Unesh: Fact or Sphinx?

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 4 years ago

Unesh Criosphinx Sovereign is a sphinx tribal deck which in intended to win via combat damage. Via cost reduction, the deck spams sphinxes or clones of sphinxes to build the battlefield and 'fact or fiction' through it's entire deck. I play Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre as re-shuffle effect that doesn't cost mana to prevent me from decking myself. I chose this route instead of lab-man to keep the decks win condition as combat damage and because I already do that in other decks.

Originally, the average hand lands Unesh in played around turn 4-5, and ideally at instant speed. From here, sphinxes are cheap and dig into value engines such as Panharmonicon or Mirror Mockery and the relatively sparse interaction. If the engine keeps running, 1-2 turns later has a large sky-swarm of sphinxes (let's call it a riddle of sphinxes) and has looked through most of its deck. Eventually either discarding or not choosing Ulamog reshuffles the graveyard and the digging continues. With either enough triggers from raw casts, flickering via Cloudstone Curio, or turning thopters into sphinxes the deck can see it's entire deck or more every turn. With the reshuffle, this results in infinite turns off the singleton Time Warp.

UPDATE November 2021: My local group has begun playing some games at the cEDH power level, and what started as a joke has transformed into me considering this deck as my CEDH deck. This is only effective because we nearly always have 1-2 players on stax, and 1-2 players on control. By occupying the portion of the metagame with moderate control and significantly less disruption from the common stax pieces, as well as being midrange enough to race the more aggressive decks, Unesh can win its share of games. The required a somewhat significant retooling of the mana, but the deck does remain sphinx tribal and still only wins via combat damage (while taking infinite turns/sphinx storm). If the metagame included even one player on Torpor Orb effects or board wipes, the deck likely wouldn't be able keep up. Similarly if it was against 3 extremely fast decks. I'm not going to claim that this is cEDH viable, just that it works well in my opponent's blind spots.

Word of warning: while the method of card advantage is entirely dependent on your opponents, some specifically don't want to be chosen and will despise playing against this deck due to it's durdly nature and longer turns.
Decklist

Technically not Sphinxes

Interaction - Removal

1 Snap

Interaction - Stax

It's basically blue extra combats

Making Storm Easier

Approximate Total Cost:

A point that is not immediately obvious is that Unesh can tolerate a somewhat higher count of cards which are partially or completely undesirable outside your starting hand. Nearly all of my card advantage comes from the Unesh EtB triggers, so drawing something like Jeweled Lotus later as part of a pile is not much of a drawback. This also lets me feel much lower drawback for something like Leyline of Anticipation or Gemstone Caverns.

The same drawback mitigation is true for the high MV artifacts such as Vedalken Orrery and Caged Sun. They can be sent to the graveyard for Scholar of the Lost Trove while selecting more immediately relevant spells.
Last edited by Crazy Monkey 11 months ago, edited 15 times in total.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

changelog:
swaps
Approximate Total Cost:

I improved the ramp based on devotion, because the cost reduction results in large devotion amounts. Also added more cost reduction and dropped the CMC and color requirements for some sphinxes.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



Supersprite
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Post by Supersprite » 3 years ago

Dude, fun general is fun

Ijust made a roughdraw myself and i think apprentice wizard is awesome since the dark. 1UU is easy in monoblue and its solid ramp for sphinxes. (U tap: 3 mana) Also nobody bothers to remove it because its just a old common lol

Expedition map is a must since nykthos can get wild with some fat sphinxes.

The clones dont trigger unesh but just double the mana lowering i guess???

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

Supersprite wrote:
3 years ago
Dude, fun general is fun

Ijust made a roughdraw myself and i think Apprentice Wizard is awesome since the dark. 1UU is easy in monoblue and its solid ramp for sphinxes. (U tap: 3 mana) Also nobody bothers to remove it because its just a old common lol
I've used Apprentice Wizard in some of my other monoblue decks. However, the mana is colorless. This makes the ramp less effective after I've resolved Unesh. It compares closer to Worn Powerstone to ramp out Unesh.
Supersprite wrote:
3 years ago
Expedition map is a must since nykthos can get wild with some fat sphinxes.
I agree in principle here, but I don't think that this is true for this deck. Nykthos is actually dead early game, so tutoring for it before then isn't as effective. I'm not sure that tutoring is generally needed after I'm flipping through 30-40 card/turn from sphinxes, so I can save the card slot.
Supersprite wrote:
3 years ago
The clones dont trigger unesh but just double the mana lowering i guess???
It it true that the clones won't receive cost reduction unless Arcane Adaptation is in play, naming sphinx. However, clones are a massive multiplier on the number of Unesh triggers.

So the beautiful part of triggered abilities is that they are put onto the stack before state-based effects occur. This means that even if the permanent isn't still on the battlefield (for example, due to legend rule), its triggers will still be on the stack. Let's take Mirror Mockery for example. If this aura is on Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, then when it attacks, it copies itself with a token. Now we put the triggers onto the stack. We have 2 copies of Unesh that each see a sphinx enter, so we put 2 triggers on the stack. Now state-based effects are checked and we have to sacrifice one to the legend rule, usually the token.

This gets more obscene with Blade of Selves. If we have 3 opponents and blade is equipped to Unesh, then each attack makes 2 copies. The copies behave in the same manner, so we have 3 copies of Unesh see 2 sphinxes enter: resulting in 6 triggers of Unesh. This multiplicative effect is why I include Mirror Gallery to retain multiple copies of Unesh.

Clones behave in the same way when they are on the battlefield. Specifically, as long as they enter as a copy of a sphinx or Unesh, they are sphinx when they enter. This is because they are sphinxes during the enter the battlefield trigger. Clones are actually a massive part in how this deck wheels through its library.

A quick deckbuilding aside: I used to run Quasiduplicate type effects, but cut all but Saheeli's Artistry because it would allow an opponent to go infinite by cloning my own Chancellor of the Spires. While this never actually happened, the risk was high.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



Supersprite
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Post by Supersprite » 3 years ago

Dreamhalls is half the cost of omniescience and when you play a free spell you can keepdrawing into new plays. Its nice when your stuck at 5 mana. Plus its not as cedh as omniescience, wich is aspect of the game. Just like awesomness.

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

Honestly, I had not considered Dream Halls Here. It is definitely faster the omniscience. In nearly every game where I actually cast omniscience, I have usually gone through my entire library a couple of times; it's less of a win condition than a shortcut. Dream halls could resolve sooner an potentially be a better enabler, but the lower CMC means that it would end up closer to a cedh enabler. While the deck ramps a lot, it can't cheat on the 10CMC cost. I think dream halls might be the more cEDH card here, although both are more redundant than labman wins.

The other consideration is that more than half of this deck is colorless, so it's somewhat probable that my opponents could give me piles of 1 blue card or 3 colorless. That makes things difficult until there are 2+ triggers per sphinx.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



Supersprite
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Post by Supersprite » 3 years ago

I have been messing around with unesh and i find ramp very important. Theres a 1u creature from last set with 2u: sac a land search and play 2 basic lands. I swapped it for apprentice wich indeed seemed a easier to remove powerstone. Its very good ramp if comvined with a t2 rock.
Mind over matter is bonkers with unesh his draw, you can discard it if a non cedh game of course.
Amazing how cheap dream halls is compared to omniescience . You could of course also playomniscience trough dreamhalls t5?

Supersprite
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Post by Supersprite » 3 years ago

How is nyx lotus? Seems slow 4 mana, tapped etc? I just play nykthos with exp map and tolaria west

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

Supersprite wrote:
3 years ago
I have been messing around with unesh and i find ramp very important. Theres a 1u creature from last set with 2u: sac a land search and play 2 basic lands. I swapped it for apprentice wich indeed seemed a easier to remove powerstone. Its very good ramp if comvined with a t2 rock.
Mind over matter is bonkers with unesh his draw, you can discard it if a non cedh game of course.
Amazing how cheap dream halls is compared to omniescience . You could of course also playomniscience trough dreamhalls t5?
Ramping out an early Unesh is priority one for me. However, I really want to keep this sphinx tribal so Dreamscape Artist doesn't make the cut for me. Once I add a non-sphinx (ulamog is just a reshuffle effect, I've maybe cast it once in several years) / non-clone it becomes much harder for me to excuse not running Laboratory Maniac, Thryx, the Sudden Storm and similar, more goodstuff cards.

Dream Halls and Mind Over Matter are definitely powerful cards here, and some redundancy for the 'finishing' cards could improve deck consistency. I can see a package addition of Expedition Map, and Mind Over Matter and maybe Dream Halls adding another line of play towards infinite sphinx fictions. I'm not sure if I what to change my builds playstyle that much, but that's a good plan. Could probably drop some of the more mid-range enablers such as Door of Destinies, Gravitational Shift, and Omen Machine for it if that playstyle appeals to you. I may just drop omen machine for Mind over Matter.
Supersprite wrote:
3 years ago
How is nyx lotus? Seems slow 4 mana, tapped etc? I just play nykthos with exp map and tolaria west
The short answer is that's as slow as you would expect if you don't have a flash enabler. Flashing it in at End of Turn mitigates the drawback.

The appeal here over tutoring for Nykthos is the net mana positive earlier. The lotus is net positive off just Unesh if it was already out, and is more likely to ramp out Unesh. If you're already chaining sphinxes it's worse but if you're not then it's better. The benefit here is because nearly all the draw via piles, it makes the piles slightly more difficult to make for your opponents.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

changelog:
Several significant changes with this deck, primarily that I've been running it into decks that approach cEDH. For this reason, the avoidance of Dream Halls went out the window and I upgraded/expanded the ramp and counterspell suite to compete. I dropped the more anthem-type cards for this. There were also 2 good sphinx recently, and those made the cut. One of them specifically is actually nuts. I know this deck could add Thassa's Oracle/Laboratory Maniac as a wincon, but my current goal is to compete as best able with a full cEDH T&T combo list while retaining this as a tribal deck. I also consider those wincons "too easy" and only run 1 of each across all my decks.

My current debate is whether Tale's End should remain over Trickbind, hitting commanders, Thassa's Oracle trigger and stopping Isochron Scepter/Dramatic Reversal for a turn but having less power against other infinites.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

changelog:
Changes 8/5/2020
Approximate Total Cost:

  • IslandGlasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore: Adding another clone with little opportunity cost increases the density of sphinx EtB triggers
  • Glyph KeeperMaster of Winds: Reducing CMC and adding some more card advantage on EtB.
  • Windreader SphinxEnigma Thief: The prowl cost makes this cost 2 CMC in a fair number of cases. Additionally, the majority of the card advantage comes directly from Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, so direct draw triggers aren't as necessary. Having additional control effects helps this deck compete with it's opponents.
  • Blade of SelvesSwan Song: While Blade can generate massive amounts of card advantage by itself, the equip 4 can be painful and doesn't provide the clone-able benefits of Helm of the Host. I wanted to add swan song for some more cost effective control effects, and blade was closest to the cutting block.
Sphinx of the Second Sun is making the cut here, without question. Having Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery with clones of it is nearly the same as multiple extra turns, but the sphinx alone adds more reactive play options.

Side note: Jeweled Lotus enables a potential turn 1 Unesh with Mana Crypt, which is absolutely disgusting. This deck is one of the best suited of my decks for this addition, due to the ability to skip over it on later piles, the single color nature of the deck, and the high CMC of the commander. Yes, situational Black Lotus is a busted card in this format.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 3 years ago

changelog:
Changes 8/5/2020
Approximate Total Cost:

  • Sharding SphinxSphinx of the Second Sun: untapping more is powerful, especially with flash enablers to make use of copies.
  • Arcane AdaptationMaskwood Nexus: This is technically an increase in CMC, but the overall effect should be less mana intensive. When the deck is rolling, blue mana is at a premium, and I rarely want to spend a card via dream halls for this. Being an artifact makes it castable on pure colorless or via scholar or the lost trove via recursion.
  • Helm of the HostSakashima of a Thousand Faces: A less CMC intensive method to make non-legendary Uneshs, while also being a creature for cost reduction and blue for dream halls. The 5 cost equip was painful.
  • IslandJeweled Lotus: Ramping out Unesh is critical, and the raw card selection/advantage available means that we can tolerate it as a dead card mid/late game.
I'd like to test Pyre of Heroes here, but can't find a reasonable cut. I might test it over Nyx Lotus.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Posts: 571
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Location: New Mexico, US

Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

changelog:
Changes 11/11/2021
Approximate Total Cost:

I've been updating the paper list for a while to improve its games in the cEDH power level of my metagame. I believe that I basically just added a bunch of broken mana and made some minor other improvements. I've only had one game where I wished pyre of heroes was nyx lotus due to Opposition Agent. And Dazzling Sphinx is an extremely funny answer to top of library tutors, while also stealing good spells.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Posts: 571
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Location: New Mexico, US

Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

changelog
Approximate Total Cost:

Have been playing more of this deck recently, as a member of our group has built several new decks at the cEDH power level and wanted to test them out more. As this is my go-to for that level of power, I got more chances/piles to look at these cards and never really wanted either.

Pyre has only activated once without an Opposition Agent messing with it, so swapping for a low MV, colorless "sphinx" makes sense.

One game I had in the bag, but an opportune Ranger-Captain of Eos reduced my number of attacks to only Unesh. Even then, I didn't really want to reanimate orrery and assumed 7 counter/removal could get it back to me. Poor interaction with the eventual winner let him resolve the win after rift and 4 counterspells. In hindsight, grabbing the orrery back to play would have let me win before he untapped so this swap might revert. In that and other games, there has been a good creature in my opponent's graveyards (eg. Harmonic Prodigy, Dockside Extortionist) that would have been extremely powerful. Body double opens up options from my or my opponent's graveyards.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

changelog
Approximate Total Cost:

Some changes that are kind of obvious in hindsight. I really shouldn't cut have Orrery because of Scholar of the Lost Trove can get me an "extra turn" during another player's turn. In that context, worn powerstone is probably my most cutable card.

Worn Powerstone is only good starting hand, and represents turn 4 Unesh without additional ramp. Otherwise, I never want to see it. In that circumstance, Lotus Bloom is effectively the same thing. At 0 MV, I'm comfortable dropping a land for it. I also realized that Cloudstone Curio with clones of Scholar of the Lost Trove and Bloom is another infinite, which solidified the swap for me.

Finally, and most obviously, Deflecting Swat existing means that I really should be running Temporal Manipulation instead, as I'm never intentionally going to give another player that turn.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

I cut Mirror Gallery from this deck after the printing of Spark Double and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces made it easier to make multiple Unesh for less mana. Mirror Box is low enough MV to resolve early, makes multiple Unesh easier to maintain, and makes combat better as well. I may finally be dropping Caged Sun.

In retrospect I should probably consider High Tide for the caged sun slot, so there may be an alternate cut to make room for mirror box.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 11 months ago

I have made several changes over the past year as my local cEDH metagame has expanded and new cards are printed. They broadly fit into either sphinxes or interaction.

First, the sphinxes. Defiler of Dreams is absurd. Between cost reduction on Unesh and the ability to pay life for blue mana, storm-style sphinx spam becomes more consistent. The card draw is also nice, as a bonus. Serum Sovereign is another u efficient sphinx that can be a mana sink if needed. Irenicus's Vile Duplication is a fourth copy effect for Unesh, and Mirror Box allows for easier cloning. I swapped Arcane Adaptation as a blue card for Dream Halls.

Interaction, and stax effects specifically has been increasing important in my metagame. The obvious one is Back to Basics, but my mana curve makes Psychic Battle almost one-sided. Notably, copy effects (Krark, the Thumbless) with new targets still trigger psychic battle. As the top card isn't known, opponents need to try selecting a target. I also have added/removed Evacuation several times and fit in Mindbreak Trap.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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