Evolved Sleeper is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
: This creature becomes a Human Cleric with base power and toughness 2/2.
Complete guide
Evolved Sleeper is a versatile one-drop that serves as a powerful mana sink throughout different stages of the game. By investing mana, you can transform this lowly Human into a formidable Phyrexian threat while drawing cards to maintain momentum.
Leveling Up Your Sleeper
Evolved Sleeper features three activated abilities designed to be used sequentially. The first ability makes it a 2/2 Human Cleric. The second requires it to be a Cleric to become a 3/3 Phyrexian with deathtouch. The final ability requires it to be a Phyrexian to grant +1/+1 counters and card draw. Because these abilities overwrite previous base power and toughness settings, you generally want to resolve them in the order printed on the card.
How the Abilities Resolve
Each ability checks the creature's current type upon resolution. For example, if you activate the second ability, the game checks if Evolved Sleeper is a 'Cleric'. If it is, it gets the deathtouch counter and becomes a 3/3 Phyrexian Human Cleric. The third ability checks for the 'Phyrexian' type; if successful, you get a +1/+1 counter and draw a card. Importantly, these changes to base power and toughness do not remove existing +1/+1 counters or temporary buffs like +1/+1 from other sources.
Common Pitfalls
A common mistake is activating the first ability ({B}) after the Sleeper has already reached its 3/3 Phyrexian form. If you do this, the first ability will overwrite the 3/3 status, turning it back into a 2/2 Human Cleric and removing its Phyrexian type. Additionally, note that while the first two abilities change base stats, the third ability adds a +1/+1 counter, meaning the Sleeper can grow indefinitely as long as it remains a Phyrexian.
Strategic Timing
Since these are activated abilities, you can use them at instant speed. You might leave mana open to threaten a block with deathtouch or wait until your opponent's end step to sink your mana into the card-drawing ability. Remember that the second and third abilities only care if the creature has the required type at the moment the ability resolves.
Interaction examples
Ornithopter of ParadiseWith Evolved Sleeper on the battlefield, you can tap Ornithopter of Paradise for Black mana to activate the Sleeper's first ability. This turns it into a 2/2 Human Cleric immediately, providing an early-game blocker or attacker without using your land's mana.
If Evolved Sleeper is already a 3/3 Phyrexian Human Cleric, you can activate its third ability ({1}{B}{B}) multiple times. Each time it resolves, the game confirms it is a Phyrexian, puts a +1/+1 counter on it, and you draw a card. If you have six mana, you can do this twice in one turn to draw two cards and make it a 5/5.
Blood ArtistUsing Evolved Sleeper's third ability costs 1 life per activation. If you have Blood Artist on the field, you can offset this life loss whenever other creatures die, allowing you to use the Sleeper's card-draw engine more safely even when your life total is low.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Evolved Sleeper
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
None of these abilities has a duration. If one of them resolves, it will remain in effect until the game ends, Evolved Sleeper leaves the battlefield, or some subsequent effect changes its characteristics, whichever comes first.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Evolved Sleeper's first two abilities overwrite its power, toughness, and creature types. Typically, those abilities are activated in the order they appear on the card. However, if Evolved Sleeper is a 3/3 Phyrexian Human Cleric and you activate its first ability again, it will become a 2/2 Human Cleric as that ability resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
You can activate Evolved Sleeper's second and third abilities regardless of what creature types it is. Each of those abilities checks Evolved Sleeper's creature types when that ability resolves. If Evolved Sleeper isn't the appropriate creature type at that time, the ability does nothing.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Evolved Sleeper's second ability checks whether it's a Cleric, and its third ability checks whether it's a Phyrexian. It doesn't matter how it became the appropriate creature type.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
The effects from the first and second abilities overwrite other effects that set power and/or toughness if and only if those effects existed before the ability resolved. It will not overwrite effects that modify power or toughness without setting it (whether from a static ability, counters, or a resolved spell or ability), nor will it overwrite effects that set power and toughness which come into existence after the ability resolves. Effects that switch the creature's power and toughness are always applied after any other power or toughness changing effects, including this one, regardless of the order in which they are created.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Evolved Sleeper
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