Price$56.55 – $60.34
Buy on TCGplayerEsper Sentinel
Artifact Creature — Human Soldier
Legal Salt 1.67Card DrawRank #76
Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays 
, where X is this creature's power.
1/1
Why is this card good?
Esper Sentinel is one of the best white cards printed in years, and it singlehandedly closes some of the color's biggest gaps in Commander: card advantage and reach. For a single white mana, it taxes every opponent's first noncreature spell each turn — and in a four-player game, that's potentially three free cards per turn cycle, more if it sticks around.
The "tax or draw" design is brutal. Opponents either pay your tax (slowing their development) or hand you cards. Either outcome benefits you, and the power scaling means anthems, equipment, or +1/+1 counters make it even nastier — pump it once and the tax becomes prohibitive.
Play it in any white deck, full stop. It's especially strong in stax, hatebears, voltron, and aggressive white-based lists where you have ways to grow its power. The only knock: it's a 1/1 that dies to a stiff breeze, so expect it to eat early removal — which is fine, it's a great lightning rod.
Run it whenever white is in your colors.
Related cards
Smothering Tithe
White draw/tax engine that punishes opponents and generates resources each turn.
Rhystic Study
Classic taxing card-draw engine off opponents' spells.
Mystic Remora
Cheap repeated card draw taxing opponents' noncreature spells.
Archivist of Oghma
White artifact-ish hatebear drawing cards off opponents' searches.
Welcoming Vampire
White draw engine triggering off small creatures entering.
Trouble in Pairs
White punisher enchantment drawing when opponents take extra actions.
Monologue Tax
White tax piece punishing extra spells with treasure.
Hokori, Dust Drinker
White stax piece taxing opponents' resources similarly to Sentinel's tax angle.
Printings (5)
Played by these commanders
Mondrak, Glory Dominus100% of 1