Master of Predicaments
Creature — Sphinx
Flying
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, choose a card in your hand. That player guesses whether the card's mana value is greater than 4. If the player guessed wrong, you may cast the card without paying its mana cost.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic 2015
- Price
- $0.36
- EDHREC rank
- #11122
Master of Predicaments turns every combat damage trigger into a forced guessing game — get the guess wrong and you cast any spell in your hand for free. The cost is a 4/4 flier for five mana that does nothing unless it connects, which makes it heavily dependent on either evasion support or a commander like The Celestial Toymaker who guarantees the game is already being played on broken terms.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Celestial Toymaker
The Celestial Toymaker runs Master of Predicaments in over 82% of decks because the entire strategy is built around forcing opponents into rigged choices — Master of Predicaments is a direct mechanical extension of that game plan, converting combat damage into free spells while opponents are already disadvantaged by Toymaker's enchantment locks.
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign wants odd-mana-cost spells it can cheat into play, and Master of Predicaments at five mana qualifies while also threatening its own free-cast effect — a double-layered threat that rewards the deck's top-deck manipulation.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Master of Predicaments is a Commander card through and through — the guessing game mechanic rewards political pressure and large hands full of high-impact spells, both conditions that the 99-card format naturally produces. In 60-card competitive formats like Modern, Pioneer, and Legacy, it's a five-mana do-nothing-immediately threat that dies to any removal spell before it connects, and no serious deck is interested. Vintage has better things to do at five mana. Commander is the only place Master of Predicaments consistently earns its slot, and even there it needs the right shell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.36 bulk tier
At $0.36, Master of Predicaments is deep bulk — exactly where you'd expect a narrow five-mana creature with no immediate impact to land. The price is stable; it sees enough play in The Celestial Toymaker decks to prevent it from hitting true bulk-bin oblivion, but broad demand isn't coming.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.