The Ur-Sphinx by bowserj09

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 40

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and reanimation strategy helmed by The Ur-Sphinx. From the command zone, the commander's eminence ability reduces the cost of all Sphinx spells by one mana, functioning alongside artifact cost reducers like Urza's Incubator and Herald's Horn. Early turns focus on accelerating mana and filtering cards or stocking the graveyard using Entomb, Buried Alive, and surveil lands. The mid-game leverages cheap reanimation spells such as Reanimate and Animate Dead to cheat massive threats like Sphinx of the Second Sun, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, and Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant into play ahead of curve. Once established, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign provides overwhelming card flow through repeated mini-Fact or Fiction triggers. The deck closes games through relentless combat damage with evasive flying beaters, amplified by The Ur-Sphinx milling opponents and casting their best spells for free on attack. High reanimation density ensures swift recovery from board disruption.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arbiter of the Ideal
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Beacon of Unrest
  • 1 Bloodstained Mire
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Castle Vantress
  • 1 Cloud Key
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Conundrum Sphinx
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Deadly Rollick
  • 1 Debtors' Knell
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Denzilore Fatehold
  • 1 Displacer Kitten
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Forum of Amity
  • 1 Gifts Ungiven
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Ichormoon Gauntlet
  • 1 Ishgard, the Holy See // Faith & Grief
  • 3 Island
  • 1 Isperia the Inscrutable
  • 1 Jace, Mirror Mage
  • 1 Jace, Reality Sculptor
  • 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
  • 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
  • 1 Land Tax
  • 1 Lotus Petal
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Mana Tithe
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Meticulous Archive
  • 1 Monologue Tax
  • 1 Mystic Sanctuary
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Nexus of Fate
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 3 Plains
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Prognostic Sphinx
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Repurposed Enforcer
  • 1 Return to the Light Realms
  • 1 Rewrite Regrets
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun
  • 1 Sensei's Divining Top
  • 1 Shadowy Backstreet
  • 1 Silverquill Campus
  • 1 Sinister Hideout
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spell Swindle
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx of Clear Skies
  • 1 Sphinx of Foresight
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
  • 3 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 The Water Crystal
  • 1 Theorist's Sanctum
  • 1 Tocasia's Dig Site
  • 1 Undercity Sewers
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 University Campus
  • 1 Unsettled Mariner
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Way of the Cryomancer
  • 1 Way of the Healer
  • 1 Way of the Mind Sculptor
  • 1 Windswept Heath
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
  • 1 Zhalfirin Void
  • 1 Zombify