Master of Predicaments card art

Master of Predicaments

Creature — Sphinx MV 5

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

What it does

Flying

Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, choose a card in your hand. That player guesses whether the card's mana value is greater than 4. If the player guessed wrong, you may cast the card without paying its mana cost.

Rulings

7 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2014-07-18

    If the card has X in its mana cost, X is 0.

  • 2014-07-18

    To choose a card in your hand, clearly separate it from the rest of your hand without revealing it.

  • 2014-07-18

    If you cast a card "without paying its mana cost," you can't pay any alternative costs. Notably, you can't cast a card with bestow as an Aura this way. You can, however, pay additional costs, such as kicker costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those.

  • 2014-07-18

    Although you may choose a land card in your hand, you won't be able to play it even if the player guessed wrong.

  • 2014-07-18

    You cast the card in your hand as part of the resolution of the triggered ability. Timing restrictions based on the card's type (such as creature or sorcery) are ignored. Other restrictions, such as "Cast [this card] only during combat," are not.

  • 2014-07-18

    If you don't cast the card, either because the player guessed right or because you choose not to cast it, you don't have to reveal it. Your opponent won't know the reason you didn't cast the card.

  • 2017-04-18

    If the card is a split card, its mana value is determined by the combined mana cost of its two halves. If the player guesses wrong and you cast a split card this way, you may cast either half (or both halves if the card has fuse), no matter what its mana value is.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Master of Predicaments, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 5
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign 2 0 —
The Ur-Sphinx 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Esper 3 decks

Master of Predicaments price history

The Magic 2015 #67 printing, as Scryfall reports the TCGplayer market. Updated nightly.

Non-foil today$0.54▲ $0.07 (14.9%)
Low $0.46 · High $0.62Tracked since Sep 28, 2026
Every recorded price change
DateNon-foilFoil
Nov 11, 2026$0.54$1.84
Nov 6, 2026$0.54$1.84
Nov 3, 2026$0.56$1.84
Nov 1, 2026$0.56$1.85
Oct 31, 2026$0.57$1.85
Oct 30, 2026$0.58$1.85
Oct 29, 2026$0.61$1.85
Oct 27, 2026$0.62$1.79
Oct 24, 2026$0.61$1.79
Oct 22, 2026$0.60$1.79
Oct 21, 2026$0.59$1.79
Oct 19, 2026$0.60$1.79
Oct 18, 2026$0.58$1.79
Oct 17, 2026$0.58$1.78
Oct 16, 2026$0.59$1.78
Oct 15, 2026$0.57$1.78
Oct 13, 2026$0.54$1.78
Oct 12, 2026$0.52$1.78
Oct 11, 2026$0.59$1.78
Oct 10, 2026$0.55$1.78
Oct 8, 2026$0.54$1.78
Oct 6, 2026$0.52$1.78
Oct 5, 2026$0.47$1.78
Oct 4, 2026$0.46$1.78
Oct 3, 2026$0.48$1.78
Oct 2, 2026$0.47$1.78
Sep 29, 2026$0.46$1.78
Sep 28, 2026$0.47$1.76

A row is recorded only on nights the price moved, so each price held until the row above it.

Every version of Master of Predicaments

2 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them. Click a card's art to chart that version's price above.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Master of Predicaments. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.