In Commander, we don't get the luxury of redundancy through multiples of cards. Sure, we can double or more up on various card effects (Counterspell, Arcane Denial, Cancel) but we can't know for sure we've got four Counterspells in our deck, ready to rock and roll at any moment.

The one thing we basically always know is we have access to our Commander. And there's a lot we can do with that ability.

Today, I want to take a look at a Commander who offers raw power and card draw. These are both good things to have at our fingertips, and I'm willing to jump through hoops to get them. Take a look at Eshki Dragonclaw.

We've got an on-curve four-mana Commander with three relevant keywords and a card draw trigger. Plus she gets bigger! This is a heck of a deal. All we have to do is cast a noncreature spell and a Creature spell in the same turn, before Combat, and we get the bonus. I like both of those kinds of spells, and we have a relatively new card type which will help us with this quite a bit: Adventures.

Adventure cards give us a noncreature spell to cast, then provide us with a Creature we can cast right away. Assuming we have enough mana, we can achieve Eshki's requirements with a single card!

Eshki Dragonclaw | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Eshki Dragonclaw

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps
• 1 Beanstalk Wurm // Plant Beans
• 1 Beluna Grandsquall // Seek Thrills
• 1 Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp
• 1 Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft
• 1 Elusive Otter // Grove's Bounty
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
• 1 Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1 Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy // Tail the Suspect
• 1 Kraum, Violent Cacophony
• 1 Picnic Ruiner // Stolen Goodies
• 1 Questing Druid // Seek the Beast
• 1 Rosethorn Acolyte // Seasonal Ritual
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scalding Viper // Steam Clean
• 1 Songcrafter Mage
• 1 Taigam, Master Opportunist
• 1 Temur Battlecrier

• Instants (14)
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Auroral Procession
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Frantic Search
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 Manamorphose
• 1 Marang River Regent // Coil and Catch
• 1 Opt
• 1 Planar Genesis
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 1 Snap
• 1 Stubborn Denial
• 1 Tempest Hart // Scan the Clouds
• 1 Two-Handed Axe // Sweeping Cleave

• Sorceries (14)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Dragonclaw Strike
• 1 Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display
• 1 Enter the Enigma
• 1 Explore
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Sagu Wildling // Roost Seek
• 1 Stormkeld Vanguard // Bear Down
• 1 Stump Stomp
• 1 Tlincalli Hunter // Retrieve Prey

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Herd Heirloom
• 1 Lucky Clover

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Dragonback Assault
• 1 Fae Offering
• 1 Frostcliff Siege
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Temur Ascendancy

• Lands (40)
• 5 Island
• 5 Mountain
• 7 Forest
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Bountiful Landscape
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Commercial District
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Frontier Bivouac
• 1 Hedge Maze
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Mistrise Village
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rockfall Vale
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Stormcarved Coast
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thundering Falls

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Everything about this is designed to trigger Eshki. In play-testing, she was often at 8 power on turn five, and once I had her at 11 power on turn five, so leaning in like this is likely a reasonable gameplan. She Tramples, she is hard to target, and she sits back on defense as well - the whole thing is quite the package.

If you're new here, 40 Lands probably seems like a surprise. If you're not, you know the drill: 40 Lands gives us a great chance of hitting our fifth Land on turn five, which we really want to do. We have three colors we need to achieve, which means running a fair number of Lands which Enter tapped, so having plenty helps make sure we hit the number we need when we need it. We also have a couple of Lands which help us out, like Bonders' Enclave, Rogue's Passage, and Kessig Wolf Run, which is a great use of excess mana should we have it.

But the real key isn't Eshki, it's the other stuff. Often we'll need quite a bit of mana to cast our two spells each turn, and hitting our drops helps us do that.

We have plenty of ramp, most of which is of the two-mana variety to attempt a turn-three Eshki (something I did every time I play-tested the deck). Arcane Signet, Farseek, Growth Spiral - it's all a bunch of ways to get a third Land in play on turn two. They also have the benefit of being cheap, which means they can be easy-to-cast noncreature spells for us. Fanatic of Rhonas can be a Creature spell instead, of course, but its ability to tap for makes its liability as a Creature (and susceptibility to removal) worth it.

Once Eshki is out, we should be able to draw with her most turns, but one extra card per turn doesn't keep parity with a table of four. Cheap spells like Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain keep cards flowing while remaining cheap should we need the mana to cast a Creature on the same turn. Planar Genesis is a cool way to look at a few, draw one, or ramp if we need it. And Rishkar's Expertise always drew me at least 10 cards every time I cast it. Plus it lets us cast a Creature for free!

We have a number of Creatures, some of which aren't nothing - some of our Adventure Creatures are decently sized and a few have relevant abilities. But really, we're expecting to slam in with a giant Eshki and win with Commander damage. Let everything else hold down the fort while Eshki Tramples in a ton of damage, but be open to the possibility of another way to win.

We have a few Counterspells, a few bounce spells, and a Blasphemous Act as a reset. Mostly we want to be pressing the attack, and we should be able to do that assuming we hit some ramp early, but we also should be able to handle some massive problem like a Wrath of God we don't want or some huge Creature stopping Eshki.

Lucky Clover is worth it here given the number of spells we have with Adventure. Taigam, Master Opportunist is counting when we cast two spells a turn, so that seems like a great inclusion as well. Karlach, Fury of Avernus gives us a second Combat Phase to trigger Eshki again, and Kraum, Violent Cacophony is a mini Eshki that flies. Songcrafter Mage and Eternal Witness give us a second shot with something we've already cast. We have a few ways of adding extra counters like Hardened Scales; Fae Offering is counting the same thing Eshki is, and Dragonback Assault is a great reason to keep those 40 Lands for an alternate win condition. Dragonclaw Strike, done well, should end one player while leaving a second open to death on our next Attack step. And Two-Handed Axe is our one noncreature Adventure, but the power boost to Eshki is worth it, not to mention it can be our noncreature spell twice.

The key with a deck like this is to press the advantage; you want to come out early and swing hard. Because of that, I'd put it in Bracket three, not because it meets the requirements but because of the intent - this deck won't play nice. It's going to bring fire to the table and put people on their back feet, maybe not as fast as a cEDH deck, but very fast for people used to playing in Bracket two.

As you play it, there can be some adjustments - does the deck need more cheap spells? More extra Combat Step tricks? Or just extra removal? Get a few games under your belt and it'll start becoming clear.

Thanks for reading.