Commander Clinic has written a lot about the Prismatic Bridge. I think it deserves the attention. After Golos, Tireless Pilgrim was banned there was a void at the five color commander. Kenrith, the Returned King took that spot with generic abilities and only needs white to cast him. He provides value but so genetically he doesn’t feed into what you necessarily want to do. He makes an excellent combo commander.
Esika ranks fourth in five color commanders with approximately 4500 decks to its name. People are doing a lot with Esika. The most popular is God Tribal. This is unique and it’s nice to not see the Prismatic Bridge as a value engine just for five color good stuff. Esika can be so much more.
Previously we have written about the shrine deck that also used Eskia as a threat if players would not let you alone to achieve shrine value. We also used Esika as a home to replace a five color superfriends deck that originally had Golos as a commander. Finally, we used Esika as a shell to tutor for and cast a janky combo that can win you the game. There is so much more to this commander as long as we take the time to daydream about what it can do and how we can abuse it.
Combo Potential
The Planar Bridge is a value engine. Every card you pull from your library is free and uncounterable. This neuters the blue player and the counterspells he plays. The bridge is random and the more creatures and planeswalkers you stuff into the deck the higher variance there is on what card you might flip. The converse is true as well. The fewer creatures and planeswalkers in your deck the lower the variance you will have when you flip a creature. This is exactly what the combo version of the deck wants to do. If you can keep your deck to two creatures or planeswalkers to combo off that is excellent. In two turns after casting the Bridge, without help from Paradox Haze, you will have your combo out.
Although often it may be wise to add a third creature in the deck that will help protect your combo. cEDH decks will eat Esika for lunch in many cases because you need to ramp early limiting your ability to interact with the table and those decks also run a lot of interaction and with the randomness of Esika at two or three combo piece cards you can expect them to be removed or even have your Prismatic Bridge destroyed setting you back, This is an excellent deck to play for tables that are approaching cEDH power but are not quite there.
What We Tutor For
What we are about to present can be adapted to any combo you wish to run. However due to the nature of The Prismatic Bridge and the mana involved can drastically slow down the deck.So if you choose a different combo than this one look for it to be a two card win the game sort of combo
Avacyn Angel of Hope
This is the creature that optimally you want to have enter the battlefield (ETB) first. This will protect all of your cards except for exile and bounce effects. Vigilance helps you attack early while protecting your board. It is the ability to make all your permanents indestructible that you want from this card.
Runescarred Demon
This is a traditional tutor on a body. It’s advantage is that it is an ETB effect, It’s uncounterable and it lets you pull any card from your deck. Since it is any card you do not have to reveal the card which is good. If you showed the card you were fetching your opponents would put a target on your back bigger than Sarah Connor in the Terminator. It’s this card that allows you to build in most combos as you can fetch non creatures or planeswalkers.
Worldslayer
This is the card you fetch with Runescarred Demon The win is simple after this stall until you have ten mana to deploy the Worldslayer and equip it to Avacyn then swing away at a vulnerable player. All of your opponents will lose their permanents but you will keep all of yours. At this point you can ask if the table would like to shuffle up for another game and you will play a different deck. If they say no just swing out as quickly as you can using all three of your creatures and keep the board clear. Try not to take big turns. Leave your mana up to cast protection if needed or a counterspell and keep the turns brief. You want to end the game quickly because the rest of the game will not be fun for your opponents.
Deadeye Navigator
This is a value engine piece that is included in the deck. You can play this card one of two ways. First is to soulbond it with Avacyn thus protecting her from single target removal. Due to the blink effect the targeted removal spell fizzles. The other is to gain additional value by soulbonding it to Runescarred Demon. You are fetching a card or two that can help protect your board or speed up your mana generation to get to the end of the game faster. In the situations where Deadeye comes out first and then Runescarred Demon it is perfectly OK to tutor for protection like a Heroic Intervention, Lazotep Plating or just a plain Teferi’s Protection. This insures the combo will remain intact for when Avacyn comes out or protects you from a wheel effect forcing you to discard your Worldslayer.
The Rest of the Deck
The rest of the deck builds itself. We will not build a deck list for it. Instead season your list to taste with a little of this and that. The deck wants 15 to 20 low mana cost ramp spells and mana fixing. It wants 11 to 13 card draw spells and tutors including Runescarred Demon. It also wants 8 to 10 counterspells and 8 to 10 spells that protect your cards from removal. Finally you will want 10 to 15 single target removal spells and36 to 40 lands to round out the deck. Play around with the numbers to make it work with what is in your collection. Outside of the four specific cards mentioned these slots can be filled with anything. .
