Hashaton, Scarab's FistHashaton, Scarab's Fist | Art by Wisnu Tan

For several years, the Esper () color identity has had a problem with, well, identity. With Oloro, Ageless AsceticOloro, Ageless Ascetic 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.

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!

Esper Color Identity - A Bygone History

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:

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.

The main commanders with an Esper color identity that players would often see were Zur the EnchanterZur the Enchanter, Sharuum the HegemonSharuum the Hegemon, and Sen TripletsSen Triplets. ChromiumChromium 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.

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 my first commander ever).

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 HinderHindered or was the subject of an ill-fated Spin into MythSpin into Myth, you could kiss your specially-crafted strategy goodbye. This was especially true with so few options for redundancy.

All this to say, blue was great; it was nearly all-powerful.

And then came Commander 2013.

The Age of Oloro

Enter: Oloro, Ageless AsceticOloro, Ageless Ascetic. The first de facto eminence 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 Coldsnap expansion.

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 Old FogeyOld Fogey than I already do, back then, players weren't as fond of False CureFalse Cure or Rain of GoreRain of Gore, 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!).

However, that hesitation was the reason that Oloro was gaining life like a mad cleric on a healing bender.

As of the time of writing, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic has a prolific 17,538 decks to his name on EDHREC's database, 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).

But the pendulum, ever swinging, was going to lose the Esper color identity much of the players' favor in a variety of ways.

Post-Oloro Days; Or, Esper's Stasis

For the next eleven years after Oloro's printing, Wizards of the Coast tried really hard to make an Esper commander that could outshine him. From printing one of the coolest planeswalkerplaneswalker cards ever to printing an all-new eminence commander in Sidar Jabari of ZhalfirSidar Jabari of Zhalfir, Wizards nearly even got there!

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 as cool as any other. 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.

Meanwhile, Oloro faded into relative obscurity, obfuscated by many other commanders of non-Esper color identities, and effectively, power crept out of the zeitgeist.

2025 - The Esper Renaissance

Then, in 2025, something remarkably funny happened.

Aetherdrift, a set that many players happen to malign as being a "hat" set, 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 Nicol BolasNicol Bolas'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.

Alongside these settings, players got two new Commander decks, one of which was an Esper deck. Its featured (or, non-face) commander, Hashaton, Scarab's FistHashaton, Scarab's Fist, was an instant hit among many players who grew to find its play patterns extremely interesting.

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, Hashaton is doing much better than Oloro is, with 19,996 decks at his disposal and a ranking of #36 on EDHREC.

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.

Y'shtola, Esper's Blessed

Meet Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed, a commander that is currently ranked #6 on EDHREC, with over 30,000 decks at her command. 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.

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.

Well, since Oloro, who has sort of just been sitting there, ever true to form.

Sure, Hashaton was something new and funky-fresh for Esper, but Y'shtola may honestly mark the start of something new.

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!