Commander Deck Reviews

So with the commander decks being released this Friday, I thought I would have a look at each deck, starting with 'Eternal Bargain' which is in Esper colours of Blue, White and Black!

Commander - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Main Deck

99 cards Commander
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Barren Moor
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Esper Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Opal Palace
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Orzhov Guildgate
9 Plains
1 Rupture Spire
1 Springjack Pasture
9 Swamp
1 Temple of the False God
1 Transguild Promenade
41 lands

1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Augury Adept
1 Azorius Herald
1 Disciple of Griselbrand
1 Diviner Spirit
1 Divinity of Pride
1 Filigree Angel
1 Hooded Horror
1 Kongming, Sleeping Dragon
1 Marrow Bats
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Phyrexian Delver
1 Phyrexian Gargantua
1 Raven Familiar
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Serene Master
1 Serra Avatar
1 Sharding Sphinx
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Stormscape Battlemage
1 Sydri, Galvanic Genius
1 Tidal Force
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Tower Gargoyle
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Wall of Reverence
27 creatures

1 Act of Authority
1 Brilliant Plan
1 Cradle of Vitality
1 Crawlspace
1 Curse of Inertia
1 Curse of Shallow Graves
1 Curse of the Forsaken
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Death Grasp
1 Deep Analysis
1 Dromar's Charm
1 Famine
1 Greed
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Order of Succession
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Reckless Spite
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Sol Ring
1 Spinal Embrace
1 Sun Droplet
1 Survival Cache
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Tempt with Immortality
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Well of Lost Dreams

This deck is all about life gain. Gaining life from your commander will trigger abilities on cards like Ajani's Pridemate, Cradle of Vitality, and Well of Lost Dreams. Not only does extra life help prolong the time you'll stay in the game, it'll make cards like Serra's Avatar and Divinity of Pride into massive threats.

Serene Master is a powerful creature that'll help keep your opponents from dealing to much combat damage to you early on and Darksteel Mutation can render one of your rival's commanders completely useless. Curse of Inertia, Curse of Shallow Graves, and Curse of the Forsaken all give your adversaries a reason to attack a different enemy instead of you.

Sydri, Galvanic Genius can transform any of the deck's creatures or artifacts into a deadly deathtouch creature with lifeflink. Tempt with Immortality can reanimate your best dead creatures after an opponent's Wrath of God or other board sweeper. Later on, Tidal Force can allow you to lock down a troublesome opponent. Act of Authority will bounce around the table blowing up your foe's permanents. Toxic Deluge is another potent new exclusive to this deck that can strategically wipe out a portion of the battlefield and leaving your forces intact to take out another player.

There's some choice reprints featured in the "Eternal Bargain" deck. Lim-Dûl's Vault returns for the first time, and in the modern card frame. We also get Nevinyrral's Disk, a reset button for when board states get out of control. Kongming, Sleeping Dragon was previously a hard to find card and Crawlspace can slow down Commander games drastically, giving "Eternal Bargain" an advantage over more aggressive strategies.