MTG: Top Five EDH – Esper (WUB) Commanders
When you really, truly want to be a thorn in your opponent’s side, Esper provides with Etherium daggers replacing fingers.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering, where you use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is a great source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Esper combines the three most oppressive colors in Magic into a terrifying soup. By mixing the control colors with the diplomacy colors and sprinkling in the deception colors, you get a concoction that can dictate nearly every turn of the game. Whether it’s digging out exactly what you need at any time, gaining life while draining your opponent, or manipulating an army of artifacts, Esper can do whatever annoys your opponent most. Should your opponent try to fight back, well…just remind them of the cost.
Alela, Artful Provocateur
Alela is an interesting addition to the Esper roster, but that’s probably what puts her at the top. Out of the gate, she’s a 2/3 with flying, deathtouch, and lifelink, making her a deadly general in her own right. However, it’s her other abilities that make her really dangerous. She buffs the teeth of all your other flying creatures, and whenever you cast an artifact or enchantment spell, you get a 1/1 flying Faerie. Cast enough, and you’ll have an army of 2/1 Faeries that will blot out the sun.
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Your life total is one of the most important resources available to you in Magic. Usually, you need a creature or two on the battlefield or some spells to alter it. Oloro thinks that’s nonsense, and is happy to buff you from the command zone. The best part about him, though, is whenever he IS on the field and you happen to gain life (which you will every turn), you can pay 1 to gain card advantage and drain your opponent. He brings all the best of the three colors of Esper to the field, and he doesn’t even have to be there to do it.
Zur, the Enchanter
On the surface, Zur doesn’t look like much. A 1/4 with flying isn’t that big of a threat. However, whenever he attacks, you get an enchantment with mana value 3 or less onto the battlefield for free. There are so many oppressive enchantments in these colors, like Phyresis or Pacifism, and Zur can get out of control really fast. Just be ready for him to be killed on sight by anyone who has faced him before.
Sefris of the Hidden Ways
Sefris is another interesting commander. Rather than going with a control theme, Sefris wants to spend her time crawling through a dungeon, and she goes a little further every time something hits your graveyard. Should she make it to the other side, you’ll get something back for free. Filling this deck with ways to take the initiative or venture into the dungeon will allow you to turn death into a temporary inconvenience for you.
Tivit, Seller of Secrets
At last, Esper that feels like Esper. Tivit likes to make your opponents vote on what goodies you get to have; after all, democracy is fair and balanced. Of course, in Esper, democracy is also rigged, so you get two votes instead of just one. Canny players can use this to their advantage, either by bargaining with their opponents for the least harmful choice (which it never is) or trying to fool them into thinking you want one thing when you want the other. It’s a mind game, but Tivit is happy to bend the rules.
