The Ur-Sphincter by mainframe0104

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 41

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and artifact combo list led by The Ur-Sphinx. In the early game, it deploys mana rocks, cost reducers like Herald's Horn and Urza's Incubator, and card engines like Rhystic Study and The One Ring. While threatening large flying Sphinxes discounted by eminence, its primary win condition is the compact Painter's Servant and Grindstone combination, tutorable via Fabricate, Whir of Invention, and Urza's Saga. Because Grindstone taps to mill an entire library once a color is shared, it eliminates opponents sequentially across Turn 5 to Turn 7. The deck defends its board with efficient counterspells (Mana Drain, Force of Negation) and protective spells (Flare of Fortitude, Dawn's Truce), while asymmetric sweepers like Raise the Palisade and Kindred Dominance keep opposing creature boards completely clear.

Decklist (99 cards)

  • 1 Academy Ruins
  • 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Barkform Harvester
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Bloodline Bidding
  • 1 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Changeling Wayfinder
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commandeer
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Curator of Destinies
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dawn's Truce
  • 1 Decanter of Endless Water
  • 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
  • 1 Elenda and Azor
  • 1 Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fabricate
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Firdoch Core
  • 1 Flare of Fortitude
  • 1 Flock Impostor
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Force of Negation
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Graveshifter
  • 1 Grindstone
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Harmonized Crescendo
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Horizon of Progress
  • 1 Insight Engine
  • 1 Island
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Laboratory Maniac
  • 1 Land Tax
  • 1 Legions to Ashes
  • 1 Mana Confluence
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Multiversal Passage
  • 1 Mystic Remora
  • 1 No More Lies
  • 1 Omni-Changeling
  • 1 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 1 Painter's Servant
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Peer into the Abyss
  • 1 Plains
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Psychosis Crawler
  • 1 Quantum Riddler
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raise the Palisade
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Rite of Replication
  • 1 Scrubland
  • 1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
  • 1 Smuggler's Share
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx of Enlightenment
  • 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sphinx's Tutelage
  • 1 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 The One Ring
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Thran Dynamo
  • 1 Three Steps Ahead
  • 1 Trouble in Pairs
  • 1 Tundra
  • 1 Twenty-Toed Toad
  • 1 Underground Sea
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Urza's Saga
  • 1 Vanishing Verse
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Whir of Invention
  • 1 Winnowing
  • 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow