Eminently Puzzling by Kaizen

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 35

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper kindred midrange build centered on Sphinxes, piloted by The Ur-Sphinx. The deck maximizes the commander's eminence ability to reduce the casting cost of heavy, evasive flyers. By combining this passive discount with colorless cost reducers such as Urza's Incubator and Herald's Horn, the deck accelerates out game-defining threats including Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Consecrated Sphinx, and Tivit, Seller of Secrets. Once an engine is established, recurring draw abilities generate massive card advantage to sustain board presence. The deck closes games through overwhelming flying combat damage, asymmetric life reduction with Magister Sphinx, and reanimation bombs like Breach the Multiverse. Interaction is well-rounded, sporting resilient counterspells, unconditional spot exile, and asymmetric kindred sweepers like Raise the Palisade.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Ancient Tomb
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Bitter Triumph
  • 1 Breach the Multiverse
  • 1 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Chancellor of the Spires
  • 1 Changeling Wayfinder
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Dream Trawler
  • 1 Elenda and Azor
  • 1 Enigma Sphinx
  • 1 Ethersworn Sphinx
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Firdoch Core
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Gloomlake Verge
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Hidden Lair
  • 10 Island
  • 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Kozilek's Unsealing
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
  • 1 Master of Predicaments
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Meticulous Archive
  • 1 Monologue Tax
  • 1 Omni-Changeling
  • 1 Patchwork Banner
  • 3 Plains
  • 1 Quantum Riddler
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Raise the Palisade
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reflections of Littjara
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Sapphire Medallion
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Semblance Anvil
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx of False Conclusions
  • 1 Sphinx of Foresight
  • 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
  • 5 Sphinx's Approach
  • 4 Swamp
  • 1 The Soul Stone
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 The Water Crystal
  • 1 Three Tree City
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Unsettled Mariner
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Void Rend
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Whip of Erebos
  • 1 Windreader Sphinx
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign