There aren’t many that are more familiar with power creep than MTG players. Thanks to the constant onslaught of new products, every MTG format is completely unrecognizable from its state just a few years ago. This is more true for Commander than anywhere else, with the most popular Commander deck changing from week to week.
Thanks to players having new tools to try every other month at this point, a lot of powerful Commander cards end up getting forgotten about pretty quickly. Sharuum the Hegemon, for example, was once upon a time one of the best Commanders in the entire format. That title may not ring true anymore, but it still remains an extremely powerful Commander with dozens of infinite combos.
MTG Sharuum the Hegemon
Despite being a reasonably well statted flier, Sharuum the Hegemon is all about its entry ability. An artifact reanimation effect without any restrictions gives this Commander a strong theme to pursue in the 99. Given that there’s no shortage of powerful artifacts to reanimate in Commander, pulling ahead with Sharuum is trivial.
From Bolas’s Citadel to Portal to New Phyrexia, there’s plenty of artifacts that can take over the game as soon as Sharuum enters the battlefield. Getting these cards in the graveyard isn’t difficult, either, thanks to tutor effects like Entomb and Unmarked Grave. Even creature graveyard tutors, like Buried Alive, can still find powerful artifacts, like Triplicate Titan and Krang, Utrom Warlord.
Oftentimes, thanks to Sharuum’s reanimation effect being an entry trigger, it’s easy to reanimate more than one card when you use your Commander. Panharmonicon, Roaming Throne, and Starfield Vocalist are among the dozens of cards that can double up on Sharuum’s entry trigger. You can also use Blink effects like Displacer Kitten and Ghostly Flicker to, essentially, reanimate an extra artifact on the cheap.
Sadly, thanks in part to Sharuum’s high mana value, casting this card repetitively is going to get expensive. There are some extremely powerful mana rocks, like Mana Vault and Basalt Monolith, that can easily help power this Commander out, but they all tend to have downsides after you use them. Since you’re planning on cheating massive artifacts into play anyway, Polymorph effects like Master Transmuter and Arcum Dagsson can help turn these cards into powerful endgame artifacts after they’ve been used.
Dozens of Infinite Combos
It’s so easy to go infinite with Sharuum the Hegemon that, oftentimes, you’ll put one into your deck by accident. Any creature or artifact clone effect that doesn’t ignore the Legend rule is an infinite combo with Sharuum. Since you can Legend Rule your Commander to the graveyard, the clone can reanimate Sharuum back into play. The Legend Rule can send Sharuum back to the grave, allowing the Sphinx to reanimate itself with its own trigger. With dozens of different copy effects that you can include, Sharuum can go infinite extremely consistently.
This loop, when executed, will give you infinite enters and leaves triggers, which can easily win you the game. Anything from Altar of the Brood to Blood Artist can accomplish this, milling or draining all of your opponents until they’re dead. If you happen to have a Panharmonicon effect in play before pulling off this loop, the copied triggers will, essentially, be able to reanimate every single artifact in your graveyard.
A Cheap Commander With Expensive Cards
Like most MTG Commander decks, sadly, power does come at a price. Sharuum itself may just be a $0.50 Commander, but many of the clone effects and the other synergistic pieces this deck needs are at least a few dollars, if not more. While Sharuum is unlikely to break the bank, if you’re looking to build a budget variant of this deck, artifact Sphinx typal may be your best bet.
If you do choose to build the combo variant of Sharuum, there’s a good chance you’ll have the advantage of surprise on your side. Despite this Commander being incredibly consistent, there are only 2,846 recorded decks for the card on EDHREC. Compared to top Commanders like The Ur Dragon with over 40,000 decks, this is nothing.
Regardless of how you build Sharuum, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. The plan that this Commander offers is incredibly consistent, whether you’re bringing flashy artifacts back from the dead or draining the table for all their life.
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