Hello happy people! I hope that your day is going quite well! This is my first article for 2022, and I hope that your 2021 went well! Let's kick things off with my favorite series, the Budget Commander one!

In this series, each deck must come in under the budget of the previous one. Last time (which was last week actually), the budget was $32.54 and this one must come in under that. And we are beginning today with a Mono-Blue mythic as my Commander!

Our leader is Unesh, who is just $1.25 and leaves me much of my budget to use. He's decently popular with 710 decks registered over at EDHREC.com. On arrival, Unesh can Fact or Fiction down four cards - plus now any Sphinx can do that as well and they cost 2 less to cost. I'm looking to build a Sphinx-matters brew, that also considers flyers as well. According to Gatherer, there are 66 Sphinxes, and many of those are unavailable due to colors, so we only have 49 that are mono-Blue or colorless. Other than the obvious Consecrated Sphinx, most classic Commander Sphinxes have dropped in price and are available to budget version quite ably now. Take the classic Sphinx named Sphinx of Uthuun. It used to be heavily played, but now this rare is just $0.49 here at CoolStuffInc.com.

I just added Unesh to my Type Four Stack as I did an audit of my blue rares and added a bunch of new cards to my stack. You can find the stack list here. Also, don't forget to swing by the Budget Commander Appendix at the end to see the entire slate of decks we have in case one or more make you happy!

The good thing about the Sphinx Tribe as well as Unesh as a leader is that they are innately good with card drawing, so you don't need to add in a bunch of cards from outside the tribe.

Ready? Let's take a deep dive into the Sphinx Tribe!

At $1.49, Donal is the second most expensive card in the deck, and the only one of four cards with a price of at least a dollar. I consider Donal the junior partner in this brew. As you cast an awesome (nonlegendary) dork with flying, like Sphinx of Uthuun, you get another smaller version, so that's another trigger of Unesh and another trigger of the Sphinx's arrival ability. Nasty combo together!

Bulk rares up next: Windreader Sphinx and Enigma Thief! The Windreader is a key Sphinx in a flying-matters brew as you draw cards as anyone swings with flying. It's just a 3/7, but it does have enough toughness to survive an attack and another card! It's also a Sphinx for your consideration. The Thief is a nice flying 5/5 that acts as a bounce spell for one key permanent per opponent which is good at multiplayer games. I love its prowl as you can easily cast it for its prowl cost after punching face with a Sphinx. Good pair!

Cheap rares attack! The first Sphinx will dig your foe's library until you exile an instant/sorcery. Then you can cast said card for free! Nice! The second Sphinx will play a fun guessing game, and then if they guessed wrong, you drop the guessed card onto the battlefield for free! Drop a Sphinx? Trigger Unesh! Nasty right?

More bulk rares! At $0.49 each! Each of these is a card drawing Sphinx flying machine! Atemsis is a 4/5 that can tap and draw two cards and discard one. Another combat damage trigger here that lets you get an alternate win-con, or in this case a lose-con, as you can kill the damaged player if you have 6 different mana costs in your hand. You should have a land easily enough, and your interactions are easily 3 and 4 like Ravenform and Dismiss. Your Sphinxes should be 5-7 easily enough, and 3 and 4 from your interaction and can win the game and remember that Unesh will allow you to sculpt your hand. I wish we could run haste stuff like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots to really punch and kill out of nowhere, or to run Reliquary Tower to give you a fat hand, but those are too pricey.

Check out the Magosi. It's a powerful 6/6 flyer with the ability to draw a card and grow it by +1/+1 permanently for each three mana you spend! Unlike the Tower, Rogue's Passage is just $0.35 so I tossed it in for you. Good pair!

Check out this bulk rare duo that have 5 power. As you can see, the former one is a nice revealer at the opening bell and can mill 7, and then you can get a free instant or sorcery from your opponent's graveyard when it arrives to the battlefield, and you can cast this duo the turn after your Commander for a trigger of it as well! The latter one also has a ETB trigger, in this case you get a free instant, sorcery or artifact from your graveyard rather than from your foes. I really wish this had flash because it would become one of the best Sphinxes in Commander. Here you can really abuse a sorcery like Flow of Ideas.

Another $0.49 entry! This legendary Sphinx is a 5/5 that also has an ETB trigger, in this case you force each foe to reveal their hand and you name a card that was released and it cannot be cast. You could easily proactively shut down something powerful like Cyclonic Rift or Insurrection here that would wreck you. Also, you'll be able to see what you need to stop to keep your deck going, although I doubt that in a modern Commander metagame a 6-mana Sphinx-loving leader is going to really be a threat at your kitchen table. Love it a lot here!

These three are from non-booster packs, so you may not have seen them before. The middle one is one of four cards at or above a dollar.

The first one is awesome and a key card in my Type Four Stack. As a flyer with size that can act as a bounce effect for a foe's dork, that's pretty good. Bounce a nasty creature like Consecrated Sphinx or Etali and then counter it on the recast with your 10 hard counters.

The middle Sphinx will let a targeted foe draw a card and you three for a net of two cards drawn, and if you save it until post-Unesh you'll get a net of 4 cards overall and 5 drawn from one dork. Nasty!

The final card will also trigger an ETB ability for card flow, in this case one card drawn for each foe in a four-player game three cards like the middle one. You can also spend four mana to make a 1/1 flying Thopter which can be pumped with Favorable Winds or trigger attack card draw like Windreader Sphinx or go wide for card draw like Reconnaissance Mission. You can spend all of the extra mana from lands and mana rocks here after you drop your hand. You can do it as stuff swings your way to chump block, even flyers. Good tag trio!

Check out these two very different cards. Ormos is amazing here! With digging four cards every trigger of Unesh and a Sphinx and drawing all the cards from this deck, you could easily exhaust your brew. The three mono-Blue ways to win are way too expensive for this deck, but Ormos is just $0.75, and he'll turn your card drawing when you have a naked library into a bunch of counters on him. You can also discard three cards with the same name (easy in Commander) to draw a nasty amount back. It's really strong here!

The Rescuer is my only 4-drop Sphinx. It's just a 3/2, but it can self-bounce a nonland permanent (might I suggest a Sphinx?) and then grow to a 4/3 and let you get another Unesh trigger and/or another one of it's ETB triggers like Sphinx of Uthuun. Good stuff here!

Alright let's move away from Sphinxes! First up, it's under a buck for Archetype of Imagination! Since this gives flying to your mostly flying team, why is this here? It's here to strip away flying from your foes! With this on the battlefield, your flyers will be unblockable by anything other than reach-ers. It's amazing here!

In addition to ten hard counters, let's add in some blinking support as well. Each of these instants will exile up to dorks you control, and then bring them back immediately. Two Sphinxes? While you control Unesh? That's digging eight cards and drawing four. Nasty! And if you net their own ETB triggers like bouncing or card drawing you'll get great value from this trio. Also note that you can do this to save your stuff from targeted removal.

I also tossed in Lazotep Plating to also help the anti-targeted removal cause, as well as Voidwalk to cipher onto a creature. Check out the power of this blinking sorcery here: blink something, yay! Net the trigger. Note that you can cipher a flyer and then attack and net the spell over and over again. Nasty power here!

Check out Stolen. As you can see, this sorcery will, admittedly, require a lot of mana to bounce a key dork, two more than it cost to play. But you'll get the power of the blinking plus a ton of 1/1 flying Faeries, which, as we saw with the discussion of the power of the 1/1 flying Thopter above, is pretty keen here.

Let's turn to some cheap two drop uncommon pieces of equipment. Each of these gives the equipped dork a combat damage trigger to a player. The Mask will draw two and discard one and the Gloves will draw a card. In a deck with this many flyers, it should be easy to find an open person to attack especially at the multiplayer table or if you control the Archetype of Imagination.

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer is my only planeswalker in the deck and at $2.49 for a near mint version here at CoolStuffInc.com is my most expensive card. She is key for a flying deck. She's a three mana 2 loyalty leader who can +2 to drop a flyer and give them -2/-0 for the turn. She's great at opening up a hole in the defense as she can drop a flying blocker and then net some powerful swings over their team. Don't sleep on her ability to make 4/4 flying Birds and if you +2 a bunch of times, her ultimate will break the game in your favor since we have 32 Islands in the brew.

Let's turn to some cheap lands, like Halimar Depths. I am only running 7 non-basic as I am saving my money for bulk rares. If most bulks here in this brew are the cheapest price at $0.49 each, and if I tossed in 50 here (I'm way under that number) then that would knock out less than $25 and leave me plenty of room for other stuff, and none of these lands are even that high in price. I have the three blue cycling lands that are mega cheap commons, this, and a few others. Note that this will let you set up your next three cards in case you need to draw something important with your many card drawing options. I like it a lot here!

Why am I running a worse Command Tower in a mono-Blue deck? To tap it for Sphinxes and then get a free scry each time! It's also pretty cheap - just $0.25 for the cheapest version, so there's not a big budget cost here.

Don't forget that one of the best things about Unesh isn't the minor Fact or Fiction it brings but the double mana reduction for your bigger guys. Enter this 3-drop duo! The artifact will drop the cost of your dorks by a mana each. Since we are running a mono-Blue deck, that's pretty much all of your creatures! The creature will drop the cost of your flyers, which is, again, pretty much everything.

Let's look at one more card and we'll call it!

This 4/5 flyer with flash is amazing here! Your spells with a cost of 5 or more cost one fewer, which pretty much all Sphinxes in this build, and they will be uncounterable, which is very strong. You are going to love casting at the end of your foe's fifth turn, untapping, and casting Unesh even without a land drop and it cannot be countered. Nasty stuff. Also note that we do have a few hard counters that will be boosted by this uncounterability and cost dropping (Draining Whelk, Counterlash).

Imagine your deck with these four ways of cutting the cost of your Sphinx Squad - you could easily drop your cost to cast Sphinxes low enough that you can get two a turn for two Unesh triggers plus what they are bringing to the table.

Alright, now let's take a look at the decklist proper!

Unesh Sphinxes | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Alhammarret, High Arbiter
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Atemsis, All-Seeing
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Chancellor of the Spires
• 1 Curator of Mysteries
• 1 Dazzling Sphinx
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Donal, Herald of Wings
• 1 Dream Eater
• 1 Enigma Thief
• 1 Glyph Keeper
• 1 Guardian of Tazneem
• 1 Master of Predicaments
• 1 Master of Winds
• 1 Ormos, Archive Keeper
• 1 Prognostic Sphinx
• 1 Rescuer Sphinx
• 1 Riddlemaster Sphinx
• 1 Scholar of the Lost Trove
• 1 Silver Myr
• 1 Sphinx of Enlightenment
• 1 Sphinx of Foresight
• 1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
• 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
• 1 Sphinx of Magosi
• 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1 Thryx, the Sudden Storm
• 1 Warden of Evos Isle
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer

• Spells (18)
• 1 Counterlash
• 1 Discombobulate
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Displace
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Flow of Ideas
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Illusionist's Strategm
• 1 Insidious Will
• 1 Jwari Disruption
• 1 Lazotep Plating
• 1 Ravenform
• 1 Rewind
• 1 Sinister Sabotage
• 1 Stolen by the Fae
• 1 Void Shatter
• 1 Voidwalk
• 1 You Find the Villain's Lair

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Favorable Winds
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Heraldic Banner
• 1 Kefnet's Monument
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Mask of Memory
• 1 Sky Diamond

• Lands (39)
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Remote Isle
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 32 Island

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Cards to add include the aforementioned Consecrated Sphinx as well as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx; Nyx Lotus; War Room; Caged Sun; Sphinx of the Final Word; Sphinx of the Second Sun; Sapphire Medallion; Thassa's Oracle and Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries; Sphinx Ambassador; Glasspool Mimic; and Swords of X and Y to replace our two pieces of combat damage equipment (might I suggest Sword of Fire and Ice for Rogue's Gloves since it draws just as well and Sword of Feast and Famine for the Mask of Memory, which will untap your lands after you tap out for a big fat flyer so you can cast another big fat Sphinx).

My target for this brew is $32.54 and we come in at $32.51, three cents cheaper! As a reminder, secondary market prices change from when I wrote this a week before publication to the date of publication to when you read it, but the core idea of a mega cheap and functional deck remains! This won't set you back, and don't you want to play some big Sphinxes?

APPENDIX

If you enjoyed today's Mono-Blue toughness-matters budget brew, great! Here are the first 61 Budget Commander Options for your wallet-friendly happiness and joy:

1. We kicked things off with Brion Stoutarm came in at $37.71
2. Next up was Ghave, Guru of Spores, with a budget of $36.48, is a lot of fun!
3. Talrand, Sky Summoner - $49.37. I increased the budget for this project due to the nature of the challenge, and it's the only entry in the series where the cost is increased rather than decreased.
4. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is the next for our list rocking that $36.37 pricetag.
5. Princess Lucrezia and Riven Turnbull feature in this fun throwback Commander deck that is just $35.68.
6. Roon of the Hidden Realm demonstrates one of the Commander 2013 dorks in a $35.29 shell.
7. Vhati il-Dal runs the table for just $35.17. It's also one of the more unique entries in this project.
8. With all of the latest draconic lovin', Bladewing the Risen comes just a few cents less at $35.13. http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-042114-budget-commander-8-budget-bladewing/
9. Lu Xun, Scholar General may not be a powerhouse, but there's enough utility under here to spark a very interesting EDH deck for just $35.07.
10. Bosh, Iron Golem was a fun mono-red artifact centric deck that hits $35.06. That's right, one cent cheaper! It's a fun and different take on artifacts than good ol' Brago will be next.
11. Brago, King Eternal is featured with a different artifact theme and a $35.04 budget.
12. Let's finally get below that $35 mark with Lin Sivvi and her rebel horde! $34.98 for the witness.
13. Wedges are cool. So is Teneb, the Harvester! $34.94 gets us a deck that wins and has fun.
14. Who likes Surrak Dragonclaw? Who likes making a face-smashing deck for just $34.83? This guy!
15. Tolsimir Wolfblood? $34.73? Selesnya aggro? We've got it in spades!
16. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is ready to bring some serious recursion, beats, and a modest budget to boot at $34.62.
17. Want to Dragon up your deck? Why not roll with Dragonlord Kolaghan for $34.47.
18. Who's thumping those mono-green beats with the Yeva, Nature's Herald stylings? Who clocks in at just $34.39? This article!
19. Want to donate some stuff, play some politics, and draw a ton of cards? Then check out this Zedruu the Greathearted deck that came in at $34.29.
20. I have a notion that a Five Color deck would be a fun budget challenge. Horde of Notions is a blast of Elemental fun that clocks in at $34.17. Check it out!
21. Five color doesn't have to end with tribes. There are so many options that this Five Color Cromat deck with a bit of a smash-y board presence is ready to introduce itself to the red zone, and to winning. It also is just $34.20.
22. Sometimes it's really nice to see how far we can push a popular commander with a cheaper budget. That's where this Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck comes in, clocking in at $34.03
23. With a budget of just $33.98, this Daxos of Meletis deck is pretty cool without being too expensive. Check it out!
24. We have a Snake flavored Kaseto, Orochi Archmage deck with a lot of fun, Snakes, and budget goodness at $33.91.
25. Nahiri, the Lithomancer is calling for an equipment and Solider focused mono-white build that's just $33.85.
26. Who's Born to be Wild? Mina and Denn are! Check out this Gruul Smash deck with lands and fun for just $33.75.
27. Gods are cool, especially when they make you berries, fruits, and tasty veggies. Karametra, God of Harvests might fetch you a lot of lands and good times, but she won't set back your wallet. Check out her budget build, clocking in at $33.74
28. She beats with auras and fun, sailing over her foes. It's Bruna, Light of Alabaster! She's bringing a strong game at a cheap $33.69.
29. Rosheen Meanderer at $33.63 clocks in with a bunch of X spells and activations with a different take on the classic Elf-Ball deck.
30. We take a look at a very old school sort of guy, Boris Devilboon, from the original Legends set, and then build a $33.58 deck around our good demonic friends.
31. It's time for a bit of an Orzhov Control loving, built around Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and featuring a ton of removal, control, and more, all for the low, low price of $33.56.
32. Captain Sisay leads a fun, legendary infused deck that has a lot of great cards and synergy, but a light price, checking in at $33.46.
33. Ertai, the Corrupted sacrifices creatures and enchantments to counter spells. For $33.35, we have a great control-esque deck with some groovy sacrificing love.
34. With a modest budget of $33.32, Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis have a fun event and morph focused theme, without running a bunch of cards from their Commander 2016 Appearance. Check them out!
35. Built around the Old-School combo of Prodigal Sorcerer and Fungusaur, this Commander deck features a number of cards that deal damage to your own creatures so they get better. It clocks in at a humble $33.26.
36. With a Golgari Toughness-Matters theme, this Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper deck won't hurt your budget, but will do some damage for $33.15.
37. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden goes all crazy with graveyard and deck restocking shenanigans for a cheap $33.12. We even have an infinite combo in here!
38. Commander 2017 brings some powerful new options for Commander players everywhere. I put together a multiplayer-friendly control deck around Mathas, Fiend Seeker for just $33.10.
39. Don't you love the Izzet madness of Arjun, the Shifting Flame? No deck has more card drawing, or card drawing triggers, than this one! It clocks in at $33.04.
40. It doesn't have to be Halloween for you to enjoy the Monster Mash. Here we have a Grusilda, Monster Mash deck that enjoys mashing your dorks together, but not mashing your budget. It clocks in at $32.98
41. Don't Shatter your Budget with this build of the Shattergang Brothers, who's sacrificial ways won't sacrifice wallet, and just cost $32.94.
42. I saw Muldrotha, the Gravetide and I just fell in love with that face. Who wouldn't? Here's a graveyard abuse deck that won't break your bank, just your battlefield. And maybe some friendships. It was $32.89.
43. Who likes some Saprolings and having Fungal Fun? I do! Slimefoot, the Stowaway leads this cheap, flavorful deck that clocks in at $32.80. Every addition to the deck has to support the flavor of the Fungal concepts!
44. Who wants to untap and en-creature Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle? Who wants a fun budget build that's just $32.77? ME!
45. Next up is a budget build of Emmara, Soul of the Accord which is cheap and clocks in at $32.77. Check out it's token majesty!
46. I randomly selected Kefnet the Mindful for a random Commander challenge, and was inspired to combine my two series and build a Budget Commander deck around card-drawing and fun times with Kefnet! Check it out and it's $32.73 glory.
47. Let's build a fun graveyard and Mono-Green build around my second Portal: Three Kingdoms leader - Hua Tuo, Honored Physician. I really like this build, and for just $32.65, I hope you will too!
48. I built a fun budget Burn and Life gain deck around Firesong and Sunspeaker for a price tag of only $32.57! Want to check it out?
49. I built a fun deck around the partners Gorm the Great and Virtus the Veiled. This deck ran some cool cards, including the old school Basilisk and Lure combos. But it only cost $32.51. Don't you wanna check it out? Of course ya do!
50. For my 50th Budget Commander article, I decide to do something crazy! Let's build a Warrior themed deck around a very expensive Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, rather than my normal way of a budget leader. We come in at $42.45. You know you want to read it...
51. Want a Naya Gold deck? Literally? Built around the multicolored loving Rienne, Angel of Rebirth. It clocks it at $32.39. I know you want to find out how I ever could do that! Check it out!
52. I built a fun +1/+1 counter and enchantment-matters build around Eutropia the Twice-Favored for $32.33. Don't you wanna check it out?
53. I took the Skirmish deck I designed, Defy Death, and turned it into a Commander deck featuring Tariel, Reckoner of Souls for $32.28. Take a look and see what you think!
54. I created a fun token creature deck around Akim, the Soaring Wind from Commander 2020. It came in at $32.27! Enjoy it here!
55. I built a Mono-Blue scry and flying matters deck around the partners Eligeth, Crossroads Augur and Siani, Eye of the Storm, that came in under $32.23. It was fun! You can find it here!
56. I love a good crazy Commander to build around, like Hans Eriksson. My version of him ran cards like enrage led Dinosaurs, and mid-range cards you'd want to drop onto the battlefield with aplomb. The deck came in at $32.29. Want to check it out?
57. For my Selensya fans I built this crazy life gain and going wide build around Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn! It came in at $32.27 just two cents fewer than #56! Enjoy it here!
58. I built a big spells matter and ramp Simic deck around partners from Commander Legends Brinelin, the Moon Kraken and Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood. It features X spells like Hydras and big spells a go go! The budget? Just $32.73! Check it out here.
59. If you want to check out a cheap Orzhov +1/+1 Counters Matter brew, great! I've got you covered! I built around Shaile, Dean of Radiance and Embrose, Dean of Shadow. The total for this awesome build is $32.68. You can view it here.
60. This deck came in at $32.65 and it's a Peasant version Axelrod Gunnsaron from the first set that introduced legendary stuff. This one lets you use the version from Legends instead of Chronicles and it's a powerful Rakdos deck that uses ways to trigger Axelrod's ability like giving him ping effects like Fire Whip, deathtouch ones like Bladebrand, and I built the rest of the deck around deathtouchers and pingers. You can check it out here.
61. Coming in at $32.60 was this mono-Black Jerren, Corrupted Bishop deck that cared about the Human tribe and going aggro. You can find it here!
62. I was excited to write a mono-Blue toughness-matters brew around Geralf, Visionary Stitcher. It came in at $32.56.
63. Then I created a deck around the incredibly popular Zaxara, the Exemplary and built and budget view of this powerful leader that came in at $32.54. Find it here!
64. That's this article you silly goof!