Call me weird, but how do you win with this deck?

mw2noobbuster There are a few ways. Combo, Angels, or just making everyone else scoop.

Speaking of combo, how's Ad Nauseam working out for you so far?

Haven't pulled it off yet. Last game I played, I dropped a Plains and Mana Crypt into Luminarch Ascension turn 1. Turn 2 was Tundra and Nether Void. Turn 3, Swamp and Demonic Tutor fetching Rhystic Study. Turn 4 Aura of Silence. Turn 5 Rhystic Study. Opponents scooped.

I'm considering adding Karlov of the Ghost Council as he seems pretty strong. Does anyone have any thoughts on him in a deck like mine?

He's alright, but I don't really see him being strong enough to merit a spot considering how creature-light the deck is designed to run. I'd much rather run a hate bear like Aven Mindcensor or an engine like Consecrated Sphinx (or both at once in the form of Notion Thief).

Yeah, notion thief could be really fun.

Karlov of the Ghost Council could be good. Unfortunately the best way to abuse Karlov of the Ghost Council in my mind is through a Soul Warden style deck which this isn't. He could still work though if you are willing to wait for the ability to proc. You have the steady lifegain from Oreo but in order to go ham you could throw in Exsanguinate and Kokusho, the Evening Star which can both do you some good in a multiplayer setting.

If you are going ham with your hate level, why not squeeze in something like Glacial Chasm, Solitary Confinement, Story Circle, Deathgrip, Perish, or The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale.

Also for gods sake get a Forbid, you should have plenty of card draw and have dumb things like Consecrated Sphinx and Mystic Remora. Having a reusable Counterspell is just insane. Also Porphyry Nodes is a white Drop of Honey and Planar Collapse can be a 2 mana Wrath of God

Cool deck Ender666666 +1 from me. You should check out my EDH Stax primer. I have been meaning to get around to building a esper stax deck but I don't know if I should go Oloro, Sen Triplets, or Ertai, the Corrupted. Do you have any experience with the other two creatures as generals?

Blah, no, Forbid is terrible in anything resembling a competitive deck. Three mana for a counterspell is way too much. 0-2 mana is the range for efficiently costed countermagic. Anything more expensive than that isn't worth considering.

He has those already though, I'm trying to suggest things he hasn't used yet and be productive. The use Forbid has isn't related to its costs but rather that it doesn't go away after only answering one threat. I'm assuming this deck can draw a fair amount of hate sometimes so I was just trying to be helpful. What would you suggest? NarejED

For countermagic in CEDH, cost is key. Games are often decided in the first four turns, so having counterspells that can be played around ramp in those turns is optimal. The best counterspells not already being run are Swan Song, Spell Pierce, Arcane Denial, Dispel, and Flusterstorm. Mental Misstep is also good, though slightly more meta-dependent.

Swan Song is good, I don't like only being able to hose instants because sorceries are usually scarier. Do you think he should run Swords to Plowshares and / or Path to Exile to kill anything indestructible that might mess with him?

Arcane Denial and Swan Song are both great cards, and possible additions. It's just a matter of optimizing what balance of counter magic vs. lockdown pieces I want. 1 good piece of lockdown can sometimes prevent 4-5 spells from ever getting cast.

Forbid was one of the very first spells I had in here, long ago. But I just never have cards that I want to pitch. Everything's important. My goal is to never get into a situation where it's so Do or Die that I would rather pitch 2 cards than let something resolve. This deck is partially designed to take massive hits and be able to shrug them off.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

No problem Ender666666, I hope any of my advice helped. Maybe Forbid works better for me because its in a Grimgrin, Corpse-Born deck :p How has Lim-Dul's Vault worked for you?

Also I like the Ad Nauseam + Sickening Dreams Combo. I am a sucker for Hatred so it reminds me of the shenanigans it caused.

Been a while since I've tuned in on this deck, and I can see it has improved. Really dig the Ad Nauseam / Angel's Grace / Sickening Dreams combo! Shame Sickening Dreams is a sorcery, or Necrologia would work great as well (Probably even better). I think I've recommended it to you before, but just in case, I recommend you try it out again. So great with Reliquary Tower and Venser's Journal. Necrologia is one of my favorite cards in Oloro. Definitely gonna toss this combo in there though.

Reason I'm posting here again is that I recently started foiling/pimping my Oloro deck too (Now that I've almost finished both Animar and Niv-Mizzet...) Recently got a foil Academy Rector and a Nether Void, as well as a ton of other cheaper foils. Stil far away from this deck, but I'm working on it.

There's a couple of cards I've added that I think would make a big difference for your deck.

The first is Yawgmoth's Will. Can't believe it took me so long before I added it to my black decks (Ok, it's because I was afraid it would be too good, and it absolutely is). Can easily use it to chain out all your manarocks after an artifact boardwipe, double sac children of korlis, get back a few key pieces of removal you have already played, fetch / play another land. If I don't win off it, I usually end up with all my artifacts and half my enchantments back in play from my graveyard and few new tutored cards in my hand.

Second card is Intuition. It pretty much always gives you insane value, and in an emergency, always fetches the answer you need the most (Hey, that guy just Genesis Waved for 30, mind giving me the Force of Will I tutored for?)

Intuition for Yawgmoth's Will + Reanimate + Any Creature. Or Lockdown Enchantment 1 + Lockdown Enchantment 2 + Replenish. Reanimate / Yawgmoth + Sun Titan + Any 3 CMC permanent. Crucible + Academy Ruins + Any Artifact.

Third card is Mystical Teachings. It's fucking great. Drawback is the slow speed. Tutors for all instants (Any counter, removal etc) and flash creatures (So Teferi, Mindcensor, Notion Thief), but most importantly, does it twice, and is instant. Have left over mana EOT? Tutor for Angel's Grace. Have leftover mana at a later turn? Flashback it for Ad Nauseam. Untap, win!

Hey Sleazebag, thanks for the suggestions. They're all on point. Of course it always comes down to the age old challenge of what to cut in order to add?

Although I know it's great, Yawgmoth's Will just never seemd all that important to me in this build. I might try it out, I might not, but I appreciate the suggestion.

I like Intuition and Mystical Teachings a lot, but both seem a bit underwhelming to me here. I suppose with Intuition I could go for 3 dangerous enchantments, and then Replenish the pitched ones into play, but that is about the only reason I could really think of to intentionally throw stuff into my graveyard... Although I suppose Sun Titan works too.

Regarding Mystical Teachings, although I like it, please remember that a goal of mine is to make things very costly to cast. The expensive Buyback on Teachings, becomes VERY cost prohibitive with something like Nether Void in play. I like it... Just not sure if I like it ENOUGH. I'll test it out as well though and see.

Ender666666: The high CMC becomes less of a problem due to it being instant. I recommend trying it out.

Also, the only card you have that increases the cost of your own cards is Nether Void. So that shouldn't be a regular problem. None of your cards other than the void affect yourself. ;)

How do you feel about The Abyss though? It can completely shut down decks that care about having a few high value creatures, and it sticks around.

I love The Abyss and would love to own one. But, alas, I do not. Anyone want to make a donation?

Wouldn't they want those high value creatures to be protected from destruction and/or targeting effects as well Sleazebag? The Abyss is a powerful magic card but I tend to lean more towards sacrifice effects since it evades hexproof, shroud, and indestructible.

Since you have so little creatures would you ever consider Lethal Vapors or the Death Pits of Rath? They could be fun cards to experiment with. If you like The Abyss there is always Magus of the Abyss but he sucks in comparison.

Hey Perfect_Phyrexia, thanks for the suggestion, but truthfully, Lethal Vapors and Death Pits of Rath aren't strong enough. If I was to run something like that, I would probably just run Tainted AEther instead.

That is the one I was looking for! I knew there was another good 4 drop enchantment. Tainted AEther is really good since it shuts down all those blinking and infinite ETB shenanigans as well as effecting lands. I didn't mean to interrupt you and Sleazebag before haha.

No worries! I appreciate all suggestions.

Perfect_Phyrexia: A notable detail is that The Abyss doesn't care about hexproof, which is the most common form of protection aside from indestructibility (which is fortunately very uncommon), and that's why we have exile effects once they manage to stick one. It's not meant to handle everything.

On the note of awesome enchantments, I completely forgot one of my favorite ones.

Spreading Plague

In a 4 player game, it basically keeps the board completely clear on its own, and it often just shuts down decks completely.I actually played it earlier today in a 4 player game and the elf deck lost on the spot. Good luck trying to amass your elf army...

I love Spreading Plague. It's a great card.