Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Legendary Creature — Giant Soldier

At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 2 life.

Whenever you gain life, you may pay {1}. If you do, draw a card and each opponent loses 1 life.

At the beginning of your upkeep, if Oloro, Ageless Acetic is in the command zone, you gain 2 life.

Combos

• Oloro, Ageless Ascetic + Pristine Talisman
• Drogskol Reaver + Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
• Oloro, Ageless Ascetic + Well of Lost Dreams

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

hyalopterouslemur on Beta Brackets Update Today

3 days ago

DemonDragonJ: Yeah, my loathing of five-color goodstuff mostly comes from how this is supposed to be the color-restricted format: I have a Ghave, Guru of Spores deck, but if I want to make a Rith, the Awakener or Marath, Will of the Wild *f-etch* deck, I have to lose the black cards (and probably the entire Aristocrats theme). So, no more Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos. No more Pitiless Plunderer. No more Diabolic Intent. No more Blood Artist or Bastion of Remembrance. I do gain red, though, so say hello to Purphoros, God of the Forge. Rhys the Redeemed or Nemata, Primeval Warden would be even more restricted, as token decks go.

My removal also suffers, since red removal is surprisingly bad in this format. (Seriously, I'd argue white has the best removal, followed closely by black. Green's a distant third, and red and blue are tied for fourth: Red has more removal, blue has better removal.)

And it happens between Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Betor, Ancestor's Voice, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Beledros Witherbloom, and Licia, Sanguine Tribune too. All are lifegain, but only Oloro can use Absorb and Drogskol Reaver. Only Licia can use Lightning Helix and Searing Meditation. Only Betor can use Beledros Witherbloom. Ayli and Witherbloom are even more restricted, especially since Witherbloom can't use the color that's best at lifegain.

But that's the whole point. When I choose a Commander, I make a lot of choices regarding deck construction. I can't say "Cathars' Crusade would be good in my Animar, Soul of Elements deck." because, well, it wouldn't; it would be illegal. That forces me to pick, I don't know, Ivy Lane Denizen or Forgotten Ancient instead. Corpsejack Menace? You mean Branching Evolution? (Aside from the name, why is Corpsejack Menace {B} anyway? I actually wouldn't mind if it were {G}{U} just because that's Simic's thing.) And so on down the line.

Five-color goodstuff opts to ignore all of this. And right now, there are more five-color decks in EDH than in Legacy.

Eh, I can always just hate them out with Primal Order.

That's my rant about how too much five-color goodstuff is bad for the game.

Anyway, I play Aura Shards and Seedborn Muse in a lot of decks too. Aura Shards is really oppressive in a token build, or even a reanimator build. Seedborn Muse is interesting because she's either overpowered (anything {G}{U}, token builds, Yeva, Nature's Herald) or just a fancy Village Bell-Ringer without the Splinter Twin combo. I have to go through my decks now and see which ones have four or more game changers.

Flarhoon13 on Atraxa's Dicebag of Holding (Need all the dice)

4 months ago

Atraxa's Dicebag of Holding won, finally, a long game. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic boardwiped; otherwise Pantlaza, Sun-Favored would've run away with it. Still, Madison rebuilt pretty quickly thanks to the Garruk's Uprising keeping her hand stocked but Atraxa took out Madison with my commander and the Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, both with a lot of counters for a Solidarity of Heroes to double. Killed Ian with Commander damage. Thomas, playing Ezio Auditore da Firenze board wiped but I rebuilt faster and killed him with big creatures and/or Commander damage.

Flarhoon13 on Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Oops, I Did it Again

5 months ago

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Oops, I Did it Again won, Comboed off on my fifth attempt thru lots of disruption. Ian and Madison didn't team up, on their Ren and Stimpy, err, Rin and Seri, Inseparable and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic decks. Murderous Redcap entered at least 5 times and Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit about three before the combo finally stuck, with Karmic Guide out and then Renegade Reaper milled a Reveillark, starting a new combo that finally won the game.

RiotRunner789 on Strange Combinations

1 year ago

I built a mono-black deck that ran Oloro, Ageless Ascetic as the commander. The eminence ability of +2 life per turn beat out being able to cast a synergistic commander.

Also built a Najeela deck with no creatures in the library. Serves as an all removal deck originally built to work as a partner with any two-headed giant deck.

God-Eternal-Magic-Player on Chair tribal

1 year ago

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic has amazing chair sitting form. I admire how Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter almost mirrors the stance too, it's inspiring. I appreciate you noticing the STANCE BenTim

proterran98 on Upkeep triggers.

1 year ago

I have 19 creatures in play. I have Court of Grace and Epic Struggle in play. It now becomes my turn, can I order the triggers so that I win with epic struggle?

If you have Oloro, Ageless Ascetic in the command zone and have Test of Endurance in play and 48 life can you win with test of endurance?

legendofa on BBEG Deck Ideas

1 year ago

For my breakdown here, I'm focusing on characters who are villains in their story arc and characters who don't have much specific backstory. Pretty much any legendary creature can be flavored as a villain in front of the right deck. I'm also not focusing on the Forgotten Realms sets, I'm broadening the net.

What's available:

{C}: Eldrazi or artifacts. Most of the artifacts are either hero-aligned or not an independent threat, like Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut. If you want a challenge, Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate, but I wouldn't, just for lack of depth.

{W}: Villains are oddly centered on Old Kamigawa. Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is a near-immortal emperor and master duelist. Hokori, Dust Drinker is destroying resources and the land. And, of course, there's the apocalyptic, unrelenting evil that is Hazduhr the Abbot.

{U}: Heidar, Rimewind Master is an elementalist fanatic. The manipulations of Orvar, the All-Form or Kami of the Crescent Moon could cause problems, as could a big sea creature like Tromokratis or Charix, the Raging Isle.

{B}: Pretty much everyone. It's easier to count the people who aren't outright villains.

{R}: Relatively few actual villains, but a bunch of manipulators, dragons, and angry people that could fill the role.

{G}: A bunch of wild animals and nature types. No scheming villains, but a good selection of rampaging monsters. Meng Huo, Barbarian King would be a unique choice (if you're willing to.proxy or drop $150+).

{G}{W}: Polukranos Reborn  ^Flip is the most (only?) villainous character in these colors.

{U}{B}: Lots of options, from the behind-the-scenes manipulation of Lazav, Dimir Mastermind to the illithid Captain N'ghathrod, Gisa and Geralf's necromancer army, whatever Umbris, Fear Manifest is, and a lot more.

{G}{U}: A few options, but lots of depth in them. Insane biologist Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and his magnum opus Experiment Kraj, nature's avenger Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, or maybe Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is flooding the area.

{B}{R}: A very deep and wide pool for villains. Vampires, demons, dragons, demon dragons, warlords, torturers...

{B}{G}: Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager joins the ranks of the big scary monsters. A more calculating BBEG would probably be one of the death lords like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. Vhati il-Dal or Old Rutstein or probably more storyline villains than BBEG material.

{G}{W}{U}: A very shallow pool. Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl, Rubinia Soulsinger, and maybe Falco Spara, Pactweaver or Katilda and Lier (mostly because of Lier) are the best options for an Archenemy villain. I'd throw Kros, Defense Contractor in, but goading is kind of limited when you're the Archenemy.

{W}{U}{B}: This color set will probably be either a cold, distant, merciless villain or a manipulative puppet master. Raffine, Scheming Seer and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic fall into the first category, and Sen Triplets and The Ever-Changing 'Dane in the second. Varina, Lich Queen is another option for a zombie army.

{B}{R}{G}: Big, angry, and violent, with some good dragons. Xira, the Golden Sting and Vazi, Keen Negotiator break out of this mold, but they strike me as more lieutenant-types, not arc villains by themselves.

{R}{G}{W}: Not much; these tend to be either heroic or big smashy monsters. Uril, the Miststalker could work.

{R}{W}{B}: Queen Marchesa is a classic, as you mentioned, and Edgar Markov is right there, too. Actually, this color set has some good depth and variety for an Archenemy. Some are more overtly villainous, and some are just very martial. My top picks would be Edgar, Licia, Sanguine Tribune, or Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

{G}{U}{R}: Mostly either weird esotericism or "nature's avenger" types. I don't think any of these are outright villainous in-story, but most of them have loose or vague stories. With the right deck, this could be a unique and interesting villain. Riku of Two Reflections is my top pick.

Four-color sets in general: Any of them would work, except for a couple of the {R}{G}{W}{U}.

{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Use this color set if you want a truly apocalyptic feel. saluma mentioned Tiamat, which is a very good choice, and finding a way to get through Progenitus or O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami is a story of epic scale.

Azoth2099 on Oloro Esper Lifegain EDH

1 year ago

DurzoBlint13

Hey man!

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is one of those {W}{U}{B} Commanders I've always suspected could be busted, but never extensively brewed. That being said, I still gathered some data on him...

Firstly, you need more Mana sources. Being a 6-drop is a big deal nowadays, & you're gonna need way more Rocks & possibly a few Rituals as well if you want to get him out on time. I'd recommend running 10+ Rocks - all of your Guild Signets and Talismans plus a few more, and a handful of Instant-speed Rituals like Dark Ritual & Cabal Ritual. You'll need as much Mana available to draw cards with, which we'll get to in this next paragraph.

Secondly, I'd recommend some low-cost Lifegain Spells that will scale with the activity of both you & your opponents like Archivist of Oghma, Blood Artist, Deathgreeter, Leonin Elder, Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Profane Memento, Ashes of the Abhorrent & Spectrum Sentinel. All of these will draw you a bunch of cards as long as your Commander is on the field. Prism Ring & Tablet of the Guilds would likely do a lot of work here as well. Sedgemoor Witch could be a great value engine here, too. Things that allow you to devote your floating Mana to your Commander's triggered ability without having to necessarily pay Mana for each Lifegain trigger OR wait for your own upkeep to draw cards are solid gold here.

Thirdly, once you resolve your chunky 6-drop Commander, you need to protect it! Your entire deck engine relies too heavily on Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's presence to allow him to be easily removed. Lightning Greaves & Swiftfoot Boots are non-negotiable imo. Along with a few ways to Tutor them up, like Steelshaper's Gift & Enlightened Tutor.

It might end up being quite a bit faster than a typical midrange deck, though, as you'll be drawing a ton of cards per turn cycle on your way to your combo win.

Cheers!