When I was thinking about building a new deck my objective was to have a deck that can get 3v1 fights, I was (and I am still) tired of being the 'focus' when I play Kaalia of the vast, I have not really a problem being the archenemy, my problem is being the archenemy but getting controlled to the point I don't get to play anything but lands and mana rocks.
The first Oloro Ageless ascetic deck I built was a very simple one, I had creatures like Serra ascendant and other lifelinkers, a couple of counterspells (not many just 2-3), some card draw, some spot removal, etc.
The game in my head would go like this, I started developing the board, gaining incremental advantage, not being a threat for the life of my oponnents, they will be attacking each other and sometimes attacking me but because I would ave always 50+ life it wan's matter, then I will drop some wincon as luminarch ascention and start winning.
But that was 'in my head' the reality was that even when I had no combos (and my playgroup knew that) and almost no creatures, they would see the 10-20+ life as a huge advantage and will focus me a lot, so my first session was 1 win , 3 losses, lot of fun and lot of things to improve.
The challenges were then these
1. Because no matter what they will be focusing me, I need more pillowfort cards so I added a couple more like Righteous aura, Delaying shield + Solemnity and some more
2. Because I can't aways count on strategy #1 I need more boardwipes so I addes 2 more
4. The deck wants to draw 2-3 or even more cards a turn, so I need to make a good use of those, I added Ivory tower wich is a very weak card unless I have Necropotence in play, but it is a 1 drop after all and if people just kills my venser's journal I will run out of gas for feeding Aetherfluc reservoir
5. I missed some counters so I added 2 more Cryptic command that acts as a 'fog' if needed and negate.
6. The deck needed a couple more wincons, so I added Test of endurance (wich is pretty weak but is there), Sanguine bond was in the deck and now I added his sister Exquisite blood, I added Crested sunmare because with sun droplet is a token factory each turn, aetherflux reservoir plus a great life total to oneshot people or in combination with sidry galvanic genius
From those wincons the weakest 2 are test of endurance and sidri, mainly because getting 50+ life in a 4+ player table is more easly said than done.
The matches
Round 1, Oloro, Atraxa, Breya and Nazhan - Oloro won
The match went as I imagined, when I got propaganda in play they chose to attack me first, by turn 6 or 7 I was in 40+ life, then I had a counterspell in my hand, a venser's journal in play and I resolved a necropotence, I put 30 cards in my hand from necropotence and next turn I got my 30+ life back, I resolved a Solitary confinment and of course I drew 30 more cards.
The 3vs1 game now was even more hard, they all had a lot of creatures and everyone avoid attacking each other except when they where interested in some gains (like the atraxa guy wanting to gain life and the cat guy wanting to add counters on his jitte).
The jitte went to 12+ counters, nobody was attaking noone because they were focused on killing me just because 'they can't' becaise of solitary.
the game went to turn 20+, I was in 105 life, oneshoted the breya with the aetherflux and the other guys where in 90 life (atraxa) and the other dude in 30 (holding 24 posible life gain because of jitte) so it would take a couple more turn to be able to kill them with flux , I resolved a luminarch ascension and they conceded
The atraxa guy said that it tok just to long, I replied that if I had felidar sovereign (wich I toked of as his request) the game would have ended 10+15 turns ago, he remained unconvinced
Round 2
Mono Green, Marchesa the black rose, Breya and Oloro, Oloro won
The breya guy got salted because he was the first to be oneshoted with the flux (he was the only one in the 50 range) so he modified the breya adding some hate for oloro including more counters.
The game was short this time, I had vedalken orrery in the table, and 4 mana (I got mana screwed) but I had 50 life , the guy that plays 14 counterspells in breya got tapped out, so I resolved a Test of endurance at EOT and tara... game over.
They swored revenge for that, I know they will come and to be honest I already won 3v1 so I was eager to test it again vs 3.
Round 3
Oloro, Monogreen (with hermit druid), breya 14 counters and Orzov ghost cpouncil - Breya won
The 3v1 started, I got mana screwed, by turn 8 I had 4 lands, the monogreen guy resolves a terastodon and kill 3 of my lands , so everyone was a 10+ lands in play and I got one, and nothing else (well, the lad and the 3 3/3 tokens)
They think I got angry because of that but actually I am happy to had been the focus of the land destruction because no I have the 'freedom' to go full MLD on kaalia and if anyone complains about MLD I can point to that game.
I knew the game was lost at that point but I keep playing until the last because they need to feel like they got revenge and I will make sure they enjoyed it .
In some point, I got killed by combat phase, then a couple turn later the monogreen player has 30+ lands in play, turn them all in creatures, and the breya guy played evacuation,
He had to discard 30 cards and because the orzvoh player has bloodchief ascention in play he killed himself while discarding.
I kissed my friend's forehead trice because that move just felt like true justice
Then the game was just piece of cake for breya
Round 4, Marchesa the balck rose, alesha who smiles at death, breya and oloro - (read the game to see who won)
I got mana screwed again, by turn 8-9 I still had 4 lands and 29 life because every single one was targeting me and because of my mana screw I could't do nothing.
But... then when I was at the weakest point (still with 4 mana), the marchesa player started doing his stuff (stealing other people's dudes) and my other oponents soon forgot about their rage on me and started hating the one who was stealing their stuff.
Because I was below 30 life they said that they won't attack me anymore untill I reach 40+ and started picking up at Marchesa, I had Ghostly prision and Righteous aura, that kept me out of the focus of marchesa for a while.
The breya player died first, the alesha player was controlled but I make us stand for a very long time and had a very long fight because I was able to resolve spreading plage and with that we controlled for at least 6 turns the marchesa
I got exquisite blood in play and 13 life, the alesha player got deleted by 10 damage and I won 10 life
The game was very long and I was able to rebuild my board but not my life total, So I ended with about 12 mana, at last I miscalculate the oloro trigger (I could have killed the marchesa player just right there) and waste the oportunity, attaceked with oloro, got Cyclic rift and then tin the next attack it was over for me.
I lost the game because I played bad the last turn, so I count this game as a personal loss but technical a deck win, so I think I can say he got 75% winrate
Conclusion: I am happy about how it perform, It was not (in my opinion) a oppressive deck, people got to resolve almost everything they wanted (except some stuff adressing my wincons )
Except for game 2 who ended at turn 6, all the rest ended at turn 20+ (one even 30+), so everyone has a chance to do their magic and win.
I liked it very much, The only bad things I dn't understand Is why I got mana screwed in 3 of 4 games when I play 36 lads and 9 mana rocks, I know variance exists in statistics but come on, 1/3 of my deck are lands, so I would have to draw 1 land every 3 turns.
I also missed some more pliwfort cards like aurification, I feel the card draw is fine, but maybe I just got bad luck in games 2,3 and 4 because while my plan was drawing 3+ cards a turn that just didn't happen.
I hadn't the chance to play crested sunmare so I don't know how much worth he is actually, I think adding Sun titan to retrieve some stuff from my gy but 6cmc is just to high
I also thought about including Zur the enchanter but he is a primary target for removal and I dont really want to waste a counterspell that I may need later to protect the one thing it will win me the game so, he is out for now
I just wish I can build the same 'concept' with my Kaalia deck wich is going to be the next achievement to unlock.
A sweet card for this type of deck is Zur's Weirding, which is an awesome card for 1v3 type games. And since you will typically have more life, you will inevitable come out on top. Your worst card looks like Sydri, Galvanic Genius.
One small recommendation, format your decklist not by alphabet, but by card type or function. Sorting by cmc inside also makes it much easier to give critiques for decks.
A sweet card for this type of deck is Zur's Weirding, which is an awesome card for 1v3 type games. And since you will typically have more life, you will inevitable come out on top. Your worst card looks like Sydri, Galvanic Genius.
Sydri, Galvanic Genius is a weird card for me, if I got aetherflux reservoir and 50+ life is a oneshot combo, but getting 50+ life in a 4 player table is not that easy to achieve even with all my pillowfort cards.
But she can turn some of my mana rocks in lifelinker so sometimes is better than nothing.
Torment of Hailfire is one of the cards I wanted to try, I cuted Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless because normally I don't get that much mana and I am not running an infinite mana combo so I dont know, I think one of those are worth trying (debt) but I need to figure out what to take away from the deck (posibily test of endurance)
We don't run infinite combos in my meta either. But any of those X spells with 5 or more mana into them is most likely going to swing the polarity of the game. I usually try and save mine for the end but they are good at most stages of the game.
BO is nice, but nnoys more my oppensdt that whats actually help me (at least in my meta), menwhile the resto can help me retrieve some enchanhts or artifacts I like to have but that are often focused by my opponents (propaganda, ghostly prision, Venser's journal)
The first Oloro Ageless ascetic deck I built was a very simple one, I had creatures like Serra ascendant and other lifelinkers, a couple of counterspells (not many just 2-3), some card draw, some spot removal, etc.
The game in my head would go like this, I started developing the board, gaining incremental advantage, not being a threat for the life of my oponnents, they will be attacking each other and sometimes attacking me but because I would ave always 50+ life it wan's matter, then I will drop some wincon as luminarch ascention and start winning.
But that was 'in my head' the reality was that even when I had no combos (and my playgroup knew that) and almost no creatures, they would see the 10-20+ life as a huge advantage and will focus me a lot, so my first session was 1 win , 3 losses, lot of fun and lot of things to improve.
The challenges were then these
1. Because no matter what they will be focusing me, I need more pillowfort cards so I added a couple more like Righteous aura, Delaying shield + Solemnity and some more
2. Because I can't aways count on strategy #1 I need more boardwipes so I addes 2 more
3. Becase sometimes you get attacked with 40 forest thanks to Jolrael, Empress of Beasts I need some instant boardwipes, so I added aetherize and Evacuation to my original list.
4. The deck wants to draw 2-3 or even more cards a turn, so I need to make a good use of those, I added Ivory tower wich is a very weak card unless I have Necropotence in play, but it is a 1 drop after all and if people just kills my venser's journal I will run out of gas for feeding Aetherfluc reservoir
5. I missed some counters so I added 2 more Cryptic command that acts as a 'fog' if needed and negate.
6. The deck needed a couple more wincons, so I added Test of endurance (wich is pretty weak but is there), Sanguine bond was in the deck and now I added his sister Exquisite blood, I added Crested sunmare because with sun droplet is a token factory each turn, aetherflux reservoir plus a great life total to oneshot people or in combination with sidry galvanic genius
From those wincons the weakest 2 are test of endurance and sidri, mainly because getting 50+ life in a 4+ player table is more easly said than done.
The matches
Round 1, Oloro, Atraxa, Breya and Nazhan - Oloro won
The match went as I imagined, when I got propaganda in play they chose to attack me first, by turn 6 or 7 I was in 40+ life, then I had a counterspell in my hand, a venser's journal in play and I resolved a necropotence, I put 30 cards in my hand from necropotence and next turn I got my 30+ life back, I resolved a Solitary confinment and of course I drew 30 more cards.
The 3vs1 game now was even more hard, they all had a lot of creatures and everyone avoid attacking each other except when they where interested in some gains (like the atraxa guy wanting to gain life and the cat guy wanting to add counters on his jitte).
The jitte went to 12+ counters, nobody was attaking noone because they were focused on killing me just because 'they can't' becaise of solitary.
the game went to turn 20+, I was in 105 life, oneshoted the breya with the aetherflux and the other guys where in 90 life (atraxa) and the other dude in 30 (holding 24 posible life gain because of jitte) so it would take a couple more turn to be able to kill them with flux , I resolved a luminarch ascension and they conceded
The atraxa guy said that it tok just to long, I replied that if I had felidar sovereign (wich I toked of as his request) the game would have ended 10+15 turns ago, he remained unconvinced
Round 2
Mono Green, Marchesa the black rose, Breya and Oloro, Oloro won
The breya guy got salted because he was the first to be oneshoted with the flux (he was the only one in the 50 range) so he modified the breya adding some hate for oloro including more counters.
The game was short this time, I had vedalken orrery in the table, and 4 mana (I got mana screwed) but I had 50 life , the guy that plays 14 counterspells in breya got tapped out, so I resolved a Test of endurance at EOT and tara... game over.
They swored revenge for that, I know they will come and to be honest I already won 3v1 so I was eager to test it again vs 3.
Round 3
Oloro, Monogreen (with hermit druid), breya 14 counters and Orzov ghost cpouncil - Breya won
The 3v1 started, I got mana screwed, by turn 8 I had 4 lands, the monogreen guy resolves a terastodon and kill 3 of my lands , so everyone was a 10+ lands in play and I got one, and nothing else (well, the lad and the 3 3/3 tokens)
They think I got angry because of that but actually I am happy to had been the focus of the land destruction because no I have the 'freedom' to go full MLD on kaalia and if anyone complains about MLD I can point to that game.
I knew the game was lost at that point but I keep playing until the last because they need to feel like they got revenge and I will make sure they enjoyed it
In some point, I got killed by combat phase, then a couple turn later the monogreen player has 30+ lands in play, turn them all in creatures, and the breya guy played evacuation,
He had to discard 30 cards and because the orzvoh player has bloodchief ascention in play he killed himself while discarding.
I kissed my friend's forehead trice because that move just felt like true justice
Then the game was just piece of cake for breya
Round 4, Marchesa the balck rose, alesha who smiles at death, breya and oloro - (read the game to see who won)
I got mana screwed again, by turn 8-9 I still had 4 lands and 29 life because every single one was targeting me and because of my mana screw I could't do nothing.
But... then when I was at the weakest point (still with 4 mana), the marchesa player started doing his stuff (stealing other people's dudes) and my other oponents soon forgot about their rage on me and started hating the one who was stealing their stuff.
Because I was below 30 life they said that they won't attack me anymore untill I reach 40+ and started picking up at Marchesa, I had Ghostly prision and Righteous aura, that kept me out of the focus of marchesa for a while.
The breya player died first, the alesha player was controlled but I make us stand for a very long time and had a very long fight because I was able to resolve spreading plage and with that we controlled for at least 6 turns the marchesa
I got exquisite blood in play and 13 life, the alesha player got deleted by 10 damage and I won 10 life
The game was very long and I was able to rebuild my board but not my life total, So I ended with about 12 mana, at last I miscalculate the oloro trigger (I could have killed the marchesa player just right there) and waste the oportunity, attaceked with oloro, got Cyclic rift and then tin the next attack it was over for me.
I lost the game because I played bad the last turn, so I count this game as a personal loss but technical a deck win, so I think I can say he got 75% winrate
Conclusion: I am happy about how it perform, It was not (in my opinion) a oppressive deck, people got to resolve almost everything they wanted (except some stuff adressing my wincons
Except for game 2 who ended at turn 6, all the rest ended at turn 20+ (one even 30+), so everyone has a chance to do their magic and win.
I liked it very much, The only bad things I dn't understand Is why I got mana screwed in 3 of 4 games when I play 36 lads and 9 mana rocks, I know variance exists in statistics but come on, 1/3 of my deck are lands, so I would have to draw 1 land every 3 turns.
I also missed some more pliwfort cards like aurification, I feel the card draw is fine, but maybe I just got bad luck in games 2,3 and 4 because while my plan was drawing 3+ cards a turn that just didn't happen.
I hadn't the chance to play crested sunmare so I don't know how much worth he is actually, I think adding Sun titan to retrieve some stuff from my gy but 6cmc is just to high
I also thought about including Zur the enchanter but he is a primary target for removal and I dont really want to waste a counterspell that I may need later to protect the one thing it will win me the game so, he is out for now
I just wish I can build the same 'concept' with my Kaalia deck wich is going to be the next achievement to unlock.
Thanks for reading
The complete decklist
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
1x AEtherize
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x Azorius Signet
1x Blind Obedience
1x Boon Reflection
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Counterspell
1x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Crested Sunmare
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Damnation
1x Delaying Shield
1x Dimir Signet
1x Disallow
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Evacuation
1x Exotic Orchard
1x Exquisite Blood
1x Fumigate
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Glacial Chasm
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Burial
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Humility
1x Hushwing Gryff
2x Island
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Ivory Tower
1x Leyline of Anticipation
1x Luminarch Ascension
1x Marsh Flats
1x Maze of Ith
1x Merciless Eviction
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Necropotence
1x Negate
1x No Mercy
1x Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Path to Exile
1x Phyrexian Arena
5x Plains
1x Polluted Delta
1x Prairie Stream
1x Propaganda
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Return to Dust
1x Rhystic Study
1x Righteous Aura
1x Sanguine Bond
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Sol Ring
1x Solemnity
1x Solitary Confinement
1x Spreading Plague
1x Strip Mine
1x Sun Droplet
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Swamp
1x Swan Song
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Sydri, Galvanic Genius
1x Talisman of Dominance
1x Talisman of Progress
1x Temple of Deceit
1x Temple of Enlightenment
1x Temple of Silence
1x Terminus
1x Test of Endurance
1x Thought Vessel
1x Tolaria West
1x Underground River
1x Utter End
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Venser's Journal
1x Watery Grave
1x Well of Lost Dreams
1x Wrath of God
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here
One small recommendation, format your decklist not by alphabet, but by card type or function. Sorting by cmc inside also makes it much easier to give critiques for decks.
Sydri, Galvanic Genius is a weird card for me, if I got aetherflux reservoir and 50+ life is a oneshot combo, but getting 50+ life in a 4 player table is not that easy to achieve even with all my pillowfort cards.
But she can turn some of my mana rocks in lifelinker so sometimes is better than nothing.
Torment of Hailfire is one of the cards I wanted to try, I cuted Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless because normally I don't get that much mana and I am not running an infinite mana combo so I dont know, I think one of those are worth trying (debt) but I need to figure out what to take away from the deck (posibily test of endurance)
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here
This is the updated decklist https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/oloro-durdle-control/
Th only thing I may add is restoration specialist in exchange for blind obedience
BO is nice, but nnoys more my oppensdt that whats actually help me (at least in my meta), menwhile the resto can help me retrieve some enchanhts or artifacts I like to have but that are often focused by my opponents (propaganda, ghostly prision, Venser's journal)
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here
Aurification proved to be better than I thought so was Dawn of hope
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here