IntroductionUsually, an effect that gives creatures to your opponents encourages us to build Group Hug strategies, that is, find good excuses (like a decent trade or negotiation) to help those who are trying to beat you on their way to a victory.In today's article, that excuse is a Skunk that stinks up the whole table, even after it leaves the battlefield. Olinda the Oblivious comes straight from the brand-new Mystery Booster: Commander, leading a mono-black strategy that puts counters in play and tries to shut down attacks as well as burn the board beautifully.Olinda the Oblivious, the CommanderOlinda the Oblivious is a Mono-Black 3/3 commander whose ability triggers when it enters or attacks. When it does, for each opponent, you can put an odor counter on up to one target creature that player controls if it doesn't have one already.Each creature with that counter will make its controller lose 2 life at the beginning of their upkeep for as long as it has the counter. The funniest detail is in the last line of text: “They continue to smell after Olinda has left the battlefield.” In other words, removing Olinda doesn't solve the problem because this effect remains on those creatures even after she leaves the battlefield.Your goal, then, is to put these counters on several creatures and make each opponent lose more life points each turn, which is a very interesting Burn strategy for a Mono-Black list. Please note that Olinda doesn't need to deal combat damage for her ability to trigger. Declaring her as an attacker is enough.The DeckToday's list is a mix of Burn, protection against attacks, and creature recursion. The main game plan is to ramp a little (not too aggressively, considering we can't play green in this list), make sure you can target something with Olina, and reuse her main effect while other permanents burn your opponents. It also plays win conditions that don't rely on the commander, which are important if the table manages to interrupt you when you're putting down counters.Here it is:RampSol Ring and Arcane Signet allow you to set up your pieces faster, while Jet Medallion reduces the cost of black spells. Olinda isn't particularly expensive, but casting her with some mana saved up for protection is usually better than playing her and hoping the table takes it easy on you (even though Commander players usually don't like playing removals and interaction in their decks).Crypt Ghast gives you more mana when you use your Swamps, while Cabal Coffers takes advantage of how many of them you control, and with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, your utility lands count as Swamps too. Cabal Stronghold, however, only interacts with basic Swamps, which is relevant. Don't forget this when you're checking how much mana you have.Gifts with an Ulterior MotiveSlaughter Specialist gives each opponent a Human token, while Hunted Bonebrute gives two Dogs to one of them, and Clackbridge Troll offers three Goat tokens. In decks like this, those are not drawbacks: they're ways to give your commander more targets, especially if your opponents are planning to keep only a few creatures on the battlefield.Forbidden Orchard is similar but doesn't force you to spend mana on a spell. It creates mana and gives an opponent a Spirit at the same time. Genesis Chamber, meanwhile, creates a Myr whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield while it's untapped, so it will keep the board full relatively easily.Please note that you need to be careful with sacrifice decks when you play this strategy. They can use your gifts as resources and get rid of the creatures with Odor counters. Feeding an Aristocrats deck is a rather questionable decision.More Triggers for the CommanderOlinda is a little slow most of the time, so you should try to speed up her triggers as much as possible. Panharmonicon makes Olinda's ETB ability trigger an additional time, while Strionic Resonator can copy both that trigger and her attack trigger. Please note that, if there are multiple triggers on the stack, you'll have to choose different targets. A creature that just got an Odor counter is no longer a valid target for the other ability triggers and will make them fizzle.Conjurer's Closet lets you blink Olinda during your end step and put new counters in play outside of combat. Helm of the Host needs a little more to get going, but it creates nonlegendary copies with Haste. With this card, you'll be able to create several copies of a certain creature that enter and then attack in the same turn.Blade of Selves also works with Olinda, but the legendary rule forces you to only keep one of them. At least the tokens enter the battlefield before they're put into the graveyard, so their ETB abilities still trigger. The same applies to Saw in Half, which can create 2 ETB triggers even when only one copy stays in play.When Gray Merchant of Asphodel enters play, these copies will help you finish the game or create a significant advantage by making your opponents lose life points based on your devotion to black. At the same time, it will give you a few life points back.Protection and Returning Cards from the GraveyardFeign Death and Malakir Rebirth bring back a creature into play after it dies, so they protect Olinda and retrigger her ETB ability. To do this, you'll have to leave her in the graveyard instead of sending her to the command zone. Kaya's Ghostform also provides a way to bring cards back after they're exiled.Avacyn, Angel of Horror costs 8 mana, but when she and your other nontoken creatures die, she returns them to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step. Like so, she's great against board wipes and lets you reuse creatures with ETB abilities, which is particularly important in this build.Affecting CombatThis game plan works better if the opponents have a lot of creatures, but you don't really want them to attack. Crawlspace limits the number of creatures that can attack you in each combat to 2, while Silent Arbiter only lets 1 creature attack each combat, regardless of which player is being attacked.Hissing Miasma and Revenge of Ravens cost your opponents life points for each creature that attacks you. This is great against decks that rely on a large number of small tokens. As for your own attacks, Brotherhood Regalia prevents Olinda from being blocked, so it'll keep her safe while you put counters in play.Card AdvantagePhyrexian Arena will give you cards throughout the game, while Black Market Connections also gives you Treasures and creatures at the cost of a few life points, depending on the modes you choose. With all this flexibility, it won't be hard to get the mana, cards, or board presence you need.Decorum Dissertation makes a target player draw two cards and lose two life points. With its Paradigm ability, after this spell resolves for the first time, you can cast a copy of it for free at the beginning of each of your first main phases, so you'll always have cards afterward. Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood also refill your hand but are less efficient.Win ConditionsBlood Seeker punishes your opponents whenever their creatures enter the battlefield, including the tokens you give them. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse puts pressure on your opponents whenever they draw cards and gives you life points whenever you do, while Mai, Scornful Striker makes all players lose 2 life whenever they cast a noncreature spell. This last effect also affects you, so you'll have to consider it when you chain together protection or card draw. These cards will make your opponents (and even you) lose life points even when Olinda doesn't attack.Wound Reflection makes each opponent lose life again at the beginning of each end step equal to the amount of life they lost that turn. This works really well with both your Odor counters and your other burn tools. With these pieces in play, your opponents won't have much time to figure out a way to deal with you.Massacre Wurm turns the tokens you give your opponents into more threats, as it gives enemy creatures -2/-2 and forces each player to lose more life points when they die. Exsanguinate allows you to use your mana to hit all opponents at once.Exquisite Blood and Bloodthirsty Conqueror gives you life points whenever your opponents lose theirs, especially when they're together. They don't loop, however, since neither one actively makes opponents lose life when you gain life. They'rein this list mainly to keep you healthy as you draw cards with your life points and survive while the rest of the deck does its work.How to PlayA functional opening hand with this deck has three lands, ramp, or card draw, and some way to progress the basic game plan. Early on, you should focus on getting mana and understanding the current game state. See which player is creating targets for Olinda and avoid spending cards just to put tokens in play without being able to take advantage of them.In the midgame, you must look out for your creatures that need to stay on the battlefield and save protection for your commander. Feed the Swarm and Withering Torment answer problematic creatures or enchantments, but removing your own targets at random will only help your opponents, who won't take Burn damage from them anymore.When it's time to end the game, you need to keep in mind the life points you'll lose in the next upkeep phases so you know the best times and opportunities to attack. You don't want to give your opponents another turn around the table. Sometimes, reusing a Merchant with a Conjurer’s Closet or going all in on an Exsanguinate will end the game before a board wipe can undo all the work you've put in.Final thoughtsBloomburrow was my favorite plane in the last few years, and it's great to see the cutest creatures in MTG getting representation even now. I hope we go back there soon, and that Olinda the Oblivious showing up in a new product isn't merely a one-off, but a sign that more is on the way for this plane.What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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