<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> | Art by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ninesicks/?hl=en">Nathaniel Himawan</a>
One of the first blocks that came out when I started playing Magic was Time Spiral, with Timeshifted cards from the past in the namesake set, color-shifted cards from present memory in Planar Chaos, and glimpses into the future in, well, Future Sight.
Reality Fracture as a set shows a similarly seminal event and the ripples it has, with alternate histories and even…color-shifted cards?
There’s one such example of this, which is garnering considerable attention because of the importance of its predecessor and namesake: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sphinx&#039;s Approach"></div></div>
But is it a new staple? And will it change the way the eponymous Sphinx Typal is built forever? As the resident EDHREC Typal master, I'm here to do a bit of analysis.
<h2>What Does <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> Do?</h2>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> is a three-mana instant for that draws two cards. On its own, that’s a slightly worse <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Quick Study" href="#" target="_blank">Quick Study</a>. Then there’s the beautiful little bit of text: a deck can have any number of cards named <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>. But where does the Typal part come in?
Well, when the spell resolves, if you have four copies of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> in your grave, you can exile those four and search for a Sphinx to put onto the battlefield from your library. But is any of this worth it?
Spellslinger decks do sometimes struggle to find enough draw spells, especially storm-oriented ones, but three mana to draw two cards isn’t a good enough rate to be worth including. There are a number of cards that work with having any number of cards of a given name, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Locket of Yesterdays" href="#" target="_blank">Locket of Yesterdays</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thrumming Stone" href="#" target="_blank">Thrumming Stone</a>. They already have a decent price tag because of the power of breaking a cardinal deckbuilding rule and because the sets they came from, Coldsnap and Time Spiral, were before the modern printing model.
A Typal analysis of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> is less about drawing cards and more about the payoff: for the card to be good, the cards it tutors up need to be worth having so many mediocre to bad draw spells. But how have similar cards fared?
<h2>What Other Cards Do What <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> Does?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragon&#039;s Approach"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dragon&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Dragon&#039;s Approach</a> is a decently powerful card, and is popular enough to be in 13.7K decks on EDHREC.
It’s a sorcery with only one red pip, deals three damage to each opponent, and searches for a Dragon, but also can have any number of copies. As a result, the comparisons are fairly close, but three damage is likely better than drawing two cards, one pip is less limiting than two, and Dragons tend to be more powerful than Sphinxes.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Persistent Petitioners"></div></div>
Within blue, we have another Typal connection: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Persistent Petitioners" href="#" target="_blank">Persistent Petitioners</a> cares about Advisors.
Petitioners are in almost as many decks as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dragon&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Dragon&#039;s Approach</a>, at 12.3K decks on EDHREC. Like both Approaches, the Petitioners require four of something to get turbo-charged, going from milling one card apiece to twelve cards together. It is a creature, which is both better and worse than an instant or a sorcery. It is able to present as a blocker and it doesn’t require copies of itself, only Advisors in general.
While it is certainly powerful to have the payoff built in, its debatable as to whether that payoff is better than either Approach.
<h2>Pros of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a></h2>
No matter how weak the individual effect is, cards that can have any number of copies in a deck are going to appeal to Commander players, and for good reason. Breaking a cardinal deckbuilding rule enables strategies to have a degree of consistency other types can only dream of. While drawing two cards might not be better than dealing three damage to each opponent or having a 1/3 blocker, drawing the cards can help us find more copies of Approach.
This makes getting to four copies in the grave to find the Sphinx faster and more consistent. This means, however, that evaluating the card is largely contingent on what Sphinxes we are able to find.
<h2>Cons of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a></h2>
The double blue pips are somewhat prohibitive to <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>’s success, as it makes casting multiple copies in a turn difficult and makes it tough to run in a multicolor deck. Furthermore, while drawing cards can help find more Sphinx's Approaches, it can also find…Sphinxes.
Why is this a problem?
Well, the more Sphinxes we draw, the fewer are in the library to search out once we get our setup. As a result, we run the risk of stranding our bigger Sphinxes in hand, putting an odd vise on the card’s playability.
So where does <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> fit?
<h2>Which Commanders Want <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign"></div></div>
The primary landing spot seems to be <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign" href="#" target="_blank">Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign</a>, a monoblue Sphinx commander. It reduces the cost of Sphinxes, which helps to mitigate the downside of extra copies of Approach being stuck in our hand.
It also does a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fact or Fiction" href="#" target="_blank">Fact or Fiction</a> impression when a Sphinx enters the battlefield, importantly not caring about casting, so we can trigger it with the Sphinxes we search out with Approach. It’s even mono-blue, which helps make sure we have enough blue mana to chain Approaches.
The downside of being mono-blue, though, is that there are limited options.
Is there a Sphinx with more colors that could work?
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign"></div></div>
Yennett is another solid Sphinx option, this time adding black and white to triple our options. It also lets us cast odd-mana spells for free off the top of our library. And guess what the three-mana <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> is!
We’re already cheating big Sphinxes into play, so if we make them odd mana values, we can have two different Sphinx cheaters! The problem is that, as a three-color commander, getting multiple instances of two blue pips to chain Approaches is difficult. And limiting ourselves to odd mana value Sphinxes undoes some of the benefits of being multicolor, as we’re reducing our options again.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arjun, the Shifting Flame"></div></div>
While there are other Sphinx commanders, the last really solid option is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Arjun, the Shifting Flame" href="#" target="_blank">Arjun, the Shifting Flame</a>.
Arjun walks (or flies) the middle ground, being a two-color commander in Izzet colors, so it can easily cast multiple Approaches and has more than just blue options. Red isn’t the best accompaniment color for Sphinxes, but it does have a lot of instant and sorcery support, which can help flesh the deck out.
What Arjun does that the deck can really use is that it puts the cards in our hand on the bottom of our library when we cast a spell, and then we draw that many cards. Ordinarily, this is a downside, as we can’t predict what our turn will be like. When a huge chunk of our library is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>es, however, we know we’re going to keep drawing them.
Tucking the hand helps make sure we maintain Sphinxes to tutor, and the Approaches draw cards which increases our hand size when we tuck our hand. Adding a color and having an ability that synergizes with Approaches makes Arjun the surprising best home for Approach.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a> is an intriguing card, and I am definitely a fan. 
I’ve written about a commander that can have multiple copies <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-an-artificer-typal-deck-with-cid-timeless-artificer">here</a>, and these cards create an interesting minigame of trying to figure out how many copies of the signature spell you need to play, and how many other cards you need to run for it to function. And <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sphinx&#039;s Approach" href="#" target="_blank">Sphinx&#039;s Approach</a>, like its Draconic predecessor, is a tutor, so we need to build with the toolbox element in mind.
Verdict: a really fun deckbuilding challenge that will change how Sphinx decks are built going forward.
But what are your thoughts on it? And what decks are you looking to slot it into?

https://cloudflare.edhrec.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/fra-41-sphinx-s-approach.jpg

Is Sphinx's Approach a New Commander Staple?

<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Theorist, Jace Beleren|FRA|363" href="#" target="_blank">The Theorist, Jace Beleren</a> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CMiles+Johnston%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art">Miles Johnston</a>
It's no secret that I'm a planeswalker fan. I have a deck built around them, and I started my writing career in the Magic space with my thoughts on them. However, we haven't gotten a large enough number of them in quite a few sets for a variety of reasons, so I've been missing out on my chance to muse about them. That all changed thanks to Reality Fracture, the set I have been most excited for all year, even before I knew I would be getting new planeswalkers to discuss.
The main set features three groups of mirrored planeswalker pairs. Five of them are brand-new, never-before-seen cards. Along with that, we also received two new Jace planeswalkers in the main set and a third leading the single commander deck. But it wouldn't be a set or story focused on everyone's favorite mind sculptor if there wasn't a surprise in store. Enough burying of the lede; let's get down to it—time to talk about the best planeswalkers in Reality Fracture.
<h2>Main Set</h2>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani Resolute" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani Resolute</a>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ajani Resolute"></div></div>
The first card on the list is the brand-new card, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani Resolute" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani Resolute</a>. Ajani is all about gaining life, and if you play a creature deck with a life-gain theme to it, then this is the card for you. Every time you gain life, you get to put a loyalty counter on this card, so getting from the 2 starting loyalty all the way up to 10 for the ultimate should happen very quickly. If you don't have a way to gain life, don't worry; Ajani does it for you. The -4 might not be open to you right away. Still, once you can activate it, if Ajani sticks around, you get an <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani&#039;s Pridemate" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani&#039;s Pridemate</a> token that should trigger cards like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Soul Warden" href="#" target="_blank">Soul Warden</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani&#039;s Welcome" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani&#039;s Welcome</a> to start adding loyalty back.
At a mana cost of , this card in the right deck is incredibly strong. Unfortunately, it's easy to kill with its low starting loyalty.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani Unrelenting" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani Unrelenting</a>
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In the Echoverse, the opposite-day-style world, we find the mirrored versions of these planeswalkers; Ajani didn't do so well. Ajani Unrelenting is a whopping to cast for a five-loyalty planeswalker. The passive of getting a 2/2 colorless Wizard Soldier every time you activate a loyalty ability can get you an army inside of a Superfriends deck. If this is your only planeswalker, getting a free body isn't the worst thing you could do.
The best part of this card is the plus one granting creatures +1/0 and haste. While a six-mana haste enabler might not be the best, it can still win the game. The rest of this card reads like most of the Chandra planeswalkers made since the dawn of time. We get a -2 that wheels our hand and a -3 to deal four to all creatures other than our tokens. Ajani isn't bad; he's just situational. Compared to the mono-white version above, where, if you wanted, it could be played outside of an all-in lifegain deck, this Ajani thrives inside of a Superfriends deck wanting to win the game with tokens. Outside of that, it acts closer to a dead draw most games.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chandra, Chill of Compliance" href="#" target="_blank">Chandra, Chill of Compliance</a>
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Only a single Chandra will make the cut on this list. Not due to power level, but for some odd reason, the opposite of the brand-new <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chandra, Chill of Compliance" href="#" target="_blank">Chandra, Chill of Compliance</a> is a reprint of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chandra, Torch of Defiance" href="#" target="_blank">Chandra, Torch of Defiance</a>. The chill brings with it a there-starting-loyalty planeswalker with four abilities. Two different plus-one abilities that give card filtering and mana ramp for noncreature spells—a variable minus ability to stun creatures, and an ultimate that can assist in winning the game.
While this new Chandra is good, I do struggle a bit with where exactly I'd want to play her. She would work in a <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/planeswalkers">Superfriends</a> deck, but there're better options. The -6 ultimate is good, but decks it would thrive in, such as <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/storm">Storm</a> or <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/spellslinger">Spellslinger</a>, have this ability on many other cards without ticking up a planeswalker for multiple turns. The low starting loyalty and the stun ability being single-target don't allow Chandra to protect herself well either.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk, Curse Breaker" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk, Curse Breaker</a>
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Welcoming back a fan favorite character now cured of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Chain Veil" href="#" target="_blank">The Chain Veil</a> curse, the appropriately named <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk, Curse Breaker" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk, Curse Breaker</a>. This is a classic Garruk planeswalker in terms of abilities, coming in at for a five-loyalty planeswalker. We get to untap lands, make Beast tokens, and the ultimate (that can be activated immediately) works as an overrun. Outside of the norm, this Garruk comes with a passive that draws us cards when creatures with power four or greater enter.
The most interesting thing about this card is the wording on the negative four ultimate ability. Base level: your creatures get +2/+2 and trample when attacking your opponents. This effect works for any creature attacking any of your opponents till your next turn. It's nice to see a classic-looking Garruk with a new twist.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk, Veiled Butcher" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk, Veiled Butcher</a>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Garruk, Veiled Butcher"></div></div>
Onto the Echoverse version of Garruk who never escaped the curse: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk, Veiled Butcher" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk, Veiled Butcher</a>. Depending on where you stand, you are either glad this card is worse than its mono-green counterpart or ecstatic about it. For , we get a five-loyalty planeswalker with some interesting abilities. The passive acts as graveyard hate for the opponents' creatures, and all of Garruk's abilities are removal of some kind.
However, a plus two that gives a creature -4/-1 isn't going to kill many things. It can deter attacks, but other planeswalkers do that better. The minus two isn't terrible as an edict effect that can allow you to cash in a creature and turn it into a 4/4. The negative three can, in a perfect world, net you three cards, but people are going to be ditching lands more often than not unless they truly can't part with them.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Theorist, Jace Beleren" href="#" target="_blank">The Theorist, Jace Beleren</a>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Theorist, Jace Beleren"></div></div>
Now that all these other lesser planeswalkers are out of the way, the star of the show can arrive. Welcome in <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Theorist, Jace Beleren" href="#" target="_blank">The Theorist, Jace Beleren</a>. This card is incredible. First up, they're for a three-loyalty planeswalker with three abilities. The passive lets us draw a card at the start of everyone else's turn, which is amazing. The worst part is the +1 ability, which only makes a single 1/1 blue Illusion token. The -2 lets you bounce a creature or artifact to each opponent's hand, and the -6 ultimate draws three cards, then puts +1/+1 counters on each creature equal to the number of cards in your hand.
This card can keep itself alive, get you card advantage, and win you the game. You do need to build around it since the biggest downside to playing a planeswalker in Commander is that you have to defend it against three other players. If you can pull it off, not only will this Jace win you the game, it will win you the game with cards to spare.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Reality Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Reality Sculptor</a>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jace, Reality Sculptor"></div></div>
If The Theorist was the strongest of the bunch, then <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Reality Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Reality Sculptor</a> is the most annoying. Inside the Superfriends archetype, there are the Opps (insert name of planeswalker here). The idea is to play all of the planeswalkers with the same planeswalker type, in this case Jace. As a planeswalker with five starting loyalty, it has one of the best protection abilities on its negative three. Giving all creatures that attack you or a planeswalker you control -5/0 till end of turn is great for keeping both yourself and planeswalkers alive.
The zero ability on this card is straight-up game-winning if you can activate it. Similar to the ability on <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, the Mind Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, the Mind Sculptor</a>, but built for Commander. Exiling all the cards but the literal last one in each opponent's library is game-winning in almost every single scenario that can be reasonably concocted during a game of Commander. The key part about this card and getting to the zero ability is the plus one, allowing you to empower Jace X.
Empower Jace X is a new mechanic found on many cards from the main set in Reality Fracture. It lets you make a planeswalker token, Jace, with loyalty equal to whatever X is. That token comes with two abilities: a negative one Surveil 1 and a negative 3 Draw a card. You will most likely be playing this Jace in a mono-blue or blue-heavy deck, so getting the 25 loyalty counters will be easier than you think. Throw in all the cards from the set with Empower Jace on it, and the deck builds itself more or less.
<h2>Commander Deck</h2>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Multiverse Architect" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Multiverse Architect</a>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jace, Multiverse Architect"></div></div>
The only planeswalker from the Commander deck just so happens to be yet another Jace. Specifically, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Multiverse Architect" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Multiverse Architect</a>. If the protection ability on Jace, Reality Sculptor, wasn't good enough, then the passive causing each opponent to pay at the start of their combat, or they cannot attack you or Jaces you control, should be more than good enough.
Now, this Jace is specifically built around the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Polymorph" href="#" target="_blank">Polymorph</a> ability, which doesn't play the best with other Jace planeswalkers. Still, at a minimum, this planeswalker can keep itself alive. Finally, the +1 draws you two cards and lets you tuck a card back on the bottom of your library, ostensibly to get it later via this card's effect or another similar one.
<h2>So Which One Is the Best?</h2>
If you are playing a generic deck that doesn't focus heavily on a theme and wants to use creature combat to win the game, then the best one is going to be <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk, Curse Breaker" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk, Curse Breaker</a>. With an ultimate ability that can be used immediately and causes every player to get the bonus as long as they don't attack, you will dish out so much damage even a single time around the table.
This card also fits best in a generic green deck. They want big creatures and love to ramp, and that is what Garruk is all about.
If we are talking about who works the best when you are trying to maximize the abilities to a dedicated mechanic, to me it is a tie between <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ajani Resolute" href="#" target="_blank">Ajani Resolute</a> in a lifegain deck and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Reality Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Reality Sculptor</a> in an Oops All-Jace Superfriends deck. Ajani works almost too well in a dedicated life-gain deck, and the ability to come down as early as turn two makes this card a threat very early in the game, even with low starting loyalty.
Jace, on the other hand, can stall out a game long enough and use all the other mono-blue Jace planeswalkers, proliferate effects, and Empower Jace cards to race to the ultimate faster than anyone can do anything about it to win the game.
If I am forced to pick one single planeswalker to crown the best in Reality Fracture, then I would give it to Jace, Reality Sculptor. From the ability to protect itself and fuel its way to a game-winning ability, all while being in a color that can make sure the table isn't able to stop it, gives it the number one spot.
But which one do you think is the best? Which one is your favorite? Why do you think Chandra was only given one new card in Reality Fracture? Let me know in the comments below or over on Bluesky and Instagram @nicnax96.

reality fracture review

Is Sphinx's Approach a New Commander Staple?

The Best Planeswalkers in Reality Fracture