Ur-Sphinx by SailorSmithsonian

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 19

Deck overview

This is an Esper Sphinx tribal deck that uses The Ur-Sphinx's eminence reduction, Urza's Incubator, Herald's Horn, Gathering Stone, and other reducers to make expensive Sphinxes manageable. Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign is the strongest ordinary engine: each Sphinx entering reveals four cards and adds a large pile to hand. The deck then builds a flying board and attacks to mill each opponent, sometimes casting milled cards for free. Its main problems are access and timing. Most engines cost four to six mana, the commander costs nine, and the list has few ways to find the exact reducer or value engine required. The attack plan is also not deterministic: milling does not guarantee castable spells or lethal damage. Interaction is respectable but must compete with development. The result is a coherent casual-to-high-power tribal strategy with strong value when established, but not a reliable combo, lock, or cEDH victory plan.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Akroma's Will
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Banner of Kinship
  • 1 Bloodline Bidding
  • 1 Command Beacon
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crucible of Worlds
  • 1 Decanter of Endless Water
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Deserted Beach
  • 1 Displacer Kitten
  • 1 Door of Destinies
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Dream Trawler
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Elixir of Immortality
  • 1 Enigma Sphinx
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Faerie Mastermind
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Gathering Stone
  • 1 Ghostly Prison
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Gleaming Splendor
  • 1 Gloomlake Verge
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Grand Abolisher
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 3 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Land Tax
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Maddening Cacophony
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Master of Predicaments
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Metallic Mimic
  • 1 Meticulous Archive
  • 1 Monologue Tax
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Omniscience
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Propaganda
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Raise the Palisade
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Return to the Light Realms
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Shadowy Backstreet
  • 1 Sharuum the Hegemon
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx Summoner
  • 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
  • 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
  • 1 Sphinx's Revelation
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 1 Supreme Verdict
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 The Darkness Crystal
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 The Water Crystal
  • 1 The Wind Crystal
  • 1 Three Tree City
  • 1 Time Stretch
  • 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Undercity Sewers
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Venser's Journal
  • 1 Warden of Evos Isle
  • 1 Watcher of the Spheres
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Windreader Sphinx
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign