Espi helps with a workflow, not a mystery box
Espi is the brewing assistant inside Esper Forge. It does not receive permission to rewrite a deck simply because a prompt sounds enthusiastic. Each action has a defined purpose, collects the information needed for that purpose and returns a result the brewer can inspect before applying it.
Five actions with different responsibilities
Create a deck starts from a legal commander and a deck brief. Cut to size removes cards until an ordinary Commander list reaches one hundred cards including its command zone. Tune your deck proposes role-aware one-for-one changes. Find my commander uses a ten-question preference flow to suggest three commanders. Roast my deck explains weaknesses without silently replacing the list with a new build.
The free chat remains Commander-focused and can explain cards, plans and saved context. Actions stay available from every deck conversation, while each deck keeps one continuous chat. A duplicated or exported list does not carry that private conversation into the copy.
Preferences guide choices without taking ownership
Budget, preferred bracket, combo limits, tutor limits, language and store preference can be remembered for future workflows. Collection use is opt-in for each relevant action because an owned card may already belong to another deck. The flavor-to-goodstuff slider changes how candidates are weighted; it does not override legality, structural requirements or the requested archetype.
A specific gameplan is useful, but no brewer should be forced into a preset archetype. Suggested archetypes help the engine finish a coherent search in time, while a custom plan remains allowed. If a request is ambiguous, Espi should ask for the missing decision before spending additional work.
Costs and long jobs stay explicit
Forgecoin costs are shown beside actions and free-chat sending. The balance is visible inside the assistant. A workflow reserves its listed price for the defined work; closing or minimizing the chat does not cancel it. If an engine job genuinely needs more cycles, Espi asks before charging an additional Forgecoin instead of entering an unlimited loop.
Results remain proposals until the relevant confirmation. Deck generation may show a summary before creation, but the complete copyable list is protected by the paid creation step. Tune results show outgoing and incoming cards, explanations and apply controls. A stale proposal must be recalculated against the current deck before it can change anything.
What happens during an Espi action
- 01
Define the request
Espi collects commander, bracket, budget, archetype and the preferences that matter to this action.
- 02
Reserve one job slot
A visible queued or working state identifies the action and prevents accidental parallel runs beyond the account limit.
- 03
Validate the result
Cards are checked against canonical data, color identity, deck size and the action-specific constraints.
- 04
Let the brewer decide
A proposal is explained and can be accepted, rejected or applied one swap at a time where appropriate.
Espi questions
Does minimizing the assistant cancel a workflow?
No. The workflow continues in the background. An explicit cancellation stops it, and spent work is not automatically refunded.
Can Espi use cards from my collection?
Only when you choose that option for the action. Ignore my collection is the default.
Can two workflows run at once?
The standard experience allows one active workflow. Higher parallel limits may be offered through an account entitlement, but the system does not allow an unbounded number of jobs.