MTG Salvation

I am looking for cards to support an [[Oloro, Ageless Ascetic]] deck with a major subtheme of life gain matters. I want the list to also be a midrange deck with control elements, but I am looking for good cards with lifelink, that enable life gain strategies, abilities that trigger based on life gain and other life gain matters cards.

Please do not recommend infinite combos.
Please do not recommend tutors.
I also am not interested in changing the commander.

Also, [[Serra Ascendant]] is banned in the play circles I play. It's omission is deliberate. I am also interested in playing Test of Endurance because the card doesn't do anything unless you are only winning the life gain battle and it only encourages more attacks directed towards us. For the most part, I play in a semi-competitive meta.

Life gain sources I am looking at include Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Auriok Champion and Blood Artist.

Examples of smaller aggressive creatures I am looking to run are Ajani's Pridemate, Gifted Aetherborn and Karlov of the Ghost Council.

Win conditions and bombs that I'm looking at include threats like Baneslayer Angel, Divinity of Pride, Drogskol Reaver and Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

Other sources of life gain I like include Authority of the Consuls, Blind Obedience, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Sanguine Bond and Sunscorch Regent.

What are other good cards for a lifegain based deck? Bonus points for hidden gems and cards on the lower end of the converted mana cost spectrum.

Minor life-gain effects only really work well with Karlov of the Ghost Council as the commander. You will want big impactful ones like serra ascendant or baneslayer angel, since they are far better than a possibly situational etb-life-gain trigger.

Aetherflux Reservoir is really the easiest win-con with Oloro. Just survive/stax/removal until you can use your plethora of fabricate/enlightened tutor/demonic tutor effects to find it, protect it with a cheap counterspell, and then blow someone out of the game.

Angelic accord, cradle of vitality, crested sunmare, possibly well of lost dreams are all really good additions to this style of deck and provide alternative uses for lifegain.

Quote from Honor Basquiat »

I am also interested in playing Test of Endurance because the card doesn't do anything unless you are only winning the life gain battle and it only encourages more attacks directed towards us.

I'm assuming you meant not interested here. Otherwise, Felidar Sovereign bares mentioning.

Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless are both capable of gaining massive amounts of life in addition to providing reach. They can be a bit cheesy in that they don't directly interact with the boardstate and therefore "steal" games out of nowhere, but I figured they might be cards you want to consider anyway if you haven't already. Cards that double the amount of life you gain (Boon Reflection, Alhammarret's Archive, Rhox Faithmender) might also be of interest to you. Really, traversing the EDHREC rabbit hole on a card like Rhox Faithmender will really turn you up a ton of results.

I would suggest Celestial Convergence as a wincon, but I'm also thinking you meant you weren't interested in those types of cards. Oketra's Last Mercy looks to be a good way to get back to your starting total, but it has it's draw backs.

Isperia, Supreme Judge might be a good "bomb", since gaining life tend to get you focused.

A question for OP. For your life gain matters deck, are you only looking for cards that give a positive life gain or are you building a deck that centers around using life as a resource (Life as a resource means you don't mind spending huge amounts of life to get an advantage)? The former is more passive and tends to win via outlasting and attrition while the latter is more aggressive.

In short: Will you be interested in running cards like Hatred? i.e you don't mind attacking with a 1/1 on turn 4 into an opponent, cast hatred and pay 39 life just to kill that player, while dropping your own life to 9 (Oloro ftw).

Polluted Bonds and Kambal, Consul of Allocation seem like good fits. Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are powerfull as well. If you have activated abilities that let you pay (nearly) all your life at instant speed for something, then Soul Conduit and Axis of Mortality can be used to put someone in single digit life in one shot. Of course there's Aetherflux Reservoir. Righteous Aura is nice to prevent people taking too large chunks out of your life total. Sun Droplet will let you regain lost life very quickly. Last but not least, Serra Avatar and Ajani Goldmane (ult) are the ultimate on theme winconditions here.

EDIT: The new Ashes of the Abhorrent could also be good, depending on the rest of your deck.