MTG Salvation

10 Friends is a semi-competitive WUB EDH deck designed for small multiplayer games (3-4 players). The deck runs no creatures aside from the general and wins by taking advantage of powerful control magic and excellent card advantage to continually find answers to threats until it can eventually win with stax pieces that slowly kill our opponents or one of the deck’s few win conditions. The deck is named 10 Friends because of its sub planeswalker theme. However, unlike many planeswalker decks, it doesn't run dozens of planeswalkers without much synergy. Instead, the deck runs 10 specific planeswalkers that work especially well in a control build led by Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Ultimately, 10 Friends is a fun deck to play that has a wide array of options for controlling our opponents’ board position and interacting with players.

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic may be a little expensive to cast but he does so much. He can be an offensive or defensive threat and he can draw us cards while leeching life from our opponents. Generally speaking, we will not be casting Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. He is primarily the general of choice for access to WUB and the reoccurring life gain he provides throughout the game. 2 life may sound minuscule at first glance, but over the period of several turns this can amount to scores of life. The life gain can also be used to offset life loss from powerful efficient cards.

You should play 10 Friends if:
You like playing oppressive spells that control the board
You like drawing lots of cards
You like using planeswalkers spells
You like having options and making decisions

10 Friends might not be for you if:
You like attacking frequently
You enjoy winning via commander damage
You enjoy playing with creatures
You prefer to play a deck that is easy to pilot

10 Friends

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver can exile important cards from libraries. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver is especially good at screwing over top of library tutors such as Liliana Vess and Enlightened Tutor. We can use the minus ability to play ramping creatures like Burnished Hart or more defensive creatures to protect our other planeswalkers.

Jace Beleren draws us many cards over the course of the game as long as we are willing to throw a bone and use his plus ability every now and then. He brings a lot of advantage in long games and acts as a lightening rod for attacks and removal for less skilled players that choose to target him instead of other planeswalkers.

Erayo's Essence is legal in the format again.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is an excellent card. He starts with a lot of loyalty and gains more while he allows us to Opt each turn. Unsummon on a stick isn’t shabby either and ultimate flat out steals games.

Karn Liberated needs little introduction and is obviously an amazing threat. In a pinch we can play him to answer exile threat, not even Mother of Runes can protect what Karn Liberated wants to remove. His plus ability is very strong, not only because it eats at our opponents’ hands but it gives him so much loyalty. We should not reset the game with his ultimate very often, instead, using his plus ability a couple times followed by his minus can ensure he sticks around for long time.

Narset Transcendent offers so much value for a reasonable converted mana cost. Her plus ability is quite mediocre in many decks, but because 10 Friends runs zero creatures, the majority of the time we will gain advantage with it. The minus ability allows us to rebound powerful spot and mass removal effects to give us and our other planeswalkers some breathing room while the ultimate is similar to Jace, Unraveler of Secrets in that it practically wins the game.

Ob Nixilis Reignited is very similar to Jace, Unraveler of Secrets except his advantage is not as good in exchange for better removal (Murder instead of Unsummon). The ultimate will ensure one player will lose the game.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis is exactly what 10 friends is about. He is a durable planeswalker that helps us find answers while slow bringing the pain to our opponents. The best thing is when we plus ability and reveal Karn Liberated which leads to our opponents rolling their eyes and frowning as they not only see that we drew an amazing threat but they also lose 7 life. The minus ability is great removal. We seldom will be using the ultimate ability.

Sorin Markov is so powerful because his minus ability violates the spirit of the format. While his minus ability is essentially broken, the plus ability is quite underrated. It gains us life and can slowly kill our opponents or remove utility creatures like Oracle of Mul Daya and Birds of Paradise. The ultimate can totally swing games in our favor if used properly.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is one of the powerful planeswalkers in the format. Her plus ability can lock down threats or mana screw opponents while her minus ability enables us to Theft Of Dreams. The minus ability is very useful if we cast her after an army of tokens attacked someone, or we just want to draw a couple cards to find more answer. The ultimate is insane and with the emblem it becomes virtually impossible to lose.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is another durable and powerful planeswalker. The plus ability allows us to Ghostfire each turn which is similar to the plus ability Sorin Markov has. It doesn’t take him long to get to his ultimate which brings us an absurd amount of advantage. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon really shines with his minus ability which is essentially a scalable All Is Dust.

Tax and Stax

Aura of Silence does so much for so little investment. It slows down our opponents, especially decks that rely heavily on artifacts and enchantment. It also functions as removal and a rattlesnake card, i.e. "If you attack me John, I'll sacrifice my Aura of Silence and blow up your Sol Ring".

Cursed Totem is a great hidden gem that shuts down mana dorks, Eldrazi spawn tokens, Burnished Hart, Mother of Runes, Azami, Lady of Scrolls and so much more. Traditionally the card sees little play because virtually all decks run creatures with activated abilities, but as a creatureless deck, 10 Friends takes advantage of this card.

No tutoring. No fetching. No ramping.

Karmic Justice is the ultimate pillow fort rattlesnake card. It deters scary threats like Bane of Progress and it punishes our opponent for targeting our best permanents

Lethal Vapors can be very scary for aggro players. In multiplayer games among some play groups, no one wants to be the person to skip a turn so the card can stick around for many turns and help us set up our board state.

Mindlock Orb is similar to Cursed Totem in that it’s another very powerful hidden gem that sees very little play because it’s a universal stax effect. Mindlock Orb is a strictly worse Stranglehold, but that still amazing in blue. This not only stops players that violate the spirit of the format with tutors to find combos and perfect answers, it also stops green players from ramping.

Night of Souls' Betrayal may not seem very useful in this format but it answers so many things. It hoses powerful generals like Vendilion Clique and Norin the Wary, along with mana dorks, elves, and utility creatures that are often recurred like Sakura-Tribe Elder.

No Mercy is the ultimate pillow fort card. While it doesn’t prevent our opponents from attacking our planeswalkers, it is much more effective than Propaganda and Ghostly Prison at discouraging direct attacks.

Overburden is nuts, and when played early, it pressures creature based decks immensely. It certainly will slow them down, and because our only creature is Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, we don't have to worry about this.

Painful Quandary paints a large target on our back the effect is too powerful to pass up. Forcing players to discard their options and win conditions or lose significant amounts of life really puts players in a bind.

Polluted Bonds punishes players from ramping while gaining us life in the process. The converted mana cost is a little steep, but compared to other stax effects 10 Friends runs, Polluted Bonds often sticks around for a long time and puts in a lot of work.

Psychic Surgery essentially punishes opponents for searching their libraries. It flat out hoses top of library tutors like Mystical Tutor but it also discourages players from ramping too much. Psychic Surgery can be used to remove useful card and stack a library with lands, but it can also be used more politically to help filter cards for opponents to trade favors to collaborate to take out mutual threats.

Spreading Plague is backbreaking against any creature deck, especially in a multiplayer game where all colors are being played. Every creature spell especially becomes a board wipe. It is very powerful against mono colored decks.

Tainted Aether is very scary. It absolutely shuts down Brago, King Eternal and other blink based creatures and decks. It also punishes token strategies. This card is very underrated, and has to be dealt with immediately or it will put our opponents at a total standstill.

Ward of Bones is criminally underplayed. At first glance it may seem like its converted mana cost is too high for it’s ability but it really is an additional copy of Lethal Vapors that also prevents players from playing lands (10 Friends runs no land ramp so we usually have fewer lands than all players). While we run plenty of artifacts and enchantments, at times the card also stops players from playing those types of spells as well.

Spot Removal

Anguished Unmaking is a phenomenal removal spell. With Oloro, Ageless Ascetic as our general, paying 3 life means nothing. This spell is essentially an instant speed Vindicate. While it can’t remove lands, being able to have a catch all removal spell that exiles for 3 mana is unprecedented.

Condemn answers any creature attacking us our any of our planeswalkers for only 1 mana. The fact that it puts the creature on the bottom of the library is icing on the cake when you use against a deck that uses graveyard recursion or reanimation.

It's usually better than Vindicate.

Council's Judgment is one of the best removal spells in the formatl. It's essentially a permanent Oblivion Ring that has the ability to hit multiple threats. Keep in mind Council's Judgment does not target so we can remove

Hero's Downfall is an unconditional removal spell that has the added ability to destroy planeswalkers which we otherwise may have trouble dealing with due to lack of combat options we have.

Nevermore is the closest thing the format has to “tuck” effects for commanders. Nevermore can prevent players from casting very powerful generals or creatures they may tutor. It can also be used to name combo pieces.

Path To Exile also need very little introduction. It is unconditional removal with a drawback that offers a small reward to the controller of creature it is used on. This spell is excellent not only because it exiles and only costs one mana but in 10 Friends, the “drawback” can hindered

Return to Dust is among the most powerful, if not the best, spot removal spells for artifacts or enchantments. Two for one and exile in a format where there will almost always be two targets is excellent.

Seal of Cleansing functions as a light Aura of Silence. It doesn’t have the tax effect, but the rattlesnake artifact/enchantment removal is very useful and in the right hands can be very political.

Sudden Spoiling is an incredibly versatile card. It can be used as a Fog effect to save our planeswalkers for a combat step or it can act as removal if used during combat against a player blocking or attacking other creatures. It also stops static, activated and triggered abilities which very few cards can do. On top of that, the split second means it can’t be answered by counters or anything else.

Swords to Plowshares is the best removal spell of all time. What were they thinking? Similar to Path To Exile, it has a minor drawback that offers a benefit to the player that controls the creature it is used against. However, gaining life is not a problem at all for control decks.

Wipe Away is very clutch. A Boomerang effect for one additional mana may seem weak, but similar to Sudden Spoiling, the split second really makes a difference.

Mass Removal

Cyclonic Rift instantly bounces every nonland permanent that isn't ours. Seriously. The fact that it is instant is insane and late game it means we can force an opponent to discard a bunch of permanents at their end step. Cyclonic Rift is one of the best cards in the format right now and it can flat out steal games.

Merciless Eviction is very versatile and can answer most problems. Usually we'll be choosing creatures or artifacts but sometimes this will function as planeswalker removal. The exile ability is just icing on the cake.

Supreme Verdict can't be countered which is so awesome. Day of Judgment that can't be countered is very reliable.

Terminus is a board wipe that prevents recursion and reanimation graveyard shenanigans. Very powerful effect for 6 mana, but when we cast it as a miracle and play a planeswalker the same turn, it’s amazing.

The most versatile board wipe in the format.

Wrath of God is a textbook board wipe. The regeneration clause matters especially against cards like Asceticism.

Permission

Counterspell is Counterspell. Sometimes you don’t need a fancy flashy counter. 2 mana to reliably counter any spell. Ideally in money weren’t an object, this would be Mana Drain.

Dissipate is Cancel + exile and in the format exiling a creature spell or a spell with flashback between the difference between a win and a loss.

Hinder essentially functions as a second copy of Dissipate. It doesn’t exile, but it still doesn’t put the spell in the graveyard. In very rare instances we will put the card on the top of the library to prevent the player from drawing into another answer.

Spell Crumple is a second copy of Hinder.

Void Shatter is an additional copy of Dissipate. There are a lot of great counterspells with various cool effect (Arcane Denial, Dissolve, etc.) but running several removal and counter spells that exile allow us to not have to run dedicated graveyard hate so we have more room for other cards.

Advantage

Land Tax is the only spell in 10 Friends that searches our library. Generally on principle I don’t like to play tutors because I feel they violate the spirit of a singleton format, I also feel players shuffling their libraries constantly makes games drag on. That being said, it only searches for basics, but it helps us fix our mana and hit our land drops. Both of these things are very important in this deck because our mana curve is fairly high and there are many cards with double mana costs..

Fact or Fiction digs deep at instant speed and gives us great card advantage. It is especially strong when you can single out an opponent that is poor at making decisions.

Future Sight is absurd. The amount of card advantage it provides is uncanny. Late game it is not uncommon to be able to play 5 or more cards from the top of our library. This is easily one of the most powerful cards in the deck.

Phyrexian Arena is one of the most powerful black cards in the format. The life loss is entirely irrelevant with Oloro, Ageless Ascetic on the field. Being able to fundamentally change the 1 card per turn rule for a measly 3 mana and a 1 life per turn investment is is almost as good as Yawgmouth's Bargin.

Rhystic Study draws a lot of cards over a long game, especially a multiplayer game. In some instances this card is better than Phyrexian Arena. Very strong card.

Thassa, God of the Sea brings us filtering advantage and a win condition. It's surprising how often she turns into a creature due to cards like Future Sight and Jace Beleren.

Dark Ritual is criminally underplayed in this format.

Well of Lost Dreams provides so much advantage with Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. In this 10 Friends Well of Lost Dreams is sometimes the best card advantage engine we can have.

Ramp

Azorius Signet is a standard mana rock. It’s a solid turn 2 play.

Chromatic Lantern works as a fantastic mana fixer and ramps. One of the best mana rocks in the format.

Coldsteel Heart allows you to choose the color for the fixing you need. Very good mana rock.

Dark Ritual is an excellent mana source that is criminally underplayed in the format. Early game, it’s essentially an additional Sol Ring. It enables plays like turn 2 Mindlock Orb or turn 3 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets. It makes mana at instant speed, and it adds colored mana so it can help with playing spells with double and triple black like Sorin Markov. Dark Ritual puts in work mid to late game also. The difference between 6 and 8 mana can be Dimir Signet is another standard mana rock. It’s a good turn 2 play.

Fellwar Stone is a great mana rock. It functions as a mana rock that taps for all of our colors in most multiplayer games. It also comes into play untapped.

Orzhov Signet is another standard mana rock. It’s a great turn 2 play.

Sol Ring is Sol Ring. What were they thinking? It’s incredibly backbreaking early game and I feel guilty for playing it but all my friends do. It allows us to play turn 2 Narset Transcendent or Night of Souls' Betrayal. It also allows us to play a solid mana rock on turn 1.

Talisman of Dominance functions like the signets but comes into play untapped. It is a very good mana rock.

Talisman of Progress is from the same cycle as Talisman of Dominance but it makes Azorius colors instead.

Acceleration: For a deck that doesn't use green mana or mana doublers like Caged Sun, 10 Friends does a great job at accelerating its mana sources. The deck runs 10 mana acceleration spells (all mana rocks except for Dark Ritual) that also help fix out colors. This high number of mana rocks in tandem with the amount of card draw in the deck makes it inevitable we will encounter multiple mana acceleration sources to ensure we can cast larger spells earlier. (7/10)

Card Advantage: 10 Friends runs several spells that draw cards over the course of multiple turns. Well of Lost Dreams and Future Sight are especially powerful and allow us to dig deep into our library. Additionally, planeswalkers like Ob Nixilis Reignited and Narset Transcendent offer us card advantage while increasing their loyalty. Also, while we rarely cast Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, he is a card advantage engine. (9/10)

Control: This is where this deck performs the best. It isn't a surprise that an WUB deck with no creatures can easily answer problems. 10 Friends runs dozens of spells that either punish players for using their resources (Aura of Silence, Overburden, Tainted Aether, etc.) or remove threats to us (Swords to Plowshares, Council's Judgment, Return To Dust, etc.). Unlike many deck in the format, 10 Friends has multiple spells that can answer all problems, regardless their of permanent type. (9/10)

Permission: The deck only runs 5 counters, but they are all hard counters that can answer any type of spell. Most of the counter spells ensure the spell doesn't go to the graveyard to prevent recursion (Dissipate, Void Shatter, Hinder, etc.). 10 Friends doesn't need to run too many counter spells because the deck is so good at controlling opponents in other ways. (6/10)

Mass Removal: This deck runs several spells that can remove multiple creatures, with the majority of them getting around indestructible and regeneration (Terminus, Merciless Eviction, Cyclonic Rift, etc.). Board wipes are great for protecting our planeswalkers. However, similar to permission spells, we don't need to run too many mass removal spells because of our fantastic control suite. (7/10)

Tutoring: 10 Friends doesn't run tutors. No Demonic Tutor, no Fabricate, no Liliana Vess. Personally I feel tutors violate the spirit of a singleton format and with enough card advantage they aren't necessary to win in most metas. Tutors also nobo with Mindlock Orb. The exception to this rule is one card, Land Tax, which only searches for basic lands and doesn't even ramp. This deck could easily amended to have a very strong tutor package. (0/10)

Ghostly Prison and Propaganda are good at deterring our opponents from attacking us directly. Unfortunately these cards do not tax our opponents for attacking out planeswalkers.

Meekstone does a good job at locking down powerful creatures for a low investment. The problem with Meekstone is that it doesn't prevent creatures from attacking initially. Instead it can encourage opponents to swing our way causing more harm than trouble.

Torpor Orb punishes most decks, including 10 Friends.

Torpor Orb does a phenomenal job at hindering creatures with powerful enter the battlefield abilities (Acidic Slime, Inferno Titan, Woodfall Primus, etc.) but it has negative synergy with some of our best stax spells including Tainted Aether, Overburden, and Spreading Plague.

Declaration In Stone is a very strong targeted removal spell that exiles and is especially powerful against tokens. On the other hand it is sorcery speed and does offer our opponent card advantage.

Unmake is unconditional creature removal that exiles without a drawback but requires triple colored mana to cast.

Mortify doesn't exile creatures, but it still is unconditional creature destruction that can also answer enchantments.

Silence The Believers and Utter End are a great removals spells that exile threats but they a high converted mana cost.

Final Judgment is a strictly worse Merciless Eviction but if you are looking for more mass exile effects, Finale Judgment and Descend upon the Sinful are worth considering. Just be aware of how top heavy the mana curve for the deck list is.

Hallowed Burial is an additional or alternate version of Terminus with a lower converted mana cost but it can never miracle.

Toxic Deluge is a good board wipe that only costs 3 mana with a drawback that isn't very oppressive when Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is our general. It doesn't keep creatures outside of the graveyard but it can answer creatures that can regenerate or have indestructible.

Cryptic Command is the most versitile counterspell in the format but the triple blue cost can be very difficult to keep open.

Negate is a low mana cost counter that isn't color intensive but it is conditional.

Dark Tutelage is an excellent source of card advantage and with Oloro, Ageless Ascetic as a general the life loss isn't a deal breaker. Keep in mind that 10 Friends uses many high converted mana cost cards (Karn Liberated, Sorin, Grim Nemesis, Ward of Bones, etc.) that really hurt us when they are revealed by Dark Tutelage.

Staff of Nin provides card advantage and removal.

Erebos, God of the Dead punishes life gain decks (Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Karlov of the Ghost Council, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, etc.) and acts as an alternate win condition. More importantly it acts as a source of card advantage but it is very mana intensive.

Staff of Nin has a high converted mana cost of 6 mana, but it draws us a card every turn and can ping our opponents. More importantly it can kill mana dorks, utility creatures, weaken planeswalkers and has good synergy with Night of Souls' Betrayal.

Leyline of Anticipation allows us to flash in brutal effects like Tainted Aether in response to a token generation spell. It also allows us to flash in our general or planeswalkers at the end of the turn and board wipes.

Dig Through Time is a fantastic draw spell that makes use of our graveyard mid to late game but Sphnix's Revelation may be a better option in a meta that has heavy graveyard hate.

Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Beseech the Queen are all great tutors to ensure consistency if your meta is comfortable with tutors (personally I believe that tutors, especially those that are unconditional, violate the spirit of the 99 singleton format).

Coming Soon

Out: Nevermore In: Humility (April 14, 2016)
Humility does so much more than Nevermore for only one mana. It hoses generals nearly as well as Nevermore without having to single out a player. Humility is Cursed Totem, Torpor Orb, Godhead of Awe and more for only 2WW.

Out: Creeping Tar Pit In: Mana Confluence (April 14, 2016)
The deck has a few too many sources of mana that enter the battlefield tapped. During testing, I never was using Creeping Tar Pit to attack or block. Mana Confluence makes all of our colors and the life loss hardly matters with Oloro, Ageless Ascetic in the command zone.

Quote from Jivanmukta »

First off, excellent list. I'll need to test out Ward of Bones myself.

The most important cards I've noticed in Oloro have been Torpor Orb, Humility and Zur's Weirding.

While Orb may have some negative synergy I've found that the benefit outweighs the cost as Orb becomes a "must kill" which will then unlock anything you have stopped of your own.

Humility is the one card in the deck I would simply never remove. It acts as Cursed Totem, Torpor Orb, and an attack negator all in one. In addition there is little negative cost as we run token generating walkers. It also provides a wonderful combo with Night of Souls' Betrayal to render creature based decks null (combine with narset ultimate for the ultimate fun).

Zur's is unique card that to me is one of the reasons to run Oloro. After setting the control web you can effectively lock down multiple players from ever gaining advantage.

I also notice a strange lack of Elspeth, Sun's Champion. She is one of the strongest walkers in this style of deck providing blockers, on demand board wipes, and a very fast clock with her ultimate. Is there any reasons you excluded her from the list?