Advice For Olivia CMDR
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 16, 2021, 9:22 a.m. by OliviasMaster
Hey All,
Newer to playing magic and deck building. I want to build a competitive CMDR EDH deck around Olivia, Crimson Bride. Can you offer some suggestions of cards that would work well in a deck like this?
RiotRunner789 says... #3
Edit: You can't run Frantic Search outside blue but try Thrill of Possibility or any of the hundred or so red looters. You want to pitch big and devastating creatures to your graveyard to grab with Olivia.
November 16, 2021 10:13 a.m.
griffstick says... #4
I agree with RiotRunner789. She's not a competitive cmdr but you can still build a competitive reanimater shell around cheating in big nasty creatures like It That Betrays
November 16, 2021 10:32 a.m.
I think RiotRunner789 is correct in saying that Olivia is probably not cEDH, but she can probably be very good.
Self mill seems like it would work well here. Necropotence can not only give you amazing draw and selection, but also allow you to discard good stuff to hand size that Olivia will come in and reanimate.
I play Bruna, the Fading Light  Meld which is similar, but in black and red you can get better mill. There are artifact mill that might be useful here though. Mesmeric Orb is great but will draw almost instant removal. Things like Shriekhorn Grindclock Codex Shredder Altar of Dementia Grindstoneare good and especially so if you can recur artifacts or use them extra times with something like Unwinding Clock. The clock also plays really nice with artifact lands. Oh, and always remember that milling your opponents can kill top deck tutors. Keeping your mill artifacts open until it's coming back to your turn can kill a lot of these effects.
The Underworld Cookbook can also be really nice to get biggies in the graveyard if you draw them, and also bring back creatures late game. Trading Post is just lovely, and 4cmc seems like a lot, but it always does something great for you.
Artifact strategy with Inventors' Fair can be great here. Also, black reanimation like Unearth are always going to work wonders. In my experience, it's not too useful to focus on expensive reanimation because that's what your commander wants to do, but smaller reanimation for value can be good.
The one thing to remember if you do any mill strategy is that you are going to mill your bombs away. It's often better to have ways to get things back than it is to play things that are great but you have no way to get back.
I don't have a ton of experience with B/R in edh, so take it all with a grain of salt for sure. I just wonder if Olivia would be better for cEDH in the 99. Having access to more colors is always a plus, and I'd think that Olivia would be very nice in something like Kess, Dissident Mage. Kess can recur reanimation spells that can bring out a nice hasty Olivia who can swing in and bring back another creature. Plus you get access to blue and all the sweet blue instants.
One big issue with Olivia in competitive groups is that your bomb is always there in the command zone. Most blue decks will try to save a counter spell just for her if they can. You could play discard and hand disruption to target blue players to help with this.
Hope it helps :) Olivia is looking cooler than ever, and it's such a great card. I just don't know if she can keep up with the speed of TandT, Malcolm, food chain, or really fast ad naus decks in cEDH.
November 16, 2021 10:51 a.m.
OliviasMaster says... #6
Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate the help. I found a decklist around her online. i want to make some changes but not sure what. If anyone has suggestions of who to replace with what i would greatly appreciate it!
November 16, 2021 11:17 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #7
Niko9 you might want to read Necropotence again, especially the discard to exile clausule. Looks kind of anti-synergistic for a reanimator deck.
November 16, 2021 11:52 a.m.
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November 16, 2021 12:29 p.m.
plakjekaas Good catch! Yep, it might not work so well.
November 16, 2021 12:33 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #10
I'll be brewing her soon too but essentially, it's a reverse Kaalia of the Vast.
Play good looting spells like Faithless Looting and Burning Inquiry
Wheels are your friend too Wheel of Fortune and Wheel of Misfortune are all stars Dark Deal is decent and if you're on more of a budget Wheel of Fate
Creatures should be a mesh of good etb creatures, fat things you wouldn't normally be able to cast, things that trigger upon combat damage being delt and a good mesh of usful legendary vampires
November 16, 2021 12:55 p.m.
griffstick says... #11
Necropotence isn't a replacement effect. The cards do hit the graveyard before they get exiled. So there is a small window where you could Reanimate them with spells like Shallow Grave
November 16, 2021 1:08 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #12
griffstick that might be true, but with Olivia, Crimson Bride as your commander, Necropotence will still not fit well into your plan. Peer into the Abyss or Necrologia are probably better versions of the same effect for that deck.
November 16, 2021 2:16 p.m.
griffstick says... #13
Well that's true but it says if you discard. That doesn't include mill, so if you do go the mill route with cards like Stitcher's Supplier, Mesmeric Orb, and Ghoulcaller's Bell. You can still play Necropotence. Alltough wheels will likely work better I truly don't know because I have not built this deck or played against it. Either strategy is good. You need to consider your opponents decks too
November 16, 2021 2:24 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #14
Oddly enough this is one deck I wouldn't run ad nauseam or Necropotence in and if you know anything about the decks I brew those are snap includes in most of my decks. Peer into the Abyss could be interesting and set up some cool turns but I feel incremental Looting, wheeling and ramping is really going to be what makes this commander shine.
November 16, 2021 4:02 p.m.
griffstick says... #15
Even though she has flying I think you'll want Dauthi Embrace and Dauthi Trapper in the deck for evasion to protect your peices from dieing in combat.
November 16, 2021 5:34 p.m.
Also, Heartless Summoning would probably be pretty good in Olivia. First cast on the cheap and second cast bypassing commander tax is pretty sweet. You could also have sac outlets to be able to use your reanimation effects to sac and get back Dockside Extortionist and things. But yeah, as griffstick said, wheels might be the most powerful way to go.
I guess it will all take some testing :) It would be fun to see the deck if you get it together and to hear how it does. I feel like these things take a lot of playing around to actually see what works and what doesn't.
November 16, 2021 6:40 p.m.
I think Olivia, Crimson Bride has the potential for competitive 1v1 if you pack some serous rocks, and optimized level in pod games
good rakdos functions that would support her
Etb Creatures like: Rune-Scarred Demon & Terror of the Peaks
Extra ETB: Molten Echoes & Mirror March
Direct Damage:Flayer of the Hatebound & Syr Konrad, the Grim
Dredge: Shenanigans & Necroplasm
Extra card: Sin Prodder & Dark Confidant
Recursion: Charmbreaker Devils & Sheoldred, Whispering One
Extra Combat: Port Razer & Breath of Fury
Load GY: Burning-Rune Demon & Shifting Shadow
Infect: Ogre Menial & Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Big Ouch: Ebonblade Reaper & Malignus
November 17, 2021 12:31 p.m.
I forget to suggest including multiple "sacrifice creature" outlets !!
The static ability of "When you don't control a legendary Vampire, exile this creature." could lead to situations that knock you right out of a game. Use cards like Ashnod's Altar & Plumb the Forbidden so that you can sacrifice your creatures into the graveyard in response to the exile ability going onto the stack.
P.S. Shifting Shadow & Breath of Fury have so much potential with Olivia, Crimson Bride that i would auto include them both.
November 19, 2021 9:29 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #19
You could work with Conspiracy naming Vampire and restrict yourself to legendary creatures, so that you'd never have to exile any of them, but that doesn't sound like the most competitive plan :P
Razaketh, the Foulblooded is a great reanimation target/sacrifice outlet.
November 19, 2021 11:52 a.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #20
Well, I finished a draft of her as a commander and may actually have to make her cause I pulled the Alt art. Anyways feel free to take a look if you want
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/olivia-necks-victim/?cb=1637401621
November 20, 2021 4:48 a.m.
And I guess a truly cEDH Olivia would run Lion's Eye Diamond and Underworld Breach Though maybe (definitely) running LED as a proxy :)
November 20, 2021 7:59 a.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #22
Niko9 - I don't think she'll get to a cedh level without new cards. Maybe she'll be like Godo but a tad less compact.
November 20, 2021 12:34 p.m.
RNR_Gaming You have a good point. She's probably able to play very powerful but maybe not cEDH. Still, she's such a cool commander.
RiotRunner789 says... #2
Well, she can be competitive but not CEDH worthy if that is what your looking for.
However, in the build:
You want tons of looting effects like Faithless Looting and Frantic Search.
For competivness, fast mana like Mana Crypt and Chrome Mox.
She's expensive, so you want protection and backup. Other legendary vampires, Deflecting Swat, Imp's Mischief, and Gift of Doom.
November 16, 2021 9:54 a.m.