Ixidor made an artificial angel with Akroma. Esper responded with an actual artifact Akroma.
Not bringing the beats as fast as Akroma, but instead it reads "you cannot race me. Submit."
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Jeleva, Nekusar, and Thraximundar got way better toys than Oloro, Sharuum, and Sydri did, IMO.
But GRIXIS really relies a lot more heavily on things coming together according to plan than ESPER does. In fact, Grixis I think is not only the *only* deck whose cards can just plain backfire against you, but they can backfire HARD. You Exile or Tuck an important creature you REALLY needed to get your board presence up, and lose it forever because your deck was trying to look for Instants and Sorceries, and it's like giving your opponents Free Time Walk. Legit, every part of a Time Walk: I don't damage them, they damage me, my Nekusar draws them plenty of cards that their Lifegaining deck doesn't really care about having to pay for.
Esper just HAPPENS to have all kinds of neat little Johnny-cute fun combos dispersed here and there in the deck, but what it really EXCELS at is drawing cards like Ajani's Pridemate and Cradle of Vitality that toss the Johnny Plan out the window in favor of Timmy-ing you to death. Anyway. In the Least Timmy Color Combinations Ever.
They have SO many words on their Rules Text, but Oloro might as well be a Two-Headed Giant of Foriys and Sharrum might as well be Shivan Dragon. And this was more than enough for them to be to get the job done.
Esper has a FANTASTIC matchup against Grixis because you can run your deck on "Stupid Mode" and completely trash people even with sub-optimal play and the crudest of strategies. Sphinx of the Steel Wind is the PERFECT example of this:
Contrast how the card plays in COMMANDER 2013 vs. how it played in PREMIUM DECK SERIES: GRAVEBORN. one deck used a sort of 'smart' combo that involved at least three or four cards interacting together to summon it more quickly. one deck just casts it whenever, on turn like 20 or something. once its out, just keep swinging, or rather you Don't Even Need To literally Turn it Sideways, because it has VIGILANCE. o.o
I think that if you want the Commander Decks to give a really honest good showing of their mechanics, you not only are encouraged to, but you pretty much *have* to play them in a Multiplayer environment. In Duels, this one Sphinx pretty much wrecks 80%+ of the other 499 cards in the Set. There *are* ways to kill it in the decks, but not *many* and it's difficult to demand that one of them be available, without making sure at least 3 of the other decks are at the table.
SirLibraryEater
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
As an answer to the flavor text, Control Magic. That's why.
SeriouslyFacetious
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I get a perverse enjoyment out of bouncing a Mox Opal to a Master Transmuter to drop this monster...
Of course there are limitless things to do with the Transmuter, but thats's one of my faves.
tokenmage
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
as a player who have fought against this thing, all I can say is "sphinx of steel fart, go shove a null rod up your butt", I mean this thing is a nightmare for a jund player, it's practically dragon-proofed and spider-proofed. if you're lucky to have a fat black flier, you'll have to worry about this buttface's girlfriend sydri. what's more annoying is this thing is nearly impervious to most common cheap removal, doom blade ? nope. ultimate price ? guess again. terminate ? not even close. I seriously want to add a normal murder just to kill it, but it's not worth the switch.
MattLynn
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Funny how Akroma, Angel of Wrath and (this) Sphinx 'o the S. Wind both want to wield Loxodon Warhammer to be more alike. One wants trample, the other lifelink.
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The two best colors at destroying artifacts, are red and green. Those are very relevant colors of protection for an artifact creature.
Comments (9)
Not bringing the beats as fast as Akroma, but instead it reads "you cannot race me. Submit."
But GRIXIS really relies a lot more heavily on things coming together according to plan than ESPER does. In fact, Grixis I think is not only the *only* deck whose cards can just plain backfire against you, but they can backfire HARD. You Exile or Tuck an important creature you REALLY needed to get your board presence up, and lose it forever because your deck was trying to look for Instants and Sorceries, and it's like giving your opponents Free Time Walk. Legit, every part of a Time Walk: I don't damage them, they damage me, my Nekusar draws them plenty of cards that their Lifegaining deck doesn't really care about having to pay for.
Esper just HAPPENS to have all kinds of neat little Johnny-cute fun combos dispersed here and there in the deck, but what it really EXCELS at is drawing cards like Ajani's Pridemate and Cradle of Vitality that toss the Johnny Plan out the window in favor of Timmy-ing you to death. Anyway. In the Least Timmy Color Combinations Ever.
They have SO many words on their Rules Text, but Oloro might as well be a Two-Headed Giant of Foriys and Sharrum might as well be Shivan Dragon. And this was more than enough for them to be to get the job done.
Esper has a FANTASTIC matchup against Grixis because you can run your deck on "Stupid Mode" and completely trash people even with sub-optimal play and the crudest of strategies. Sphinx of the Steel Wind is the PERFECT example of this:
Contrast how the card plays in COMMANDER 2013 vs. how it played in PREMIUM DECK SERIES: GRAVEBORN. one deck used a sort of 'smart' combo that involved at least three or four cards interacting together to summon it more quickly. one deck just casts it whenever, on turn like 20 or something. once its out, just keep swinging, or rather you Don't Even Need To literally Turn it Sideways, because it has VIGILANCE. o.o
I think that if you want the Commander Decks to give a really honest good showing of their mechanics, you not only are encouraged to, but you pretty much *have* to play them in a Multiplayer environment. In Duels, this one Sphinx pretty much wrecks 80%+ of the other 499 cards in the Set. There *are* ways to kill it in the decks, but not *many* and it's difficult to demand that one of them be available, without making sure at least 3 of the other decks are at the table.
That's why.
Of course there are limitless things to do with the Transmuter, but thats's one of my faves.
what's more annoying is this thing is nearly impervious to most common cheap removal, doom blade ? nope. ultimate price ? guess again. terminate ? not even close. I seriously want to add a normal murder just to kill it, but it's not worth the switch.