Oloro Life is Life!

Commander / EDH* Casual Control Lifegain Storm WUB (Esper)

kenny-vd

Creature (23)

• 1x Archangel of Thune
• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation *f-pre*
• 1x Karlov of the Ghost Council
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed *f-pre*
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Regna, the Redeemer
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood *f-pre*
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Dawn of Hope *f-pre*
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Sanguine Bond

Land (36)

• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 3x Island
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 5x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Sejiri Refuge
• 1x Shambling Vent *f-pre*
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tranquil Cove
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Emeria's Call  ^Flip
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Kaya's Wrath *f-pre*
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Revival / Revenge
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ajani, Strength of the Pride *f-pre*

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Altar of the Pantheon
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Orazca Relic
• 1x Orzhov Keyrune
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sun Droplet
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Instant (9)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Crypt Incursion
• 1x Erebos's Intervention
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Invoke the Divine
• 1x Kaya's Guile
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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A history lesson:

Way back in the day, I started building decks that worked... they worked really well.. At first this sounds like a good thing. I frequently played with friends and won most matches. But there came the arms race. One deck trumping the other and eventually this all got way out of hand. In order to keep me in check, a friend of mine proposed building a deck where EVERY card (basic lands excluded) confirms to a straightforward theme. Nothing vague like 'interacts with..', nope, my theme is LIFE. Every card contains the word LIFE and interacts directly with LIFE!

So many options!

Even with such a narrow selection of cards, things can easily get out of hand. Infinite combos, unfair cards, 'loopholes'. I've tried it all and immediatly removed them from the deck. So the restriction grew to become the following:

• Every card contains the word life (life, lifelink, reminder text containing life, but not proLIFErate)
• No (near) instant kill cards (i.e. Aetherflux Reservoir , Magister Sphinx , Sorin Markov )
• No lockdowns or combos (i.e. Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond )
• Only modern borders (What can I say, I'm picky)

My experience:

Over the years this deck has become my favorite. Every other deck has been salvaged, rebuild, traded away and forgotten, but this one stayed mostly the same. I've managed to get my hands on a couple of really strong and nasty cards, but with the slow pace of the deck, I think it's still fair to play them.

Examples: Necropotence , Toxic Deluge , Serra Ascendant , Ajani, Strength of the Pride

Deckbuilding with a restriction works like a charm! Cards usually synergize very well and searching for cards with the word 'life' gave me a whole new view on what cards are powerful and interesting. These days I get excited by the 'worst' cards, just because they have the word LIFE on it!

The strategy:

• In the first couple of turns you just take the damage like a man! People will usually attack the Oloro player first because 'he has the most life' (duh!). But that's okay, we can take it! Try to focus on card draw and other ways to grind value. Card advantage: Dawn of Hope , Read the Bones , Survival Cache , Necropotence Value: Luminarch Ascension , Blind Obedience , Dreadhorde Invasion , Authority of the Consuls
• Turn four or five is the turnaround. Drop a board whipe to clean the battlefield. From here, slowly build your board with tokens, while saving some mana for spot removal/ interaction. Board wipe: Ajani, Strength of the Pride , Toxic Deluge , Kaya's Wrath , Fumigate
• Keep the other players in check by removing their most important pieces and use the power of diplomacy to pitch them against each other. We're running a marathon, not a sprint.
• Slowly chip away at your opponents life until you can turn big life gain into a weapon! Chipping away: Regna, the Redeemer , Regal Bloodlord , Cliffhaven Vampire Big payoff: Vizkopa Guildmage , Defiant Bloodlord , Gray Merchant of Asphodel , Sanguine Bond

Counters:

• Erebos, God of the Dead !!! The deck is filled with exile effects to deal with Erebos, especially an opponent running him as a commander is a HUGE no-go. Tainted Remedy and similar effects can be painful, but are easier to get rid of.
• Being the archenemy. Diplomacy is an important part of this deck. Your board is mostly empty compared to creature based decks. Make deals, be kind and charm your way to victory!

Updates:

With the growing power level in my meta, I've decided to allow combos and storm effects into the deck. Powerful black tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Grim Tutor increase consistency while Bolas's Citadel + Aetherflux Reservoir + Necropotence OR Doom Whisperer help close out the game. Tainted Sigil and Children of Korlis allow for massive lifegain, coupled with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Sanguine Bond this can easily kill off opponents.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.38
Tokens	Ajani's Pridemate, Angel 4/4 W, Angel Warrior 4/4 W, City's Blessing, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, On an Adventure, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Spirit 1/1 WB, Warrior 1/1 W, Zombie Army 0/0 B