Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
Creature — Sphinx
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to that card's mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Foundations
- Price
- $0.73
- EDHREC rank
- #9139
Sphinx of Forgotten Lore enters as a 4/5 flyer that mills three and lets you cast a card from any graveyard — repeatable grave-digging stapled to a legitimate body. The cost is five mana and the activation requiring a tapped creature, which makes it a midrange value piece rather than an engine, but Neerdiv, Devious Diver turns that tap requirement into a feature.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Neerdiv, Devious Diver
Neerdiv, Devious Diver wants creatures it can tap for value, and Sphinx of Forgotten Lore delivers on both ends — it mills your opponents to fuel its own graveyard-cast ability while serving as a ready tap target for Neerdiv's untap trigger, creating a self-reinforcing loop of milling and recasting.
The Celestial Toymaker
The Celestial Toymaker generates game pieces from unusual angles, and Sphinx of Forgotten Lore fits that pattern by treating every graveyard at the table as a resource — in a deck that already disrupts opponents' plans, the Sphinx converts that disruption into raw card advantage.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Sphinx of Forgotten Lore is a legitimate value engine — four opponents mean four graveyards to raid, and the mill-three on entry seeds those graveyards immediately. In 1v1 formats like Pioneer and Modern, the ceiling drops sharply: you're milling one opponent and competing against faster threats at the five-mana slot, where a 4/5 that requires a tap activation to generate value rarely makes the cut. Legacy and Vintage have enough raw power density that Sphinx of Forgotten Lore doesn't register at all. Commander is where it actually lives.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.73 bulk tier
At $0.73, Sphinx of Forgotten Lore sits firmly in bulk rare territory — easy to pick up without a second thought. It's a niche Commander card with narrow competitive appeal, so don't expect that price to move much in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.