It has now been a full week since Reality Fracture landed on store shelves, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down in the slightest. New cards from the set are making an impact in multiple formats, and plenty of existing cards are spiking in price due to new synergies as well. Sphinx Typal cards, in particular, are on the rise at the moment, due to the printing of the immensely powerful The Ur-Sphinx in the set’s Commander precon. The latest MTG card affected by this financial tidal wave is Magister Sphinx, which is experiencing a serious price spike right now.
Magister Sphinx MTG
Magister Sphinx is an MTG card that’s been round the block a fair bit, seeing its first printing back in 2009’s Conflux. For seven mana, you get a 5/5 Flier that sets a player’s life total to 10, which is a surprisingly flexible ability. In constructed, you can use it to cut an opponent’s life in half, or save yourself from the brink of death in some scenarios. Both of these options are fairly underwhelming, however, so the card has never really made much of an impact in constructed, even back in the day.
Where Magister Sphinx has done well, however, is in Commander. The starting life total of 40 in the format means this can essentially deal 30 damage in many cases, making it a huge swing for the cost. It’s also a fantastic counter to infinite Lifegain combos, as it can cut through any life total, no matter how big. Paired with life loss doublers like
Wound Reflection
Wound Reflection
At the beginning of each end step, each opponent loses life equal to the life they lost this turn. (Damage causes loss of life.)
, or ways to deal exactly 10 damage like
Hidetsugu’s Second Rite
Hidetsugu’s Second Rite
If target player has exactly 10 life, Hidetsugu's Second Rite deals 10 damage to that player.
, Magister Sphinx can easily knock opponents out of the game.
Because of these potent applications, Magister Sphinx has found itself several solid homes in the Commander format over the years. It shows up largely in decks that can cheat it out to circumvent its high mana cost, like
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
Flying, vigilance, menace
Whenever Yennett attacks, reveal the top card of your library. You may cast it without paying its mana cost if its mana value is odd. If you don't cast it, draw a card.
and
Sharuum the Hegemon
Sharuum the Hegemon
Flying
When Sharuum enters, you may return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
. It also has a sideline in Blink decks like
Aminatou, the Fateshifter
Aminatou, the Fateshifter
+1: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.
−1: Exile another target permanent you own, then return it to the battlefield under your control.
−6: Choose left or right. Each player gains control of all nonland permanents other than Aminatou controlled by the next player in the chosen direction.
Aminatou, the Fateshifter can be your commander.
because of that powerful enters trigger, and in Artifact lists like
Breya, Etherium Shaper
Breya, Etherium Shaper
When Breya enters, create two 1/1 blue Thopter artifact creature tokens with flying.
{2}, Sacrifice two artifacts: Choose one —
• Breya deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker.
• Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
• You gain 5 life.
, where its type line becomes an easily abused asset.
While these strategies have kept Magister Sphinx in the mix over the years, it’s hardly been a high-profile card at any point. With the advent of
The Ur-Sphinx
The Ur-Sphinx
Eminence — As long as The Ur-Sphinx is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Sphinx spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Flying
Whenever one or more Sphinxes you control attack, each player mills that many cards. For each player, you may cast a card that player milled this way without paying its mana cost.
in Reality Fracture, however, the equation has changed. EDHREC data shows Magister Sphinx is already in 3,510 Ur-Sphinx lists, a whopping 76% inclusion rate. This new demand has put extra pressure on the card’s limited supply, and we’re starting to see the effects this week.
The Spike
About a month ago, near-mint copies of Magister Sphinx’s original Conflux printing sold for around $0.69 each. However, after the reveal of
The Ur-Sphinx
The Ur-Sphinx
Eminence — As long as The Ur-Sphinx is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Sphinx spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Flying
Whenever one or more Sphinxes you control attack, each player mills that many cards. For each player, you may cast a card that player milled this way without paying its mana cost.
on September 16th, things really started to move. Players started grabbing copies regularly, with interest peaking as five copies were sold on September 22nd. While this isn’t a huge figure, it’s worth noting that supply on this printing wasn’t exactly huge in the first place.
After this sales surge, the data on Magister Sphinx now looks very different than it did a month ago. Only 11 near-mint listings for this printing remain on TCGplayer, with the cheapest at $4.59. This marks a 565% price increase, with an equally steep drop in supply, suggesting this change is here to stay.
The Conflux version of Magister Sphinx isn’t the only printing on the move, either, as all other versions have spiked similarly over the past month. The regular Double Masters printing is up from $0.82 to $3.99, for instance, while the Foil Etched version from the same set has jumped from $3.09 to $33.99. The Archenemy printing, which previously sat at $0.45, has seen the most dramatic rise of all, shooting all the way up to $9.99 for a 2120% increase. Essentially, if you were hoping to snag a near-mint copy of Magister Sphinx for under a dollar, that window of opportunity has now closed.
You can still save if you’re willing to drop below near-mint condition, but we’re not talking big numbers here. For lightly-played, and even heavily-played, copies, you’ll only be knocking around a dollar off your purchase price in most cases. Though sub-$1 damaged copies are available, that is likely a step too far for most players.
The Future
Moving forward, Magister Sphinx’s financial future is very much uncertain. On one hand, it’s a card that saw a decent amount of Commander play prior to
The Ur-Sphinx
The Ur-Sphinx
Eminence — As long as The Ur-Sphinx is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Sphinx spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Flying
Whenever one or more Sphinxes you control attack, each player mills that many cards. For each player, you may cast a card that player milled this way without paying its mana cost.
, so it’s not solely reliant on the new hotness for demand. While its color identity is restrictive, its ability is powerful enough to put it in contention for any kind of Esper ‘cheat out creatures’ deck, like the recent
Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist
Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist
Whenever you discard a creature card, you may pay {2}{U}. If you do, create a tapped token that's a copy of that card, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie.
. With several established Commander homes under its belt, it’s possible that this new drain on supply keeps the price high here going forward.
On the other hand, Magister Sphinx being an exciting Sphinx Typal card is exactly the kind of trend-based price spike that we’ve seen come and go countless times before. Cards like this often surge when a new Commander is popular, then crash when players move on to the next shiny thing. With the gap between Reality Fracture and Star Trek smaller than usual, this could happen quickly, too.
Ultimately, as always in MTG finance, only time will tell where Magister Sphinx ends up price-wise. Given that it only has demand in one format, and fairly niche demand at that, it seems like a shaky prospect at best. That said, stranger cards have definitely spiked in the past, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the market to see where this one lands.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!