Ominous Sphinx

Creature — Sphinx

Flying

Whenever you cycle or discard a card, target creature an opponent controls gets -2/-0 until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (6)

magicsheep on U/B Cycling

5 years ago

Thank you sixokay for the feedback! I think I'm going to take out Ominous Sphinx, but if you think anything else should be taken out let me know.

Hobbez9186 on This Deck Sphinx

6 years ago

Thank you!

I'm not sure I want to muddy up the mana pool with another color, but I do have my eyes on Dowsing Dagger and Spell Swindle for ramp.

The Dagger isn't as slow as it would be in other decks because everything on my side has flying including the Riddleform which would be activated and ready to attack when playing the dagger. Your opponent gets two useless plants that can't attack and don't have Reach to block you. This means on turn 4 you can play it, attach it, attack for 5 in the air with Riddleform, then transform it for a bonus 3 mana tapping land. Ridiculous. It's not legendary on either side so I won't even hesitate to add 4 of these.

Swindle is a sweet counter spell for this deck that basically drains mana for incredibly useful and tangible ramp that doesn't just empty with your next main phase like Mana Drain. Obviously it's not a threat until turn 5 or later, but this deck should typically make it that far. I can see a pair of these easily fitting the deck.

I am hoping to see a new Sphinx since at least one seems to make it into every block, but Ixalan might be too Tribal around Dinosaurs, Pirates, Merfolk, and Vampires for that. We'll see. I will have 4 creature slots to fill and I don't really want to use Ominous Sphinx if I don't have to. Nimble Obstructionist is a good candidate for aerial shenanigans.

HackSlice on UG Sphinx Ramp

6 years ago

Wow good call on Servant of the Conduit really good call. I would have never put that in. Also... maybe only maybe put some more cards that get advantages from cycling like Zenith Seeker, Ominous Sphinx, Drake Haven, Compelling Argument, or even Beneath the Sands to get through your deck easily and so you don't miss out on the lands you need.

TzickyT on Taigam's Terminus

6 years ago

haakon and undead gladiator wil be big of help if u want to do stuff with the graveyard in any way. stil draw power would be also suggested in this deck. cards i aint a fan of - Rise from the Grave- Kefnet's Monument Oath of Ghouls - Grave Betrayal - Talrand, Sky Summoner - Ominous Sphinx - Woodlot Crawler - Deathbringer Regent i can delete a lot more bt that i wouldn't play at all in this deck

Yesterday on The Sphinxes are coming!

6 years ago

Urgh, had a whole thing typed out here and then accidentally closed the browser. That's annoying.

The deck looks neat, is it something you've played with already or still in the planning stages? Also just FYI it's Sphinxes, not Sphinx's. :P

There are a number of utility cards coming in the new commander 2017 set for tribal decks that I'm sure would help you out, but considering they're not out yet I'll stick with cards that actually exist. Like Consecrated Sphinx. Also I'm not sure what your budget is so I'm just gonna throw out some kinda expensive suggestions in the mix.

I'm sure a Cavern of Souls and possibly a Boseiju, Who Shelters All would be nice for some extra protection. As for cycling lands, in a mono blue deck that doesn't care about deserts, both Remote Isle and Lonely Sandbar are strictly better than Desert of the Mindful. On the topic of lands, if you like artifacts, there are some more neat inclusions that might interest you: Academy Ruins, Mishra's Workshop (crazy expensive), Sequestered Stash, Tolarian Academy.

Also, considering you're running Paradox Engine and can potentially tutor for it, I might recommend Mana Crypt, Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith, maybe instead of Ur-Golem's Eye or something.

It sort of goes against the artefact theme you're running but I personally prefer Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study to Mind's Eye, it puts the tax on the opponent instead of you. You mightn't always draw cards off them, but they're somewhat cheaper in multiplayer games and can force opponents to chose to pay the tax instead of good spells, which is subtly very nice.

Argent Sphinx is actually great in here I'm just realising. Neat.

It's down to preference and playstyle more than anything, but maybe (considering you're running Warden of Evos Isle) you might want to run Icefall Regent instead of Frost Titan.

You also might want to run Shapesharer instead of Mistform Ultimus, it can target itself with its ability and also the number of other nice shapeshifters you've got in your deck.

There isn't a lot of cycling in the deck so I'm not really sure what Curator of Mysteries or Ominous Sphinx offer the deck aside from being sphinxes. Some other fun sphinxes I like are Master of Predicaments and Sphinx Ambassador, and some others that might synergise with your commander or otherwise offer good card advantage are Consecrated Sphinx, Horizon Scholar, Prognostic Sphinx, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Sphinx of Uthuun, Vexing Sphinx, Windreader Sphinx.

There are a lot of great sphinxes actually, whew.

Anywho, good luck with it!

greyninja on What are the best cards …

6 years ago

If youre talking strictly prerelease; I'd say don't plan your strategies around the rares and mythics. You're guaranteed 7 rares/mythics (more so if you pull pack foils), but that doesn't mean they're auto-amazing or even all the same colors/mechanics

Creatures with evasion are always good. Dauntless Aven and Aven of Enduring Hope are solid. Ominous Sphinx is good regardless of how much cycling you're doing. Overcome will win games. (Looks like we're missing some cards in the database)

As Argy mentioned: Eternalize will be powerful in limited. Proven Combatant is a fantastic turn 1 play that comes back again later.

You always want removal at prerelease, hopefully ~8 pieces if you're lucky. Amonkhet in general doesn't have much to choose from compared to other blocks imo. Take what you can get. Sandblast gets rid of a lot of creatures. Desert's Hold is really good since there isn't much enchantment removal. Unsummon is an incredible tempo play. Red has some burn, black has some -1/-1 shenanigans, and there's some great multicolor aftermath cards with removal

I don't play standard - I'm more of an edh guy - but I'm stoked to attend 2/5 prereleases this weekend! Good luck everyone!!!