Hey guys, I posted here a couple of days ago asking for advice on a commander to build. Thanks for the suggestions, I've settled on a commander! Rakdos is something I'd like to try further on down the track but I don't feel like forking out for another set of Eldrazi yet as the ones I own are in a modern deck. I stumbled across a deck type that seems unique and really fun - Sphinz tribal storm with Unesh, the Criosphinx Sovereign! It revolves around using good mana rocks to get him out early and then using each of the 20-30 sphinx's as basically 2-3 mana fact or fictions to cycle through your deck and get an Aetherflux and storm off from there, go for a dramatic scepter or paradox engine combo, or get dream halls and proceed to draw my entire deck. If comboing off fails, unlike other storm decks you're still left with a huge amount of flying goat lion men to swing with, probably backed up by countermagic. I've also got Empyrial Plate as a backup plan, as with the card draw in this deck it seems pretty doable to get into one-shot range with commander damage. I've drafted a list on tappedout after researching similar builds, and it seems to go off quite consistently when goldfishing (then again, most decks do) but I'd love to hear any recommendations from you guys. At this stage, I'm not sure whether I should add in more cantrips or a higher density of sphinxes. Also I was debating adding in some protection equipment for Unesh, but I think that might dilute the deck too much. Any feedback is most welcome!
I'm new here so I'm not really sure how to make decklists in the threads, hopefully the link works. If I figure out how or someone shows me I'll just post the list here directly.
Why Vedalken Orrery and not Leyline of Anticipation? I don't see you tutoring Orrery over something like Paradox Engine or Aetherflux reservoir, unless you need mana.
Managed to get a few games in with a proxied version of the deck. It actually worked really well, I went 3 for 3! I was able to go off on turn 4 in one game, turn 5 in another and in the third I had Unesh removed a couple of times since the group caught on to how good he is, but I was able to draw a Paradox Engine off my third cast with him. Nobody had answers for the Paradox Engine or Unesh, but my friend using my Meren deck was able to get Hulk/Mikaeus/Walking Ballista combo off since I tapped out for both Unesh and Paradox Engine, probably a mistake on my part. Thinking maybe Pact of Negation might be worth running alongside Force of Will?
In my experience, usually the Sphinx's colourless costs are pretty much free with Unesh and one or two other enablers, so I heavily favour mana rocks that produce coloured mana(e.g. Gilded Lotus over Thran Dynamo) unless they are mana positive or have some other substantial utility. You're probably right about Vedalken Orrery, Leyline is probably just strictly better unless I'm in a meta where enchantment destruction is more prevalent than artifact destruction, which is very rare. And I doubt I would ever go for Orrery over Aetherflux or Isochron Scepter. I also don't like using colourless producing lands unless there's a clear reason to, like Reliquary Tower.
One card I'm not too sure about is Savor the Moment. In theory, I play it as a backup plan in case I fail to find another win condition when storming out, so I can at least attack with all my Sphinxes before a wrath hits the board. In practice however, in both games I had it it was pretty much a dead draw. I think skipping untap hurts as well. Does anyone have suggestions for a better alternative enabler allowing my sphinxes to get at least take one guy out before they eat a Damnation? I'm racking my brains but short of extra turns, haste enablers are hard to come by in monoblue. Otherwise, any suggestions for alternate wincons would be great. My other one at this stage is Empyrial Plate, which I haven't had the chance to try yet but in all three games I regularly had a hand size over 10 before combat thanks to Unesh triggers.
Edit: After a couple more games, an unexpected issue I ran into was sometimes when storming off just fizzling out because I failed to hit sphinxes too many times in a row. This happened in both games I used Dream Halls as often to play a free sphinx I had to discard one as well. I have 21 sphinxes in the deck, 25 including 4 clones + 4 effects, and I could probably add in one or two more to improve the density. I could probably get away with cutting an Island or two, but then I might run into the problem of getting screwed early on, which is when I really don't want to be. Do you guys think 21 is a good number? I may just test over a few more games, and see if the fizzling was just bad luck.
I also don't like using colourless producing lands unless there's a clear reason to, like Reliquary Tower.
You can tutor Scavenger Grounds with Tolaria West. Especially with Meren in your Meta, this seems like an obvious reason to play a colorless source. Also, Tolaria West gets you Pact of Negation, so another plus.
One card I'm not too sure about is Savor the Moment. In theory, I play it as a backup plan in case I fail to find another win condition when storming out, so I can at least attack with all my Sphinxes before a wrath hits the board. In practice however, in both games I had it it was pretty much a dead draw. I think skipping untap hurts as well. Does anyone have suggestions for a better alternative enabler allowing my sphinxes to get at least take one guy out before they eat a Damnation? Smile I'm racking my brains but short of extra turns, haste enablers are hard to come by in monoblue. Otherwise, any suggestions for alternate wincons would be great.
I thought it was questionable, but needed testing. Since you've played with it, it seems like it maybe has not worked out for you. If you don't have Paradox Engine in play to untap your mana rocks, it could flop on you. I think maybe the better card is Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery and maybe Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Casting your Sphinxes with flash on your opponent's end step is probably the best way to get a big attack in.
That being said, you need these spells before you go off, so they don't help you if you draw into them and then fail to storm off. Temporal Trespass is the answer. Your graveyard will be full because of all the Fact or Fiction triggers.
Edit: After a couple more games, an unexpected issue I ran into was sometimes when storming off just fizzling out because I failed to hit sphinxes too many times in a row. This happened in both games I used Dream Halls as often to play a free sphinx I had to discard one as well. I have 21 sphinxes in the deck, 25 including 4 clones + 4 effects, and I could probably add in one or two more to improve the density. I could probably get away with cutting an Island or two, but then I might run into the problem of getting screwed early on, which is when I really don't want to be. Do you guys think 21 is a good number? I may just test over a few more games, and see if the fizzling was just bad luck.
Here is the thing. You dig 4 cards every time. Even if you have 25 Sphinxes (1/4 of your deck), you will not be able to dig through your whole deck. Even with 50 sphinxes, you will fizzle sometimes. Therefore, I think you need to play more sources of card advantage.
That is why I said Mind Stone over Sky Diamond. Maybe Commander's Sphere is then the right choice. Drawing a card when you are fizzling is great.
Maybe you should play Lonely Sandbar.
You should definitely play Treasure Cruise. Basically, Ancestral Recall when you are storming off. Also, Visions of Beyond. Time Spiral is also great in this since it draws you cards and nets you mana in a lot of situations.
I also think you need Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Being able to bounce or brainstorm is great with your Sphinxes.
Also, have you considered Crystal Shard? With Paradox Engine, I am sure you are guaranteed to go infinite. Otherwise, it basically is an easy way to replay a creature for an extra trigger.
I thought it was questionable, but needed testing. Since you've played with it, it seems like it maybe has not worked out for you. If you don't have Paradox Engine in play to untap your mana rocks, it could flop on you. I think maybe the better card is Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery and maybe Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Casting your Sphinxes with flash on your opponent's end step is probably the best way to get a big attack in.
That being said, you need these spells before you go off, so they don't help you if you draw into them and then fail to storm off.
Temporal Trespass is the answer. Your graveyard will be full because of all the Fact or Fiction triggers.
You're right, I think every time I've drawn Savor the Moment off a sphinx trigger I've just put it in the discard pile, I can't believe I didn't think of Temporal Trespass as a strict upgrade to Savor the Moment as it's already in my Yuriko deck, I'll replace it and see how it goes. I don't think I need to put any more extra turns cards in as they are unlikely to be cheaper than Trespass and thus I'll be less likely to have mana to cast them. I'm gonna swa it out and see how it goes. I don't think I need both Orrery and Leyline either, and Leyline seems just better, so I'll leave it as is for now unless it becomes clear that flashing in the sphinxes would be a huge advantage.
You can tutor Scavenger Grounds with Tolaria West. Especially with Meren in your Meta, this seems like an obvious reason to play a colorless source. Also, Tolaria West gets you Pact of Negation, so another plus.
You do make a good point, but actually I found a lot of the time my Commit/Memory is in my graveyard, so exiling all graveyards is potentially bad for me as well (doubly so if I have Trespass). Honestly I think most of the times, being in blue, I would have answers to a Meren deck as Golgari is terrible at stack interaction and it was poor game sense assessment on my part in that game to tap out with Meren having enough mana to cast Hulk and a sac outlet (the Meren deck was my own as well which makes it more embarrassing). That said, if graveyard decks with blue (e.g. Kess, Dralnu) become more prevalent I'd definitely think about swapping it out.
That is why I said Mind Stone over Sky Diamond. Maybe Commander's Sphere is then the right choice. Drawing a card when you are fizzling is great.
Maybe you should play Lonely Sandbar.
Here's the thing, when I'm storming off Sphinxes often just cost two or three mana, so I'm thinking if I was going to put in cycle lands like Lonely Sandbar or Remote Isle I would probably rather just slot in a cheap clone or a Sphinx. Like Phantasmal Image seems it would be strictly better. The reason I had Sky Diamond in originally is because it's a cheap rock that can be played off a turn one Sol Ring/Mana Crypt for a potential turn 2 Unesh with another mana positive rock. I'm not sure if the potentially advantage of a more explosive early game outweighs having a potential free card draw when fizzling, as given the 1:4 ratio of "Sphinxes" and other cards I don't think one extra card is likely to make a difference anyway. I guess more testing is needed, I'll play with adding Phantasmal Image in though.
You should definitely play Treasure Cruise. Basically, Ancestral Recall when you are storming off. Also, Visions of Beyond.
Time Spiral is also great in this since it draws you cards and nets you mana in a lot of situations.
Treasure Cruise is sweet yeah, and due to the reasons mentioned above probably one of the only sources of card draw I'd consider, along with Dig Through Time which I already have. I'm just not really sure what I'd cut for it honestly. Any suggestions? For Time Spiral, I already have Commit/Memory which works in the graveyard, and I think I would honestly end up tossing hand reset cards in a lot of situations. Another potential card I was thinking of is Windfall, which would definitely help with fizzling.
I also think you need Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Being able to bounce or brainstorm is great with your Sphinxes.
Also, have you considered Crystal Shard? With Paradox Engine, I am sure you are guaranteed to go infinite. Otherwise, it basically is an easy way to replay a creature for an extra trigger.
Thought about planeswalkers, mostly Jace and Tezzerret, but honestly for the 4 cmc I have to think about the opportunity cost here. Sure Brainstorm every turn is nice, as is tutoring for an artifact, but for the same mana that's like 2 sphinxes and a rock. I could maybe cut one of the clone effects and trial it out? Crystal Shard seems like neat tech as well, but again not sure what to cut, as my list is getting tighter and tighter (just replaced Delay for Pact of Negation, so we're getting into fine-tuning here).
TLDR: cards I want to add are Crystal Shard, Windfall, Treasure Cruise, Phantasmal Image, maybe one or two extra sphinxes, and potentially a planeswalker, but running low on flexible card slots. Suggestions for cards that could go? I'll probably play a couple more games today and see if anything isn't really pulling it's weight.
Edit: In my observation, Basalt Monolith is not as good as I thought it was going to be, especially as I'm not going an artifact-based storm route with Hurkyl's Recall etc. It only pays for itself and I will basically never untap it unless I have Paradox Engine out, and even then it only makes colourless mana. I think the slot would be better filled by Crystal Shard, which I'm going to try out. Another card I'm not sure about is High Tide, it can be explosive but is often a dead draw as I usually only have 4-5 islands when I'm going off anyway. Perhaps this is the cut for Phantasmal Image I've been looking for?
High Tide is a combo card, but you don't have any ways to make infinite mana with it. Makes sense to cut it.
Basalt Monolith makes sense to cut. I would be interested to see how often Crystal Shard goes infinite. Makes me wonder if you should play Mind over matter.
There is also Intruder Alarm and Tradewind Rider. You cut cut 4-5 sphinxes and play these combo cards that allow you to rebuy sphinxes instead of needing to luck into more sphinxes.
Mind over matter was originally in the deck but I’m not too fond of having combo pieces that aren’t that useful by themselves, especially in a deck with limited tutor ability. Same reason I’ll probably opt out of the Intruder Alarm stuff, that is an interesting combo though that maybe I can use in a future deck.
A couple more games at my LGS, Crystal shard and Paradox Engine let me fact or fiction my whole deck by bouncing and replaying a sphinx, which felt pretty great. In another game I drew it without having Paradox engine, and used it as a backup in case I ran out of sphinxes when going off. Ended up using Empyrial Plate to kill two players with Unesh, but got board wiped after by my mate playing Dralnu after losing a counter war and didnt manage to recover before he was able to Doomsday for the win. In both games, it was definitely higher impact than Basalt Monolith would have been, so I’m quite happy with the switch. One advantage of playing this deck is you get to see most of your deck every game if you don’t get hated out, which makes it great to playtest for consistency.
High Tide is quite underwhelming, the most use I’ve gotten out of it is as one turn ramp to let me get Unesh out with 4 islands, every other game I saw it I’m pretty sure I just discarded it. I think I’ll add in Phantasmal Image, he costs 2 and nets two Unesh triggers, which is just awesome.
Phantasmal image does seem pretty good. If you play a lot of multiplayer, Blade of Selves works similarly.
Almost think Helm of the host is worth the 9 mana investment.
These equipments are rather expensive, but they are powerful.
Come to think about it, does Clever Impersonator ever quote something other than Unesh? You could consider Sakashima the Impostor.
The issue I have with equipment in this deck (and most decks) it that it requires a lot of setup (play, equip, attack, go through) and thus many opportunities for interaction by opponents, so for me an equipment has to function as an actual win condition or generate substantial value (e.g. Skullclamp, the Swords) for me to consider. Not saying they aren't great suggestions, but there just isn't enough room in my list at this point and I'd have to be taking out another great cards to make room as I think I've tuned out most of the suspect cards by this point. That said, if anyone else has suggestions for cards in the list that don't seem great, please let me know and I'd happily share my experiences.
I've actually had Clever Impersonator clone a Windreader Sphinx before my attack step to draw like 10 cards or something, which set me up to close out a game, whereas cloning Unesh at that point would have netted me 5 cards max. Sakashima is a great clone, but my copy is already in another deck, and it's not a great deal better than any other clone in this particular deck, so I don't really feel the need to pick up another copy. Really loving the deck so far, it's hilarious when opponents deal with a lab man or aetherflux when I'm storming off, think they're safe, and then realise I can just one shot people with 10 sphinxes next turn, unlike other storm players who kind of sit there awkwardly for a few turns trying to build up their hand. I haven't had the chance to do so yet, but I'm imagine finishing up with a Temporal Trespass for 3 would be icing on the cake. Of course, control/combo players are the first to go I have more than half the deck unproxied now, it's actually really cheap to build, only expensive stuff is Dream Halls and the more broken mana rocks. Having your whole land base cost 20 bucks is also a welcome change from most other commander decks, I'd really recommend this deck to someone who needs to build on a budget as even with generic two-three drop mana rocks I think I'd still go off almost as quickly.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sphinxstorm/?cb=1540808718
I'm new here so I'm not really sure how to make decklists in the threads, hopefully the link works. If I figure out how or someone shows me I'll just post the list here directly.
Why Vedalken Orrery and not Leyline of Anticipation? I don't see you tutoring Orrery over something like Paradox Engine or Aetherflux reservoir, unless you need mana.
Scavenger Grounds also seems very good.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
In my experience, usually the Sphinx's colourless costs are pretty much free with Unesh and one or two other enablers, so I heavily favour mana rocks that produce coloured mana(e.g. Gilded Lotus over Thran Dynamo) unless they are mana positive or have some other substantial utility. You're probably right about Vedalken Orrery, Leyline is probably just strictly better unless I'm in a meta where enchantment destruction is more prevalent than artifact destruction, which is very rare. And I doubt I would ever go for Orrery over Aetherflux or Isochron Scepter. I also don't like using colourless producing lands unless there's a clear reason to, like Reliquary Tower.
One card I'm not too sure about is Savor the Moment. In theory, I play it as a backup plan in case I fail to find another win condition when storming out, so I can at least attack with all my Sphinxes before a wrath hits the board. In practice however, in both games I had it it was pretty much a dead draw. I think skipping untap hurts as well. Does anyone have suggestions for a better alternative enabler allowing my sphinxes to get at least take one guy out before they eat a Damnation? I'm racking my brains but short of extra turns, haste enablers are hard to come by in monoblue. Otherwise, any suggestions for alternate wincons would be great. My other one at this stage is Empyrial Plate, which I haven't had the chance to try yet but in all three games I regularly had a hand size over 10 before combat thanks to Unesh triggers.
Edit: After a couple more games, an unexpected issue I ran into was sometimes when storming off just fizzling out because I failed to hit sphinxes too many times in a row. This happened in both games I used Dream Halls as often to play a free sphinx I had to discard one as well. I have 21 sphinxes in the deck, 25 including 4 clones + 4 effects, and I could probably add in one or two more to improve the density. I could probably get away with cutting an Island or two, but then I might run into the problem of getting screwed early on, which is when I really don't want to be. Do you guys think 21 is a good number? I may just test over a few more games, and see if the fizzling was just bad luck.
You can tutor Scavenger Grounds with Tolaria West. Especially with Meren in your Meta, this seems like an obvious reason to play a colorless source. Also, Tolaria West gets you Pact of Negation, so another plus.
I thought it was questionable, but needed testing. Since you've played with it, it seems like it maybe has not worked out for you. If you don't have Paradox Engine in play to untap your mana rocks, it could flop on you. I think maybe the better card is Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery and maybe Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Casting your Sphinxes with flash on your opponent's end step is probably the best way to get a big attack in.
That being said, you need these spells before you go off, so they don't help you if you draw into them and then fail to storm off.
Temporal Trespass is the answer. Your graveyard will be full because of all the Fact or Fiction triggers.
Here is the thing. You dig 4 cards every time. Even if you have 25 Sphinxes (1/4 of your deck), you will not be able to dig through your whole deck. Even with 50 sphinxes, you will fizzle sometimes. Therefore, I think you need to play more sources of card advantage.
That is why I said Mind Stone over Sky Diamond. Maybe Commander's Sphere is then the right choice. Drawing a card when you are fizzling is great.
Maybe you should play Lonely Sandbar.
You should definitely play Treasure Cruise. Basically, Ancestral Recall when you are storming off. Also, Visions of Beyond.
Time Spiral is also great in this since it draws you cards and nets you mana in a lot of situations.
I also think you need Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Being able to bounce or brainstorm is great with your Sphinxes.
Also, have you considered Crystal Shard? With Paradox Engine, I am sure you are guaranteed to go infinite. Otherwise, it basically is an easy way to replay a creature for an extra trigger.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
You're right, I think every time I've drawn Savor the Moment off a sphinx trigger I've just put it in the discard pile, I can't believe I didn't think of Temporal Trespass as a strict upgrade to Savor the Moment as it's already in my Yuriko deck, I'll replace it and see how it goes. I don't think I need to put any more extra turns cards in as they are unlikely to be cheaper than Trespass and thus I'll be less likely to have mana to cast them. I'm gonna swa it out and see how it goes. I don't think I need both Orrery and Leyline either, and Leyline seems just better, so I'll leave it as is for now unless it becomes clear that flashing in the sphinxes would be a huge advantage.
You do make a good point, but actually I found a lot of the time my Commit/Memory is in my graveyard, so exiling all graveyards is potentially bad for me as well (doubly so if I have Trespass). Honestly I think most of the times, being in blue, I would have answers to a Meren deck as Golgari is terrible at stack interaction and it was poor game sense assessment on my part in that game to tap out with Meren having enough mana to cast Hulk and a sac outlet (the Meren deck was my own as well which makes it more embarrassing). That said, if graveyard decks with blue (e.g. Kess, Dralnu) become more prevalent I'd definitely think about swapping it out.
Here's the thing, when I'm storming off Sphinxes often just cost two or three mana, so I'm thinking if I was going to put in cycle lands like Lonely Sandbar or Remote Isle I would probably rather just slot in a cheap clone or a Sphinx. Like Phantasmal Image seems it would be strictly better. The reason I had Sky Diamond in originally is because it's a cheap rock that can be played off a turn one Sol Ring/Mana Crypt for a potential turn 2 Unesh with another mana positive rock. I'm not sure if the potentially advantage of a more explosive early game outweighs having a potential free card draw when fizzling, as given the 1:4 ratio of "Sphinxes" and other cards I don't think one extra card is likely to make a difference anyway. I guess more testing is needed, I'll play with adding Phantasmal Image in though.
Treasure Cruise is sweet yeah, and due to the reasons mentioned above probably one of the only sources of card draw I'd consider, along with Dig Through Time which I already have. I'm just not really sure what I'd cut for it honestly. Any suggestions? For Time Spiral, I already have Commit/Memory which works in the graveyard, and I think I would honestly end up tossing hand reset cards in a lot of situations. Another potential card I was thinking of is Windfall, which would definitely help with fizzling.
Thought about planeswalkers, mostly Jace and Tezzerret, but honestly for the 4 cmc I have to think about the opportunity cost here. Sure Brainstorm every turn is nice, as is tutoring for an artifact, but for the same mana that's like 2 sphinxes and a rock. I could maybe cut one of the clone effects and trial it out? Crystal Shard seems like neat tech as well, but again not sure what to cut, as my list is getting tighter and tighter (just replaced Delay for Pact of Negation, so we're getting into fine-tuning here).
TLDR: cards I want to add are Crystal Shard, Windfall, Treasure Cruise, Phantasmal Image, maybe one or two extra sphinxes, and potentially a planeswalker, but running low on flexible card slots. Suggestions for cards that could go? I'll probably play a couple more games today and see if anything isn't really pulling it's weight.
Edit: In my observation, Basalt Monolith is not as good as I thought it was going to be, especially as I'm not going an artifact-based storm route with Hurkyl's Recall etc. It only pays for itself and I will basically never untap it unless I have Paradox Engine out, and even then it only makes colourless mana. I think the slot would be better filled by Crystal Shard, which I'm going to try out. Another card I'm not sure about is High Tide, it can be explosive but is often a dead draw as I usually only have 4-5 islands when I'm going off anyway. Perhaps this is the cut for Phantasmal Image I've been looking for?
Basalt Monolith makes sense to cut. I would be interested to see how often Crystal Shard goes infinite. Makes me wonder if you should play Mind over matter.
There is also Intruder Alarm and Tradewind Rider. You cut cut 4-5 sphinxes and play these combo cards that allow you to rebuy sphinxes instead of needing to luck into more sphinxes.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
A couple more games at my LGS, Crystal shard and Paradox Engine let me fact or fiction my whole deck by bouncing and replaying a sphinx, which felt pretty great. In another game I drew it without having Paradox engine, and used it as a backup in case I ran out of sphinxes when going off. Ended up using Empyrial Plate to kill two players with Unesh, but got board wiped after by my mate playing Dralnu after losing a counter war and didnt manage to recover before he was able to Doomsday for the win. In both games, it was definitely higher impact than Basalt Monolith would have been, so I’m quite happy with the switch. One advantage of playing this deck is you get to see most of your deck every game if you don’t get hated out, which makes it great to playtest for consistency.
High Tide is quite underwhelming, the most use I’ve gotten out of it is as one turn ramp to let me get Unesh out with 4 islands, every other game I saw it I’m pretty sure I just discarded it. I think I’ll add in Phantasmal Image, he costs 2 and nets two Unesh triggers, which is just awesome.
Almost think Helm of the host is worth the 9 mana investment.
These equipments are rather expensive, but they are powerful.
Come to think about it, does Clever Impersonator ever quote something other than Unesh? You could consider Sakashima the Impostor.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
I've actually had Clever Impersonator clone a Windreader Sphinx before my attack step to draw like 10 cards or something, which set me up to close out a game, whereas cloning Unesh at that point would have netted me 5 cards max. Sakashima is a great clone, but my copy is already in another deck, and it's not a great deal better than any other clone in this particular deck, so I don't really feel the need to pick up another copy. Really loving the deck so far, it's hilarious when opponents deal with a lab man or aetherflux when I'm storming off, think they're safe, and then realise I can just one shot people with 10 sphinxes next turn, unlike other storm players who kind of sit there awkwardly for a few turns trying to build up their hand. I haven't had the chance to do so yet, but I'm imagine finishing up with a Temporal Trespass for 3 would be icing on the cake. Of course, control/combo players are the first to go I have more than half the deck unproxied now, it's actually really cheap to build, only expensive stuff is Dream Halls and the more broken mana rocks. Having your whole land base cost 20 bucks is also a welcome change from most other commander decks, I'd really recommend this deck to someone who needs to build on a budget as even with generic two-three drop mana rocks I think I'd still go off almost as quickly.
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