Sphinx of the Second Sun

Creature — Sphinx

Flying

At the beginning of your postcombat main phase, you get an additional beginning phase after this phase. (The beginning phase includes the untap, upkeep and draw steps.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

Icaruskid on The Friendmaker | Talrand, Sky Summoner [PRIMER]

1 week ago

DreadKhan here are the results:

1. I enjoyed Proteus Staff and Sphinx of the Second Sun in my testing. But I do have a mono blue extreme artifact matters deck already so strictly for the variety I'm staying on the Polymorph plan.
2. I really _really _like Shark Typhoon as an alternative to Talrand and also because it is hilariously on theme.
3. I tried the Cipher spells and I'm still undecided about them. Sometimes I want repeatable spells and sometimes they have no creature to encode and I just want card selection or card advantage.
4. You were right about Mass Diminish and Polymorphist's Jest. They are in!
5. Cultural Exchange helps round out the threat level in the deck nicely. Added!

Thank you so much for your insightful ideas!

DreadKhan on The Friendmaker | Talrand, Sky Summoner [PRIMER]

1 week ago

I did some fiddling around with my Talrand and Proteus Staff, I found that I preferred it to Polymorph because I could throw a Sphinx of the Second Sun in, and if Proteus Staff hits Sphinx first it's amazing because I get to untap and draw an extra card before I hit my end step, meaning I can likely Staff again to get Jin just in time (and still have mana up for interaction). I guess it boiled down to me trying to raise the ceiling on Jin, and that was the best I could come up with! The other nice thing about an artifact plan is Blue has tons of relevant tutors, and if you clear all of the creatures out of your deck and Proteus Staff away another Drake you get to put your library in whatever order you want... meaning Jin can then draw you the actual 7 cards you want most. It's very, very degenerate when it works, but I was aiming for a budget cEDH list rather than something suitable for casual play.

I'm not sure if you need blockers, but Metallurgic Summonings can generate a bunch of them for you, and Shark Typhoon can generate attackers (or flying blockers if you're desperate), they're handy if your playgroup likes to 'deal with' Talrand, these Enchantments tend to be very sticky, people neglect Enchantment removal in my experience.

If you're aiming for a more casual Talrand, I might have a few ideas for you that are budget to boot! Hands of Binding and Hidden Strings offer two very low to the ground repeatable spells that can generate Drakes if you can Cipher them onto something evasive and get in, Hidden Strings can untap your stuff fwiw, and Hands of Binding can lock down the most problematic thing if you want. Last Thoughts isn't as good IMHO, but repeated card draw tends to be very good if you don't need to input more resources. Stolen Identity can be a solid win con, if what you take has evasion you can keep getting in and getting copies, it can get pretty out of hand, even as a 6 MV spell.

If you like politics and/or combat tricks I might have a few that are worth looking into, Mass Diminish is a true budget gem, the effect lasts long enough to be truly crippling late game, and it has Flashback for no discernable reason, very good at making one opponent dead, and then another opponent dead because their board is tiny. Polymorphist's Jest is much more of a surprise since it's an instant, but the effect can turn an opportunistic attack into a bloodbath (in either direction).

In any deck that's not in the ideal colours for removal I often end up looking hard at Transmogrifying Wand, this can deal with 3 creatures if it sticks around, 2/4s are basically trash vs your 2/2s in the air. Even if all you do is force someone with a low MV Commander to keep recasting to raise the tax it's very little resources to do it.

It's not a nice thing to do to someone, but I've always thought of Talrand as a real man of culture, perhaps you'd want to send some Drakes on a Cultural Exchange?

Best of luck, hope some of these ideas are relevant

orcopollo on The Lonely God

3 weeks ago

seshiro_of_the_orochi thanks again for the suggestions! I had a card with a similar effect to Paradox Haze but I figured it's actually a bit counterproductive because I do not always want to get rid of time counters quickly (for instance in cards with vanishing or in token-producing creatures that are in exile). This is different for Sphinx of the Second Sun because you get to do it after your combat phase, which means that you get to manipulate my time counters as you want beforehand, so excellent recommendation! The reason why I originally did not include it is that at the time it was much more expensive, I see now that with the recent reprint the price has dropped so I might actually get my hand on a copy :)

seshiro_of_the_orochi on The Lonely God

3 weeks ago

Only two quick suggestions here: Paradox Haze and Sphinx of the Second Sun.

Zhagnol on Obeka Upkeep

1 month ago

Appreciate it, I like the Sphinx of the Second Sun idea, I might trade that for something. I have Bitterblossom in the maybe board, I might try swapping it in to see how it does. I think there's a good amount of self damaging upkeep triggers here so I don't know if Bitterblossom makes the cut. Braid of Fire seems nice if I have more instant speed spells/abilities I want to do on my turn, but I don't. Maybe if I put in Jhoira and the tenth doctor.

austintayshus on Obeka Upkeep

1 month ago

looks fun! You might want Sphinx of the Second Sun which can help give you some upkeep-redundency in games where you just can't get in for damage with Obeka for whatever reason. Although it's a hefty casting cost at 8 mana.

In the same vein as Star Whale is Deep-Sea Kraken, one of my fav Time Spiral cards. Although I'm not sure it's better than Star Whale. I just like seeing old cards getting powered-up and remade for new sets.

Bitterblossom could also be fun in this deck if you can get more connect with Obeka and get extra upkeeps.

Lastly, Braid of Fire could be good if you want to move to a more instant/sorcery heavy strategy.

you've got a great draft here!

Gidgetimer on Can I get unlimited beginning …

3 months ago

You can link cards by enclosing the name in double brackets.

Sphinx of the Second Sun

Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Sphinx of the Second Sun triggers at the beginning of the post-combat main phase. If you turn Vesuvan Shapeshifter face down during one of the extra upkeeps and then face up copying Sphinx of the Second Sun there will not be the beginning of your post-combat main phase until your next turn and neither the original nor the copy will trigger until then.

JoltsOfEnergy on How does Sphinx of the …

8 months ago

Hi, can anybody help me figure out exactly how Sphinx of the Second Sun works in general?

I find the wording on this card very confusing. First of all, does the second beginning phase this creature gives you come before or after your postcombat main phase? In other words, can you still cast cards at sorcery speed with the mana that you get from going through another untap step?

Secondly, I am really confused how this interacts with sagas. Sagas gain a lore counter "after your draw step". Since Sphinx of the Second Sun gives me another draw step, do my sagas also gain another lore counter?

I am really curious if this is a good addition to my saga deck, but I would need clear rulings on how this card works.

Thank you in advance.