Sphinx For Days(Primer)

Commander / EDH

generalbobby

Creature (27)

• 1x Alhammarret, High Arbiter
• 1x Arbiter of the Ideal
• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Conundrum Sphinx
• 1x Curator of Mysteries
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Glyph Keeper
• 1x Guardian of Tazeem
• 1x Identity Thief
• 1x Jwar Isle Avenger
• 1x Master of Predicaments
• 1x Mothdust Changeling
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Prognostic Sphinx
• 1x Shapesharer
• 1x Sphinx Ambassador
• 1x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
• 1x Sphinx of Lost Truths
• 1x Sphinx of Magosi
• 1x Sphinx of the Final Word
• 1x Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1x Vexing Sphinx
• 1x Vizier of Many Faces
• 1x Warden of Evos Isle
• 1x Windreader Sphinx

Artifact (16)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Kefnet's Monument
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Omen Machine
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sky Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Uba Mask

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1x Savor the Moment
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Void Snare
• 1x Voidwalk

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Call to the Kindred
• 1x Mind Over Matter

Land (34)

• 32x Island
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Tolaria West

Commander (1)

Instant (14)

• 1x Cackling Counterpart
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Familiar's Ruse
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Memory Lapse
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Snap

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So...sphinx tribal. The high CMCs. The big, but not too big, bodies. What to do, what to do? Creature-based storm, you say? Sounds splendid. Let's do this.

So, how does this work?

I'm glad you asked. Unesh is a card advantage engine. Unesh turns your other sphinxes into card advantage machines by giving each of them a mini Fact or Fiction effect. The question is how you use this to your advantage. The answer is you do it as much as possible, and as cheaply as possible.

Is This Deck For Me?

Are you a Timmy? We got big flying monsters. Do you want to experience storm, but don't want to end the game in the first five turns? You're just getting started by turn five. Do you like a deck that is deceptive in purpose? No one sees sphinx storm coming. No one.

Advantages

People who have not played against this deck tend to not understand how much card advantage it generates, so you should be able to fly under peoples' radar. It is also decepetive as people will spend a lot of time reading card text on your sphinxes, not realizing that their main purpose is to trigger off Unesh. The Fact or Fiction piles are typically hard to make, as you will often see lands and sphinxes, which will be divided 50/50 with a shrug.

Disadvantages

Speed. The deck needs the commander, and Unesh has a whopping CMC of 6. If Unesh is taken out, you will be scrambling. The deck is mana hungry, with a lot of blue pips. It's not a problem once it gets going, but it will be slow getting started. Also, when this deck goes off...IT GOES OFF. There will be very long turns. It is a storm deck, after all. Be wary of salt.

The Early Game

Unesh is expensive and so are many of your sphinxes, so the early game will be spent dropping mana rocks and your cost reduction cards. A good opening hand will have 3 or 4 lands, a rock or two, and at least one sphinx. The deck is going to be on the slow side. There's only so much you can do about that without cutting into the game plan of the deck, so you have to expect games where you will spend the first 4 turns playing a land and then passing. Don't mulligan too deeply. 6 cards is fine. 5 is iffy, but make sure you have the lands. Don't go lower than that because you are asking for hard times.

Make Unesh the first sphinx you cast. It might be tempting to cast something else earlier, to give yourself a blocker or an early attacker. All you are doing is denying yourself card advantage. If you are getting hit hard and absolutely need something...fine. Otherwise, try to hold off.

Mana and Ramp

The main engine of this deck is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. This is the land you want out more than anything. The deck runs Expedition Map and Tolaria West specifically to tutor for it. Sphinxes have a lot of blue pips and Nykthos loves that. The land base itself is very simple; We need islands. Period. This deck is highly reliant on blue mana, and is on the slow side to begin with. Anything that enters tapped or makes anything other than blue needs to be eyed with suspicion. Things get easier with Unesh out, but you still need that blue.

Rock-wise, your standard array of rocks is fine. Adjust what you are using for budget. I realize that Mana Crypt is not within everybody's budget. Likewise, cost reducers like Kefnet's Monument and Sapphire Medallion can be life savers. Unesh himself will provide you with a significant discount on your sphinxes when he comes out, and that will be taken advantage of when the time comes.

FoF Triggers

So you've held on through the first few turns and got Unesh out. How do you do the trigger? Choose which ever pile gives you more gas. If you need cards, take more sphinxes. If you need mana, take rocks or lands. Always keep the pile with Nykthos, Mind Over Matter, or Peregrine Drake. Always discard Commit / Memory, as you want the Aftermath side more. Even if you end up discarding a card like Panharmonicon, it's fine. Opt for gas over tricks. And don't worry about what any individual sphinx does. They give you a trigger. The text box is irrelevant except for tricking your opponents into giving you a better pile.

Maximizing Your FoF Triggers

Casting sphinxes is well and good, but we need to repeat them, cheaply, for maximum value. Blink/flicker effects are what we need here. Snap and Ghostly Flicker will not only blink a sphinx for an additional trigger, but they will also untap Nykthos for more mana. Peregrine Drake and Mind Over Matter will also untap Nykthos are provide more mana to fuel your storm turn. Identity Thief will blink a sphinx by attacking and will net you an extra FoF without spending a single mana. Changelings provide you with cheap triggers and are great blink targets.

Mill Protection

With all of these cards in your hand, milling yourself out seems like a concern. We have cards for that. Uba Mask and Omen Machine don't just mess with your opponents' draw power, they also provide you with protection for mill. You'll be getting most of your cards with sphinx triggers, so missing draws isn't an issue. Also, there are two wheels that shuffle your graveyard back into your library: Time Spiral and Commit / Memory. Try to hold these until they are needed. You could always run an Eldrazi Titan, but your opponents could use it against you in a Fof trigger by pairing a Titan with a needed card.

Winning The Game

You've cast every sphinx in your library. Now what? We have a few ways to close out the game. Peregrine Drake and Deadeye Navigator will give you infinite mana and you can Capsize everybody's board with buyback, cast Uba Mask, and wheel. There are two extra turn spells in Beacon of Tomorrows, used for it's recurrability, and Savor the Moment, which is used to give yourself a free combat step with your post-storm board of summoning sick sphinxes.

Flex Slots

The deck runs a few "cute" cards, in Back from the Brink, Call to the Kindred, and Voidwalk. These card potentially provide extra triggers, and thus value, but the effects are conditional and more clever than continuously functional. Likewise, Back to Basics is a good hate card, but feel free to slot in something else if you're not comfortable with Stax effects. Counter Magic is a good substitute. I run a little light on counters here so don't be shy about adding some.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.85
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Glyph Keeper 5/3 W, Vizier of Many Faces 0/0 W
Folders	Ideas, Deck Ideas, Commander, Potential EDH, ideas, EDH, Mazzi interessanti, EDH, Under 600, awesome