Liz is playing a one-on-one game of Commander, pitting her Sharuum-commanded Sphinx deck against Edâs crazy combo deck. Sheâs way up on the board, and she thinks she can close out the game this turn.

Liz is at 25 life and controls Isperia the Inscrutable, Sensei's Divining Top, Sphinx of Lost Truths, two Swamps, three Plains, four Islands, Azorius Chancery, Dimir Aqueduct, Godless Shrine, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Orzhov Basilica, Reflecting Pool, Reliquary Tower, Sol Ring, Sunken Ruins, Underground Sea, and Watery Grave. Her hand contains Disenchant and Enigma Sphinx. Her library contains, from top to bottom, Sphinx Sovereign, Phyrexian Metamorph, Sharuum the Hegemon, Vexing Arcanix, Sphinx Summoner, Academy Ruins, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Chancellor of the Spires, and Day of Judgment.

Ed is at 9 life and has Doubling Cube, Forest, Hallowed Fountain, Island, Mountain, Overgrown Tomb, Plains, and Swamp on the battlefield. His hand is empty, but his graveyard contains Apocalypse, Cabal Ritual, Empty the Warrens, Fire Servant, and Kaboom!. His commander, Atogatog, is in the command zone.

Click here to see the board state for the challenge.

Challenge

Itâs the beginning of Lizâs main phase. Figure out how she can win this turn.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle@gmail.com with the subject line âPuzzle â So You Sphinx You Can Winâ and Iâll include the best ones in next weekâs article, along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Special thanks to Liz Cady for creating the board-state image for this puzzle.

Solutions to Last Weekâs Puzzle

It seems that my stab at last weekâs puzzle was vastly suboptimal; I originally set the highest level at 275 copies, but this was blown out of the water in a few hours by Rast, who sent in a 3,000-copy solution. Rast built on this until ultimately 11,696 copies were created. That solution is presented below, but first, I want to give a shout-out to Ben Friesen, who sent in the first solution that broke 275 copies.

In response to the Monksâ triggered abilities, repeat the following steps with forty-seven of the forty-eight Monstrosity tokens:

Sacrifice a Monstrosity token to Disciple of Griselbrand, returning two Geist-Honored Monks to the battlefield. Donât allow the Spirit-creating abilities to resolve. 142Ã 1 1 0 Sacrifice both non-token Monks to Disciple. Donât allow the Gutter Grime triggers to resolve. 140Ã 1 + 2 1 0

With 16 + 47 Ã 2 = 110 Monk triggers and 47 Ã 2 Ã 3 = 282 Grime triggers on the stack:

Ultimately, the following Essence tokens are created:

(110 + 1 = 111 Monk triggers) Ã 2 Ã 16 = 3,552 Essences

(282 + 33 = 315 Grime triggers) Ã 16 = 5,040 Essences

(4 Ã 16 = 64 Doomed Travelers) Ã 16 = 1,024 Essences

(4 Ã 16 = 64 Mausoleum Guards) Ã 2 Ã 16 = 2,048 Essences

In total, 3,552 + 5,040 + 1,024 + 2,048 = 11,664 Essences are created.