"Oloro manipulates the forces of life and death. He believes that he possesses the secret to eternal life and guards it jealously on his remote, mist-shrouded island. Oloro's location is sought by thieves and mystics alike. Some seek to steal his possessions while others seek to learn his secrets. Oloro will tolerate the companionship of only a few select individuals—those who can help him in his quest for knowledge. Some say he is older than time itself and wiser than all the great minds in the illustrious academies of learning. So far, Oloro has maintained an uneasy balance between the darkness and the light, but any threat to his carefully guarded secrets could force him into a quest for merciless domination."

Introduction - April 2022 Update

Welcome to the newest iteration of my Esper deck led by Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Oloro is a card I've been interested in ever since I first learned about him, some time after his initial release with Commander 2013, and he is a Commander that offers a unique approach to playing cEDH, one that I have exploited to the best of my ability. Yes, the decklist and title are correct; The only creature in this deck is Oloro, Ageless Ascetic himself, and I have absolutely no intention of actually playing him during a match. This deck more or less became an experiment with how much someone can break Commander just by adding a 2 life point gain at the beginning of my upkeep, and that one trigger alone sets up a ton of synergy across the whole deck.

Passive effects like Phyrexian Arena and activated abilities from Greed suddenly become rather inconsequential when you would passively build up a buffer before ever playing those cards. As such, it can be tempting to make an Oloro, Ageless Ascetic lifegain deck, and that seems to be the majority, at least according to EDHREC. I, however, treated life points as just that; Points, much like mana. They are merely a currency to be spent for whatever I need, which usually means card draw and the like. From here, taking out creatures really became more of a tactic to focus on cards that aren't as easy to remove such as enchantments, and this then usually points to Stax so you can slow down your opponents and Pillowfort to protect yourself since you don't have blockers.

I won't bother putting together a Primer or a section on how to pilot for a deck like this as I feel Stax and Pillowfort cards mainly speak for themselves, but I have listed every big combo that I believe is in the deck, but to be honest, with this many cards and all the interactions they create, I very well may have missed some. For those familiar with the previous version of this deck, I have deselected "Needs Help" as I feel I can take things from here, but thank you to everyone for your suggestions and ideas! Feel free to still let me know what you think deserves a spot in the deck or what you like/dislike, but I am putting my focus into multiple decks at this point in time and may not be working on this deck again, or at least not soon.

Disclaimer

Before you ask or mention, yes, this deck does not have anything like Smokestack, Winter Orb, or Tangle Wire and, frankly, it never will. Despite being a deck that I would consider competitive and Stax, I really don't enjoy cards like those that completely ruin the pacing and enjoyment of a game, even if it wouldn't affect me. I feel it's important to keep in mind that Magic as a whole is a multiplayer game and that means you not only need other people who want to play with you, but who would be willing to play more than once. There's really no point in spending a bunch of money on a deck like this for me to only be able to play it every now and again as my pod would simply hate anything that removes their ability to play the game. This is why I really enjoy small things that add up like Vile Consumption or choosing the lesser of 2 evils like Painful Quandary. This more aligns with what I wanted this deck to do, which is create panic, something reflected in the name of the deck itself.

Known Combos

Upvotes are appreciated, not expected, and have a good one!

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Casual

99% Competitive

Date added 5 years
Last updated 5 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

10 - 0 Mythic Rares

62 - 0 Rares

13 - 0 Uncommons

6 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.02
Tokens Treasure
Folders Decks I want to build, Esper Creatureless to Compare
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