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The Wheels on the Sphinx

Commander / EDH Card Draw Matters Scry UR (Izzet) Wheels Wizards

Spyglass

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Creature (26)

Sorcery (7)

Land (33)

Artifact (12)

Planeswalker (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: Arjun, the Shifting Flame

Instant (15)

Enchantment (4)

Sideboard

Creature (1)

Maybeboard

Creature (9)

Artifact (6)

Enchantment (2)

Instant (4)

Sorcery (3)

A casual deck based around Arjun, the Shifting Flame and stacking several "card draw matters" effects. +1/+1's from effects like Toothy, Imaginary Friend and Wizard Class, pings from Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Psychosis Crawler, and cards that reward high draw count like Alandra, Sky Dreamer and Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim.

Foretell effects let us hide away interaction and important cards from our commander's relentless wheeling (and any hand-based interaction from our opponents), and scry effects help us control what we're getting in our endless stream of new hands just a little bit better. We have counter-spells, and a decent defensive board state thanks to things like The Locust God and Minn, Wily Illusionist. Win conditions are mostly hitting people in the face with big fliers that we've given +1/+1's to, but Niv-mizzet and adjacent effects can quickly get out of hand if he can be protected. If all else fails, the deck can Jace, Wielder of Mysteries + Leveler itself if our opponents are spending their mana board controlling our creatures. It's absolutely hilarious when it wins.

So ... why this (admittedly on-brand) Izzet nonsense?

My life's dream is to beat people down with Ormos, Archive Keeper, but using them as a commander is inconsistent. A single creature threat isn't that difficult to remove, and at 6 mana, she's not fast enough to catch people off guard (and definitely not more than once). By nature of her combo, she also tends to leave herself with significantly fewer options than a "normal" deck, so once people have managed to get her dealt with, the deck runs out of steam. Ormos really wants support from either Red or Black, and you can't get it with her in the command zone. So while, she's got a place of honor in the 99 (and still gets to occasionally run people over as a 40/40 flier), it's better to choose someone else to lead the charge.

But if Ormos doesn't work, why another 6 mana Sphinx? Is Arjun, the Shifting Flame really that much more reliable? Admittedly ... no.

But he's inconsistent much faster.

Arjun lets us see as much of our deck as possible. Red gives us access to better wheels, and Arjun himself spins you through to a new hand (or three) every time you do basically anything. This deck really does let you touch as may cards as humanly possible. Even better, Arjun is Izzet colors, and Blue/Red has some of the best payout for card draw. Both Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Niv-Mizzet, Parun are super-flexible burn cards that can ruin someone's day if they're allowed to stick around for multiple turns, and The Locust God dodges removal, and floods the board with tokens enough tokens that you might mistake it for a Selesnya card. It also gives us access to Edgin, Larcenous Lutenist who lets us give any of our cards Foretell (which are still playable even if he gets removed), allowing us to build a foretell "hand" for a combo turn while we spin through our deck to find more pieces. It also lets us more easily manipulate our mana, leaving room for us to set some value towards future plays while still leaving up room for counter-spells and interaction.

Izzet colors gives the deck more mid-range. It has a number of potentially game-ending threats that can go on the board, while keeping some big, flashy synergies that feel great when you get to set them off. Best of all, if something gets removed, you can pretty reliably churn through your deck to find something else worthy of putting on the board. You can still do the blue combo-out in a pinch if you get lucky, too.

Is it really gambling to try to cantrip your way to a few big threats if you can reliably see your entire deck two to three times in a game? Well ... yes.

But in my experience, it's also really fun.

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93% Casual

Competitive