Esper Sentinel
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Esper Sentinel

Artifact Creature — Human Soldier

Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays , where X is Esper Sentinel's power.

SaberTech on Utopian Prosperity

1 month ago

To help illustrate some of the things I was talking about regarding Jenara, this is an oooooold Jenara list I used to run. I took it apart 9 years ago. Sky Queen of Bant

If I were to rebuild it there are a number of changes that I would make, but I think that it still generally shows what my design philosophy was around her at the time. I was getting in more 1v1 commander games so it's a bit more geared towards dueling, as opposed to brawling in a multiplayer setting, but I made efforts to try to reduce how much mana I had to invest into Jenara to ramp up her damage. Various ways to give double strike, cards with exalted so I could build my board while still increasing her damage output, cards that could pump power as an option or could pump power in addition to doing something else, and various protection options.

The rest of the deck became a bit of a control build. Roon of the Hidden Realm and Crystal Shard helped me get extra value out of creatures with ETB effects. Sun Titan helped me get back cheap utility creatures. The planeswalkers had useful effects while staying on the board after a wrath wiped away creatures. The main plan was always to try to out-tempo my opponent and kill them with commander damage but the deck at least had a backup plan if the game went longer.

I remember Mother of Runes, Simic Charm, and Vines of Vastwood being pretty standout cards at the time.

Some more modern cards I know off the top of my head that I would consider if I were to rebuild it are Duelist's Heritage, Loran of the Third Path, Esper Sentinel, Tocasia's Welcome, and Welcoming Vampire. The deck would need more card draw engines if I was adapting it to multiplayer games.

Goretast on [Primer] Karametra's Short-Term Memory | V-DSK

5 months ago

No worries!

I've playtested the deck quite a bit and there is a good amount of card advantage from playing from the top of the library or focusing creature tutors on cards like Regal Force, Nissa, Resurgent Animist, Esper Sentinel, etc. If you count tutors, playing creatures from the top effects (easier with 41 total creatures and lands being pulled), and draw spells then there are 19 total refill cards.

No defense for the removal comment though lol. I will look to make some cuts for 4-5 more interactive cards. This deck is made for mid-high bracket 3, so I am purposely keeping the power a bit lower. Thanks for checking it out- it's been fun remaking the deck!

Caerwyn on

7 months ago

Sephara, Sky's Blade gives you some redundancy with your commander, and you very likely can cheat on her mana cost given your fliers.

There are a few more wraths you could add - Day of Judgment and Armageddon come to mind.

White struggles with card draw, so Esper Sentinel is a pretty solid choice.

Also, just a personal pet peeve, the title of your deck properly should be Revelation 16:16 - using the plural “Revelations” is a pretty common mistake.

kamarupa on LongLegs

7 months ago

Just to be "clear" (lol), Silent Clearing is not card advantage. It would have to draw at least 2 cards to qualify as card advantage. I'd probably go with with Sword-Point Diplomacy or Night's Whisper. Esper Sentinel would probably come in as a very distant 3rd choice for me, being too conditional and easy to remove for my taste.

Given how integral The Sibsig Ceremony is to your deck, I would count on opponents sideboarding every enchantment removal spell they have in the second game. In my experience, getting a Hall into play makes opponents feel completely defeated before they can even cast enchantment removal.

DemonDragonJ on Should I Put the New …

7 months ago

I would like to put Elsha, Threefold Master into my Numot, the Devastator EDH deck, but I am not certain which creature I should remove, to make room, for her; Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is very expensive, but she is one of my favorite creatures in the game, and she has great synergy with numerous other cards in this deck, including both version of Aurelia: Aurelia, the Warleader, and Aurelia, the Law Above. Medomai the Ageless is not the most powerful of creatures, but I always enjoy being able to take additional turns, and I can take even more, if I combine him with either True Conviction and/or the aforementioned Aurelia. Wall of Denial is merely a blocker, but it is an amazingly excellent one, so I would like to keep it, in that deck, as well, and Esper Sentinel is not essential to this deck's identity or strategy, but I would prefer to avoid raising its mana curve, if I can help it. I feel that I may not need to keep either Iroas, God of Victory *list* or Keranos, God of Storms in this deck, since reaching seven devotion to two colors is not always easy to achieve in a three-colored deck, and, between those two creatures, I believe that Keranos is the least essential to the deck, since the deck originally did not have a very strong central them, but it gradually has evolved to have a focus on combat, so Iroas is more essential to the deck's theme and strategy than is Keranos.

What does everyone else here say, about this? Should I put the new Elsha into my Numot deck, and, if so, what card should I remove to make room, for her? I certainly am eager to receive your feedback!

kamarupa on Soul Sisters

7 months ago

I like this deck a lot. My own experience and preference leads me to suggest 3 things:

1) having lots of a weenies is better with card draw. Tocasia's Welcome does that well, Esper Sentinel less well but for less MV.

2) While technically you meet my rule of thumb of 8 disruption spells (Rune sisters count for 6 + 2 Path), I think 4x removal is really a minimum. I'd cut 2 Rune sisters for 2x more Path to Exile (or perhaps some other removal like Winds of Abandon.

3) If Martyr of Sands is really so great (and I do think it is, then something like Patch Up or Raise the Past should make it even better.

4) 1xCastle Ardenvale is nice with Soul Sisters and also Tocasia's Welcome. Oops. I guess I had 4 suggestions, lol.

jsnrice on Atraxa, Grand Unifier

8 months ago

Deck Title: Ascension Through Unity – Atraxa cEDH Food Chain

Commander

Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Color Identity:

Introduction

Welcome to Ascension Through Unity, a competitive EDH build centered around Atraxa, Grand Unifier, the ultimate value engine and a uniquely powerful commander that bridges midrange resilience with combo potential. This list leverages the raw card advantage of Atraxa’s ETB trigger to dig for win conditions, interaction, and fast mana — all while supporting a Food Chain combo core.

This deck is tuned for high-level pods and aims to win fast, interact precisely, and grind smart when necessary.

Win Conditions

Primary Wincon:
- Food Chain + Eternal Scourge / Misthollow Griffin / Flesh Duplicate
Infinite creature mana via Food Chain and one of the exile-recurring creatures.
→ Cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, dig for Thassa's Oracle or Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation combo.

Backup Wincons:
- Thassa's Oracle + Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation
- Finale of Devastation for lethal with infinite mana
- Displacer Kitten combos with The One Ring, Teferi, Time Raveler, or mana rocks for infinite value/actions

Notable Synergies

Staples and Interaction

This deck plays nearly every blue interaction spell you’d expect: - Free Countermagic: Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Flusterstormfoil
- Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Abrupt Decay, Chain of Vapor, Toxic Deluge, Culling Ritual
- Tutors: Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Imperial Seal

And it runs every relevant fast mana: - Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mox Opal, Mana Vault, Ancient Tomb

Why Atraxa?

While many commanders offer value, Atraxa’s Grand Unifier trigger is uniquely broken in a deck like this. With a proper build, she can hit: - A creature (e.g. Eternal Scourge, Deathrite Shaman)
- A non-creature spell (e.g. Demonic Consultation)
- An instant (e.g. Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse)
- A sorcery (e.g. Finale of Devastation)
- An artifact (e.g. Sol Ring)
- An enchantment (e.g. Rhystic Study)
- A planeswalker (e.g. Teferi, Time Raveler)

This makes Atraxa a one-card value engine that refills your hand and pivots you into a win turn with proper sequencing.

Power Level & Goals

This deck is firmly cEDH (power level 9.5–10). It’s built for pods where interaction is heavy, turns are fast, and wins are clean.

You’ll thrive if: - You can protect Atraxa, Grand Unifier for at least one trigger
- You pilot your combo lines efficiently
- You mulligan aggressively for interaction or ramp

Mulligan Strategy

Look for: - Turn 1–2 dorks/rocks + tutor
- Food Chain + exile creature opener
- Strong card draw pieces + interaction
- Always mull away clunky high-CMC hands

Weaknesses

  • Susceptible to Drannith Magistrate (unless we remove it)
  • Hate for graveyard/exile recursion (Rest in Peace, etc.)
  • Heavy counterspell matchups if we stumble on mana

Closing Thoughts

Atraxa, Grand Unifier doesn’t just unify card types — she unifies power, control, and combo under one elegantly devastating package. Whether you’re tutoring with efficiency or slamming a turn 4 Food Chain win, this deck rewards mastery and punishes hesitation. Perfect for cEDH players who love versatility and inevitability.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you want a sideboard package or metagame tweaks.

kamarupa on Cumulative Fire

8 months ago

I'd love to get more of your input, Cloudy2024 - my thinking with Hyena Umbra was that Esper Sentinel is going to draw me more cards if opponents have to pay 2 (or more) instead of 1. Since there are so few creatures in the deck, instead of going with something like Ethereal Armor, I thought it made sense to double down on the functionality of the Aura and go for some static protection (Totem Armor). I have a lot of reservations about this strategy, namely that it's a bit convoluted. Ideally, I like to include 2-4 card advantage spells in most of my decks. That said, red doesn't offer much in the way of card advantage, and I don't like what it does offer as too often it requires a high amount of available mana to utilize otherwise cards end up in exile or the graveyard. Similarly, white offers very little as well. As much as I love Tocasia's Welcome, that's obviously not the answer here. And that leaves me with Esper Sentinel, which is nice, but a major target for removal and a pretty low tax that opponents can easily pay. You can see I've already included 1xIdyllic Tutor, but I consider that much too narrow and it's really acting more as a placeholder for United Battlefront, which itself still doesn't fully meet what I'm looking for. And I suppose I have the final option of adding a 3rd color for a card advantage spell, but I'm very unlikely to do that as I'm a firm believer in limiting a deck's colors to as few as possible for consistency, efficiency, and cost reasons. So ya, I'd love to hear your thoughts on all that - is there a better card advantage spell? Does it really make sense to forego both pump and protection for an instant that only offers temporary effects, keeping in mind this deck is intended on being able to go up against 2 or more other decks in multiplayer matches? Is there another strategy I'm not considering? Much apprecaited!

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