When someone pays fifteen to thirty dollars to have a single card authenticated and encapsulated, they are making a deliberate statement that the card matters to them
In a lot of cases, the card will come in as a 4/4 or 5/5 at least which is a decent rate
If you don't already own fetchlands, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, you either have to invest in $500 worth of cards, many of which will rotate in less than six months, or not play a tier one deck
To offer this kind of card as a promotional product for LGSs rather than a Secret Lair feels like real, critical support that gets people out in the community and maybe inspire more Standard players
Better Mid-Cost Amethyst Steel Deck The mid-cost version gets us much closer to the original design of the deck: dominating the board with sticky Resist characters while feeding yourself lore, cards, and extra Strength through bouncing cards
What I'm saying is, this sphinx is good but it does take a hit from that extreme mana cost