FNM Deck Report: Sphinx Control

Tonight was my first FNM of the New Year. I was pretty excited to go and hang out with all my friends, but in the minutes before I left my house, I was still unsure of what deck to play. I had a full Vampire list completely sleeved up but I wanted something different. Vampires would have to be my backup plan if I couldn't get a full deck together. Digging through my cards I found a partially sleeved Esper/Open the Vaults "combo" deck. For a minute I was excited, but then I remembered how inconsistent the deck was. I decided to take a better approach and go with straight up Esper Control. I started brewing, and here is how the deck turned out:

UWB Sphinx Control:

4x Deft Duelist
4x Wall of Denial
1x Sphinx of the Lost Truths
3x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind

4x Path to Exile
3x Agony Warp
1x Doom Blade
4x Esper Charm
3x Oblivion Ring
3x Jace Beleren
2x Day of Judgement
2x Liliana Vess 

4x Arcane Sanctum
3x Drowned Catacombs
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Sejiri Refuge
2x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Swamp
4x Plains
4x Island


Sideboard:
4x Celestial Purge
3x Flashfreeze
3x Hindering Light
3x Identity Crisis
2x Vedalkin Outlander


The deck is absolutely amazing. Having all shroud creatures is absolutely nuts in this metagame (Sphinx of Steel Wind essentially has shroud in this metagame full of Jund). As stated by LSV and many other Pros, making your opponents removal dead Game 1 gives you a great advantage.

Now the deck is great, but it does need a few tweaks. First off, It needs more Day of Judgement. I only own 2 so thats all I could get for the night. Also, the Terramorphic Expanses should be Marsh Flats (my friend borrowed my Vampire deck and I figured he needed flats more than I did). I would also probably drop the 1-of Sphinx of Lost Truths and bring Jwar Isle up to 4. Agony Warp and Liliana werent seen all night, so I'm not sure what to say about the two cards. Warp is a pet card of mine and it almost always finds a slot in any U/B/x decks I play. Liliana, on the other hand, seems like an underachiever. Her tutor ability can win games, but is she really worth the 5 mana? I dont really think so. Id probably switch her for a third DoJ or possibly an Elspeth (though Elspeth isnt as great when none of my creatures can be targeted with the +3/+3 ability). As for the sideboard, I was quite happy. Identity Crisis is such a powerful card. I just cant say it enough! Putting any deck in topdeck mode on turn 6 is pretty good when I still have a full grip of cards thanks to Jace and Esper Charm. Flashfreeze and Hindering Light were also pretty good, even though there were a few games where I wished Hindering Light was a Negate instead. But in most situations, the extra card draw was worth the minor setback. Vedalkin Outlander was pretty good, but Im curious as to whether or not Luminarch Ascension would be a better board slot. Dropping it Turn 2 or 3 against any Control Mirror is just absurd, especially if i can use Hindering Light to keep it safe on the battlefield.


Overall I am very happy with this deck and with a few minor changes I think it can be quite a contender. Im still toying around with trying to fit a few Negates in the mainboard, but as far as I could tell, having 6 counterspells in the board was plenty good. I would definitely suggest this deck to anyone looking for a solid control deck with some of the strongest Anti-Jund creatures in the format (Duelist, Wall of Denial, Jwar Jwar, Steel Wind, etc). Heck, all the creatures are great against Jund!


Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment on the deck and let me know how you would change it up.


-David