Eshki Dragonclaw is one of the many legendary creatures that feature in Magic: The Gathering’s Tarkir: Dragonstorm set. For those who are fans of Temur (green/blue/red), Eshki is the new leader of that clan in the new era of Tarkir.
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As for the game itself, Eshki Dragonclaw offers a unique playstyle that wants to play a large number of both creatures and noncreature spells. There are a few different ways to do this, but the best way is to build it as an Adventure deck. This lets you have both card types on one card, letting you cast both kinds of spells with ease.
Decklist
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Commander: Eshki Dragonclaw |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Beanstalk Giant |
Beanstalk Wurm |
Beluna Grandsquall |
Bonecrusher Giant |
Bramble Familiar |
Brazen Borrower |
|
Brightcap Badger |
Chancellor of Tales |
Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius |
Edgeweall Innkeeper |
Elusive Otter |
Elvish Mystic |
|
Embereth Shieldbreaker |
Fyndhorn Elves |
Horned Loch-Whale |
Hypnotic Sprite |
Illithid Harvester |
Jori En, Ruin Diver |
|
Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy |
Kraum, Violent Cacophony |
Llanowar Elves |
Lovestruck Beast |
Lozhan, Dragons’ Legacy |
Moonshae Pixie |
|
Questing Druid |
Rosethorn Acolyte |
Savvy Trader |
Scalding Viper |
Sentinel of Lost Lore |
Stormkeld Vanguard |
|
Sword Coast Serpent |
Sword Coast Serpent |
Taigam, Master Opportunist |
Tempest Hart |
The Thirteenth Doctor |
Tincalli Hunter |
|
Young Blue Dragon |
Young Red Dragon |
Blasphemous Act |
Farseek |
Gitaxian Probe |
Nature’s Lore |
|
Ponder |
Preordain |
Rampant Growth |
Three Visits |
Beast Within |
Chaos Warp |
|
Manamorphose |
Noxious Revival |
Opt |
Pongify |
Rapid Hybridization |
Snap |
|
Arcane Signet |
Commander’s Sphere |
Crystal Shard |
Fellwar Stone |
Lucky Clover |
Sol Ring |
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Talisman of Creativity |
Talisman of Curiosity |
Two-Handed Axe |
Fortune Teller’s Talent |
Passioante Archaeologist |
Virtue of Strength |
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Castle Garenbrig |
Castle Vantress |
Cinder Glade |
Command Tower |
Dreamroot Cascade |
Exotic Orchard |
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Flooded Grove |
x6 Forest |
Frontier Bivoac |
Hinterland Harbor |
x6 Island |
Karplusan Forest |
|
x5 Mountain |
Rejuvenating Springs |
Rockfall Vale |
Rootbound Crag |
Shivan Reef |
Stormcarved Coast |
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Sulfur Falls |
Yavimaya Coast |
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The decklist contains 37 creatures, eight sorceries, eight instants, nine artifacts, three enchantments, and 34 lands. While the noncreature spell is low, most creatures have Adventure and can be used as noncreature spells.
Key Cards
Eshki Dragonclaw
The commander of the deck, Eshki Dragonclaw acts as both a powerful creature in combat while providing card advantage. Its solid statline and abilities help it to be a constant threat, forcing your opponents to answer it before it runs away with the game.
The deck can function fine without your commander, so don’t feel like you have to cast it as quickly as possible.
Eshki will primarily trigger off of casting Adventures and creatures. You can use cantrips (spells that cost one mana) to easily check off the noncreature spell and use them in combination with your larger creature spells.
Beluna Grandsquall
A great commander on its own, Beluna Grandsquall both provides you with a ton of cards with Adventure, and discounts all your Adventure spells. Since you want to be casting multiple spells in one turn, this discount will come in handy early on in the game when it’s harder to cast more than one spell.
The discount Beluna Grandsquall provides only applies to the permanent half. The Adventure half is not discounted.
The Adventure side of Beluna Grandsquall is an instant and is best used during the end step before your turn starts. This lets you start your turn with multiple creatures with Adventure in your hand, and a three-mana creature to cast to help trigger Eshki.
Taigam, Master Opportunist
Generally, you want to be casting two spells every turn, and that’s why Taigam, master Opportunist is such a great card in the deck. The second spell you cast is copied and suspended with four time counters, letting the copy resolve while the original spell is exiled until later.
The biggest benefit is when you cast the suspended spell, it will count as your first spell. It is cast for free, so as long as you cast the opposite spell type, you’ll trigger Eshki Dragonclaw with just one spell being paid for.
Tlincalli Hunter
Tlincalli Hunter is a costly permanent, but one that is very much worth the price of admission. Once it’s on the battlefield, you can cast any spell from exile for zero mana. After the Adventure side of a card is used, it is exiled, letting Tlincalli Hunter’s discount apply.
The Adventure side of Tlincalli Hunter lets you re-use any creature from your graveyard. Since it only costs two mana to use this effect, it makes it easy to cast the creature for Eshki to trigger. This helps you to keep your best creatures around if they ever get removed.
Lozhan, Dragons’ Legacy
Since most of your deck has an Adventure half, Lozhan, Dragons’ Legacy is the perfect support card to bring life totals down quicker, as well as remove any problem creature. The one thing Lozhan can’t target is a commander, but most of the time you wouldn’t want to anyway.
Lozhan’s burn effect will only trigger if you cast the Adventure side of a spell. It will not trigger for the permanent half (unless that permanent is a Dragon, which the decklist does include).
There are a lot of Adventures that cost a bit of mana, making the burn damage Lozhan can do very damaging. You want to target a player with the burn that is the biggest threat, as it will make it easier to take them out in combat.
How To Play The Deck
A Eshki Dragonclaw deck is all about casting a creature and noncreature spell, building up Eshki’s stats and swinging out with powerful creatures. The way to achieve this is through casting spells with Adventures, then the creature side of them later. The deck is very creature-heavy, allowing you to make a threatening battlefield of creatures to swing wide with.
Cards with Adventure stay exiled and can be cast in any future turn. It’s a good idea to use Adventures early so that you can easily cast the creature side when you know you can also cast a noncreature spell in the same turn.
There are multiple cards that can discount spells that are being cast from exile. Since you want to be casting multiple spells a turn, this discount is important to ensure Eshki will trigger. Fortune Teller’s Talent, Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius, and Savvy Trader all accomplish this, with Tlincalli Hunter discounting the spell’s cost entirely.
The primary win condition of the deck is winning through combat. The deck has a ton of creatures, many of which have powerful stats and abilities, letting you swing out to all your opponents. With Eshki Dragonclaw’s effect, your hand will stay full of cards that you can cast to keep triggering Eshki. You can also get in for burn damage with Passionate Archaeologist and Lozhan, Dragons’ Legacy to help deal extra damage to make it easier to bring life totals down to zero.
The biggest flaw of the deck is its speed. Since you have to balance both creature and noncreature spells being cast, you need a ton of mana.
As such, the early game is primarily placing mana dorks and rocks down onto the battlefield, leaving you defenseless until you can start casting multiple spells in one turn.
Once you stabilize, it becomes easy to stay stable, but getting to that point may prove troublesome if you’re playing against more aggressive decks.
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