Hey all, this is my first time back to Salvation forums in about 8 or 9 years, but I was invited to come back, and so here I am.
Anyway, today I wanted to share one of my favourite EDH decks with y'all since I've never seen anything quite like it out there. Enjoy!
UNESH, CRIOSPHINX SOVEREIGN
Unesh is the key to the whole deck. Without Unesh, this deck doesn’t exist and a Sphinx-tribal deck would be a low-tier casual choice, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Unlike some decks where the commander is there to provide colours or a general theme, this deck needs to cast Unesh and keep him on the battlefield in order to really get the party started. Unesh’s cost reduction and ETB Fact or Fiction trigger for Sphinxes is the engine that lets this deck turn into a glorious stormy snowball.
SPHINXES
If we’re going to take advantage of Unesh’s abilities, we’re going to need some Sphinxes to cast. Sphinxes are, on the whole, an excellent set of creatures. All of the blue ones fly, many of them have cool abilities that make the game interesting, and quite a few of them have built-in resiliency against removal. The one downside to Sphinxes is that they tend to be expensive, with a glut of them at 6 and 7 mana. There also just aren’t that many, with only a few mono-blue Sphinxes not present in this deck. A special shoutout to Jwar Isle Avenger, which only costs U to surge out when you control Unesh.
SPHINXES?
Since we’re a bit short on decent Sphinxes, we need to find some reserves. The great thing about Unesh’s trigger is that it triggers when a Sphinx enters the battlefield, so that allows us to take advantage of one of blue’s strengths and use clones and cloning effects to get even more cheap Sphinxes. (And yes, sometimes there might be a non-sphinx we want to copy. Ick.)
STORM
The whole point of the deck (aside from casting cool sphinxes, anyway) is to storm off with one of these spells. Mind’s Desire usually hits another storm spell along the way, Brain Freeze can mill out an opponent or two, and Temporal Fissure can just bounce all the permanents that aren’t yours. Aetherflux Reservoir doesn't technically have storm, but let's be honest, we all know what it's up to...
Typically, you’ll be casting these spells with storm counts from about 10 to 30+ or more. Of these, only Resevoir is an instant win, but they’re all a lot of fun to go off with.
RAMP / BIG MANA
When a deck’s strategy depends on having a 6-CMC commander in play, you had better believe that the deck is going to be running its fair share of lands and mana rocks. With a decent draw, Unesh can hit the table on turn 3 reliably, and even on turn 2 with some really crazy draws. In general, though, you want to have Unesh in play by turn 4 to really have any advantage. The ramp cards then serve as extra mana and cheap spells to help the deck churn out more Sphinxes and a higher storm count.
Once you have Unesh in play and are getting cards from playing Sphinxes, you want to set yourself up for the late game, and that means you want to really ramp up your mana production with big mana effects. This lets you cast multiple spells each turn and dig closer to your key combo pieces.
COST-REDUCTION
Cost-reducing effects go hand in hand with the ramp to help get Unesh and his cohorts into play as soon as possible. You don’t want or need too much of this sort of effect, though, since it goes to waste beyond a certain point. Ideally, I would like to see one of these cards in hand with one or two pieces of ramp to really set me up well for my first few turns.
MAXIMUM HAND SIZE
When you start to go off with this deck, you get a lot of cards from Unesh’s trigger. A LOT. This makes it imperative to not have to discard any of those cards if possible, so we run enough unlimited hand size effects to ensure that we get one sooner rather than later.
RECYCLING
Unesh’s triggered ability puts just as many cards into your graveyard as it does into your hand. Eventually, your library is going to get a little thin and your graveyard a bit full just from resolving those Fact or Fiction triggers. So we run these cards to allow us to reuse our resources and keep our library full. Why these specific effects? Because they either shuffle themselves back into the deck with the rest of the graveyard (Quest/Elixir), or they can win us the game in the case of Psychic Spiral.
CONTROL
Sometimes our opponents don't want us to have a fun sphinx party and try to stop our fun, so we need to run some acknowledgement of this fact and a few efficient ways to stop their spells or remove problem creatures.
SHENANIGANS
The last set of cards in the deck (other than lands) are the ones that really supplement the engine and let it get quite out of hand. Let’s go card-by-card:
Cloudstone Curio: Allows you to recur your sphinxes while you're going off if you're getting unlucky with your triggers or just to save mana by using cheaper sphinxes instead of more expensive ones.
Crystal Shard: A good safety valve to protect or just allow replaying of Sphinxes or clones.
Mana Severance: When played after a reshuffle effect, this card puts the deck into turbo mode, making sure that there’s nothing but gas left in it.
Mind Over Matter: The perfect compliment to Unesh’s trigger. Usually best used to untap lands like Nykthos for near unstoppability, it can also be used to tap down opponents’ resources to protect your combo.
Omniscience: Easy mode. Once Omniscience hits the battlefield, it’s almost impossible to lose unless an opponent hits it with Krosan Grip.
Panharmonicon: I hear that doubled Unesh triggers are good…
Walk the Aeons: If you're not winning with Aetherflux Reservoir, then you need to be able to attack with your sphinx army for the win. Having an extra turn effect that can be recurred once or twice to help close things out is exactly what's needed without getting too over the top.
So that's a brief look at the deck and where it's at. It's a lot of fun and I've put a fair bit of work into making the deck powerful but also still beatable. I look forward to your comments and questions about it.
There are only a few things that I would change personally. I don't like the Anvil of Bogardan. You don't need the extra filter and because it's symmetrical for opponents, they get to filter faster and make use of graveyard strategies if they have them. You don't have any graveyard strategies.
Using it for the maximum hand size just doesn't seem worth it.
Also I think that the counterspells Disappearing Act and Familiar's Ruse are a bit too cute to really be worth it. I mean the deck doesn't need gas. Sphinx are expensive, and you will always have another to play into as you're going from top four cards, into the next top four cards, each time you cast a new one. So the reality is that at times when you're behind and need to Counterspell something when you've been shut off a creature base, seems like a better plan, rather than planning when you're ahead.
I know you are going to say that "you've had games where you've gotten amazing value off returning a Sphinx to recast it", but I just think that it's better to be safe. I can't really see not always have a Sphinx to play anyway, mana is the bottleneck of the deck, not action cards.
I would play a few extra mana cards to help the initial setups. Search for Azcanta will be land ramp with so much discard in the deck, you'll get the threshold every time. Wayfarer's Bauble nice little land ramp for blue.
I don't like the Anvil of Bogardan. You don't need the extra filter and because it's symmetrical for opponents, they get to filter faster and make use of graveyard strategies if they have them. You don't have any graveyard strategies. Using it for the maximum hand size just doesn't seem worth it.
That's fair, but the deck definitely wants a critical mass of no max hand size effects, and I'd rather play Anvil for the upside over something like Spellbook or Library of Leng which has no direct upside beyond the max hand size effect.
This is fair. Seeing as these cards originally found their way into the deck before its storm potential became evident, they've definitely been under consideration for replacement during updates.
I would play a few extra mana cards to help the initial setups. Search for Azcanta will be land ramp with so much discard in the deck, you'll get the threshold every time. Wayfarer's Bauble nice little land ramp for blue.
The problem is what do I replace with these cards? The list is very tight and I don't really feel the need for these effects. I'd much rather add more mana rocks before cards like these. Also, Azcanta can't get me sphinxes and I'm not interested in a 1U island.
I think I'd replace the graveyard Recycling as 99% of games if you're getting so far through your deck, you're winning the game, and Sphinx do actually present a fast clock once you're away, plus you have the storm plan. Honestly they are just dead cards most of your games, except Psychic Spiral as a win condition. Remove Elixir of Immortality, Quest for Ancient Secrets...
All due respect, but you're just wrong here. When the deck is going off, it is very very easy to totally deck out before you're ready for a finisher. The reshuffle effects are a key part of the deck that you can't do without.
I would play a few extra mana cards to help the initial setups. Search for Azcanta will be land ramp with so much discard in the deck, you'll get the threshold every time. Wayfarer's Bauble nice little land ramp for blue.
The problem is what do I replace with these cards? The list is very tight and I don't really feel the need for these effects. I'd much rather add more mana rocks before cards like these. Also, Azcanta can't get me sphinxes and I'm not interested in a 1U island.
This is where I'd just play these over Elixir of Immortality and Quest for Ancient Secrets, or as you say mana rocks like, Coldsteel Heart or Mind Stone..
It's just a small adjustment, but it takes cards that are in the methodology of "more winning", to where you are either behind or wanting to setup.
Welcome back to the Forums! And thanks for accepting my invite!
I too really love the idea of this. I mean, it just rolls off the tongue. "I'm scaling up my Sphinx Storm count" is like butter to the ears. For mono-U players, I guess.
Have you noticed if there's a certain density of Sphinxes (Sphinxi? Sphinges? not sure on the plural form of Sphinx...) required in order to effectively Storm off? I can see that you have approximately 25% of your deck dedicated to Sphinxes and/or Clone effects to maximize the effectiveness of Unesh.
Lastly, do you think that you have redundant win conditions in Brain Freeze or Temporal Fissure? It seems like once the deck gets going that you can chew through your deck several times and you might really only need 1, maybe 2 win conditions at most. Psychic Spiral and Death-Laser seem sufficient to me, but I respect your experience here.
Have you noticed if there's a certain density of Sphinxes (Sphinxi? Sphinges? not sure on the plural form of Sphinx...) required in order to effectively Storm off? I can see that you have approximately 25% of your deck dedicated to Sphinxes and/or Clone effects to maximize the effectiveness of Unesh.
Around 25% seems like the right amount to me since we want to average one sphinx per Unesh trigger most of the time and 25% does that. I haven't crunched any numbers, but the way the deck plays, it usually feels like I have the right amount in hand at any given time.
Do you think that you have redundant win conditions in Brain Freeze or Temporal Fissure? It seems like once the deck gets going that you can chew through your deck several times and you might really only need 1, maybe 2 win conditions at most.
Yes I only need one or two win conditions in a game (other than sphinx bodies) but the problem with limiting myself to that is that I need other cards to set up, so often one or more win condition will end up in the graveyard on the way to the being ready to win, so I need that redundancy to make the deck play more smoothly and not take forever to win.
Up until a few weeks ago, the deck didn't run Reservoir or Walk and took a lot longer to win games. A winning turn with this deck can take quite a while to play out, and I'd rather not make the rest of the table wait an extra 5-10 minutes for me to cycle through my deck AGAIN in order to win the game. I want games of EDH to be fun and I'd rather not have people in my local playgroup hate me or this deck because of how long it can take to win.
Weird, I think I might actually have some useful feedback (although since it's kind of an obvious inclusion I wonder if there's a reason I'm not thinking of that you haven't included it?)
One of the eldrazi titans (the old ones, ulamog the infinite gyre or kozilek, butcher of truth) seem like a superior way to recycle your grave, since you can easily either mill it off a sphinx etb, or discard it to max hand size, which saves you the mana of casting something and is also more durable since it can't get stranded in your grave. Plus you've got prognostic sphinx even if it ends up in your hand AND you have reliquary tower out.
Weird, I think I might actually have some useful feedback (although since it's kind of an obvious inclusion I wonder if there's a reason I'm not thinking of that you haven't included it?)
One of the eldrazi titans (the old ones, ulamog the infinite gyre or kozilek, butcher of truth) seem like a superior way to recycle your grave, since you can easily either mill it off a sphinx etb, or discard it to max hand size, which saves you the mana of casting something and is also more durable since it can't get stranded in your grave. Plus you've got prognostic sphinx even if it ends up in your hand AND you have reliquary tower out.
I hadn't considered the Eldrazi beyond the fact that they're not sphinxes. However, thinking over it now, I don't like the idea much because there's a lot less control on when I reshuffle if I'm using an Eldrazi. When I'm going off, I'm digging in my deck for key pieces and I don't want to reshuffle until I either have the pieces I need or am in danger of being milled out. I'll think on this some more, though.
Okay. It looks like I'm finally ready to post. Sorry it took me so long to get around to this. I've been uncharacteristically busy as of late, and I'm not the kind of person to say I'll do something and then do a poor job of it. My apologies if you felt like I blew you off.
First and foremost, you have a really cool premise. When Unesh was first spoiled, I didn't think much of him. I saw him as Wizards throwing a bone to players demanding commanders for obscure tribal types. What you've managed to do with Unesh is rather novel though. I would have never considered pairing Unesh with storm cards, but you make the two seem like a natural fit. I hope the deck plays out as well as it sounds.
Sphinxes:
Why have you chosen the specific sphinxes you have? A surface reading of your selection leads me to believe that many of your sphinxes were chosen solely for their cost. This makes sense. With Unesh reducing each sphinx by 2, even four mana sphinxes with less than relevant abilities like Curator of Mysteries seem worth playing. Some of your more expensive choices seem dubious to me though. Have you considered Chancellor of the Spires? He's certainly expensive at 4UUU, but he's also one of the most powerful sphinxes out there, especially given that you have ways to clone/recast him. On a similar note, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Arbiter of the Ideal, and perhaps even Windreader Sphinx all seem more relevant than cards like Serra Sphinx and Horizon Scholar.
Lands:
How often do you find yourself activating Rogue's Passage? All of your sphinxes already fly, and there isn't any one particular sphinx that is especially important for you to connect with. It seems to me like this might be better as some other card, perhaps just basic Island.
Temple of the False God seems really bad to me here. With cost reducers like Unesh, I imagine color is extremely important to you, and if what you're saying is true, that you can play Unesh as early as turn 3 with a decent draw, that's probably off the back of a lot of colorless mana already, and getting stuck with a Temple seems especially painful. The risk-reward ratio is one I often call into question with this card, but Temple of the False God seems especially fraught with danger here.
Your whole deck is centered around Unesh. Have you considered Cavern of Souls? It would help Unesh stick to the table, and it would ensure your future sphinxes the same privilege.
Hand Size:
I've always found choosing the right combination of "no maximum hand size" cards difficult. Reliquary Tower is an obvious shoe-in, and Thought Vessel, while unexciting, fills two important roles at once. When it comes to that third card though, that's historically where I've struggled a lot. I've played with Venser's Journal a great deal in the past, and I've always had mixed feelings about it. Having a way to gain lots of life, especially in a color without ordinary access to life gain, seems valuable, but what makes cards like Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel alluring is that they're cheap. At five mana, Venser's Journal is just damn expensive, and if you find yourself drawing a lot of cards before you find a no max hand size effect, you're almost certainly going to be unable to cast it in the same turn. Worse yet, whenever you do decide to cast it, it's going to take up the entirety of your turn, and it doesn't really do anything immediately once you cast it.
If I were you, unless you find yourself really needing the life, I'd give Library of Leng another look. It's inexpensive at 1, and the rider text gives you protection from other players' wheel effects by allowing you to discard anything you want to keep back on top of your deck. There's some merit to a card like Spellbook because it doesn't cost mana at all, but I've frequently found the extra mana well spent.
Copy Effects:
Supplementing your sphinxes with clones is smart. As a whole, clones tend to be cheaper even with Unesh in play, and once you have a decent sphinx already, you'd probably rather copy it than play some of your other sphinxes. There are a few clones I thought I might bring to attention. First, there's the recently printed Quasiduplicate. It seems like an all-star for this deck. It's inexpensive at 1UU, you don't care if you can't copy your opponents' creatures, and jump-start allows you to cast it from your graveyard in the event you discard it to Unesh. Every time I've seen Quasiduplicate cast, I've been astounded by it. I would highly recommend it.
Another card I want to mention is Fated Infatuation. I haven't had much exposure to it, so I'm a bit unsure of it myself, but on paper it seems like it might be worth investigating. The UUU cost is demanding, but I think being an instant is really valuable for you as it allows you to hold up countermagic without also denying you the chance to play a sphinx. And if you have to, you can even copy Unesh in response to removal to keep him on the table. And even if you find yourself casting Fated Infatuation on your turn often, you'll at least get mileage out of the scry.
Control:
You mentioned it's critical that Unesh sticks, but aside from a smattering of counterspells (and perhaps Crystal Shard), you don't have many ways to protect him. Do you find yourself not having to worry about this too often? As much as I don't care for the card, I must admit that this deck seems like a perfect candidate for Lightning Greaves.
I'm surprised I don't see Force of Will here. Your deck is full of expensive blue cards that want to be played at sorcery speed but playing them makes it difficult to hold up countermagic to protect your all important Unesh. The card disadvantage shouldn't be an issue here. If there is ever a deck that wants Force of Will, it's this one.
Ramp:
If you want to play Unesh by turn four, why not play Worn Powerstone? Spending 3 to make 2 is a fine rate, and Powerstone is one of the best such 3-drops due to its resiliency. The less impressive Apprentice Wizard can also get you from 3 to 6, but I imagine something like Thran Dynamo would probably be better even if it can't cast Unesh as fast. Hell, with color being as important as I imagine, good old Gilded Lotus might be worth investigating, especially considering you're already playing Mind Over Matter (though that could also be a reason you're not playing Lotus). Generally speaking, I've found ramp spells that produce more than 1 to be much more effective than ramp spells that are inexpensive and only produce 1. But I understand your constraints. You are playing mono-blue after all, so options are limited.
Recycling:
I didn't know that Elixir and Quest were the only two cards that self-recycled (at least in blue anyway). Neat! At first I was going to ask if you thought the density of this type of effect was warranted, but considering that you can easily lose some to Unesh, I can definitely see why you'd want three. One of the perks the Eldrazi might offer is that they'd open up a few slots to play other cards since you probably wouldn't need to include as many of this type of effect, but Elixir, Quest, and Psychic Spiral all have a lot of character, so they look like fine inclusions to me.
Flicker:
This goes hand in hand with cloning your sphinxes, but have you considered any flicker effects a la Ghostly Flicker or Deadeye Navigator? I suspect there may be one that's worthwhile. I suppose Polymorph effects fit that bill too, though I'd be surprised if any of those were good enough here.
Storm:
I'm noticing a lack of typical storm cards like Turnabout and Time Spiral. Those and Frantic Search all pair really well with your mana doublers, card discounters, and High Tide. Any particular reason for their exclusion?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
First and foremost, you have a really cool premise. When Unesh was first spoiled, I didn't think much of him. I saw him as Wizards throwing a bone to players demanding commanders for obscure tribal types. What you've managed to do with Unesh is rather novel though. I would have never considered pairing Unesh with storm cards, but you make the two seem like a natural fit. I hope the deck plays out as well as it sounds.
When I first built the deck, it was just a Sphinx tribal deck, but then it just... went off... in one game and well, who am I to tell a deck what it's supposed to be if it wants to be something else? The deck began to evolve from that point with more and more nods to the combo potential until that became the primary game plan.
Sphinxes:
Why have you chosen the specific sphinxes you have? A surface reading of your selection leads me to believe that many of your sphinxes were chosen solely for their cost. This makes sense. With Unesh reducing each sphinx by 2, even four mana sphinxes with less than relevant abilities like Curator of Mysteries seem worth playing. Some of your more expensive choices seem dubious to me though. Have you considered Chancellor of the Spires? He's certainly expensive at 4UUU, but he's also one of the most powerful sphinxes out there, especially given that you have ways to clone/recast him. On a similar note, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Arbiter of the Ideal, and perhaps even Windreader Sphinx all seem more relevant than cards like Serra Sphinx and Horizon Scholar.
You're correct about choosing a lot of the sphinxes for their cost. In general, I want sphinxes with good ETB effects but beyond that, their particular abilities don't matter much and their cost is more important. The less blue and more generic in the cost of a sphinx, the more its cost can be reduced and the easier it is to play when I'm going off, so that's another consideration I also adhere to. I've found almost every sphinx with a UUU cost to be not worth the high blue cost and the same goes for Chancellor. I'm not interested in milling my opponents at the start of the game nor am I interested in casting their spells while I'm going off, no matter how much I may like Dire Fleet Daredevil in some of my other decks.
Jwar Isle and Arbiter have been and gone from the deck and were fine if unimpressive. They've been replaced with more meaningful or cost-efficient cards in various updates. Jwar Isle was only just cut for Final Word since its abilities are more useful to me now that the deck is running more counterspells than it used to.
Lands:
How often do you find yourself activating Rogue's Passage? All of your sphinxes already fly, and there isn't any one particular sphinx that is especially important for you to connect with. It seems to me like this might be better as some other card, perhaps just basic Island. Temple of the False God seems really bad to me here. With cost reducers like Unesh, I imagine color is extremely important to you, and if what you're saying is true, that you can play Unesh as early as turn 3 with a decent draw, that's probably off the back of a lot of colorless mana already, and getting stuck with a Temple seems especially painful. The risk-reward ratio is one I often call into question with this card, but Temple of the False God seems especially fraught with danger here.
Your whole deck is centered around Unesh. Have you considered Cavern of Souls? It would help Unesh stick to the table, and it would ensure your future sphinxes the same privilege.
Rogue's Passage doesn't get activated a lot, but it's a useful political tool and still pulls its weight in the rare cases where I'm up against another deck full of fliers. I know it looks unimpressive, but it's solid especially in the games where my ability to storm is cut off and I have to play as a tribal deck.
Temple of the False God is a card that often gets a side-eye from me when I'm tweaking the deck and yes, it's not great. It probably should go. It's just hard to look at it and see a card that adds two mana as bad, but it can't help me get an early Unesh, so I suppose it's not needed.
Cavern of Souls would be fine, I suppose, but it doesn't really seem worth the effort over just another Island, really. Especially in a deck where all it does is stop counterspells and not even fix my mana. :/
Hand Size:
I've always found choosing the right combination of "no maximum hand size" cards difficult. Reliquary Tower is an obvious shoe-in, and Thought Vessel, while unexciting, fills two important roles at once. When it comes to that third card though, that's historically where I've struggled a lot. I've played with Venser's Journal a great deal in the past, and I've always had mixed feelings about it. Having a way to gain lots of life, especially in a color without ordinary access to life gain, seems valuable, but what makes cards like Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel alluring is that they're cheap. At five mana, Venser's Journal is just damn expensive, and if you find yourself drawing a lot of cards before you find a no max hand size effect, you're almost certainly going to be unable to cast it in the same turn. Worse yet, whenever you do decide to cast it, it's going to take up the entirety of your turn, and it doesn't really do anything immediately once you cast it.
If I were you, unless you find yourself really needing the life, I'd give Library of Leng another look. It's inexpensive at 1, and the rider text gives you protection from other players' wheel effects by allowing you to discard anything you want to keep back on top of your deck. There's some merit to a card like Spellbook because it doesn't cost mana at all, but I've frequently found the extra mana well spent.
Venser's Journal has kept me alive in a lot of games. Yes, it's expensive, and yes, it's not a good early drop, but the life gain isn't to be denied when it's usually gaining me 15+ life each time it gets to trigger.
This is one category where I really don't want a single-purpose card, so Library of Leng and Spellbook just aren't cards I'm at all interested in. I don't even care about Library's anti-discard tech since I have enough ways to reshuffle.
Copy Effects:
Supplementing your sphinxes with clones is smart. As a whole, clones tend to be cheaper even with Unesh in play, and once you have a decent sphinx already, you'd probably rather copy it than play some of your other sphinxes. There are a few clones I thought I might bring to attention. First, there's the recently printed Quasiduplicate. It seems like an all-star for this deck. It's inexpensive at 1UU, you don't care if you can't copy your opponents' creatures, and jump-start allows you to cast it from your graveyard in the event you discard it to Unesh. Every time I've seen Quasiduplicate cast, I've been astounded by it. I would highly recommend it.
Another card I want to mention is Fated Infatuation. I haven't had much exposure to it, so I'm a bit unsure of it myself, but on paper it seems like it might be worth investigating. The UUU cost is demanding, but I think being an instant is really valuable for you as it allows you to hold up countermagic without also denying you the chance to play a sphinx. And if you have to, you can even copy Unesh in response to removal to keep him on the table. And even if you find yourself casting Fated Infatuation on your turn often, you'll at least get mileage out of the scry.
I tried out Quasiduplicate in a recent update and it was fine, if unimpressive. The problem is that the deck already has two other redundant clone effects in Vizier and Counterpart, and so it's fighting with those ones for space. I suppose it could maybe be argued that it's a bit better than Vizier, but not by much, and the fact that Vizier's embalm is an activated ability and not a spell also has some value. If I ever find myself wanting more clone effects, QD will probably find its way back into the deck, but for now it's just not quite good enough, in the same company as Vesuvan Shapeshifter and Body Double. I haven't tried Fated Infatuation, but the triple blue cost is a bit of a strike against it. I'll think on it though.
Control:
You mentioned it's critical that Unesh sticks, but aside from a smattering of counterspells (and perhaps Crystal Shard), you don't have many ways to protect him. Do you find yourself not having to worry about this too often? As much as I don't care for the card, I must admit that this deck seems like a perfect candidate for Lightning Greaves.
I'm surprised I don't see Force of Will here. Your deck is full of expensive blue cards that want to be played at sorcery speed but playing them makes it difficult to hold up countermagic to protect your all important Unesh. The card disadvantage shouldn't be an issue here. If there is ever a deck that wants Force of Will, it's this one.
I had Boots and Greaves in the very first build of the deck when it was still a tribal deck, and they were fine, but unimpressive. The fact that I'm not playing them now is primarily as concession to needing the slots for other cards but also an intentional powering down of the deck to allow my opponents more interaction. When this deck goes off, the game very much goes into solitaire mode, which isn't much fun for anyone other than me, so I like to give them a bit of a fighting chance by not protecting Unesh through the usual means.
As for Force of Will, I'm just not a fan of it in Commander. I think the downside is quite heavy, even in a deck like this, and it just smacks a bit too much of competitive Magic for my tastes when I'm playing Commander.
The Immortal Sun is also there for the pump and the card draw. A lot of players at my LGS are a bit too fond of their planeswalkers, too. Is it the most efficient card for this slot? No, but it's a good Swiss army knife that fills a bunch of roles in the deck. Other than Helm and Gate, I've tried all the other cost reducers you list at various times and they were cut for one reason or another. This is a category that doesn't need a lot of redundancy, so I'd rather fill that fourth slot with a card that does more than just cost reduction, and the Immortal Sun fills that role nicely.
Ramp:
If you want to play Unesh by turn four, why not play Worn Powerstone? Spending 3 to make 2 is a fine rate, and Powerstone is one of the best such 3-drops due to its resiliency. The less impressive Apprentice Wizard can also get you from 3 to 6, but I imagine something like Thran Dynamo would probably be better even if it can't cast Unesh as fast. Hell, with color being as important as I imagine, good old Gilded Lotus might be worth investigating, especially considering you're already playing Mind Over Matter (though that could also be a reason you're not playing Lotus). Generally speaking, I've found ramp spells that produce more than 1 to be much more effective than ramp spells that are inexpensive and only produce 1. But I understand your constraints. You are playing mono-blue after all, so options are limited.
Also, too few islands to play Extraplanar Lens? You're playing both Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun already. The Lens can even get you from 3 to 6. I'd happily give up the Crystal Veins and the Saprazzan Skerry-esque cards to make room for more Islands to support it.
Once again, the issue here is space. What would I cut to make room for more mana rocks? I've never been much of a fan of Worn Powerstone in general, and this deck is already at its limit for colorless ramp, in my opinion. Even with a few more pieces in the deck, there still wouldn't be enough to be really consistent about getting a turn 3 Unesh, so I'd rather just play the really efficient pieces.
I don't play Extraplanar Lens because I find it to be an obnoxious card. It's not quite on the level of Paradox Engine, Cyclonic Rift, or Deadeye Navigator, but it's still a card that I choose not to play regardless of its power level. Also, the downside of exiling a land is real in a format where artifacts rarely last more than a turn or two.
Recycling:
I didn't know that Elixir and Quest were the only two cards that self-recycled (at least in blue anyway). Neat! At first I was going to ask if you thought the density of this type of effect was warranted, but considering that you can easily lose some to Unesh, I can definitely see why you'd want three. One of the perks the Eldrazi might offer is that they'd open up a few slots to play other cards since you probably wouldn't need to include as many of this type of effect, but Elixir, Quest, and Psychic Spiral all have a lot of character, so they look like fine inclusions to me.
Another reason that I don't want to play the Eldrazi is that they're not Sphinxes. This is still a tribal deck, albeit an odd one, and so anything that's not a Sphinx has a very high bar to jump to earn a spot in the deck. So far only Dreamscape Artist has earned and held that honor, and only because it's really just a ramp spell.
Flicker:
This goes hand in hand with cloning your sphinxes, but have you considered any flicker effects a la Ghostly Flicker or Deadeye Navigator? I suspect there may be one that's worthwhile. I suppose Polymorph effects fit that bill too, though I'd be surprised if any of those were good enough here.
Deadeye Navigator is on my shadow-ban list, along with Extraplanar Lens. I had it in the deck for a short while, and it was quite good the few times I got it out, but then I got disgusted with myself for compromising on my own issues with the card and took it out. Ghostly Flicker was in an early build of the deck and just didn't pull enough weight over playing actual Sphinxes or more impactful spells.
Storm:
I'm noticing a lack of typical storm cards like Turnabout and Time Spiral. Those and Frantic Search all pair really well with your mana doublers, card discounters, and High Tide. Any particular reason for their exclusion?
I've considered Time Spiral and its ilk before, but the benefit of playing them is quite reduced when they actually reduce the number of cards in my hand. Turnabout is worthy of consideration, though. I think the reason I haven't tried it is because I've never had one at hand. Frantic Search is excluded because the deck really doesn't need any draw spells outside of the Sphinxes.
Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm definitely thinking over some of your suggestions.
And also I play a deck that's been known to tap Nykthos several times in one turn as well, and I've been having a lot of fun lately with Azor's Gateway. It's reasonably costed early game filtering that sometimes flips and makes a billion mana, and it's named after a sphinx to boot.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
And also I play a deck that's been known to tap Nykthos several times in one turn as well, and I've been having a lot of fun lately with Azor's Gateway. It's reasonably costed early game filtering that sometimes flips and makes a billion mana, and it's named after a sphinx to boot.
I can confirm, Azor's Gateway is decent. The early filtering is nice, it just makes sure you're always optimising the cards in your hand. You don't have to shoot for the flip, but obviously it's gross if you can. A similar card is Endless Atlas - I've found it great for early draw, it's good value in a mono coloured deck.
With the recent release of WAR, how does Spark Double seem to fit here? Two Uneshes, double Fact or Fiction, double 2 cost reduction. Seems a no brainer in that respect.
I know this is Sphinx tribal, so this might just be a straight out dismissal, but it's also a storm deck of sorts; how would Tidespout Tyrant fit here? I run it in my Dralnu build, and it's been nothing short of incredibly frustrating for my opponents the moment it lands. It's a lot to cast, so that might disqualify it, too. Worth a thought though, it's been really strong for me.
How about Pact of Negation and Force of Will as protection for the turn you go off. If you win on the spot, the cost of Pact doesn't matter anyway and you can just focus on what your deck wants to do and not care about keeping mana up.
How about Pact of Negation and Force of Will as protection for the turn you go off. If you win on the spot, the cost of Pact doesn't matter anyway and you can just focus on what your deck wants to do and not care about keeping mana up.
I'm really not a fan of these sorts of cards in Commander. More importantly, though, I'm happy to give other players a chance to disrupt me when I'm going off, as more interactive magic is more fun for everyone. This is one place where I specifically choose to not optimize the deck to better serve my own philosophy of the format.
This deck concept is magnificent. I don't really have a lot to add, just voicing my appreciation of the build. You could consider Extraplanar Lens, but you don't seem to be heavy on the land ramp options. Probably for good reason. The cheapo blue changelings seem like good surrogate sphinxes.
I'm really not a fan of these sorts of cards in Commander. More importantly, though, I'm happy to give other players a chance to disrupt me when I'm going off, as more interactive magic is more fun for everyone. This is one place where I specifically choose to not optimize the deck to better serve my own philosophy of the format.
That is very honarable of you!
If you want cheaper options then Arcane Denial and Delay, there is also Swan Song.
Oh yeah, I was going to bring up Venser's Journal as a potential cut for various other things, but forgot to do it. Opportunistically putting hand size on a rock or a land seems ok, but devoting five full mana to it seems like something this shell could do without to my untrained eye.
Anyway, today I wanted to share one of my favourite EDH decks with y'all since I've never seen anything quite like it out there. Enjoy!
1x Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Sphinxes (21)
1x Argent Sphinx
1x Cloudreader Sphinx
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Conundrum Sphinx
1x Curator of Mysteries
1x Dream Eater
1x Glyph Keeper
1x Guardian of Tazeem
1x Horizon Scholar
1x Jwar Isle Avenger
1x Master of Predicaments
1x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Riddlemaster Sphinx
1x Rescuer Sphinx
1x Serra Sphinx
1x Sphinx Ambassador
1x Sphinx of Foresight
1x Sphinx of Lost Truths
1x Sphinx of the Final Word
1x Sphinx of Uthuun
1x Vexing Sphinx
Sphinxes? (7)
1x Cackling Counterpart
1x Clever Impersonator
1x Phantasmal Image
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Rite of Replication
1x Spark Double
1x Vizier of Many Faces
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
1x Brain Freeze
1x Mind's Desire
1x Temporal Fissure
Ramp / Big Mana (11)
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Dreamscape Artist
1x Grim Monolith
1x High Tide
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Caged Sun
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Turnabout
1x Search for Azcanta
Cost-Reduction (3)
1x Herald's Horn
1x Sapphire Medallion
1x Urza's Incubator
Maximum Hand Size (1)
1x Thought Vessel
Recycling (3)
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Psychic Spiral
1x Quest for Ancient Secrets
Control (8)
1x Arcane Denial
1x Cryptic Command
1x Delay
1x Imprisoned in the Moon
1x Counterspell
1x Mana Drain
1x Reality Shift
1x God-Pharaoh's Statue
1x Cloudstone Curio
1x Crystal Shard
1x Mana Severance
1x Mind Over Matter
1x Omniscience
1x Panharmonicon
1x Walk the Aeons
Land (34)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Deserted Temple
27x Island
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Saprazzan Skerry
Sphinx Storm??
Yes, allow me to explain...
UNESH, CRIOSPHINX SOVEREIGN
Unesh is the key to the whole deck. Without Unesh, this deck doesn’t exist and a Sphinx-tribal deck would be a low-tier casual choice, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Unlike some decks where the commander is there to provide colours or a general theme, this deck needs to cast Unesh and keep him on the battlefield in order to really get the party started. Unesh’s cost reduction and ETB Fact or Fiction trigger for Sphinxes is the engine that lets this deck turn into a glorious stormy snowball.
SPHINXES
If we’re going to take advantage of Unesh’s abilities, we’re going to need some Sphinxes to cast. Sphinxes are, on the whole, an excellent set of creatures. All of the blue ones fly, many of them have cool abilities that make the game interesting, and quite a few of them have built-in resiliency against removal. The one downside to Sphinxes is that they tend to be expensive, with a glut of them at 6 and 7 mana. There also just aren’t that many, with only a few mono-blue Sphinxes not present in this deck. A special shoutout to Jwar Isle Avenger, which only costs U to surge out when you control Unesh.
SPHINXES?
Since we’re a bit short on decent Sphinxes, we need to find some reserves. The great thing about Unesh’s trigger is that it triggers when a Sphinx enters the battlefield, so that allows us to take advantage of one of blue’s strengths and use clones and cloning effects to get even more cheap Sphinxes. (And yes, sometimes there might be a non-sphinx we want to copy. Ick.)
STORM
The whole point of the deck (aside from casting cool sphinxes, anyway) is to storm off with one of these spells. Mind’s Desire usually hits another storm spell along the way, Brain Freeze can mill out an opponent or two, and Temporal Fissure can just bounce all the permanents that aren’t yours. Aetherflux Reservoir doesn't technically have storm, but let's be honest, we all know what it's up to...
Typically, you’ll be casting these spells with storm counts from about 10 to 30+ or more. Of these, only Resevoir is an instant win, but they’re all a lot of fun to go off with.
RAMP / BIG MANA
When a deck’s strategy depends on having a 6-CMC commander in play, you had better believe that the deck is going to be running its fair share of lands and mana rocks. With a decent draw, Unesh can hit the table on turn 3 reliably, and even on turn 2 with some really crazy draws. In general, though, you want to have Unesh in play by turn 4 to really have any advantage. The ramp cards then serve as extra mana and cheap spells to help the deck churn out more Sphinxes and a higher storm count.
Once you have Unesh in play and are getting cards from playing Sphinxes, you want to set yourself up for the late game, and that means you want to really ramp up your mana production with big mana effects. This lets you cast multiple spells each turn and dig closer to your key combo pieces.
COST-REDUCTION
Cost-reducing effects go hand in hand with the ramp to help get Unesh and his cohorts into play as soon as possible. You don’t want or need too much of this sort of effect, though, since it goes to waste beyond a certain point. Ideally, I would like to see one of these cards in hand with one or two pieces of ramp to really set me up well for my first few turns.
MAXIMUM HAND SIZE
When you start to go off with this deck, you get a lot of cards from Unesh’s trigger. A LOT. This makes it imperative to not have to discard any of those cards if possible, so we run enough unlimited hand size effects to ensure that we get one sooner rather than later.
RECYCLING
Unesh’s triggered ability puts just as many cards into your graveyard as it does into your hand. Eventually, your library is going to get a little thin and your graveyard a bit full just from resolving those Fact or Fiction triggers. So we run these cards to allow us to reuse our resources and keep our library full. Why these specific effects? Because they either shuffle themselves back into the deck with the rest of the graveyard (Quest/Elixir), or they can win us the game in the case of Psychic Spiral.
CONTROL
Sometimes our opponents don't want us to have a fun sphinx party and try to stop our fun, so we need to run some acknowledgement of this fact and a few efficient ways to stop their spells or remove problem creatures.
SHENANIGANS
The last set of cards in the deck (other than lands) are the ones that really supplement the engine and let it get quite out of hand. Let’s go card-by-card:
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
There are only a few things that I would change personally. I don't like the Anvil of Bogardan. You don't need the extra filter and because it's symmetrical for opponents, they get to filter faster and make use of graveyard strategies if they have them. You don't have any graveyard strategies.
Using it for the maximum hand size just doesn't seem worth it.
Also I think that the counterspells Disappearing Act and Familiar's Ruse are a bit too cute to really be worth it. I mean the deck doesn't need gas. Sphinx are expensive, and you will always have another to play into as you're going from top four cards, into the next top four cards, each time you cast a new one. So the reality is that at times when you're behind and need to Counterspell something when you've been shut off a creature base, seems like a better plan, rather than planning when you're ahead.
I know you are going to say that "you've had games where you've gotten amazing value off returning a Sphinx to recast it", but I just think that it's better to be safe. I can't really see not always have a Sphinx to play anyway, mana is the bottleneck of the deck, not action cards.
I would play a few extra mana cards to help the initial setups.
Search for Azcanta will be land ramp with so much discard in the deck, you'll get the threshold every time.
Wayfarer's Bauble nice little land ramp for blue.
I think I'd replace the graveyard Recycling as 99% of games if you're getting so far through your deck, you're winning the game, and Sphinx do actually present a fast clock once you're away, plus you have the storm plan. Honestly they are just dead cards most of your games, except Psychic Spiral as a win condition.
Remove Elixir of Immortality, Quest for Ancient Secrets.
You'd be better off playing a creature like Archaeomancer, so that you can loop getting back the Psychic Spiral. You can use Cloudstone Curio or Crystal Shard to bounce it back to return Psychic Spiral as many times as you need. Hope that make sense, Elixir of Immortality and Quest for Ancient Secrets are very one dimensional.
Some cheap "clones"; Adaptive Automaton, Mirror Image.
I'm sure you'd be playing Sakashima the Impostor if you had a spare $30! Same with Phyrexian Metamorph at $10.
I think either Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time will always be U or UU to cast respectively as there is so much discard in the deck.
Awesome build, very scary to play against.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
This is fair. Seeing as these cards originally found their way into the deck before its storm potential became evident, they've definitely been under consideration for replacement during updates.
The problem is what do I replace with these cards? The list is very tight and I don't really feel the need for these effects. I'd much rather add more mana rocks before cards like these. Also, Azcanta can't get me sphinxes and I'm not interested in a 1U island.
All due respect, but you're just wrong here. When the deck is going off, it is very very easy to totally deck out before you're ready for a finisher. The reshuffle effects are a key part of the deck that you can't do without.
The last thing this deck needs is dedicated card draw spells. Unesh and every other sphinx in the deck are our card draw spell.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
This is where I'd just play these over Elixir of Immortality and Quest for Ancient Secrets, or as you say mana rocks like, Coldsteel Heart or Mind Stone..
It's just a small adjustment, but it takes cards that are in the methodology of "more winning", to where you are either behind or wanting to setup.
All good, just suggestions.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I too really love the idea of this. I mean, it just rolls off the tongue. "I'm scaling up my Sphinx Storm count" is like butter to the ears. For mono-U players, I guess.
Have you noticed if there's a certain density of Sphinxes (Sphinxi? Sphinges? not sure on the plural form of Sphinx...) required in order to effectively Storm off? I can see that you have approximately 25% of your deck dedicated to Sphinxes and/or Clone effects to maximize the effectiveness of Unesh.
Lastly, do you think that you have redundant win conditions in Brain Freeze or Temporal Fissure? It seems like once the deck gets going that you can chew through your deck several times and you might really only need 1, maybe 2 win conditions at most. Psychic Spiral and Death-Laser seem sufficient to me, but I respect your experience here.
Either way, hella cool and unique decklist.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Yes I only need one or two win conditions in a game (other than sphinx bodies) but the problem with limiting myself to that is that I need other cards to set up, so often one or more win condition will end up in the graveyard on the way to the being ready to win, so I need that redundancy to make the deck play more smoothly and not take forever to win.
Up until a few weeks ago, the deck didn't run Reservoir or Walk and took a lot longer to win games. A winning turn with this deck can take quite a while to play out, and I'd rather not make the rest of the table wait an extra 5-10 minutes for me to cycle through my deck AGAIN in order to win the game. I want games of EDH to be fun and I'd rather not have people in my local playgroup hate me or this deck because of how long it can take to win.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
One of the eldrazi titans (the old ones, ulamog the infinite gyre or kozilek, butcher of truth) seem like a superior way to recycle your grave, since you can easily either mill it off a sphinx etb, or discard it to max hand size, which saves you the mana of casting something and is also more durable since it can't get stranded in your grave. Plus you've got prognostic sphinx even if it ends up in your hand AND you have reliquary tower out.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I hadn't considered the Eldrazi beyond the fact that they're not sphinxes. However, thinking over it now, I don't like the idea much because there's a lot less control on when I reshuffle if I'm using an Eldrazi. When I'm going off, I'm digging in my deck for key pieces and I don't want to reshuffle until I either have the pieces I need or am in danger of being milled out. I'll think on this some more, though.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
First and foremost, you have a really cool premise. When Unesh was first spoiled, I didn't think much of him. I saw him as Wizards throwing a bone to players demanding commanders for obscure tribal types. What you've managed to do with Unesh is rather novel though. I would have never considered pairing Unesh with storm cards, but you make the two seem like a natural fit. I hope the deck plays out as well as it sounds.
Sphinxes:
Why have you chosen the specific sphinxes you have? A surface reading of your selection leads me to believe that many of your sphinxes were chosen solely for their cost. This makes sense. With Unesh reducing each sphinx by 2, even four mana sphinxes with less than relevant abilities like Curator of Mysteries seem worth playing. Some of your more expensive choices seem dubious to me though. Have you considered Chancellor of the Spires? He's certainly expensive at 4UUU, but he's also one of the most powerful sphinxes out there, especially given that you have ways to clone/recast him. On a similar note, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Arbiter of the Ideal, and perhaps even Windreader Sphinx all seem more relevant than cards like Serra Sphinx and Horizon Scholar.
Lands:
How often do you find yourself activating Rogue's Passage? All of your sphinxes already fly, and there isn't any one particular sphinx that is especially important for you to connect with. It seems to me like this might be better as some other card, perhaps just basic Island.
Temple of the False God seems really bad to me here. With cost reducers like Unesh, I imagine color is extremely important to you, and if what you're saying is true, that you can play Unesh as early as turn 3 with a decent draw, that's probably off the back of a lot of colorless mana already, and getting stuck with a Temple seems especially painful. The risk-reward ratio is one I often call into question with this card, but Temple of the False God seems especially fraught with danger here.
Your whole deck is centered around Unesh. Have you considered Cavern of Souls? It would help Unesh stick to the table, and it would ensure your future sphinxes the same privilege.
Hand Size:
I've always found choosing the right combination of "no maximum hand size" cards difficult. Reliquary Tower is an obvious shoe-in, and Thought Vessel, while unexciting, fills two important roles at once. When it comes to that third card though, that's historically where I've struggled a lot. I've played with Venser's Journal a great deal in the past, and I've always had mixed feelings about it. Having a way to gain lots of life, especially in a color without ordinary access to life gain, seems valuable, but what makes cards like Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel alluring is that they're cheap. At five mana, Venser's Journal is just damn expensive, and if you find yourself drawing a lot of cards before you find a no max hand size effect, you're almost certainly going to be unable to cast it in the same turn. Worse yet, whenever you do decide to cast it, it's going to take up the entirety of your turn, and it doesn't really do anything immediately once you cast it.
If I were you, unless you find yourself really needing the life, I'd give Library of Leng another look. It's inexpensive at 1, and the rider text gives you protection from other players' wheel effects by allowing you to discard anything you want to keep back on top of your deck. There's some merit to a card like Spellbook because it doesn't cost mana at all, but I've frequently found the extra mana well spent.
Copy Effects:
Supplementing your sphinxes with clones is smart. As a whole, clones tend to be cheaper even with Unesh in play, and once you have a decent sphinx already, you'd probably rather copy it than play some of your other sphinxes. There are a few clones I thought I might bring to attention. First, there's the recently printed Quasiduplicate. It seems like an all-star for this deck. It's inexpensive at 1UU, you don't care if you can't copy your opponents' creatures, and jump-start allows you to cast it from your graveyard in the event you discard it to Unesh. Every time I've seen Quasiduplicate cast, I've been astounded by it. I would highly recommend it.
Another card I want to mention is Fated Infatuation. I haven't had much exposure to it, so I'm a bit unsure of it myself, but on paper it seems like it might be worth investigating. The UUU cost is demanding, but I think being an instant is really valuable for you as it allows you to hold up countermagic without also denying you the chance to play a sphinx. And if you have to, you can even copy Unesh in response to removal to keep him on the table. And even if you find yourself casting Fated Infatuation on your turn often, you'll at least get mileage out of the scry.
Control:
You mentioned it's critical that Unesh sticks, but aside from a smattering of counterspells (and perhaps Crystal Shard), you don't have many ways to protect him. Do you find yourself not having to worry about this too often? As much as I don't care for the card, I must admit that this deck seems like a perfect candidate for Lightning Greaves.
I'm surprised I don't see Force of Will here. Your deck is full of expensive blue cards that want to be played at sorcery speed but playing them makes it difficult to hold up countermagic to protect your all important Unesh. The card disadvantage shouldn't be an issue here. If there is ever a deck that wants Force of Will, it's this one.
Cost Reduction:
The Immortal Sun mostly looks like it's there for its Stone Calendar effect (unless you have an infestation of superfriends decks on your hands). Have you thought about any of the other cost reducers in its stead? Warden of Evos Isle? Cloud Key? Kefnet's Monument? Helm of Awakening? Planar Gate?
Ramp:
If you want to play Unesh by turn four, why not play Worn Powerstone? Spending 3 to make 2 is a fine rate, and Powerstone is one of the best such 3-drops due to its resiliency. The less impressive Apprentice Wizard can also get you from 3 to 6, but I imagine something like Thran Dynamo would probably be better even if it can't cast Unesh as fast. Hell, with color being as important as I imagine, good old Gilded Lotus might be worth investigating, especially considering you're already playing Mind Over Matter (though that could also be a reason you're not playing Lotus). Generally speaking, I've found ramp spells that produce more than 1 to be much more effective than ramp spells that are inexpensive and only produce 1. But I understand your constraints. You are playing mono-blue after all, so options are limited.
Also, too few islands to play Extraplanar Lens? You're playing both Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun already. The Lens can even get you from 3 to 6. I'd happily give up the Crystal Veins and the Saprazzan Skerry-esque cards to make room for more Islands to support it.
Recycling:
I didn't know that Elixir and Quest were the only two cards that self-recycled (at least in blue anyway). Neat! At first I was going to ask if you thought the density of this type of effect was warranted, but considering that you can easily lose some to Unesh, I can definitely see why you'd want three. One of the perks the Eldrazi might offer is that they'd open up a few slots to play other cards since you probably wouldn't need to include as many of this type of effect, but Elixir, Quest, and Psychic Spiral all have a lot of character, so they look like fine inclusions to me.
Flicker:
This goes hand in hand with cloning your sphinxes, but have you considered any flicker effects a la Ghostly Flicker or Deadeye Navigator? I suspect there may be one that's worthwhile. I suppose Polymorph effects fit that bill too, though I'd be surprised if any of those were good enough here.
Storm:
I'm noticing a lack of typical storm cards like Turnabout and Time Spiral. Those and Frantic Search all pair really well with your mana doublers, card discounters, and High Tide. Any particular reason for their exclusion?
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
When I first built the deck, it was just a Sphinx tribal deck, but then it just... went off... in one game and well, who am I to tell a deck what it's supposed to be if it wants to be something else? The deck began to evolve from that point with more and more nods to the combo potential until that became the primary game plan.
You're correct about choosing a lot of the sphinxes for their cost. In general, I want sphinxes with good ETB effects but beyond that, their particular abilities don't matter much and their cost is more important. The less blue and more generic in the cost of a sphinx, the more its cost can be reduced and the easier it is to play when I'm going off, so that's another consideration I also adhere to. I've found almost every sphinx with a UUU cost to be not worth the high blue cost and the same goes for Chancellor. I'm not interested in milling my opponents at the start of the game nor am I interested in casting their spells while I'm going off, no matter how much I may like Dire Fleet Daredevil in some of my other decks.
Jwar Isle and Arbiter have been and gone from the deck and were fine if unimpressive. They've been replaced with more meaningful or cost-efficient cards in various updates. Jwar Isle was only just cut for Final Word since its abilities are more useful to me now that the deck is running more counterspells than it used to.
Rogue's Passage doesn't get activated a lot, but it's a useful political tool and still pulls its weight in the rare cases where I'm up against another deck full of fliers. I know it looks unimpressive, but it's solid especially in the games where my ability to storm is cut off and I have to play as a tribal deck.
Temple of the False God is a card that often gets a side-eye from me when I'm tweaking the deck and yes, it's not great. It probably should go. It's just hard to look at it and see a card that adds two mana as bad, but it can't help me get an early Unesh, so I suppose it's not needed.
Cavern of Souls would be fine, I suppose, but it doesn't really seem worth the effort over just another Island, really. Especially in a deck where all it does is stop counterspells and not even fix my mana. :/
Venser's Journal has kept me alive in a lot of games. Yes, it's expensive, and yes, it's not a good early drop, but the life gain isn't to be denied when it's usually gaining me 15+ life each time it gets to trigger.
This is one category where I really don't want a single-purpose card, so Library of Leng and Spellbook just aren't cards I'm at all interested in. I don't even care about Library's anti-discard tech since I have enough ways to reshuffle.
I tried out Quasiduplicate in a recent update and it was fine, if unimpressive. The problem is that the deck already has two other redundant clone effects in Vizier and Counterpart, and so it's fighting with those ones for space. I suppose it could maybe be argued that it's a bit better than Vizier, but not by much, and the fact that Vizier's embalm is an activated ability and not a spell also has some value. If I ever find myself wanting more clone effects, QD will probably find its way back into the deck, but for now it's just not quite good enough, in the same company as Vesuvan Shapeshifter and Body Double. I haven't tried Fated Infatuation, but the triple blue cost is a bit of a strike against it. I'll think on it though.
I had Boots and Greaves in the very first build of the deck when it was still a tribal deck, and they were fine, but unimpressive. The fact that I'm not playing them now is primarily as concession to needing the slots for other cards but also an intentional powering down of the deck to allow my opponents more interaction. When this deck goes off, the game very much goes into solitaire mode, which isn't much fun for anyone other than me, so I like to give them a bit of a fighting chance by not protecting Unesh through the usual means.
As for Force of Will, I'm just not a fan of it in Commander. I think the downside is quite heavy, even in a deck like this, and it just smacks a bit too much of competitive Magic for my tastes when I'm playing Commander.
The Immortal Sun is also there for the pump and the card draw. A lot of players at my LGS are a bit too fond of their planeswalkers, too. Is it the most efficient card for this slot? No, but it's a good Swiss army knife that fills a bunch of roles in the deck. Other than Helm and Gate, I've tried all the other cost reducers you list at various times and they were cut for one reason or another. This is a category that doesn't need a lot of redundancy, so I'd rather fill that fourth slot with a card that does more than just cost reduction, and the Immortal Sun fills that role nicely.
Once again, the issue here is space. What would I cut to make room for more mana rocks? I've never been much of a fan of Worn Powerstone in general, and this deck is already at its limit for colorless ramp, in my opinion. Even with a few more pieces in the deck, there still wouldn't be enough to be really consistent about getting a turn 3 Unesh, so I'd rather just play the really efficient pieces.
I don't play Extraplanar Lens because I find it to be an obnoxious card. It's not quite on the level of Paradox Engine, Cyclonic Rift, or Deadeye Navigator, but it's still a card that I choose not to play regardless of its power level. Also, the downside of exiling a land is real in a format where artifacts rarely last more than a turn or two.
Another reason that I don't want to play the Eldrazi is that they're not Sphinxes. This is still a tribal deck, albeit an odd one, and so anything that's not a Sphinx has a very high bar to jump to earn a spot in the deck. So far only Dreamscape Artist has earned and held that honor, and only because it's really just a ramp spell.
Deadeye Navigator is on my shadow-ban list, along with Extraplanar Lens. I had it in the deck for a short while, and it was quite good the few times I got it out, but then I got disgusted with myself for compromising on my own issues with the card and took it out. Ghostly Flicker was in an early build of the deck and just didn't pull enough weight over playing actual Sphinxes or more impactful spells.
I've considered Time Spiral and its ilk before, but the benefit of playing them is quite reduced when they actually reduce the number of cards in my hand. Turnabout is worthy of consideration, though. I think the reason I haven't tried it is because I've never had one at hand. Frantic Search is excluded because the deck really doesn't need any draw spells outside of the Sphinxes.
Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm definitely thinking over some of your suggestions.
Edit: In fact, made a few changes based on your suggestions...
Crystal Vein -> Island
Temple of the False God -> Island
Thaumatic Compass -> Turnabout
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
And also I play a deck that's been known to tap Nykthos several times in one turn as well, and I've been having a lot of fun lately with Azor's Gateway. It's reasonably costed early game filtering that sometimes flips and makes a billion mana, and it's named after a sphinx to boot.
I can confirm, Azor's Gateway is decent. The early filtering is nice, it just makes sure you're always optimising the cards in your hand. You don't have to shoot for the flip, but obviously it's gross if you can. A similar card is Endless Atlas - I've found it great for early draw, it's good value in a mono coloured deck.
With the recent release of WAR, how does Spark Double seem to fit here? Two Uneshes, double Fact or Fiction, double 2 cost reduction. Seems a no brainer in that respect.
I know this is Sphinx tribal, so this might just be a straight out dismissal, but it's also a storm deck of sorts; how would Tidespout Tyrant fit here? I run it in my Dralnu build, and it's been nothing short of incredibly frustrating for my opponents the moment it lands. It's a lot to cast, so that might disqualify it, too. Worth a thought though, it's been really strong for me.
I'm really not a fan of these sorts of cards in Commander. More importantly, though, I'm happy to give other players a chance to disrupt me when I'm going off, as more interactive magic is more fun for everyone. This is one place where I specifically choose to not optimize the deck to better serve my own philosophy of the format.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
If you want cheaper options then Arcane Denial and Delay, there is also Swan Song.