<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist" href="#" target="_blank">Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CWisnu+Tan%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wisnu Tan</a></em></p>
<p>For several years, the Esper (<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-b" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>) color identity has had a problem with, well, identity. With <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic" href="#" target="_blank">Oloro, Ageless Ascetic</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as the only top commander in the identity for a long time, Esper's whole schtick involved Control builds. But 2025 has brought something of an Esper Renaissance of sorts.</p>
<p>This revival involves two new top Esper commanders making their respective rounds over the course of the past year. So read on, and join us as we look at those commanders and get a feel for where they stand!</p>
<h2>Esper Color Identity - A Bygone History</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sharuum the Hegemon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zur the Enchanter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sen Triplets"></div></div>
<p>Before we can get into the new hotness of Esper, we must talk about its foundations, the bedrock that paved the way for them. Let's set the scene:</p>
<p>The year is 2013. Commander wasn't quite as influenced by Wizards of the Coast's designs; in fact, Wizards was a while away from noticing the full impact of the fan-driven format and then crafting sets around it.</p>
<p>The main commanders with an Esper color identity that players would often see were <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zur the Enchanter" href="#" target="_blank">Zur the Enchanter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sharuum the Hegemon" href="#" target="_blank">Sharuum the Hegemon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sen Triplets" href="#" target="_blank">Sen Triplets</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromium" href="#" target="_blank">Chromium</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was but a twinkle in many players' eyes, but that's because by then, the Elder Dragon, one of the five that the format was originally named after, was outclassed.</p>
<p>All this to say, Esper was a fine identity to build around, but in doing so, you were a bit pigeonholed. Either you were playing some brand of artifact themes, Stax, or some abominable build that Zur could facilitate for you (and I should know, given that Zur was <em>my</em> first commander ever).</p>
<p>The rules were also pretty fast and loose back then. The "tuck" circumvention to the command zone redirection was still in effect, for instance. This gave blue decks of all kinds a huge advantage; if your built-around commander got <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hinder" href="#" target="_blank">Hinder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>ed or was the subject of an ill-fated <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spin into Myth" href="#" target="_blank">Spin into Myth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, you could kiss your specially-crafted strategy goodbye. This was especially true with so few options for redundancy.</p>
<p>All this to say, blue was great; it was nearly all-powerful.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hinder"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Spin into Myth"></div></div>
<p>And then came Commander 2013.</p>
<h2>The Age of Oloro</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic"></div></div>
<p>Enter: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic" href="#" target="_blank">Oloro, Ageless Ascetic</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. The first de facto <em>eminence</em> commander, Oloro could gain his pilot life by just sitting there. Stax had not eaten this well since Zur first made his debut in 2007's <em>Coldsnap</em> expansion.</p>
<p>As players in years to come would prove, all an Oloro player had to do was play a metric ton of disruption pieces and control the board, and they'd be nigh-untouchable. At risk of sounding even more like an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Old Fogey" href="#" target="_blank">Old Fogey</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> than I already do, back then, players weren't as fond of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="False Cure" href="#" target="_blank">False Cure</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rain of Gore" href="#" target="_blank">Rain of Gore</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, either for their symmetry or their brevity. Lifegain was as valid a strategy as it is now (heck, that's why my Zur was so potent!).</p>
<p>However, that hesitation was the reason that Oloro was gaining life like a mad cleric on a healing bender.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Propaganda"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sphere of Safety"></div></div>
<p>As of the time of writing, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic has a prolific 17,538 decks to his name on <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/oloro-ageless-ascetic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EDHREC's database</a>, putting him as the #59th most popular commander to date. Many of these decks come from the days of yore, when Commander was still the Wild West wasteland, then still known more as Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH).</p>
<p>But the pendulum, ever swinging, was going to lose the Esper color identity much of the players' favor in a variety of ways.</p>
<h2>Post-Oloro Days; Or, Esper's Stasis</h2>
<p>For the next eleven years after Oloro's printing, Wizards of the Coast tried <em>really</em> hard to make an Esper commander that could outshine him. From printing one of the coolest <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aminatou, the Fateshifter" href="#" target="_blank">planeswalker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> cards ever to printing an all-new <em>eminence</em> commander in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir" href="#" target="_blank">Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, Wizards nearly even got there!</p>
<p>But, after Oloro, Wizards' efforts were not as recognized by players as they may have wanted. And hey, these commanders are as cool as any other - I'm not complaining that they were too weak or too strong. But that's just the problem; they're <em>as cool as any other</em>. Even the appeal of early Universes Beyond wasn't enough to draw a ton of players to bring another Esper commander to the top again.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aminatou, the Fateshifter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Marneus Calgar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir"></div></div>
<p>Meanwhile, Oloro faded into relative obscurity, obfuscated by many other commanders of non-Esper color identities, and effectively, power crept out of the zeitgeist.</p>
<h2>2025 - The Esper Renaissance</h2>
<p>Then, in 2025, something remarkably funny happened.</p>
<p><em>Aetherdrift</em>, a set that many players happen to malign as <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/are-hat-sets-bad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being a "hat" set</a>, or a set where known characters took on traits of their setting, gave us something remarkable. This set gave us three planar settings, one of which was Amonkhet. The Egyptian-inspired plane, once ravaged by <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nicol Bolas" href="#" target="_blank">Nicol Bolas</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s dire machinations, was now recovering and wanted to display their world's relevance. Avishkar and Muraganda were also there, though their importance is less in this article compared to Amonkhet.</p>
<p>Alongside these settings, players got two new Commander decks, one of which was an Esper deck. Its featured (or, non-face) commander, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist" href="#" target="_blank">Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, was an instant hit among many players who grew to find its play patterns extremely interesting.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist"></div></div>
<p>It is here that we see the first of two commanders within the Esper color identity in top-ranking positions, heralding a Renaissance for the shard. Right now, <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/hashaton-scarabs-fist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hashaton is doing much better than Oloro is</a>, with 19,996 decks at his disposal and a ranking of #36 on EDHREC.</p>
<p>That Hashaton is literally only four decks away from hitting 20,000 is no small feat, but one Cat Warlock would soon outdo even those numbers.</p>
<h2>Y'shtola, Esper's Blessed</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Y&#039;shtola, Night&#039;s Blessed"></div></div>
<p>Meet <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Y&#039;shtola, Night&#039;s Blessed" href="#" target="_blank">Y&#039;shtola, Night&#039;s Blessed</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a commander that is currently ranked #6 on EDHREC, <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/yshtola-nights-blessed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with over 30,000 decks at her command</a>. If you've been reading our articles lately, you're already intimately familiar with our doting over such a cool card and her ascension into the Top 10 and better.</p>
<p>In addition to being a herald of the Esper Renaissance, she's also largely a herald of a new way to play decks within the Esper color identity. While we've gotten several new archetypes within Esper, from Blink and Superfriends with Aminatou to Aggro-Combo with Hashaton, Y'shtola is the first one that seems to have stuck particularly well.</p>
<p>Well, since Oloro, who has sort of just been <em>sitting there</em>, ever true to form.</p>
<p>Sure, Hashaton was something new and funky-fresh for Esper, but Y'shtola may honestly mark the start of something new.</p>
<p>So now, let me open the floor to you, dear readers. What is your experience with using the Esper color identity? Do you believe that Y'shtola truly marks a rebirth for Esper? And what do you foresee in the color combination for the near-future? Sound off in the comments below!</p>


mtgc13

Esper Renaissance: A Major Glow-Up in 2025