Prognostic Sphinx

The discard-for-hexproof activation is the structural heart of this design: a flyer that buys its own protection by spending cards, which turns it into a near-untargetable threat against any deck built on spot removal. The tradeoff is honest. Each shield costs a card in hand and taps the body, so the protection only matters once you have already declared an attack or are content to leave it home as a 3/5 wall. But the hexproof itself is not conditional: it lasts until end of turn whether the creature stays tapped or not, so the tap cost is a tempo concession, not an ongoing leash on the protection. The scry 3 on attack feeds the discard, smoothing out which cards you part with and stocking the next draws, so the engine partly refuels the resource it consumes. That self-sustaining loop is what elevates it above a vanilla evasive beater: it is a slow inevitability piece, grinding an attrition matchup by burying the opponent in card selection while sidestepping the removal that would normally answer a five-mana flyer. What it represents is a particular school of blue threat design: a finisher that protects itself rather than leaning on counterspells to clear the path, a creature you can deploy into open mana and still keep alive through a removal-heavy turn, provided you are willing to empty your hand to do it.