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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Sphinx of the Chimes
Image from Wizards.com

Sphinx of Chimes
- Return to Ravnica

Reviewed November 27, 2012

Constructed: 2.80
Casual: 3.70
Limited: 3.70
Multiplayer: 2.90

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Sphinx of the Chimes

I've been telling people that they shouldn't be running singletons in their deck for years. If it's worth running, it's worth running four of. Sphinx of the Chimes really makes it worthwhile, giving people the potential to trade in a pair of redundant copies for four new cards. Being a 5/6 for six mana, competitive with Dragons, isn't exactly a downside either.

This Sphinx really is at its best if you have some way to retrieve cards from the graveyard to your hand. You will run out of same-name copies eventually. Hopefully you'll have won by then, but if you can get back a card that you have another copy of in hand, you can trade it in for four more, and then have up to four more options of what to get a used copy of back to do it all over again!

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 4.5 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Sphinx of the Chimes

I'm pretty sure the song's chimes of freedom wouldn't be an aspect of blue in Magic; still, I do like this card. While it doesn't work quite as well with the Odyssey block's mechanics as some cards of this type, and blue decks usually have less of a problem with being flooded with cards they don't need than other colors, any repeatable card drawing effect is inherently exploitable, especially one of this type of magnitude. Plus, any type of recursive effect you might have puts it over the top. Personally, I would have liked if they could have found a way for it to work in highlander formats too, but that's a relatively minor complaint.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5


Paul

Welcome back readers todays card of the day is a sphinx and I thought I would chime in on its playability. In standard I don’t see this working outside of some funky convoluted combo which probably isn’t worth using in a competitive setting. In modern legacy and vintage this is a big do nothing creature that cant compete with the powerful cards available in the format. In casual and multiplayer this card is a decent sized flying body and can be combed with Dredge C\cards easily as well as an all star in Relentless Rats decks and just has some real niche applications and a decent body. In limited it’s a bomb flying creature making it an amazing pick. Overall a fun casual and multiplayer card that could see some wacky play and a solid limited bomb.
 
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 2.0

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Sphinx of the Chimes which is a six mana Blue
5/6 with Flying that can discard two nonland cards from your hand with the same name to have you draw four cards.  The creature itself is fairly efficient for the price and size, though the effect really requires deck dedication to see much benefit.  When coordinated with cards that return to hand from grave, add additional copies, or can be allowed above the four card minimum there is a great deal of potential power to be had.  The design is well suited to Casual, though the higher cost and vulnerabilities of the support theme should keep this sphinx from seeing much competitive play.
 
In Limited the effect will often be as effective as flavor text considering multiple copies of cards are unlikely, particularly ones that would be discarded instead of played.  Ignoring that block of text leaves you a six mana evasive 5/6 with only two Blue mana symbols in the casting cost.  This is a game-ending bomb in the format and is almost splashable, but easily managed in any of the half Blue guilds.  A first pick in Booster and easy choice to use in Sealed when the color lines up with enough cards in your pool.
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.0

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

Sphinx of Chimes Card of the Day
John Shultis
 
     Welcome back to the Card of the Day section here at Pojo.com. We are looking today at the Sphinx of Chimes from Return to Ravnica. Sphinx of Chimes is a rare blue creature sphinx that costs four generic and two blue mana for a 5/6. Sphinx of Chimes has flying. Sphinx of Chimes also has an ability that says discard two non-land cards with the same name: Draw four cards. 

      I really wish that the non-land cards clause hadn't been added, but I suppose it had to in order to stop people from being able to draw their entire deck out potentially. But because that clause exists, it is really hard to get two copies of a single card in your hand just to discard them to draw four. Most of the time when you run four copies of something in your deck it means it is a good card, and should be played, not pitched. 

      I really wish more thought would have gone into this card. Even had the left it as a once per turn ability but allowed you to discard lands I think it would have been better than it is. 
 
Limited: 2/5
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Multiplayer: 2/5


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