I can't help myself whenever I see the opportunity to make goofy tribal decks (I've had Spider, Shade, God, and Boar tribal decks at one point or another) so when Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign was spoiled in all his FoFy goodness, I immediately started brewing. It's fairly difficult to come up with a good win condition for mono-U without heading straight for infinite combo (and as you'll see, I couldn't completely avoid that) but my first run with this build tells me that beatdown with sphinxes is a possible way to win with this deck, and that's all I could hope for.
The main idea of this deck is to drop some early acceleration into a quick Unesh, potentially with protection for him (or her ... or it?) and then proceed to open the skygates to many more sphinxes that draw many more cards, including more sphinxes, leading to a chain of card advantage that culminates into a large board of flying monsters smacking everyone's faces. If that doesn't work for one reason or another, all that card draw has hopefully drawn us into Archaeomancer + Time Warp + Crystal Shard/Riptide Laboratory so we can take all the turns and find some way of getting past whatever's stopping our sphinxes.
I played a few games with a version of this deck already (using a picture of Unesh on my phone as my general) and won in convincing fashion, but it is certainly not perfect, so I offer it up to y'all for critique.
Conundrum Sphinx/Curator of Mysteries/Sphinx of Magosi/Windreader Sphinx/Sphinx of the Final Word: Sphinxes that have gone in and out of the deck at various points for one reason for another, whether it be space concerns, too many high cost sphinxes, having abilities that may not be relevant for the deck, or all of the above. I do not consider any sphinxes not listed here or in the list to be playable for this deck.
Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet/Identity Thief/Displace: All of these cards blink (or effectively blink) my sphinxes, but aren't good enough for one reason or another. Panharmonicon paints an unnecessary target on my head when I'm already quite happy with one FoF per sphinx, and unless I cast it in the turns leading up to me dropping Unesh, I do not want to be spending my mana on an artifact that can't attack, block, or protect my permanents. Conjurer's Closet and Identity Thief suffer the same problem, and their blink effects don't actually protect my general (unlike Essence Flux and Ghostly Flicker). All three I feel are win-more for this deck, but I'll be paying attention to see if that's what this deck actually needs to win. Displace is simply outmatched by Ghostly Flicker, but I may end up finding a place for it if I want more of that effect.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy/Snapcaster Mage/Mnemonic Wall: Recursion effects are really powerful when you're casting FoF every turn, and these are some of the best in blue (I especially like Jace's looting ability), but I worry I have too few good sorcery speed spells for Jace and am wary of the additional mana cost Snapcaster puts on the spell he casts. Mnemonic Wall is just too slow and can't carry equipment.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Kira seems like it should be great at protecting my sphinxes, but unfortunately it does more than that, namely, it stops me from using most equipment, some targeted effects (like Rite of Replication, Crystal Shard, Ghostly Flicker), and overall doesn't add much more to the deck than spot removal protection (and someofmysphinxes already have that). Once I realized that wraths were a bigger problem for the deck than spot removal, I cut Kira for a counterspell.
Rapid Hybridization/Reality Shift: Strong, cheap catchall spot removal in blue. I'm not sure how much this effect is needed for this deck yet.
Memory Lapse/Deprive/Commandeer: Counterspells I decided against including. Memory Lapse only delays a problem, and Deprive creates one for me by setting me back on mana. Commandeer is great occasionally and awful constantly, and considering I would most often want to tap out and hold this up to stop a wrath, and can't, I don't want to run this. If there's any cheap and efficient counterspells I haven't included (excluding Mana Drain and Force of Will which aren't in due to budget constraints), please suggest some.
Mystical Tutor: It should honestly be in the deck just to grab Time Warp, but I'm not sure what to cut and am fine with not jamming my deck full of tutors anyways.
Would Jwar Isle Avenger be better off as Metallic Mimic? It just seems so unimpressive, and for 2 you can have a Sphinx pumping your other Sphinx. Gives you a decent RoR target as well. Adaptive Automaton also seems like a solid choice. With Surge JWA is fine, but these are both better imo.
Overall I like the deck.
My main issue with these two cards is that they ultimately don't do enough on their own to justify a slot. Giving +1/+1 to all my sphinxes is often either winmore or inconsequential - the 3/3 flying body on Avenger is actually relevant at attacking and blocking on its own, and it carries equipment much better than the artifacts. Mimic has the additional problem of doing nothing if it's the last sphinx I've played, and my general will rarely get the counter as I will always want to play my general first and Mimic second. I'm not too worried about enabling surge, and costing a paltry 1 blue mana with surge and Unesh is pretty much the only reason I'm choosing to run it - 1 mana draw 2 attached to a larger-than-Mulldrifter body is excellent.
Playing the deck more, however, I am noticing that blue mana is a bit of a precious resource with the amount of colourless mana rocks and lands I'm running, so if I find I often end up with excess colourless mana and Jwar Isle Avenger stranded in hand, I might consider swapping in Metallic Mimic (I also like that if I can stick Tezzeret prior to Unesh I can tutor it out for a 0 mana FoF). Automaton is simply too expensive for the effect - there are 4 and even 5 mana sphinxes I'm not running (which cost the same or less than Automaton after Unesh reductions) that would have more of an impact than it.
I just wanted to express that Vanishing does not cause an ETB trigger if you were not aware. I do think that this deck is interesting though. What about Conjurer's Closet. Maybe consider dropping some stones and equipment for more ETB abuse creatures and clones.
The main idea of this deck is to drop some early acceleration into a quick Unesh, potentially with protection for him (or her ... or it?) and then proceed to open the skygates to many more sphinxes that draw many more cards, including more sphinxes, leading to a chain of card advantage that culminates into a large board of flying monsters smacking everyone's faces. If that doesn't work for one reason or another, all that card draw has hopefully drawn us into Archaeomancer + Time Warp + Crystal Shard/Riptide Laboratory so we can take all the turns and find some way of getting past whatever's stopping our sphinxes.
I played a few games with a version of this deck already (using a picture of Unesh on my phone as my general) and won in convincing fashion, but it is certainly not perfect, so I offer it up to y'all for critique.
1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
CREATURES
1 Shapesharer
1 Trinket Mage
1 Trophy Mage
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Archaeomancer
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Argent Sphinx
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Jwar Isle Avenger
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Glyph Keeper
1 Guardian of Tazeem
1 Master of Predicaments
1 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Duplicant
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Pongify
1 Essence Flux
1 Swan Song
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Forbid
1 Foil
1 Cryptic Command
SORCERIES
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Rite of Replication
1 Time Warp
1 All Is Dust
ARTIFACTS
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Expedition Map
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Thought Vessel
1 Grim Monolith
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Empyrial Plate
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Mimic Vat
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Crystal Shard
1 Coalition Relic
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Urza's Incubator
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Vanishing
PLANESWALKERS
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LANDS
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Command Beacon
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Academy Ruins
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Tolaria West
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Seat of the Synod
25 Island
1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
SPHINXES
1 Shapesharer
1 Argent Sphinx
1 Jwar Isle Avenger
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Glyph Keeper
1 Guardian of Tazeem
1 Master of Predicaments
1 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
SPHINX IMPOSTERS
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Rite of Replication
MANA
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Expedition Map
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Thought Vessel
1 Grim Monolith
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Coalition Relic
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Urza's Incubator
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Riptide Laboratory (... for wizards)
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Vanishing
1 Essence Flux
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Crystal Shard
COUNTERSPELLS (these also protect)
1 Swan Song
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Forbid
1 Foil
1 Cryptic Command
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
CARD SELECTION
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Trinket Mage
1 Trophy Mage
1 Archaeomancer
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
REMOVAL
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pongify
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Duplicant
1 All Is Dust
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Empyrial Plate
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Mimic Vat
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Time Warp
LANDS
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Command Beacon
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Seat of the Synod
25 Island
Conundrum Sphinx/Curator of Mysteries/Sphinx of Magosi/Windreader Sphinx/Sphinx of the Final Word: Sphinxes that have gone in and out of the deck at various points for one reason for another, whether it be space concerns, too many high cost sphinxes, having abilities that may not be relevant for the deck, or all of the above. I do not consider any sphinxes not listed here or in the list to be playable for this deck.
Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet/Identity Thief/Displace: All of these cards blink (or effectively blink) my sphinxes, but aren't good enough for one reason or another. Panharmonicon paints an unnecessary target on my head when I'm already quite happy with one FoF per sphinx, and unless I cast it in the turns leading up to me dropping Unesh, I do not want to be spending my mana on an artifact that can't attack, block, or protect my permanents. Conjurer's Closet and Identity Thief suffer the same problem, and their blink effects don't actually protect my general (unlike Essence Flux and Ghostly Flicker). All three I feel are win-more for this deck, but I'll be paying attention to see if that's what this deck actually needs to win. Displace is simply outmatched by Ghostly Flicker, but I may end up finding a place for it if I want more of that effect.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy/Snapcaster Mage/Mnemonic Wall: Recursion effects are really powerful when you're casting FoF every turn, and these are some of the best in blue (I especially like Jace's looting ability), but I worry I have too few good sorcery speed spells for Jace and am wary of the additional mana cost Snapcaster puts on the spell he casts. Mnemonic Wall is just too slow and can't carry equipment.
Phantasmal Image/Cackling Counterpart/Stunt Double/Clever Impersonator: Clones are always good, and I like all of these ones especially, but I ended up cutting them for space concerns and because I liked the clones I'm running more. I prefer Vizier of Many Faces for its synergy with FoFs, Sakashima the Impostor for his obvious ridiculous synergy with Unesh, Phyrexian Metamorph due to its interactions with Tezzeret the Seeker and Academy Ruins and its ability to be cast for cheap and without blue mana (which can be an important resource in this deck), and Rite of Replication for its ability to win the game. Phantasmal Image seems the most likely to make it back in.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Kira seems like it should be great at protecting my sphinxes, but unfortunately it does more than that, namely, it stops me from using most equipment, some targeted effects (like Rite of Replication, Crystal Shard, Ghostly Flicker), and overall doesn't add much more to the deck than spot removal protection (and some of my sphinxes already have that). Once I realized that wraths were a bigger problem for the deck than spot removal, I cut Kira for a counterspell.
Rapid Hybridization/Reality Shift: Strong, cheap catchall spot removal in blue. I'm not sure how much this effect is needed for this deck yet.
Memory Lapse/Deprive/Commandeer: Counterspells I decided against including. Memory Lapse only delays a problem, and Deprive creates one for me by setting me back on mana. Commandeer is great occasionally and awful constantly, and considering I would most often want to tap out and hold this up to stop a wrath, and can't, I don't want to run this. If there's any cheap and efficient counterspells I haven't included (excluding Mana Drain and Force of Will which aren't in due to budget constraints), please suggest some.
Mystical Tutor: It should honestly be in the deck just to grab Time Warp, but I'm not sure what to cut and am fine with not jamming my deck full of tutors anyways.
Spellbook/Library of Leng: The Reliquary Tower effect is fairly important to this deck, I'm just not sure putting these cards in my deck is worth it.
My main issue with these two cards is that they ultimately don't do enough on their own to justify a slot. Giving +1/+1 to all my sphinxes is often either winmore or inconsequential - the 3/3 flying body on Avenger is actually relevant at attacking and blocking on its own, and it carries equipment much better than the artifacts. Mimic has the additional problem of doing nothing if it's the last sphinx I've played, and my general will rarely get the counter as I will always want to play my general first and Mimic second. I'm not too worried about enabling surge, and costing a paltry 1 blue mana with surge and Unesh is pretty much the only reason I'm choosing to run it - 1 mana draw 2 attached to a larger-than-Mulldrifter body is excellent.
Playing the deck more, however, I am noticing that blue mana is a bit of a precious resource with the amount of colourless mana rocks and lands I'm running, so if I find I often end up with excess colourless mana and Jwar Isle Avenger stranded in hand, I might consider swapping in Metallic Mimic (I also like that if I can stick Tezzeret prior to Unesh I can tutor it out for a 0 mana FoF). Automaton is simply too expensive for the effect - there are 4 and even 5 mana sphinxes I'm not running (which cost the same or less than Automaton after Unesh reductions) that would have more of an impact than it.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Guardian of Tazeem: Just okay.
Jwar Isle Avenger: I feel this was added due to tribal
Chancellor of the Spires: Iffy, this could stay though.
Prognostic Sphinx: I feel this was added due to tribal
Fellwar Stone: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Coldsteel Heart: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Lightning Greaves: I am always unsure about adding this into decks
Swiftfoot Boots: I am always unsure about adding this into decks
Empyrial Plate: I feel like out valuing them would get you further instead of swinging with your commander
Sword of Feast and Famine: Ehhhhh.
Coalition Relic: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Gilded Lotus: Doesn't ramp you to your commander
Thran Dynamo: Doesn't ramp you to your commander
Add stuff like Temporal Mastery, Treasure Cruise, and Stunt Double
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW