The Next 100: Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Welcome to the Next 100 Series! This series tries to present a fun Commander deckbuilding challenge. I build a quick good stuff deck around a commonly
played Commander. Then I set that deck aside and build a Next 100 deck with the same legendary leader but without duplicating any cards.

So why do I do it?

There’s a few reasons! It pushes my deckbuilding skills. It illustrates how deep the Commander card pool truly is. It gives you a double dosage of decks.
Finally, it’s just fun!

Today I want to build around Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Oloro is one of the powerful guys that came out of the Commander 2013 product and still sees a lot of
play at kitchen tables around the world a year later.

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic (First 100)

Abe Sargent

Test deck on 12-01-2014

Commander

Creatures (24)

Planeswalkers (2)

1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Sorin Markov

Lands (40)

I think this is a suitable deck for Oloro trimmed with all of the fixins. Now, there are certainly cards that are not included here that might make the cut
in your Oloro deck. But in order to make this decklist, I also reviewed a variety of Oloro decks that were posted online to see what folks were
running.

This deck spares no expenses. From dual lands to Mana Drain, it is running the best of the best. It uses a variety of lifegain triggers (such as Rhox
Faithmender, Sanguine Bond, Drogskol Reaver, and Ajani’s Pridemate). Combine that with a ton of life-based card draw via stuff like Phyrexian Arena and
Necropotence, and lather in a strong injection of the best lifegain you can find.

Without those great cards, what could another Oloro deck even look like?

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic (Next 100)

Abe Sargent

Test deck on 12-01-2014

Commander

Creatures (23)

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (39)

Maybe it look likes this!

That’s a suitably fun deck too! (Now, again, if you think some of the cards in the Next 100 list should be in your personal First 100 list, then just make
the swaps in your head. The point of this article is to show just how deep the card stock is for Commander decks, and that just helps to prove the point!)

What sort of fun stuff does this deck run?

One of the key things a lot of Oloro decks missed was the great equipment that gains life. Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of War and Peace both
provide a nice dosage of lifegain along with being really strong entries in Commander world. In particular, the Light and Shadow can bring your guys back,
thereby providing solid card advantage. You can pull counters off Umezawa’s Jitte to gain life. Oloro or a friend really wants to wield it in combat.
Another way to gain life? Lifelink! So add in Loxodon Warhammer and Batterskull.

Now that’s a potent section of equipment to add to the deck. All I need to do is add the obligatory creature tutors (Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant),
and my Oloro deck has a nasty equipment section. Why not include some other equipment while we are at it? Might as well include the Cloak to protect Oloro
(and to guarantee a hit with a creature wielding other great equipment) and the card drawing stylings of Skullclamp.

In other news, Vault of the Archangel also adds a nasty element of lifelink to Oloro’s deck while True Conviction will just blow people out when set up.
The cards Oloro can draw you when you have an entire team that has double strike and lifelink is just devastating to imagine. (See also: Noble
Purpose.)

I also think Etherwrought Page is a missed opportunity for Oloro decks, and I’m happy to feature it here. It gives you one of three abilities in your
upkeep. Want to gain life to trigger Oloro? Gain 2 life! Want to win the game? How about you cause everyone else to lose a life? You can also help to set
up your draw by looking at the top card of your library and sending it to the bin if you want (which plays well with a load of graveyard enabling
strategies from delve to reanimation). If you are running tricks like Paradox Haze, the Etherwrought Page improves considerably.

Want to gain lots of life from having a big hand? Oloro players tend to have hands swollen with cards, all ready to drop at a moment’s notice. Venser’s
Journal is perfect as a Reliquary Tower and a life-gaining opportunity. Playing both roles gives it a nice niche to fill. Meanwhile Gerrard Capashen can
give you a bunch of opponent hand-based life.

When adding in support cards, there are still loads that use lifegain as a backup ability. Want to fight graveyard-based strategies? While you could run
Suffer the Past, I am running Crypt Incursion. Both add to your life total. Might as well run Exile rather than Gild. Want to blow up that artifact or
enchantment? Might as well run Terashi’s Grasp or Solemn Offering. Faith’s Fetters will lock something down for a while. You’ll note the presence of stuff
like Reviving Vapors and Spinal Embrace.

There’s some nice space for fun cards too. Outside of Humility decks, Orim’s Prayer never saw much play. But with Oloro as your Commander, you suddenly
have a defensive trick that’s arguably better than Ghostly Prison. Gaining life for each creature that attacks you is a strong way to get a bunch of
triggers off Oloro (if in play) and slow folks down (if not). Patron of the Kitsune jumped into the deck for similar reasons.

Sure, the First 100 stole Sorin Markhov and Ajani Goldmane from us. But you know what? There are tons of ‘walkers that will get you that life, including
other Ajanis. Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Ajani Steadfast are both strong additions to the Next 100 deck, as is a different Sorin (Sorin, Solemn
Visitor) and Elspeth Tirel. Because Ms. Tirel can shoot her loyalty quickly while threatening triple tokens, she gives the deck some serious long game
capacity. Meanwhile, the Sad Guest vampire grants your team lifelink for the turn while also giving you the potential to spit out 2/2 flying vampires.
Maybe you should turn on some dance music for Sorin to get his groove on. You don’t want to be a bad host!

Now we’ve explored a lot of the support cards for Oloro, but what about the creatures? After all, you need stuff to win the game with, right? Obviously,
some of these support cards can win, such as True Conviction or Batterskull. But what beats?

What about Serra Avatar; is that beat-tastic enough for you? It’ll win the game with one hit more often than not!

We have some great utility creatures for the early game. I brushed multiplayer classic Soul Warden off for another run in the sun. Meanwhile, cards like
Vampire Nighthawk join as an ideal blocker with lifelink for your pleasure. Lots of bodies were added for very specific reasons. For example, Azorius
Herald can be found on the list, not just because it gains you life when it arrives, but its unblockability can be used to give some strong equipment or
trigger things like True Conviction, Celestial Mantle, or Noble Purpose.

Pontiff of Blight can turn all of your stuff into strong extort lifegain engines that will winnow opposing life totals quite quickly. We have Psychosis
Crawler and Shattered Angel that are strong midgame drops with Oloro as your boss. From Agent of Masks as a walking Subversion to Daxos of Meletis, this is
a fun deck that uses other cards from Esper to find support for Oloro.

In fact, the deck has a real red zone feel to it. So many life-oriented triggers are built around swinging for damage. Daxos, Sword of Light and Shadow,
lifelinking creatures, Noble Purpose, Celestial Mantle, Wingmate Roc, Path of Bravery, and Azorius Herald. This is a deck that is not content to sit back
and play life games. Instead it brings it to your enemies. While I’ve never really liked Oloro that much, I have to admit that this version suits my tastes
a lot more. Attack for profit.

Attack for the win!

You could also run stuff like Angelic Accord, Bitterblossom, Duskmantle Seer, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, Survival Cache, Bloodletter Quill, Sunbond, or
Clearwater Goblet. Mass removal like In Garruk’s Wake, Phyrexian Rebirth, or Toxic Deluge could also fit.

I hope you found some underused gems for your Oloro build and your next Commander night. What are some cards you run that weren’t here? What are some
commanders you’d like to see Next 100-ized in the future?

Appendix:

Next 100 Projects:

This is my ninth Next 100 article. I’ve done one, on average, every two months or so. That’s a pretty solid pace. If you enjoy this one, why not take a
look at the 8 others?

1). Next 100 with Sygg, River Cutthroat. This is
sort of a proof of concept for the series. And it’s always fun to get your Sygg on!

2). Next 100 with Rhys the Redeemed. It’s time
to get all token crazy!

3).
Next 100 with Prime Speaker Zegana
. Are you ready for the Counter-pocalypse?

4). Next 10 with Glissa, the Traitor. One of the
more popular commanders out there gets her very own project.

5). Next 100 with Purphoros, God of the Forge.
Haven’t you noticed a lot of these decks recently? What are some different things you can do with him?

6). Next 100 with Kaalia of the Vast. This was
long overdue!

7). Next 100 with Yisan, the Wander Bard. This was penned by
Bennie Smith, and I build a brand new decklist around it. Enjoy!

8). Next 100 with Karn, Silver Golem. Built
originally by Sheldon Menery, we have an awesome artifact and colorless card only deck. Can I even find enough cards to make another one? Find out!