Sphinx Sovereign
Artifact Creature — Sphinx
Flying
At the beginning of your end step, you gain 3 life if this creature is untapped. Otherwise, each opponent loses 3 life.
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BUW
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Shards of Alara
- Price
- $1.35
- EDHREC rank
- #22045
Sphinx Sovereign lands as an 8/8 flying, vigilance, trample that drains or gains 3 life every end step — the stat line is real and the trigger adds up fast. The cost is the problem: eight mana for a creature with no enters-the-battlefield effect is a hard sell in any format where cheaper threats exist.
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 |
Commander is the only home where Sphinx Sovereign is genuinely playable, and even there it needs a deck built to cheat it into play or copy its end-step trigger. In Legacy and Vintage it is strictly outclassed — eight mana buys game-ending effects many turns earlier, and neither format has the ramp density to justify a vanilla-ish body at that slot. Modern is legal but irrelevant; the format's clock is too fast for a top-end creature that does nothing the turn it arrives. Sphinx Sovereign is a casual Commander card, full stop.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.35 cheap tier
At $1.35, Sphinx Sovereign sits at a price that reflects its demand accurately — it's a bulk rare that sees occasional play in casual Sphinx tribal or reanimator shells and not much else. The price is unlikely to move meaningfully in either direction given the narrow appeal.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.