Commander Deck Tech: Esika, God of the Tree

Kaldheim is known for its many Gods, but one of them stands out for her humility and for knowing the Cosmos better than anyone else. That's Esika, God of the Tree, Tergrid, God of Fright's sister.

Throughout the history of this plane, Esika was responsible for giving the Cosmos Elixir to other Gods, this way making them powerful immortal Gods. However, in this article, we'll show you that this God can command your deck all the way to victory!

She is so versatile that we built two lists for her:

- One list is nearly a toolbox and includes multiple Gods from Magic: The Gathering's multiverse;

- The other focuses on interesting, fun legendary creatures.

Before we discuss these lists, though, let's explore our commander and her abilities.

“The Tree was the heart of our world. It made me what I am and pulled me back from the brink of death. I won’t allow it to be forgotten.” —Esika, god of the Tree

Like other Kaldheim Gods, Esika has two sides:

Her creature side has vigilance and works like a mana dork. Furthermore, she gives other legendary creatures vigilance and the ability to tap to create mana of any color. If you like effects like this, check out our Commander deck tech for Inga and Esika.

Her enchantment side is The Prismatic Bridge, a legendary enchantment whose ability triggers at the beginning of your upkeep. It lets you reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal a creature or planeswalker. Then, this card will go directly to your battlefield.

Both sides are interesting, and the lists we'll show you work really well with either of them. This way, you'll be able to test and explore each side this commander offers you more freely.

Our first list focuses on creatures that share a type with our commander: Gods.

This list includes a few of the most popular and beloved Gods in the entire game, a gate mana base, and a win condition that interacts with them: Maze's End.

Another important detail in the mana base is The World Tree, a land that fixes your mana and which you can sacrifice to tutor any number of Gods from your deck and put them directly on your board.

Ramp and Mana Rocks

This gate mana base is versatile and includes lands that you can adapt to fit any situation you face. However, it also includes mana rocks and cards that get you basic lands as some extra help.

I'd like to highlight Inga and Esika, which, besides letting you use your creatures to create mana, draw you cards whenever you cast a creature spell with mana they created.

If you get a Circuitous Route or Open the Gates, there's only one thing left to do: get Gond Gate as fast as possible so all your gates enter play untapped. If you want to get Maze's End, Expedition Map is your solution.

These artifacts will accelerate your mana, and, with Altar of the Pantheon, you'll gain 1 life whenever you cast one of the Gods in this list. It will also help you turn them into creatures with Devotion.

Creatures

Esika interacts really well with creatures, particularly her legendary enchantment side.

For this reason, this deck includes many creatures that you can put in play with her effect.

Gods interact with several mechanics, but I'll highlight their burn interactions with Surtr, Fiery Jötun, Keranos, God of Storms, Klothys, God of Destiny, Mogis, God of Slaughter, Purphoros, God of the Forge, and Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might. This way, you'll deal more non-combat damage to your opponents overall.

The Capitoline Triad is a funny card.

Even if you have to exile cards from your graveyard to get its emblem, this creature is a 7/7 that you can potentially cast for free. Its emblem also turns all your creatures into 9/9 and lets them keep their abilities.

Non-Gods

Here are some cards that are not Gods but had a space in this list:

Roaming Throne is one of those cards that are so generically great that they fit any deck. In this deck, it will trigger our Gods' abilities extra times.

As this list has many Theros Gods (which are enchantments), Sythis, Harvest's Hand and Wildsear, Scouring Maw will give you more value whenever you cast those creatures.

Morophon, the Boundless might not be a God in name, but its effects are a must in any deck. With this Changeling on your board, you'll spend less colored mana to play your Gods. Having Morophon and Nylea, Keen-Eyed on your board at the same time is quite fun!

Recursion and Reanimates

Gods interact really well with each other, and will definitely attract some unwanted attention - which can mean you'll have to answer removals again and again. To play around these situations, you can use recursion and reanimates like:

Decks that focus on legendary creatures are quite popular, and nearly all Commander players will build at least one in their Magic: The Gathering journey.

As Esika turns your legendary creatures into mana dorks or puts them directly on your board from the top of your deck, we added to this alternative list the best cards that fit this mechanic.

We can consider the cards below "sub-commanders":

By the way, Jodah and Sisay are very fun five-color commanders. We at Cards Realm have already explored and brought you deck techs for them:

Click here to find out more about Sisay, Weatherlight Captain.

Click here and find out more about Jodah, the Unifier.

Some creature effects, like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero, Rip, Spawn Hunter, Neerdiv, Devious Diver, Kona, Rescue Beastie, and Annie Flash, the Veteran, trigger when they're tapped, which you can do easily with Esika's creature side when you turn them into mana generators.

Ioreth of the Healing House and Samut, Voice of Dissent will untap your creatures so you can use their effects more than once per turn.

This is an aggro list, so, your strategy is to attack your opponents' life totals. As such, Surrak Dragonclaw, Avacyn's Memorial, and Heroes' Podium are vital.

Regardless of which side you like best, Esika, God of the Tree will work.

This commander can turn all your legendary creatures into mana generators or simply put them on your board directly from the top of your deck.

We decided to build a list with Gods and legendary creatures because they seemed the most fun lists we could build with her. However, Esika's abilities are not that restrictive, so you can play with her and build decks with many other themes, like Planeswalkers, Warlocks, Giants, and many more!

If you have her and haven't built anything for her yet, it's time to put her to work as your next commander.

What do you think of Esika? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!