Sphinx 1.8 by Chains96

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 57

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and artifact combo list helmed by The Ur-Sphinx. From the command zone, the commander provides constant cost reduction for all Sphinx spells, accelerating expensive flyers into play well ahead of schedule. The deck's primary win condition is an infinite extra-turn loop pairing Tivit, Seller of Secrets with Time Sieve. When Tivit enters or connects in combat, Council's dilemma generates five artifact tokens, which are sacrificed to Time Sieve to take another turn, chaining unbounded extra combats until all opponents fall to commander damage. In games where the artifact loop is disrupted, the deck pivots smoothly into Sphinx midrange beatdown, utilizing Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign for explosive card advantage, Magister Sphinx to drop life totals to 10, and Sharuum the Hegemon or Reanimate to recover key permanents. A robust suite of efficient removal, board wipes, and protection like Teferi, Time Raveler and Dawn's Truce ensures smooth assembly.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Academy Manufactor
  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Atemsis, All-Seeing
  • 1 Austere Command
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Azorius Signet
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Brilliant Ultimatum
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Cloudshift
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cruelclaw's Heist
  • 1 Curator of Destinies
  • 1 Dawn's Truce
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Deserted Beach
  • 1 Dimir Signet
  • 1 Displacer Kitten
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Echo of Eons
  • 1 Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall
  • 1 Enigma Thief
  • 1 Enlightened Tutor
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Generous Gift
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Gleaming Bastion
  • 1 Gleaming Splendor
  • 1 Gloomlake Verge
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Grasp of Fate
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Head Games
  • 1 Heartless Summoning
  • 1 Helm of the Host
  • 4 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Master of Predicaments
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Panharmonicon
  • 1 Parting Gust
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Patriarch's Bidding
  • 1 Pearl Medallion
  • 1 Perch Protection
  • 4 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Sapphire Medallion
  • 1 Sharuum the Hegemon
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx of False Conclusions
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 1 Supreme Verdict
  • 3 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Tainted Field
  • 1 Tainted Isle
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
  • 1 Teleportation Circle
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Time Sieve
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Trouble in Pairs
  • 1 Turbulent Moor
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Watcher of the Spheres
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Winds of Abandon