Sphinxes by Grapes

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 45

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Sphinx tribal and reanimator strategy piloted by The Ur-Sphinx. Through its eminence ability, the commander reduces the casting cost of all Sphinx spells by one generic mana directly from the command zone. The deck leverages efficient two-mana mana rocks and cost reducers like Urza's Incubator to deploy high-impact threats early. Its primary card engine, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, turns every subsequent Sphinx into a four-card Fact or Fiction trigger, rapidly filling both hand and graveyard. A secondary reanimation package with Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Breach the Multiverse allows the deck to cheat large flying beaters into play ahead of curve or recover instantly from board wipes. Opponents are kept off balance with efficient counterspells like Mana Drain and removal like Void Rend. The deck closes games around turns 6 to 7 using an overwhelming flying assault enhanced by Akroma's Will or the commander's combat triggers.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Akroma's Will
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Arcane Adaptation
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Breach the Multiverse
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Damn
• 1 Dazzling Sphinx
• 1 Defiler of Dreams
• 1 Denzilore Fatehold
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Dream Trawler
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Duelist's Heritage
• 1 Echocasting Symposium
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Enigma Thief
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Gleaming Splendor
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Heartless Summoning
• 1 Herald's Horn
• 5 Island
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
• 1 Kindred Discovery
• 1 Kozilek's Unsealing
• 1 Magister Sphinx
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Maskwood Nexus
• 1 Master of Predicaments
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Persist
• 3 Plains
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Reflections of Littjara
• 1 Ripples of Undeath
• 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1 Roaming Throne
• 1 Sapphire Medallion
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Sharuum the Hegemon
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sphinx of False Conclusions
• 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
• 1 Stitch Together
• 1 Strix Serenade
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 The Ur-Sphinx
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Uldaros Theorix
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
• 1 Urza's Incubator
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Void Rend
• 1 Warden of Evos Isle
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Will of the Temur
• 1 Windfall
• 1 Windreader Sphinx
• 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign