Sphinx Sovereign

Artifact Creature — Sphinx

Flying

At the end of your turn, you gain 3 life if Sphinx Sovereign is untapped. Otherwise, each opponent loses 3 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (19)

legendofa on Commander without the Legendary Rule

2 years ago

I'm going to go with, as always, Alara. TypicalTimmy already mentioned Godsire and Maelstrom Archangel, and I'm going to add Prince of Thralls, Hellkite Overlord, Blood Tyrant, and Magister Sphinx.

(For the curious, Empyrial Archangel and Sphinx Sovereign are the other two cards in the {4}MNNO cycle. Either of them would work as well, I just don't find them quite as interesting.)

LandoLRodriguez on The Lost Art(ifact) of Keeping a Secret

2 years ago

Changes, 02Nov2021:

Normally I like to go through the changes I make as one-for-one tradeouts, providing a rationale for why I'm taking this card out and putting this other one in. In this case, however - being that I haven't updated this deck in years - I'm changing out nearly a quarter of the deck, so making those one-for-one explanations doesn't make a ton of sense. This was the first commander deck that I ever attempted to build, and looking back at the original build, I think I spread myself a little thin on the the themes I wanted to run, so this overhaul is mostly about becoming more focused in what I want to accomplish, so instead of looking at individual switches, these are more-or-less the themes I'm either trying to drop vs. the ones I'm trying to reinforce.

Out:

Counter-magic/tempo: (Counterspell, Render Silent, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, Capsize). Targeted removal (Utter End, Vindicate, Ethersworn Adjudicator). The overall idea here is going to be that I don't want to stop you from playing your cards. I don't want to kill your nice stuff. I want you to get your cards into play. That way I can take them.

Pillow Fort: (Ghostly Prison, Propaganda). This is a theme that wants entire decks built around, not just a couple of its cards sprinkled into another archetype altogether.

Inferior mana rocks: (Manalith, Darksteel Ingot, Thran Dynamo). These aren't bad cards really, but I can do better

Big creatures that first-time-commander-deck-builder me wanted to include just cuz they're Esper: (Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Sphinx Sovereign). Again, not bad cards really, but they're expensive and not entirely on-theme.

Inferior lands: (Temple of Deceit, Temple of Enlightenment, Temple of Silence, Dromar's Cavern, Esper Panorama). The temples I felt were the weakest of the dual lands I'm running. Between the lands that are going in, the fact that all these changes are bring my average mana value down 0.2 points, and the amount of mana rocks I'll be running, not only am I improving some of these lands slots, but I'm also running 2 fewer lands.

Other: Diabolic Tutor to be replaced by a better tutor effect for this deck. Merciless Eviction because while I still like board wipes, I don't wanna exile everything. Leyline of Anticipation. This one pains me a little, I may try to find a spot to get this back in sometime in the future. Acquire because there's not a guarantee that there'll be a good target for this. I'd hate to spend the mana just to steal someone's Sol Ring.

ZendikariWol on None

5 years ago

If I had to offer a "most likely", then, it would absolutely be Sphinx Sovereign .

ZendikariWol on None

5 years ago

The sphinx pictured in Wargate is none of the above. In fact, it is likely the only sphinx to appear on Bant, and for good reason.

Exhibit A: the face-plate; which is solid, a trait shared by Sharding Sphinx , Enigma Sphinx , and Sphinx Sovereign .

Exhibit B: the horns which, unlike Enigma Sphinx 's or Sharding Sphinx 's, are both fairly pronounced and perfectly horizontal- facing each other.

Exhibit C: now that we know everything else is out of the question, we just need to prove it's not Sphinx Sovereign . And we can do that with... the feet? Yes. Not that the paws on Wargate seem to be much wider than those of the sovereign. Not only that but the individual plates and feathers on the legs of Wargate give it a much more... organic feel than that of Sphinx Sovereign . In fact- could that be why it was what came out of the portal onto Bant?

Gidgetimer on None

5 years ago

The head is shaped exactly like an Esper sphinx. See aforementioned Sphinx of the Steel Wind , Sharding Sphinx , Magister Sphinx , Enigma Sphinx , and Sphinx Sovereign . They all have some sort of metal plate as a mane and all but two have the "horns" pictured on Wargate . I disagree that it is Sphinx of the Steel Wind though, the floating balls around the head put me more in mind of Magister Sphinx or Sphinx Sovereign though there are minor details wrong for it to be either of them too. Valid arguments could be made for any of the three or none.

Calliber on Damage-based wincons for Sharuum

5 years ago

Marionette Master and Sphinx Sovereign

I agree with Sharding Sphinx as well, sure looks lack-luster but it performs so well because it quickly starts to snowball on it's own ability.

Pygmyrhino990 on Prepare for trouble, and make it triple

6 years ago

Okay I see what you mean with Sphinx Sovereign so I moved him to the side, taking out celestial dawn. In its place on the mainboard I added Coalition Relic, as it synergises well with Unwinding Clock as well as being a good 2 mana clock.

Butterpeat on Sharuum the Hegemon EDH

6 years ago

Cool deck, I like the non-combo build of Sharuum. I tried to do that, but eventually I just gave in and threw a couple combos in there. A few cards I found useful:Sequestered Stash is nice for getting artifacts in the yard and then back to the hand, and it only takes up a land spot. Inventors' Fair similarly can tutor up an artifact, super useful when you have all the mana you need but nowhere to put it.Priest of Yawgmoth can be good if you ever find your graveyard and/or mana pool empty. Mana Vault is solid ram early and gets out of hand with Unwinding clock, Voltaic Key, or Tezzeret the Seeker out.Time Sieve is generally used for combos but is just generally a cool card, so if you find yourself with lots of thopters or something can be nice.Maze of Ith is just nice to hose voltron decks or avoid getting blown out by a Hellkite Tyrant.Gate to the AEther lets you repeatably get all the great permanents in your deck once you get to 8 mana. A tutor and a cheater all in one. Inefficient, sure, but when you're getting Darksteel Forge and Sphinx Sovereign it doesn't feel so bad.

These are just some suggestions based on what I run, but your deck definitely seems to be doing different things so they may or may not actually fit with yours.