Ur-Sphinx by AlbinoRhino

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 39

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and reanimation strategy helmed by The Ur-Sphinx, whose Eminence ability reduces the casting cost of all Sphinx spells by {1} from the command zone. The deck leverages efficient mana rocks, low-cost Changelings, and early engines like Raffine, Scheming Seer to sculpt the hand and stock the graveyard. Around Turns 4–5, core enablers such as Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign and Urza's Incubator drastically reduce the costs of massive Sphinxes while triggering explosive Fact or Fiction card advantage. The deck transitions into a lethal threat on Turn 6 by hardcasting or reanimating formidable flying bombs like Consecrated Sphinx, Tivit, Seller of Secrets, Sphinx Mindbreaker, and mass revival spells such as Breach the Multiverse or Rise of the Dark Realms. Opponents face massive evasive aerial damage alongside supplemental mill pressure from Phenax, God of Deception, concluding the game by Turn 8 under the protection of efficient countermagic.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 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 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Changeling Outcast
  • 1 Changeling Wayfinder
  • 1 Command Beacon
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Curator of Destinies
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Denzilore Fatehold
  • 1 Deserted Beach
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Dream Trawler
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Enigma Sphinx
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 3 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Isperia the Inscrutable
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Mesmeric Orb
  • 1 Metallic Mimic
  • 1 Mirror Entity
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Phenax, God of Deception
  • 3 Plains
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Prognostic Sphinx
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Rescuer Sphinx
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Seachrome Coast
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
  • 1 Singularity Rupture
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Mindbreaker
  • 1 Sphinx Summoner
  • 1 Sphinx of Clear Skies
  • 1 Sphinx of False Conclusions
  • 1 Sphinx of Foresight
  • 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sphinx of the Revelation
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sphinx's Tutelage
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 2 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 The Water Crystal
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Universal Automaton
  • 1 Unsettled Mariner
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Windreader Sphinx
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign