Mind's Eye or Consecrated Sphinx?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 17, 2021, 9:28 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have a copy of Mind's Eye in two of my EDh decks: my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck and my Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis deck, both of which help my opponents to draw cards, so the eye is in those decks to ensure that I can benefit from my opponents drawing cards.
However, the fact that the eye requires a constant payment of mana to use its ability has often left me in situations in which I was forced to choose between paying for its ability or casting additional spells, so I am considering replacing it with Consecrated Sphinx in those two decks.
The sphinx does have a higher mana cost, but, in exchange for that, it provides three significant advantages: first, it is a powerful 4/6 creature with flying, which is very nice; second, it requires no mana to use its ability; and, third, it draws its controller two cards for every one card that its controller's opponents draw, ensuring that they always maintain an advantage.
What does everyone else say about this? Should I replace Mind's Eye with Consecrated Sphinx?
The only downside to Sphinx is the higher mana value, and that isn’t actually a real downside. Mind’s Eye may cast for five, but, like Sphinx, you need to sink six mana into it before it starts to draw you anything. For that six mana, would you rather get two cards or one? And would you rather pay six mana for four cards or seven mana for two? How about six mana for six cards or eight mana for three? Or six mana for twenty cards or fifteen mana for ten? Or… I think you get the picture.
October 17, 2021 10:08 p.m. Edited.
DoctorSpicy says... #4
Depends, how much creature removal is in your meta? Artifacts are a bit more resilient than creatures.
October 17, 2021 10:40 p.m.
Grubbernaut says... #5
The only decks that would want Eye over Sphinx aren't playing blue.
October 18, 2021 12:19 p.m.
Sphinx is hands down the better card by a mile. I had one stick they had to use their removal earlier on another creature. I drew something like 20 cards in two turns and won the game easily at that point. Minds eye just can not compete because I got all those cards and had mana open for interaction by the time they could kill the bird I got all the value and then some.
Non blue you use what you got to use.
October 18, 2021 3:30 p.m.
I think it depends on your deck power level and strategy as well as your meta.
Sphinx will draw you a lot of hate. It's almost always the most powerful card on the battlefield so it'll either be removed or the table will look to remove you. Mind's Eye basically never draws that level of hate.
I have a K&T deck that wins by playing politics. If I played the sphinx in that deck I'd probably do worse then with Mind's Eye (I don't play either in that deck).
I'm just saying that raw power level isn't always the primary factor in finding the right card for a deck.
October 18, 2021 3:53 p.m.
griffstick says... #8
I don't think Sphinx draws hate. It draws removal because it's soo much better than any other draw engine in edh. Not even rhystic study can keep up. But rhystic study comes down early. Necropotence also is strong in this sense. Sphinx has only one downside. If someone else Clone's it then you and that player can draw all the cards you want.
Again I don't think it draw hate. You know what else draws lots of cards? And draws lots of hate? Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
October 18, 2021 4:05 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #9
The only reason to play Mind's Eye would be if you're in white or red. I use to really like the card but it feels so clunky and mana intensive - sure the initial cost is 5 but to get any value out of it you need to keep paying in. Also, if you play this on 5 you'll typically need to wait a full rotation before you draw anything. Barring any interaction or shenanigans Sphinx will draw you 6 cards in the same amount of time with no further investment.
October 18, 2021 4:32 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
The majority of users here have voted for Consecrated Sphinx, so I shall put that card into my decks.
griffstick says... #2
This is a no brainer
October 17, 2021 10:08 p.m.