cycle.

#30. Sharding Sphinx

Back to the artifact synergies, Sharding Sphinx rewards you for hitting your opponents with artifacts by, well, creating more artifacts. It becomes an exponentially worse threat if unopposed, but it’s a bit slow by modern EDH standards.

#29. Sphinx of the Revelation

Lifegain and energy are dangerous when tied together and Sphinx of the Revelation has lifelink to ensure it’s one of your best energy sources on the board. Though the decks this belongs in might be narrow, this sphinx is absolutely solid.

#28. Curator of Destinies

The can’t be countered clause on Curator of Destinies is great for combatting fellow blue decks and this is a foundational sphinx that you’d love to blink. Nothing complicated, but worth the price.

#27. Enigma Thief

Interacting with all opponents at once is the name of the game in Commander. Enigma Sphinx lets you do just that and represents a meaningful upgrade over some of the lesser sphinxes, like Riddlemaster Sphinx.

Pulling this off for its prowl cost is a huge tempo swing in your favor.

#26. Sphinx Summoner

Sphinx Summoner is an artifact tutor on a stick. It only grabs artifact creatures, but a 5-mana 3/3 flier plus a limited Fabricate sounds like a decent deal to me.

Time has power crept cards like this, as evidenced by Summoner’s rarity downshift in Double Masters 2022.

#25. Sphinx of Forgotten Lore

Once you learn about Snapcaster Mage it is hard to forget. Sphinx of Forgotten Lore scales up Snapcaster to an attack trigger. Remember to flash it in at your opponent’s end step so you give them the least amount of time to prepare for your attack.

#24. Dream Eater

The stat line on Dream Eater isn’t the best at 4/3, but surveil 4 and flash more than make up for it. Dream Eater combines interaction and card selection into one tight utility package.

#23. Azor, the Lawbringer

Azor, the Lawbringer has Sphinx's Decree stapled to its ETB and Sphinx's Revelation attached to its attack trigger. Drawing cards and gaining life on attacks is nice, but the ETB has always felt underwhelming. Your opponents can still cast instants during other players’ turns, just not during their own next turn.

#22. Sharuum the Hegemon

Once a popular commander in the early days of EDH, you don’t see Sharuum the Hegemon much anymore, though it’s far from the worst commander. If you want to relive the old school days of winning with Sharuum, try combining it with Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel for an infinite loop.

#21. Defiler of Dreams

The Defilers from Dominaria United have abilities that turn one of the colored pips in your spells’ mana costs into Phyrexian mana. The mana discount is great for colors that don’t normally get mana acceleration.

Defiler of Dreams makes your blue permanents easier to cast and rewards you for doing so with extra cards. It unfortunately only triggers on permanents, so it’s not a great fit for spell-heavy decks.

#20. Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign

Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign is the premium sphinx commander. It shaves mana off your other sphinxes, which is great considering how expensive they usually are. You also get to play the mini Fact or Fiction game every time a sphinx hits your board.

#19. Sphinx of the Steel Wind

Sphinx of the Steel Wind falls in the “keyword soup” category of cards. It isn’t super exciting at 8 mana, but I’ve seen Zetalpa, Primal Dawn end enough casual EDH games to respect giant beatsticks like this.

This is a second-rate reanimation target with artifact synergies and two protection abilities to help it stick around.

#18. Eligeth, Crossroads Augur

Eligeth, Crossroads Augur has a powerful textbox but a high enough mana value to hold it back. Turning Preordain into Ancestral Recall is nothing to scoff at, but Eligeth is also a vulnerable 6-mana creature. Siani, Eye of the Storm is the perfect partner to tag along.

#17. Medomai the Ageless

Medomai the Ageless was the first mythic rare I ever opened from a booster pack, and I used to think it was the coolest card out there. It’s really an over-costed flier that might get you an extra turn with a little work. There are convoluted infinites you can achieve with Medomai, but the card is ultimately pretty fair.

#16. Sphinx of the Second Sun

Sphinx of the Second Sun mentions the beginning phase, which means an extra untap, upkeep, and draw step. That turns Sphinx of the Second Sun into an extra card and double mana each turn, and you get that right away if you play this before combat.

#15. Sphinx of the Final Word

If your gameplan involves winning with instants and sorceries, Sphinx of the Final Word can make sure that happens. It can’t be countered, and hexproof lets it dodge most forms of interaction. Having this on board is a free ride to resolving whatever spells you wish.

#14. Chancellor of the Spires

You shouldn’t care about the opening-hand text on Chancellor of the Spires. You’re here for the ability to cast a spell from an opponent’s graveyard on ETB. Diluvian Primordial is usually the better of the two, but Chancellor doesn’t exile the chosen spell and opens up infinite loops with copy spells.

#13. Denzilore Fatehold

This reasonably priced creature has flash and turns your scry/surveil triggers into massive pumps. Denzilore Fatehold demands cheap flying creatures to pump every turn with equally cheap plays like Preordain, Rivendell, and Nightveil Sprite.

#12. Aerid Konstrari

Aerid Konstrari creates mana rocks and has an activated ability to use them. Gruul provides decent artifact support like Reckless Fireweaver and Bello, Bard of the Brambles, and the ramp is just so tantalizing. Surround this with big artifacts and go to town!

#11. Dream Trawler

The scourge of Theros: Beyond Death Limited, Dream Trawler is still a powerful threat at EDH tables. It isn’t as unbeatable as it was in Draft pods, but it’s still hard to remove from the battlefield. This sphinx is resilient, draws extra cards, and stabilizes the board with a lifelinking flier.

#10. Elenda and Azor

Each end step makes Elenda and Azor very attractive with instant-speed card draw. Commanders that have evasion and protection, draw multiple cards, and can make multiple tokens are top-notch, so this Esper commander should be considered as such.

#9. The Ur-Sphinx

The Ur-Sphinx provides cost reduction for all your sphinxes, even from the command zone. Once in play, it packs an enormous punch by casting your opponents’ spells for free when you attack with sphinxes. No, it’s not as good as the dragon command it’s mimicking, but it’s the perfect fit for a deck full of sphinxes.

#8. Ingris Stingerquill

The cheapest of the elder sphinxes from Reality Fracture, Ingris Stingerquill is a go-wide and attack-often kind of card. This Rakdos () card makes your creatures ping your opponents when they attack, and makes hasty tokens. Pair this aggressive card with goblins, haste creatures, or even spells like Song of Totentanz to maximize your pressure.

#7. Raffine, Scheming Seer

The Obscura mob boss Raffine, Scheming Seer has a slightly different take on the types of decks it produces. Raffine rewards you for attacking with more creatures, which lets you connive more and grow a threat even larger. This is a more low-to-the-ground aggro plan than most other sphinx commanders.

#6. Scholar of the Lost Trove

Scholar of the Lost Trove doesn’t have the same combo potential as Chancellor of the Spires, but your deck is usually primed to take advantage of your own spells rather than your opponents’. Reanimating an artifact is a nice bump to this ability, and it’s altogether a nice addition to decks full of devastating spells.

#5. Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

Something’s odd about Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. You essentially draw a card on attacks, but you get to cast that card for free if you built your deck with mostly odd mana value cards. An enticing commander that warrented the printing of the Odds and Ends Secret Lair Commander deck.

#4. Magister Sphinx

Magister Sphinx is the dream-crusher for anyone who thought their life total was too far out of reach. It brings anyone with an unassailable life total back to the realm of mortals, and it can even gain you life if you’re desperately low.

#3. Quantum Riddler

Quantum Riddler is more of a problem outside Commander where it can be combined with Ephemerates for ridiculous value. Blue has plenty of it’s own flicker effects too, so if you warp it for , then use Splash Portal, you paid about the same as a Divination for a free flying 4/6 with card draw upside.

#2. Tivit, Seller of Secrets

Tivit, Seller of Secrets generates five artifacts in some combination of Treasures and Clues (in other words, mana and card draw) in a four-player game. It’s meant to be a political commander, but it ends up being more of an “oops-I-outvalued-my-opponents” rogue commander instead.

Turns out five artifacts are exactly what you need for Time Sieve, which produces infinite turns in conjunction with a blink effect.

#1. Consecrated Sphinx

If you want to find a Consecrated Sphinx, follow the echoes of nearby EDH players groaning and complaining. It’s a game-warping creature that out-cards the other players if it isn’t dealt with immediately. A bonafide Game Changer, as it were.

This is also an instant kill against anyone foolish enough to play Notion Thief.

Best Sphinx Payoffs

Sphinxes are wonderful creatures to include in Azorius control decks or flying-matter decks, and there are even a few options for the typal build.

Sphinxes fit into many of the classic Azorius builds. They can provide a ton of draw to support a card like Queza, Augur of Agonies; flicker strategies around Yorion, Sky Nomad work well with sphinxes, and sphinxes are often large and impactful, making them great targets for clones like Sakashima of a Thousand Faces.

Sphinxes shine in flying-matters decks as bomb plays that seal games. Support them with cards like Errant and Giada and Watcher of the Spheres, and support commanders like Kangee, Sky Warden or Inniaz, the Gale Force.

The Ur-Sphinx and Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign represent two great options for a sphinx typal build. Both reduce the casting cost of sphinxes and either have great ETB or attack triggers from sphinxes. Load up the deck with all the favorites above!

What Do Sphinxes Do in MTG?

Sphinxes are large flying creatures mostly in the blue color identity. These creatures range from midgame plays to expensive bombs and focus on the idea of riddles and wisdom that surround sphinxes in popular culture.

Sphinxes fit into control and flying decks, mostly in mono-blue, Azorius (), or Esper () color schemes. The aim is often to disrupt opponents in early turns and play sphinxes for big flying bodies and solid interactions. There are many abilities amongst the sphinx creatures, but most of them focus on card draw.

Sphinxes don’t fit well into aggro decks, so plan to play a long game with lots of disruptive control elements to get into the late game, then finish up with these large bombs.

Wrap Up

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign | Illustration by Chris Rahn

That closes the door on sphinges for now (ed.: Got ‘em.) The sphinx creature type isn’t as broadly used as some other iconic types like dragons, demons, and angels, but they’re bound to return with new releases.

I’m a huge fan of sphinxes that play into the riddle-maker trope, cards like Master of Predicaments and Conundrum Sphinx. They don’t always hit the mark in terms of playability, but they’re fun, flavorful designs that capture the idea of the ancient Greek sphinx.

Which sphinxes are your favorites? How do you use them in your Commander decks? Let me know in the comments below or in the Draftsim Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

Thank you for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!