The Touch of Bolas deck help
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 30, 2017, 8:59 a.m. by Workman4137
I am trying to build a deck centered around the legendary dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas. The entire theme of the deck is centered around Bolas' ambition and powerful touch which caused all coherent thought to stop, leaving his opponents a worried and witless mess.
I wanna build a deck around that idea where my opponents will be losing their recourses/hands faster than they can recover and punish them for trying to do so.
Here is the deck I have right now The Evil Touch of Bolas~. Feel free to help me edit this legendary being to fit the theme of control, stupefy, and punish.
MTGApprentice2016 says... #3
Hypnotic Specter I don't know how that changed on me.
March 30, 2017 9:52 a.m.
Camel-Senpai says... #4
Sounds like you want recurring discard effects. Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip is somewhat a cheaper version of Liliana of the Veil in case you don't feel like paying a fairly heavy point in actual money. Cao Cao, Lord of Wei is a decent one, and you can pair him with Fatestitcher to absolutely murder a hand on turn 6. Crosis, the Purger is like a mini-Bolas.
Wheel of Fortune is considered by a lot of people to be core for red decks in EDH. You'll pretty much always be on the better end of it if your hand is empty. Bonus points for adding Rhystic Study to that mess.
Cruel Ultimatum, Bite of the Black Rose, Capital Punishment, and Dark Intimations are both spells that are pretty heavy hitters in the sorcery speed discard department. You may also want to consider the traditional black discard spells like Duress, Wrench Mind, Blackmail, and Smallpox.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker should be a fairly easy include for this deck. Try combining him with a Rings of Brighthearth.
Liliana's Caress is a pretty funny way of punishing your opponents but I highly doubt you're winning with the damage it deals. This is why you play Megrim alongside it to speed up their death.
Teferi's Puzzle Box is a nice one-sided card advantage for you, and gives Rhystic another toy to play with.
March 30, 2017 9:55 a.m.
Workman4137 says... #5
Thank you for the current suggestions. Waste Not is a ton of advantage. Another thought I've been thinking about is Jace's Archivist and Magus of the Wheel since they're really nice cycle abilities.
one such inclusion I would like to have is Barbed Shocker since its cycle on damage, Not just combat damage. So a nice Warstorm Surge is helpful in the deck for some immediate burn and discard. Archaeomancer is another one I would like since I will have spells that are very helpful for those pesky decks that think they can counter my things, such as Disallow and Overwhelming Denial and of course a Izzet Charm and Dimir Charm couldn't hurt either, but I can easily replace them.
And just for extra sillies, a Rite of Replication and Dualcaster Mage are there as placeholders because nothing is wrong with having infinite of everything. XD
Thank you all for the support everyone!
March 30, 2017 10:32 a.m.
GreenFuzzyNinja says... #6
Prince of Thralls and Waste Not are absolutely amazing in discard. Whirlpool Warrior and Dragon Mage are fun too. Wit's End is positively evil in a deck like this.
Please post the deck list here when you're done!
March 30, 2017 10:56 a.m.
GreenFuzzyNinja says... #7
Oh, and while you have a Prince of Thralls you may as well have a Demon's Herald and a Nightscape Familiar
March 30, 2017 10:57 a.m.
Workman4137 says... #8
I'm currently working on it as we speak. It doesn't have a whole lot to offer since I just recently started to work on it. In the meantime, your offers are fantastic! Thank you all for helping!
Pay attention to the forms and I'll post a list soon. Thank you for help. w
March 30, 2017 11:04 a.m.
If you are going the discard route I would suggest also having a minor focus on bouncing permanents. I built a dimir deck based on Recoil like effects that was pretty effective, a Warped Devotion into Cyclonic Rift is just brutal.
March 30, 2017 12:56 p.m.
Workman4137 says... #11
Thanks. I almost forgot about that. A Cryptic Command is really good, so is a Boomerang and an Upheaval but that includes everyone. I might put Venser, Shaper Savant in there too.
Thanks for the help!
March 30, 2017 1:17 p.m.
Gandolfini says... #12
Incorporate the Nicol Bolas infinite ante combo!I came up with the combo but need to build a true deck around it.
Use the card Amulet of Quoz, to force your opponent to ante their entire library after establishing an infinite Mindslaver combo. You will make the decision each turn for your opponent to reject the coin flip, which forces him to ante another card each turn.
March 31, 2017 12:38 a.m.
Workman4137 says... #13
Interesting strategy. I have never thought about that. But, as impressive and amazing that is(and in all honesty it is really creative and impressive) I don't think I'll be using it because I like building an entire deck around just two artifacts rather than the commander itself. Sorry. .n.
If you have any controlling cards(like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur or the command cards) for Nicol Bolas then feel free to give me some ideas.
March 31, 2017 1:23 a.m.
Workman4137 says... #14
So I've been working on my Bolas deck a little bit and I'm trying to find a way to add more reliable counter spells and bounce spells so I can make it much less of a problem. As well as add some extra creatures in there to make have some form of protection and utility. I already have an infinite combo in there.
If anyone has some advice please let me know. This deck is still in the beta stage. I appreciate some feedback. Thank you.
MTGApprentice2016 says... #2
Waste Not is a great card for a discard deck. They discard something, you get a reward. Hymn to Tourach would be fun with the right copy/recursion spells found in blue and red (and to a lesser extent black). Liliana's Caress and Megrim are a must for any discard deck as well. Even hypnotic spector and its siblings could possibly be a viable creature(s) for the deck.
March 30, 2017 9:51 a.m.