[PRIMER] Unesh, ex Machina!

Commander / EDH Artifact Mono-Blue Multiplayer Tribal

noshadowkick

Lands (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 19x Island
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Thespian's Stage

Removal/Disruption (11)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Foil
• 1x Forbid
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Swan Song

Untappers (4)

• 1x Clock of Omens
• 1x Mind Over Matter
• 1x Unwinding Clock
• 1x Voltaic Key

Utility (13)

• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Crystal Shard
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
• 1x Proteus Staff
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Vedalken Shackles

Sphinxes (12)

• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Chancellor of the Spires
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Curator of Mysteries
• 1x Guardian of Tazeem
• 1x Jwar Isle Avenger
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Shapesharer
• 1x Sphinx of Lost Truths
• 1x Sphinx of Magosi
• 1x Sphinx of Uthuun

Tutors (5)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Whir of Invention

Commander (1)

Ramp (12)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Scary Bombs (5)

• 1x Empyrial Plate
• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1x Memnarch
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Walking Ballista

Other (1)

• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

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Maybeboard

Other (6)

• 1x Alhammarret, High Arbiter
• 1x Cackling Counterpart
• 1x Jwar Isle Avenger
• 1x Master Transmuter
• 1x Prognostic Sphinx
• 1x Spine of Ish Sah

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Unesh ex Machina (mono blue artifacts)

Unesh, the sphinx king, the Criosphinx Sovereign. It is my humble opinion that Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign is a criminally underplayed commander. Why? Look at his text. He reduces the casting cost of every sphinx by 2 and grants a mini fact or fiction whenever he, or they, EtB. The combination of these two bonuses (which will henceforth be known as The Unesh Effect) is basically worth 5~6 of value and is ABSURDLY strong.

Extremely Precise Mathematical Proof of the 5~6 Mana ETB Value

The baseline cost of drawing two cards (our average takeaway from a mini FoF) is 2U, as established by the classic draw spell Divination. Fact or Fiction costs 3U and is one of the best draw spells ever printed. So how do we value a mini FoF that digs through 4 cards instead of 5? This effect has never been printed as a standalone spell so we have to feel it out. The mini FoF is better than just drawing 2 cards but clearly not as good as a true Fact or Fiction. So lets call it a 3.5 mana value for the sake of argument. Add 2 mana cost reduction and The Unesh Effect nets us 5.5 mana worth of value every time we play a sphinx. That is HUGE. Basically Unesh turns our sphinxes (or creatures that count as sphinxes) into THE MOST EFFICIENT CARD DRAW CREATURES EVER... PERIOD. Move over Mulldrifter.

I became interested in Unesh as a general as soon as he was spoiled and immediately grasped the power of The Unesh Effect, but I didn't think there were enough playable sphinxes to make "sphinx tribal" a viable strategy. I was half right, and I still think all-in sphinx tribal would be a crappy deck, but it turns out that there are more than enough sphinxes to turn Unesh into a monster of a general. The beauty of this deck is that, due to The Unesh Effect we don't have to devote many deck slots to pure card draw spells because we have 12 creatures that count as sphinxes. Almost very "card draw" spell we play is also threat and we don't often have to choose between developing our board presence and making sure we have enough cards in hand to stay relevant in the game. We get to do both simultaneously.

I'm a johnny midrange player at heart that enjoys interactive games that aren't one dimensional. I like decks that can attack from many different angles and modulate on the fly if a certain door to victory is closed. I also don't like to play combo decks. My playgroup tends be in the semi-competitive "75%" power level and this deck reflects that. It's strong but it's not going to combo off on turn 3-4. It has multiple paths to victory but all of them require some amount of set-up. Most of all, it's a blast to play.

Credit to this inspirational list from BosmaTheNL for helping me figure out how to build Unesh successfully.

General Strategy Show

In the first 3-4 turns you want to focus on getting Unesh on the field. The deck runs pretty much all of the legal fast mana rocks so sticking Unesh can happen as early as turn 2, but usually he is out by turn 4. Once he is on the field the fun really starts. The Unesh Effect enables your card advantage situation to get out of hand pretty quick. As every every commander player knows, card advantage is everything. Once you are set up with Unesh you want to build out your artifact machine, continue to RAMP, favorably interact with and control the board, keep refilling your hand, and prepare to deliver the fatal blow. Winning can be accomplished in multiple ways but usually is catalyzed by developing a massive resource advantage over your opponents...

Win Conditions Show

• Big Mana! With all the rocks, untap effects, and Paradox Engine you can make massive (but finite) amounts of mana in a single turn. It's hard to lose with 20 cards in hand and 150 mana. I also run two creatures that take advantage of big mana to great effect...
• -The direct route: Walking Ballista. Make a crap ton of mana and ping the table to death. Ballista also serves as an excellent mana sink when you have Unwinding Clock on the field and want to find a productive use for the 12 mana you generate every turn.
• -The indirect route: Memnarch. Steal everything all the time. Also a great mana sink.
• General Damage! But wait, Unesh is a measly 4/4, that's a 6 turn clock! Enter Empyrial Plate, a total all-star in this deck. With a full grip Unesh becomes an 11/11 flier and a 2 turn clock. But that's just the beginning. It's easy to draw 5-10 cards on your turn so swinging with a 21/21+ flying general is well withing the realm of possibility. With Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel it's not hard to amass a hand of 20+ cards and at that point Empyrial Plate turns Unesh into a one shot kill. Bonus points for using Phyrexian Metamorph and/or Clever Impersonator to copy the equipment for massive damage.
• Big Beats! Emrakul, the Promised End and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth can end games in a hurry, especially when cast on turn 5-7. Kozilek is also mill/self decking insurance.
• Sphinxes Galore! They're big, they fly, and enough of them can just beat people to dust if not dealt with. Sometimes big evasive beats is enough.
• The "Combo"!
Technically this is an infinite combo (the audacity) but it's basically the least offensive way to combo off and only kills one player... maybe. Sphinx of Magosi + Gilded Lotus + Mind Over Matter = Loot through my entire deck infinitely (due to Kozilek) and swing with an infinitely large beardy sphinx. I didn't put built this into the deck intentionally, it just kind of happened by accident. It's never actually gone off in a game but I look forward to the day.

Why Play This Deck? Show

• You like drawing cards.
• You like ramping like a boss.
• You like unique and synergy driven decks that people don't see every day.
• You like big beardy lion/man/ram/eagle creatures.
• You like strong decks but you don't like to combo off.
• You like interactive games that are swingy and have big moments.
• You like drawing cards.

Why Avoid This Deck? Show

• You are one of those magic players that has a moral objection to blue. I don't understand you but I wish you the best in your travels.
• You dislike artifact based decks.
• You want to be able to blow up all of your opponents threats all the time. This deck has removal but it does have a hard time dealing with artifacts and enchantments.
• You hate drawing cards and ramping.
• You want to play a dedicated combo deck.

Card Choice Discussion

Lands

Most of the lands are pretty self-explanatory, but a few are worth talking about individually.

• Artifact Centered Lands: Buried Ruin and Academy Ruins help us recur artifacts that get killed or ones pitched to the sphinx FoFs. Inventors' Fair is an expensive tutor but hey, it’s on a land!
• Lands that Like Crucible of Worlds: All four fetch lands that can get Islands, Myriad Landscape, Strip Mine, and Wasteland. The above mentioned Buried Ruin and Inventors' Fair also go in this category along with Command Beacon and Scavenger Grounds. With Crucible these lands are just a little extra spicy. A mono colored manabase lets me use more utility lands so why not make the most of them?
• Command Beacon: Unesh is spensive at 6 mana and this land helps me cast him if he dies a bunch. Also plays well with Crucible.
• The Best Land in the Deck: Seat of the Synod. This land is so good because it is a blue source that can be untapped repeatedly with cards like Clock of Omens and Unwinding Clock. It can be tutored by Trinket Mage and I’ve occasionally even pulled it out on an opponent’s EoT with Whir of Invention. I can tutor it with almost anything and it helps power up Metalworker. It’s been so good for me I’m actually thinking about running Darksteel Citadel.
• The Copycat Lands: Vesuva and Thespian's Stage typically end up copying The Best Land in the Deck but occasionally end up as another Temple of the False God or Strip Mine if the board calls for it. Copying an opponent’s Cabal Coffers when there is an card:Urbord, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the field is also hilarious tech.
• Reliquary Tower: Probably the actual best land in the deck. Staple for blue decks everywhere.

Removal/Disruption

• Sweepers: All Is Dust lets us kill most of the board while keeping our artifacts and Eldrazi which can be VERY one sided. Cyclonic Rift is a no-brainer staple and is probably ban worthy, but we love it anyway. Evacuation is a good tempo play at instant speed but can also be used to keep a Paradox Engine run going when trying to make a ridiculous amount of mana. Since most of our creatures EtB with great card draw a midgame Evacuation can prove backbreaking for opponents who just can’t keep up with our repeated card advantage
• Creature Removal: Duplicant is a repeatable and abusable exile effect that is best friends with Rite of Replication and Deadeye Navigator. It’s also a great combat trick when tutored with Whir of Invention at instant speed. Curse of the Swine is just nuts and I think it is very underplayed. We don’t care much about 2/2 boars when we have beefy Sphinxes on the field and being able to get rid of 3-10 troublesome creatures with one card is awesome.
• Counterspells: Cryptic Command and Mystic Confluence can swing an entire game when timed right and are ALWAYS worth the fat casting cost. Foil is a budget version of Force of Will (which I would play instead if I had one). Swan Song is such a good deal in commander I can’t not play it. Forbid can be bought back ad infinitum in the late game and is probably the single meanest card in my deck.

Ramp

• Rocks that Love Untappers: Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, and Basalt Monolith are the obvious choices because they are undercosted for the amount of mana they produce. Wizards did this because they thought having to pay to untap them would balance out how cheap they are. Well, we cheat and run a ton of untap effects so these rocks are just totally broken. Thran Dynamo, Sol Ring, and Mana Vault are also really spicey when they can be untapped several times a turn. Gilded Lotus is the single best rock in the deck as an untapple source of triple blue makes it really hard for opponents to play around our countermagic. Metalworker benefits from untappers as well and even though he has to survive a turn he’s still bonkers. 6-8 mana in the early game happens frequently and he can pump out well into the double digits late game when our hand gets huge.
• Utility Ramp: Solemn Simulacrum is a staple for a reason and this list runs a bunch of ways to abuse his ETB ability. Sapphire Medallion nets us a single mana every time we cast a blue spell so it can get us 3-4 mana a turn mid-late game as we are casting multiple spells. With Medallion and Unesh on the field we can cast a kicked Sphinx of Lost Truths for UUU and dig through 7 cards and likely keep 5 of them. Crazy. Thought Vessel is redundancy for Reliquary Tower and one of the most frequently tutored artifacts in the deck.

Utility

• Crucible of Worlds plays really well with a full third of our mana base and can also pull back key lands we pitch from discarded FoF piles. It also helps us keep cards in our hand to power up Empyrial Plate and Mind Over Matter.
• Crystal Shard is a flexible tool that we can use to replay sphinxes, get extra ramp from Solemn Simulacrum, abuse Duplicant, or just save our creatures from removal. It can also occasionally keep opponent’s creatures off the field, especially in conjunction with our plethora of untappers.
• Deadeye Navigator… probably the consensus most hated card in my deck, which is no surprise. Pairing with a sphinx can lead to obscene amounts of cards. Pairing with Duplicant can result in mass murder of opposing creatures. It’s all around pretty busted.
• Expedition Map helps find key lands such as Academy Ruins or Scavenger Grounds. An integral part of the Trinket Mage package.
• Mimic Vat lets us reuse the EtB effects of anyone’s dead critters and can end games if untapped enough with a beefy creature. I love stealing a Titan with this and then dumping 8 tokens onto the field after a board wipe.
• Padeem, Consul of Innovation helps protect our machine from targeted artifact removal and draws us cards as a bonus.
• Proteus Staff is awesome removal/EtB abuse. With untap effects we can semi-tutor for a creature in our deck and reap EtB effects all along the way. It’s also a great way to kill opposing commanders or hard to remove threats.
• Rite of Replication is blue’s answer to Tooth and Nail. It gets us 5 sphinxes or 5 of the best creature on the field. All around great card.
• Arcane Adaptation is a HOUSE in this deck and lets all of our creatures experience the joys of The Unesh Effect. I initially missed it when Ixalan came out but @Kelsier12 was kind enough to point this gem out to me. A Conspiracy for only 3 mana! What! The deck has 10 non sphinx/changeling creatures that can benefit from this enchantment, which may not sound like a lot, but even sticking one non-sphinx after resolving this with Unesh on the field nets us a mini-FoF for a single blue mana. Our Eldrazi also love being 2 mana cheaper.
• Trading Post is the swiss army knife of the deck. Recurring creatures and artifacts is clutch and it can also be used to make chump blockers/gain life in a pinch. This thing loves untap effects.
• Vedalken Orrery lets us play a tap-out style blue deck draw-go style. Enough said.
• Vedalken Shackles is just a great way to mess with the board and annoy your opponents. A no brainer for mono-blue decks IMHO.

Scary Bombs

• Empyrial Plate: For 4 mana you can turn any creature in your deck into a massive beatstick and turn on general damage kills out of nowhere. I’m so glad I found this card. The deck is built to draw TONS of cards and this equipment turns every card you draw into an additional point of power. Win-win. It also gets bonus points for being a unique win-con because it’s not played very often in this format.
• Emrakul, the Promised End: We want big beats in a deck that can make big mana. Emmy is extra spicy in this deck because we are pitching so many cards from FoF piles that we almost always get a 3-5 mana discount on her casting cost.
• **Kozilek, Butcher of Truth:** More beefy beats. Kozi also gives us mill/self decking insurance and can be used as a way to recycle key cards into our deck. Honestly, I think my deck could use the Vindicate effect from Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre more than drawing 4 cards but I don’t own that card right now. If I ever get my hands on one the swap will probably happen.
• **Memnarch:** It’s not uncommon to steal 1 permanent every turn (including our opponents turns!) with Unwinding Clock on the field. Set up a massive mana burst with card:Paradox Egine or Mind Over Matter and you can steal 10+ permanents in a single turn.
• **Walking Ballista:** Probably the least exciting way to win in this deck as it can _feel_ like an infinite combo even though we don’t generate infinite mana. If you mana burst into a Ballista with 80 counters and kill the table it’s generally the same outcome. Still, it’s a really flexible card in this deck. We can always cast the Ballista early and use it as mana sink when we don’t have great ways to abuse all our mana rocks and untap effects. It’s also a proud member of team Trinket Mage.

Sphinxes

• **Argent Sphinx:** With Unesh on the field we have a UU mini FoF strapped to a 4/4 flier. That’s an absurd cost/value ratio. Metalcraft also happens naturally in this deck so this creature can give us a mini FoF each turn for a single U mana.
• **Chancellor of the Spires:** Another beefy sphinx body that can get us great effects from opposing graveyards. Tutors, ramp spells, removal spells, whatever. We’ll happily take it all.
• **Consecrated Sphinx:** This creature is hands down the best sphinx in the deck. It was amazing even without the boost from Unesh but in this deck it’s straight up oppressive.
• **Curator of Mysteries:** This is probably the most boring sphinx in the deck and is only in because it’s cheap and sometime cycling it away in a pinch is the right move. The scrying is also occasionally nice. I like it more than that other non-Argent 2UU Sphinxes.
• **Guardian of Tazeem:** The tap down landfall trigger is often overlooked or underestimated by opponents. This sphinx gets a major boost from our fetch lands and Myriad Landscape too.
• **Sphinx of Lost Truths: One of our premier sphinxes. With Unesh on the field he can dig through 7 cards for 5 mana. Absurd.
• **Sphinx of Magosi:** Our bruiser sphinx. He can get to be really big really fast and the extra card draw is always welcome. He also is part of a hilarious theoretical combo that I’ve never actually pulled off with Mind Over Matter and Gilded Lotus.
• **Sphinx of Uthuun:** With Unesh on the field the card advantage this guy brings us borders on silly. Double FoF!? Yes please. We can dig through our whole deck in no time when this guy and Deadeye Navigator hang out.
• **Phyrexian Metamorph:** Potentially our best clone effect as it can be tutored by a bunch of cards and either come in as a sphinx or an extra Gilded Lotus or Empyrial Plate or something.
• **Clever Impersonator:** Super flexible sphinx that can also be a Mirari's Wake or a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in the right situations.
• **Shapesharer:** As a changeling, Shapesharer benefits from Unesh’s cost reduction, unlike our clone creatures. So he’s a 1 mana mini FoF that can transform into the scariest creature on the field at a moment’s notice.
• **Mothdust Changeling:** Our cutest sphinx and our second 1 mana mini FoF. Nothing flashy but she is super abusable with cards like Crystal Shard and generally helps our deck run more smoothly. It’s definitely the card in this deck that gets the most double takes.

Tutors

Coming Soon!

Untappers

Coming Soon!

Change Log

**2/6/18:**

• Vesuva and Wasteland out for two Islands. The deck needs more blue sources and Vesuva copied an Island more often than not. Wasteland is the least essential of my remaining utility lands and redundant with the much better Strip Mine.
• Trophy Mage out for Snapcaster Mage. I've decided the deck needs a way to recur instants and sorceries. I'm often forced to pitch good instants and sorceries in discarded FoF piles and before this change they were gone forever. Snapcaster Mage is may favorite way to do this and Trophy Mage was my least essential creature as very few of her tutor targets are key to the deck's gameplan.

**2/18/18:**

• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth out for Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. I feel like the deck could use a vindicate effect and a more durable threat over additional card draw.

Top Ranked	Achieved #11 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.81
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Goat 0/1 W
Folders	Commander/EDH, Inspiration, Tier, CMDR, Unesh, EDH, Commander Decks I Like, Primers