First printed in Coldsnap (2006)
Creature — Sphinx
Flying
Cumulative upkeep—Discard a card. (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)
When this creature dies, draw a card for each age counter on it.
4/4
- Illustrated by
- Lars Grant-West
Legality
- Legal in
- Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Penny Dreadful, Commander, Duel Commander, PreDH, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Gladiator, Pauper Commander, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
Rulings (2)
- Paying cumulative upkeep is always optional. If it's not paid, the permanent with cumulative upkeep is sacrificed. Partial payments of the total cumulative upkeep cost can't be made. For example, if a permanent with “cumulative upkeep
” has three age counters on it when its cumulative upkeep ability triggers, it gets another age counter and then its controller chooses to either pay 
or sacrifice the permanent. - Paying cumulative upkeep is always optional. If it’s not paid, the permanent with cumulative upkeep is sacrificed. Partial payments of the total cumulative upkeep cost can’t be made. For example, if Vexing Sphinx has three age counters on it when its cumulative upkeep ability triggers, it gets another age counter and then its controller chooses to either discard four cards or sacrifice it.
Prices
Paper price: €0.19 / $0.18 , the cheapest non-foil print (Cardmarket and TCGplayer through MTGJSON, 2 Nov 2026).
MTGO price: 0.006 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 2 Nov 2026).