Nicol Bolas Archenemy Coop/Solo EDH Variant

Archenemy Casual Multiplayer Primer

Enral

Destruction & Desolation (20)

• 1x All in Good Time
• 2x All Shall Smolder In My Wake
• 1x Approach My Molten Realm
• 2x Behold the Power of Destruction
• 2x Dance, Pathetic Marionette
• 1x I Bask in Your Silent Awe
• 2x Into the Earthen Maw
• 2x Look Skyward and Despair
• 2x May Civilization Collapse
• 2x Plots That Span Centuries
• 1x The Dead Shall Serve
• 1x The Fate of the Flammable
• 1x Your Puny Minds Cannot Fathom

Banned List (9)

• 1x Every Last Vestige Shall Rot
• 1x Evil Comes to Fruition
• 1x I Call on the Ancient Magics
• 1x Introductions Are in Order
• 1x My Genius Knows No Bounds
• 1x Realms Befitting My Majesty
• 1x The Pieces Are Coming Together
• 1x Which of You Burns Brightest?
• 1x Your Fate Is Thrice Sealed

Placeholder (40)

• 40x Wastes

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Sideboard

Other (49)

• 1x A Display of My Dark Power
• 1x All in Good Time
• 1x All Shall Smolder In My Wake
• 1x Approach My Molten Realm
• 1x Behold the Power of Destruction
• 1x Choose Your Champion
• 1x Dance, Pathetic Marionette
• 1x Drench The Soil In Their Blood
• 1x Embrace My Diabolical Vision
• 1x Every Hope Shall Vanish
• 1x Every Last Vestige Shall Rot
• 1x Evil Comes to Fruition
• 1x Feed the Machine
• 1x I Bask in Your Silent Awe
• 1x I Call on the Ancient Magics
• 1x I Delight in Your Convulsions
• 1x I Know All, I See All
• 1x Ignite the Cloneforge!
• 1x Imprison This Insolent Wretch
• 1x Into the Earthen Maw
• 1x Introductions Are in Order
• 1x Know Naught but Fire
• 1x Look Skyward and Despair
• 1x May Civilization Collapse
• 1x Mortal Flesh Is Weak
• 1x My Crushing Masterstroke
• 1x My Genius Knows No Bounds
• 1x My Undead Horde Awakens
• 1x My Wish Is Your Command
• 1x Nature Demands an Offering
• 1x Nature Shields Its Own
• 1x Nothing Can Stop Me Now
• 1x Only Blood Ends Your Nightmares
• 1x Plots That Span Centuries
• 1x Realms Befitting My Majesty
• 1x Roots of All Evil
• 1x Rotted Ones, Lay Siege
• 1x Surrender Your Thoughts
• 1x The Dead Shall Serve
• 1x The Fate of the Flammable
• 1x The Iron Guardian Stirs
• 1x The Pieces Are Coming Together
• 1x The Very Soil Shall Shake
• 1x Tooth, Claw, and Tail
• 1x Which of You Burns Brightest?
• 1x Your Fate Is Thrice Sealed
• 1x Your Inescapable Doom
• 1x Your Puny Minds Cannot Fathom
• 1x Your Will Is Not Your Own

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Nicol Bolas Archenemy Cooperative Variant

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Introduction

Nicol Bolas Archenemy is a commander cooperative variant where the players fight against the "archenemy" Nicol Bolas in the form of three personas (one Creature form and two Planeswalker forms). With the large pool of scheme cards and the upcoming 2017 archenemy deck that will introduce more new and exciting schemes, I feel that it is time to utilize them to create a whole new commander cooperative experience. This variant can be played solo but is recommended that four players participate for the optimal play experience.

Nicol Bolas is the most powerful of the five Elder Dragons to have survived the Dragon War. He is considered one of the most powerful planeswalkers of the Multiverse and at 25,000 years old, possibly the oldest being alive. Bolas hallmark is his touch, an inborn ability that causes a mind shattering effect with the slightest caress. It makes coherent thought nearly impossible. Bolas is a master of Black, Blue, and Red magic with many lifetimes worth of experience and knowledge.

Setup

• Nicol Bolas scheme deck construction follows the standard scheme deck construction rules: the deck must have at least 20 scheme cards and it can't include more than two of any single card (see list for cards that are banned in this variant).

• The suggestion for scheme deck construction is 16 Disruption, 1 Ongoing, and 4 token/steal. I have created a few sample deck list above which I have playtested with.

• This variant requires a D6 and any item to represent the first player token.

• Starting out, each player will start their turns simultaneously before Bolas takes his turn. Difficult mode 2 turns, normal mode 3 turns, and easy mode 4 turns (difficulty setting may need more tweaking and playtesting).

• Choose a player to take the first player token (see Bolas targeting rules section for more information)

• At the beginning of the players' turns, pass the first player token to the next player in the clockwise direction.

• Set Bolas life total and commander damage total at 40 and 21 multiplied by total players respectively.

Bolas Targeting Rules

The first player token (FPT) will determine the following targeting rules Bolas will follow as the game progresses.

• Schemes: Bolas will resolve the first scheme on the player with the FPT and resolve the next scheme on the next player in clockwise order.

• Combat: Bolas in his creature persona together with his other creatures will attack the player with the FPT all at once.

• More than two targets: If Bolas has to target two or more things, the player will pick up the appropriate targets, shuffle them, and pull the required amount randomly out of the pile (this is a general rule for targeting if unsure).

Nicol Bolas Basic AI Rules

Setup: Bolas Creature Persona will start on the battle field at the beginning of the game as part of the setup. He has summoning sickness and will not be able to attack till the next turn (unless he flipped to his other planeswalker personas; he will have haste for the rest of the game after this) - This phase only applies to the beginning of the game, skip this after. For difficult mode, put an ongoing scheme into play.

1. Untap

2. Upkeep (Bolas will "cast" schemes from his hand randomly and resolve them with the same first player token rule, schemes can be countered in this phase since it was cast from his hands).

3. Scheme Phase (reveal a scheme per player starting with the player with the first player token, resolve it, and put it into the graveyard; if there are no more cards to play, shuffle graveyard to form a new scheme deck) - This is not considered as "casting", therefore schemes cannot be countered in this phase. Escalation check - If Bolas has less than half of his life total or if he received more than half of the commander damage (rounded up), he will resolve two schemes per player instead.

4. Combat Phase (If Nicol Bolas creature persona is available, it will act on this phase) - Skip this phase if Bolas controls no summoned creatures or Bolas planeswalker persona is active instead. All creatures attack the player with the first player token.

5. Planeswalker Phase (If Nicol Bolas planeswalker persona is available, it will activate his ability on this phase by rolling the D6) - Skip this phase if Bolas creature persona is active instead.

6. Persona Phase (roll a D6 to determine the persona that will come into play); this happens in "split second"; if the same persona got chosen, he will remain in the state as it was before the persona phase as if nothing ever happened).

7. Cleanup

Bolas Persona D6 Assignment:

• 1 to 3 = Nicol Bolas
• 4 = Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
• 5 = Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
• 6 = Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Nicol Bolas Planeswalker Persona AI Rules

When Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker or Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh persona comes into play, the game will check the following:

1. Is Bolas life at least half of his life total or did he receive half or less of the commander damage rounded up? If yes for either one, persona comes into play with printed loyalty cost. If no, proceed to 2.

2. Persona will come into play with double the loyalty and will have a chance of rolling the ultimate.

All general targeting rules apply (i.e. player with first player token gets targeted first in clockwise order). A general rule for planeswalker rule activation is as follows:

• Activate the "+" ability that adds the most loyalty if there is not enough loyalty to activate the "-" ability or if there is no legal target.

• Activate the "-" ability if the other ability has no legal target.

• If there are no legal targets, immediately switch to the Nicol Bolas persona and go straight to combat phase.

For Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver (represented by 4 on the D6), the following dice roll will activate the corresponding ability:

• 1 or 2 will activate the +3 ability

• 3 or 4 will activate the -3 ability

• 5 or 6 will activate -11 ability

For Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh (represented by 5 on the D6), the following dice roll will activate the corresponding ability:

• 1 or 2 will activate +2 ability

• 3 or 4 will activate +1 ability

• 5 will activate -4 ability

• 6 will activate -12 ability

For Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (represented by 6 on the D6), the following dice roll will activate the corresponding ability:

• 1 or 2 will activate the +3 ability

• 3 or 4 will activate the -2 ability

• 5 or 6 will activate -9 ability

Nicol Bolas Creature Persona AI Rules

Bolas is represented by 1 to 3 on the D6:

• Bolas has summoning sickness the first time he gets on the battlefield but gains haste subsequently (note that creatures he control are affected by summoning sickness too).

• If the player with the first player token is not attacking, Bolas will block the next available attacker of the next player in clockwise order etc).

• If Bolas is tapped during players' declare attacker combat phase, roll a D6 to determine if he will untap to block that turn (odds do not untap; even will untap)

• Bolas can block any amount of creatures and will always choose to block all attackers if able.

• Bolas can attack through any pillowfort effects.

• Bolas will assign commander damage as per regular commander rules. If he deals 21 or more damage to any player, that player is eliminated from the game.

• Creatures that Bolas block will be decided randomly by shuffling all of the attacking creatures that could be potentially killed by Bolas and randomly reveal them one at a time for the damage to be assigned. For example, player one attacks with a 5/5, 2/2, 7/6, and a 3/3. Since all attacking creatures can be potentially killed by Bolas, he shuffles all four creatures and randomly pulled the 2/2 out. The 2/2 is dealt lethal damage and died. Since Bolas has remaining damage to assign and isn't defeated yet, he pulled the 5/5 out in which the remaining 5 damage is assigned to it and killed it. Since Bolas was already dealt 2 damage previously, he was dealt the 5 damage which will defeat him too.

Additional Rules

• Note that instead of shuffling the cards and randomly picking a card out for randomization purposes, players can also use a D6 or D20 depending on the amount of cards needed to assign a number for randomization.

• Escalation: If Bolas life is below half of his life total, he will start to resolve two schemes per player each turn and his planeswalker persona will come into play with double the loyalty counters.

• Imposing Presence: Players will lose one life per repetitive loop after the first iteration is performed. For example, a kiki-jiki + zealous conscripts combo if done after the first loop will result in that player losing one life and so forth. For each instance of life gain (including lifelink during combat), that player rolls a six-sided die to determine its success. 1 to 3 is failure and 4 to 6 is success.

• Rebirth: Bolas will always return in one of his three personas if defeated (i.e. exiled or destroyed), bounced, enchanted, or stolen (see persona phase above).

• Mana Wealth: Bolas, for the purpose of this game, has such large amount of mana accumulated over the years that it is considered infinite and cannot run out.

• Sinister Aura: All creatures and players can be targeted by Bolas and loses Indestructibility (i.e. loses shroud and hexproof).

• Relentlessness: Bolas will attempt to negate all damage every time if it is lethal. Roll a D6 where 1 to 3 is not prevent the lethal damage and 4 to 6 will.

• The All Knowing: All Fog effects do not work on Bolas.

• Cunningness: If Bolas would draw cards, he would put them into his "hand". The drawn cards will be cast from his hand during the upkeep phase randomly.

• Untouchability: All of Bolas' zones cannot be affected/interacted (including graveyard and hand).

• Escalation: If Bolas has less than half of his life total or if he received more than half of the commander damage (rounded up), he will resolve two schemes per player instead.

• Cruel Ultimatum (optional rule): When Bolas life got reduced to 50 life or below, he will cast this spell at instant speed after everything on the stack is resolved (for the purposes of drawing cards, Bolas will be revealing and resolving three scheme cards instead

• Wit's End (optional rule): Bolas will cast this spell at instant speed on the player that draws a card to a total handsize of eight.

• Plague Wind (optional rule): Bolas is the mastermind of all plagues he inflicted in Amonkhet and will cast this spell at instant speed to destroy all players creatures if their total creature population reaches 2 multiply by the number of players.

Victory Conditions

Win conditions:

• Deplete Nicol Bolas' life total down to 0

• Deal 21 commander damage per player (i.e. if there are 3 players, need to deal a combined 63 commander damage to win)

• Deal lethal infect damage equals to 10 multiply by the number of players

Lose Conditions:

• All players are eliminated

FAQ

Q: Sometimes there will be creature tokens generated or creatures on Bolas side of the field, how will the creatures fit into Bolas action phases?

A: Creatures will automatically attack during the combat phase at the player with the first player marker but will not be able to block (only Bolas creature persona can block)

Q: What happens if I exile any of the three Bolas personas? Will it be gone forever?

A: The affected Bolas persona is simply treated as defeated and will trigger the persona phase.

Q: Will Bolas' creature persona have to be sacrificed the following turn as per card?

A: No because Bolas has "infinite" mana to pay for it.

Q: Schemes like "Pay Tribute to Me" has a clause that requires controlling of lands to gain additional benefits from the card. How does that work here?

A: For all purposes, Nicol Bolas has "infinite" mana which means he has control of an inordinate amount of lands so effects like this will apply to Bolas.

Q: Does Propaganda-like cards affect Bolas?

A: No, because Bolas has "infinite" mana to pay for it. However, if there is an effect that does not allow player to pay for mana to attack, it will affect Bolas creature persona and will not allow him to attack. A good example is Blazing Archon, the player that controls it can't be attacked and Bolas will attack the next available player in the clockwise direction.

New Scheme Cards

A Reckoning Approaches (banned)

Because I Have Willed It (banned)

Behold My Grandeur (banned)

Bow to My Command

Choose Your Demise

Delight in the Hunt

Every Dream a Nightmare

For Each of You, a Gift

Know Evil

Make Yourself Useful

My Forces Are Innumerable

My Laughter Echoes

No One Will Hear Your Cries

Pay Tribute to Me

Power Without Equal

The Mighty Will Fall

There Is No Refuge

This World Belongs to Me (banned)

What's Yours Is Now Mine

When Will You Learn

Top Ranked	Achieved #16 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Archenemy legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 2 Mythic Rares 3 - 2 Rares 27 - 45 Commons
Cards	72
Avg. CMC	7.67
Tokens	Copy Clone, Dragon 5/5 R, Plant 0/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Primers, EDH Variant, Favorites, Want to try