Escalate appears on a few modal spells in the set, giving a player the option to make the spell more powerful, but also more expensive
"Well you still have to pay the mana cost, and it's instant spells only, how bad can it be?" It means you can draw lots of cards with Brainstorm, blink Chun-Li to get her out of harm's way with an Ephemerate, or make your board untouchable with a Teferi's Protection every turn
A single commander wont provide the benefits you want from this blue enchantment
Every year, a number of expansion packs, booster sets, collector tins, and more are released to audiences eager to play the game and collect the cards
I see it being much more widely used as a card in the main deck, however
1 Lord of Change