This card is nigh unplayable in the blue constructed. Frankly, 7 is way too much to pay for something that doesn't dominate late-game. It, like all relatively vanilla creatures, dies to removal, and without any
"enter the battlefield" first turn abilities, that's 7 mana down the drain. The 7 mana is going to eat your pool for the turn, so all the sphinx does is wastes a turn. This will only find a home in limited, where removal isn't nearly as prevalent.
Posted By:
demoninabottle
(3/21/2010 2:40:57 PM)
Quick comparison: Nightmare, for 6 mana, is a 6/6 black flier when played in a black mono deck on it's first turn out. Baneslayer, for 5 mana, is a 5/5 flier that has abilities that, however cool, won't help you deal more damage to your opponent. Goliath, for 7 mana, is a 8/7 flier. All these fliers have a base and toughness that's equal to their mana cost, plus a little bonus thrown in. For Nightmare, he can get bigger. For Baneslayer, she gets lifelink, etc. For Goliath, his power is boosted by +1. All in all, these are all fantastic fliers, and Goliath shouldn't be considered far behind.
Posted By:
robinhood15
(4/3/2010 1:09:49 AM)
Firstly, I love the idea of the Sphinx being blue's power creature. It has a lot more flavor to it than Djinn or whatever may have preceded them.
Second, I love the look on my buddy's face when I plop this down in front of all his Dragons who are finding it a little harder to be so imposing.
I know that the lack of some crazy ability deters from the "sphinx" aspect of the creature but sometimes being huge prompts self-imposed riddles like "How am I getting around this guy since I didn't expect for this level of opposition?"
Plus, his flavor text puts the lack of an ability into perspective. All-in-all I think it's a nice workhorse. Inspired by...well, mostly the luck of getting a few in boosters and in trade, I have created a sphinx deck. Probably not a solid idea until they give the sphinx the support cards dragon's have, but a fun time in casual multi-player. Especially when you get a few jaws on the table when you kick your Rite of Replication with Goliat... (see all)
Posted By:
InsideousRakael
(5/11/2010 4:03:43 AM)
It is an effective card, I'll grant you that, but in my poinion rares shouln't be vanilla like this, especially not when they're this powerful, it should have some drawback or something, this onejust seems odd in my eyes, but to be honest, If i pull one out of a booster, I'll include it in my blue deck anyway.
I think one of the strange things about it is that it is only raw power, and blue is the colour of misdirection, illusions, trickery, mental manipulation and so on, where this is just muscle with wings.
I know air elemental is too, but air elemental is not a rare, so I understand air elemental better than this one.
Now I have one, pulled it out of a booster, cannot wait to see my opponent's face when I play an 8/7 with flying. Still I think it should have had some sphinx like ability, but apart from that, it is great muscle for blue.
Posted By:
Sironos
(6/1/2010 12:07:55 PM)
Meh, I give it a 2.5/5. It's not a bad card, just not a particularly good card. To be honest, this seems more like an uncommon to me, certainly not a rare. But oh well, I'll still find a place for the one I pulled out of a booster.
Posted By:
IshubarashI
(6/19/2010 3:31:45 PM)
I actually find this thing very powerful and use one in a rez deck, its sheer size plus evasion can put some serious pressure on the opponent and can be better than akroma against decks with light removal or just a small amount of burn
Posted By:
Gezus82
(6/24/2010 6:04:24 PM)
7 mana for 8/7 with flying? This is beautiful in it's ability to walk out and lay the purest form of beatdown on the enemy for a cost which is extremely low for it's strength.
Posted By:
Anggul
(8/2/2010 7:56:21 AM)
Why is this card rated lower than Mahamoti Djinn? It's a huge improvement over said card but only costs one more. This creature may be "vanilla", but it's definitely one of the better ones out there.
Posted By:
Keiya
(8/17/2010 6:04:46 PM)
Whenever my friend pulls this guy out when I'm running one of my mono-green decks, I always know that I just lost
Posted By:
Sir_Kaeru
(9/27/2010 7:58:37 PM)
I thought this card was crap. Now with Scars out, it's surprisingly a cherry on the cake for my casual game, I used it and with the Myrs it became much easier to play.
Equipped with a Sword of Vengeance, it made my day!
Posted By:
bagilis
(9/30/2010 6:46:13 AM)