Oloro, Where Art Thou?

Commander / EDH Casual Combo Control Enchant Lifegain Lifelink Multiplayer Pillow Fort WUB (Esper)

EscapingBurger

Mana Lands (37)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Contaminated Landscape
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Island
• 1x Meticulous Archive
• 1x Nesting Grounds
• 1x Obscura Storefront
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 3x Plains
• 1x Razorgrass Ambush  ^Flip
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Seachrome Coast
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x The Dross Pits
• 1x Thriving Heath
• 1x Thriving Moor
• 1x Tranquil Cove
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Waterlogged Teachings  ^Flip
• 1x Zof Consumption  ^Flip

Win Conditions (11)

• 1x Approach of the Second Sun
• 1x Baneful Omen
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Inkshield
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Serra Avatar
• 1x Storm Herd
• 1x Test of Endurance

Lifegain (19)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Beacon of Immortality
• 1x Campfire
• 1x Celestial Force
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Drogskol Reaver
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Faith's Fetters
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Kaya, Intangible Slayer
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Sun Droplet
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Terashi's Grasp
• 1x Venser's Journal
• 1x Wall of Reverence
• 1x Zof Consumption  ^Flip

Card Draw (15)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Azorius Cluestone
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Concentrate
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Drogskol Reaver
• 1x Greed
• 1x Kaya, Intangible Slayer
• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x The Dross Pits
• 1x Waterlogged Teachings  ^Flip
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Ramp (10)

• 1x Azorius Cluestone
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Commander (1)

Defense (18)

• 1x Angel of the Dire Hour
• 1x Blazing Archon
• 1x Celestial Force
• 1x Drogskol Reaver
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Inkshield
• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Serra Avatar
• 1x Sun Droplet
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Wall of Reverence
• 1x Windborn Muse

Removal (15)

• 1x Angel of the Dire Hour
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Faith's Fetters
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Intrepid Hero
• 1x Kaya, Intangible Slayer
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Plague Wind
• 1x Razorgrass Ambush  ^Flip
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Terashi's Grasp
• 1x Urza's Rebuff
• 1x Wrath of the Skies

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Maybeboard

Lifegain (33)

• 1x Alabaster Potion
• 1x Angel of Destiny
• 1x Awe Strike
• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Death Grasp
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Divine Offering
• 1x Dromar's Charm
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Gold-Forged Thopteryx
• 1x Hallow
• 1x Ivory Tower
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Kraken's Eye
• 1x Leonin Elder
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Renewed Faith
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Scholar of Athreos
• 1x Solemn Offering
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation
• 1x Spinal Embrace
• 1x Survival Cache
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Tivash, Gloom Summoner
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage
• 1x Wall of Hope
• 1x War Report

Defense (30)

• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Awe Strike
• 1x Azorius Guildmage
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Energy Storm
• 1x Giver of Runes
• 1x Glory
• 1x Gold-Forged Thopteryx
• 1x Hallow
• 1x Ice Floe
• 1x Ith, High Arcanist
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mirror Golem
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Orim's Chant
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Pit Trap
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Shell of the Last Kappa
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Spinal Embrace
• 1x Stormtide Leviathan
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Wall of Hope

Removal (11)

• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Death Grasp
• 1x Divine Offering
• 1x Dromar's Charm
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Pit Trap
• 1x Solemn Offering
• 1x Urza's Ruinous Blast

Win Conditions (11)

• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Angel of Destiny
• 1x Armageddon Clock
• 1x Azor's Elocutors
• 1x Cradle of Vitality
• 1x Death Grasp
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Tivash, Gloom Summoner
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage

Card Draw (6)

• 1x Book of Rass
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Renewed Faith
• 1x Rush of Knowledge
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation
• 1x Survival Cache

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Nothing to See Here

This began life as an attempt to turn my ancient Pestilence deck Sick Leave into something suitable for Commander. It didn't really work, as most of Sick Leave's fun is based on tight interactions between a small number of cards, which is pretty hard to pull off in a 100-card singleton format. But there was a seed of a good idea there, and I also had an Oloro, Ageless Ascetic that I wanted to do something with. Put those together, and here we are.

The main goal with this deck is to play defense, gain life, and eventually drop some ridiculous win condition out of nowhere. Cards like Windborn Muse, Koskun Falls, and (as a big hammer) Glacial Chasm discourage attackers, as do a variety of big blockers. Angel of the Dire Hour, Awe Strike and the like are reactive, but also serve as deterrents once your opponents know you have them. With the walls up, you can keep gaining life (and drawing cards) with Oloro until you get whatever you need to win.

For win conditions, the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond infinite combo is the dream, but either on their own provide a lot of synergy. Beacon of Immortality + Sanguine Bond can be a kill as well. Felidar Sovereign or Test of Endurance also win straight-up if you can keep them out until your next upkeep, and Storm Herd likely gives you 50+ creatures if the game is going well. If you can't pull any of that that off, you can also just go for attrition via Sanguine Bond, Baneful Omen, and the like, then turn those big blockers into attackers to finish the job.

The strategy here is partly political, in that you generally want to appear nonthreatening in the early game so your opponents will fight amongst themselves while you amass your resources. Many of the win conditions take at least a turn to go off and can put a pretty big target on your head, so it's best not to drop something like a Test of Endurance until you're ready to use it.

Improvements

This deck is still early, but it's performed well so far. There's a lot in here that I haven't proven out, though, so I expect to continue refining it. Some current thoughts are:

1. Azor's Elocutors and Strixhaven Stadium seem like fun things to play while behind a Glacial Chasm, but they also scream "Please attack me." I need to see if I can ever realistically win with these, or if they're too slow and counteract the "look nonthreatening" part of the strategy.
2. I thought about adding Solemnity to disrupt counter-based strategies (and poison!) and keep that Glacial Chasm out for free, but it breaks the aforementioned Azor's Elocutors and Strixhaven Stadium. I might revisit this if I decide to remove those. Something like Energy Storm might be fun too if I can turn off cumulative upkeep.
3. Demonic Consultation is extremely dangerous in a singleton deck; it's mainly there as a cute combo with Approach of the Second Sun. There are already enough sources of card draw that this probably isn't needed, but I kind of want to try it at least once.
4. In general, the deck is short on creatures and has a pretty high mana curve. So far, acting unassuming until I can ramp up a bit has worked well, but I'll have to see how this plays out in the long term. It may need more cheap ways to discourage attackers.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	3 months
Key combos	Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond Beacon of Immortality + Sanguine Bond
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.06
Tokens	Energy Reserve, Inkling 2/1 WB, Pegasus 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB
Folders	EDH I WANT, My Commander Decks