Nicol Bolas' Machinations

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Storm UBR (Grixis)

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Land (26)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (19)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Voltaic Key

Sorcery (25)

• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Day's Undoing
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Molten Psyche
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Tendrils of Agony
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Whispering Madness
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Winds of Change
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Mind Over Matter
• 1x Waste Not

Creature (3)

• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Commander (1)

Instant (22)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Brutal Expulsion
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Gush
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Paradoxical Outcome
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Remand
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Whir of Invention

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Sideboard

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Anger of the Gods
• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Recurring Insight
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Temporal Cascade
• 1x Time Reversal

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Necropotence

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Mizzix's Mastery

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The Introduction and the Philosophy

Ever want to play a game of commander as an evil mastermind? Well I love playing as my groups antagonist, and so my general had to be Nicol Bolas. The choice was obvious; Grixis is my favorite color combination, Im smarter than all my friends, and I identify well with Nicol Bolas. All jokes aside, playing this deck is a blast and I highly recommend it! I am currently in the process of finding foils and or all black bordered versions of the cards in it. It is important to me for this deck to come off as intimidating and well thought out. As a character Nicol Bolas casts a big shadow but in EDH he is not seen as a competitive general choice. The truth is, Bolas only makes his appearance once the rest of the table has exiled my win conditions, exhausted my card advantage, and have forced Bolas hand on the battlefield. The deck itself has gone through a lot of testing and will never be perfect, but the philosophy will not change. It is difficult to think clearly in the presence of Nicol Bolas and one will find that my card choice reflects that.

Card Choice

As I previously stated my card choice should prove to be both functional and mostly flavorful. I have wheels, tutors, win cons, synergy, disruption, and ramp. The wheel effects are a reflection of Nicol Bolas shuffling his opponents thoughts keeping them from coming up with a consistent strategy for attack. My wheels are as follows; Dark Deal, Day's Undoing, Molten Psyche, Reforge the Soul, Time Spiral, Wheel of Fortune, Whispering Madness, Windfall, Winds of Change , Temporal Cascade, and Time Reversal .

The tutors are flavorful because Nicol Bolas can always find a way to win if one gives him time. He can even think spells into existence Burning Wish. My tutors are as follows; Burning Wish, Dark Petition, Demonic Tutor, Gamble, Personal Tutor, Entomb, Intuition, Lim-Dul's Vault, Mystical Tutor, Merchant Scroll , and Vampiric Tutor.

Next we have synergy. These cards are my card draw (outside of my wheels) and should be under scrutiny for whether I really need them in my deck. Some in this category like Waste Not will stay in this deck forever and I love it. Others like Ponder are not always very good but are hard to replace. Anyway, synergy cards are as follows; Gitaxian Probe, Mind Over Matter, Waste Not, Sensei's Divining Top, Voltaic Key, Gush, Brainstorm, Ponder, Notion Thief, and Preordain.

My ramp is fairly obvious, Nicol Bolas is smarter and stronger than anyone who opposes him so he should be able to do everything way before anyone else. I do not need to list my mana rocks and rituals.

Nicol Bolas is a proven master of control magic which is why we have answers to all of magics problems in Grixis colors. This is the disruption I have to protect the combo and my life total; Temporal Fissure, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Toxic Deluge, Vandalblast, Venser, Shaper Savant, Counterspell, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Will, Hurkyl's Recall, Pact of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Remand and, Swan Song.

Now comes the win cons. The cards that we tutored for that sometimes need a little protection, benefit from that ramp, exploit our synergies, and crush our opponents sometimes as early as the second or third turn. Here is how Nicol Bolas would win; Yawgmoth's Will, Doomsday, Mind's Desire, Past in Flames, and Tendrils of Agony. Waste Not and Molten Psyche also pretty much win games.

Conclusion

Bolas is a playable general with the right deck. His image inspires fear in my play group as they know to band together to defeat him. With quick answers available to most of the problems one can encounter. The plan is to know how to pilot the deck better than your opponents, able to combo off extremely quickly with the help of Waste Not and our mass discarding wheels. Let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy it!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 2 Mythic Rares 60 - 5 Rares 19 - 1 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.64
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	New decks, Interesting Decks, Favorite Commander, Nicol Bolas EDH, Bolas, Awesome Decks, Nicol bolas lets go bowling!, ideas for nicol bolas deck, Interesting decks