Ur-Sphinx

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 46

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and midrange engine strategy helmed by The Ur-Sphinx. It uses the commander's eminence ability alongside cost reducers like Urza's Incubator and Heartless Summoning to deploy high-impact, evasive Sphinxes ahead of curve. The engine comes online around Turn 4 with anchors such as Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Tivit, Seller of Secrets, or Consecrated Sphinx, which quickly generate overwhelming card advantage and dig deep into the library. Critical onset occurs on Turn 5 when the deck establishes a dominant flying presence and introduces decisive swings through Magister Sphinx, Breach the Multiverse, or asymmetric sweepers like Raise the Palisade. Because the deck lacks infinite combos, it closes out games across three response cycles through overwhelming aerial combat damage, reaching a full table finish around Turn 8. A dense suite of efficient countermagic, targeted exile removal, and reanimation redundancy provides robust resilience against interaction and board wipes.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Breach the Multiverse
  • 1 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Command Beacon
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Conspiracy Unraveler
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Deadly Rollick
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Deserted Beach
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Dream Trawler
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Elenda and Azor
  • 1 Enigma Sphinx
  • 1 Esper Sentinel
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Floodfarm Verge
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Gloomlake Verge
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Heartless Summoning
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Master of Predicaments
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Meticulous Archive
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Plains
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Raise the Palisade
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Reflections of Littjara
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Scholar of the Lost Trove
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Shadowy Backstreet
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
  • 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx of False Conclusions
  • 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
  • 1 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 Teferi's Protection
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 Three Tree City
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Undercity Sewers
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Void Rend
  • 1 Watcher of the Spheres
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Windreader Sphinx
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign