Sphinx-Bone Wand
Artifact
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may put a charge counter on this artifact. If you do, this artifact deals damage equal to the number of charge counters on it to any target.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Duel Decks: Izzet vs. Golgari
- Price
- $0.45
- EDHREC rank
- #14618
Sphinx-Bone Wand turns every instant or sorcery into a free Lightning Bolt that scales up every time you cast another one — in a spells-matter deck, that's a win condition stapled to an artifact. The cost is the setup: seven mana to deploy, and the damage starts at 1, so it needs a critical mass of cantrips and cheap spells before it closes games.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Sphinx-Bone Wand is a Commander card through and through — the format's longer games give it time to accumulate charge counters, and spell-slinging commanders like Veyran, Voice of Duality or Kalamax, the Stormsire can weaponize it into a one-sided board clear or a kill condition within a few turns. In Legacy or Vintage it's a non-starter: seven mana is a forfeit in those formats, and the payoff requires a game state that never arrives. Oathbreaker is the one alternative format where it occasionally earns a slot, specifically in planeswalkers that generate spell volume, but Commander remains the only home where Sphinx-Bone Wand consistently justifies its mana investment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.45 bulk tier
At $0.45, Sphinx-Bone Wand sits squarely in bulk territory — cheap enough to throw into any spells-matter build without a second thought. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb, so treat it as a low-risk pickup rather than a hold.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.