Smacking A Dragon-God Off His Own Citadel!

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Control Stax WUB (Esper)

DrkNinja

Land (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 2x Snow-Covered Island
• 2x Snow-Covered Plains
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath

Planeswalker (6)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Dovin, Hand of Control
• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

Instant (21)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Settle the Wreckage
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Humility
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Nether Void
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Creature (3)

• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Snapcaster Mage

Commander (1)

Artifact (13)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Venser's Journal

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Approach of the Second Sun
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Sickening Dreams
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vindicate

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Overburden
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

Instant (2)

• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Return to Dust

Creature (1)

• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Artifact (1)

• 1x Mana Web

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The Primer.

Why Play Oloro/Esper Control?

Esper control is a timeless archetype of magic that is defined by it's control characteristics, which have proven time and time again worthy in almost every format conceived in Magic: the Gathering. So when I set out to build the ultimate control deck I knew I would be playing Esper, but I also needed a commander that would give me the oppurtunity to take advantage of black's paying life mechanic and give me a cushion of life big enough to take a few hits. Thus Oloro, Ageless Ascetic was my first choice, and I went from there.

Unlike most Oloro decks though, we aren't going to be playing to our life as a win con, nor do we care about our life total at any given time. Our life total is essentially a resource, one just as valuable to us as the mana our lands produce!

You will enjoy playing this deck if you like...

• Countering Spells. We counter a LOT in this deck, we don't want any player to have an advantage that could snowball them ahead of us!

• Comboing Off. This deck is designed to kill every player, or "win the game" in one explosive turn through Aetherflux Reservoir or Approach of the Second Sun .

• Drawing cards. Since we are a combo deck we are going to be digging for our combo pieces as hard and as fast as we can.

• Taxing your opponents. While we don't play hard stax like Stasis or Winter Orb we play an EXTENSIVE amount of cards that tax our opponents and deny them access to their resources.

• Winning. I'm not saying that all this deck does is win, but it is only geared towards winning. There will be no fun had at any table you sit down and play this deck at. So know your playgroup and don't be running around pub stomping people with their precons, this deck isn't to be played against beginners!

Card Selection

WIP

Playing the Deck.

In this section of the Primer we're going to discuss how we play the deck and what our win cons are.

The basis of this deck I already mentioned early on, we want to prevent our opponents from snowballing out of control until we can secure our win conditions.

Winning the game!

First let's introduce the two cards that we'll want to get on the Table as soon as possible

Bolas's Citadel | Necropotence

Early Game

Throughout the early game we want to set set ourselves up with mana rocks, such as our signets and Chromatic Lantern . We also want to play some early stax components as soon as possible such as Blind Obedience , Torpor Orb , Aura of Silence , Nether Void , or Humility . We also want to make sure that we hold up 2 blue for a counterspell once an opponent has access to 4 or 5 mana so that we can at least bluff having a counter even if we don't.

Mid Game

During the mid game we want to start digging for our combo to win us the game, so we're looking for Necropotence , Bolas's Citadel and either Aetherflux Reservoir or Approach of the Second Sun . It is also crucial that we maintain at least the illusion of answers to our opponents either forcing them to not play threats or baiting them into losing their threats to counters or removal.

Late Game

At this point we should have assembled a few of our combo pieces, and now we have to commit to either slow rolling our pieces out and holding up protection OR waiting for our opponents to tap out. Once you have Necropotence & Bolas's Citadel on the table it's really time to start digging, whichever card comes up first becomes our win condition whether it Reservoir or Citadel. Again you must maintain the illusion of answers even if you don't have any.

Playing The Deck

WIP

Weaknesses

WIP

Top Ranked	Achieved #5 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Combo 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Competitive 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Control 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 59 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.91
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Treasure
Folders	Commander, JumpStart Cube, EDH Decks for TTS!