The sphinx know all by coasterkramer

Format: Commander

Commander: Raffine, Scheming Seer

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 24

Deck overview

This deck uses Raffine, Scheming Seer to turn a wide creature board into repeated card selection and +1/+1 counters. Early mana comes from Sol Ring, Ancient Tomb, Signets, Talismans, and other lands. The main payoff is a Sphinx package led by The Ur-Sphinx, whose attack trigger mills each player and can cast one milled card from each graveyard for free. Sphinx's Approach is an unusual source of Sphinx access, while Entomb, Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Victimize support explosive individual draws. The deck also has a broad but finite interaction suite, including efficient removal, bounce, counters, and a sweeper. Its main weakness is that its best engine is expensive, attack-dependent, and random in its free-spell output. It can create a strong advantage engine, but the list does not establish a deterministic win, infinite combo, or reliable total lockout.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Ancient Tomb
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Azorius Signet
  • 1 Baleful Strix
  • 1 Cephalid Coliseum
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Dimir Signet
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Eerie Interlude
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Ephemerate
  • 1 Esper Sentinel
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Ghostly Flicker
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 16 Island
  • 1 Ledger Shredder
  • 1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Momentary Blink
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Otawara, Soaring City
  • 1 Parting Gust
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Plains
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reconnaissance
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Scrubland
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 23 Sphinx's Approach
  • 1 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Tundra
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Underground Sea
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Void Rend
  • 1 Watery Grave