Disciple of Bolas

Creature — Human Wizard

When Disciple of Bolas enters the battlefield, sacrifice another creature. You gain X life and draw X cards, where X is that creature's power.

Discussion (51)

Cornonjacob07 on Never Break the Chain (Chainer, Nightmare Adept)

6 days ago

FunnyDuck

After further testing and time to parse through the upcoming Forgotten Realms regular and commander cards, I think you're right about the "discard hand, draw 3" model. While it sometimes works, it takes far too much commitment and loss of control to rely heavily on. I will keep Ox of Agonas as I still think its Escape mode is pretty great, but Anje's Ravager and any others are out. I'm also putting Stinkweed Imp back into the deck because being able to process 5 cards without spending mana, just a draw, is powerful.

I think for now, I should tighten my sources of card advantage. Though it adds a bit more consistency to have more smaller looting cards like Thrill of Possibility or the aforementioned Anje's Ravager , I could just be using those slots for more powerful cards that actually impact the board or are otherwise useful while consolidating the draw power to the heavy hitters like Magus of the Wheel , Vilis, Broker of Blood , or Disciple of Bolas for example. Specific tools and answers will be handled by the tutors I was adding anyway and the general system will be greased with odd cards like Squee, Goblin Nabob and Phyrexian Reclamation .

Everything else needs to be playtested rather than theorized about, but I think it's safe to say this is a core part of the deck that I should reconsider and upgrade. I'd also like to put forward the new Warlock Class as a possible replacement or partner to Archfiend of Despair and the possibility of Heartless Hidetsugu .

I'm also interested in the new Hurl Through Hell , Fevered Suspicion , and Orcus, Prince of Undeath . The former two I'm more optimistic about, and am willing to sacrifice a little reliability for their potential and because they look like a lot of fun, but I suspect Orcus will be one of those cards that look a lot better on paper than in practice.

As always, thanks for your suggestions and consultations. I hope Shenanigans and Hellkite Tyrant have been working for you as they have for me.

Last_Laugh on Marchesa, soon-to-be Queen

1 month ago

There's cards you're missing that help enable etb/death trigger abuse on everyone's turn instead of just once per round. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (feels like a 2nd Commander in this deck), Vigean Graftmage , Metallic Mimic , and Sage of Fables (Sage enables an infinite damage combo with Flayer of the Hatebound and Ashnod's Altar ).

More sac outlets should be a priority as well. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician , Goblin Bombardment , and Sadistic Hypnotist all deserve spots. The discard on Hypnotist pairs really well with Marchesa and a war of attrition approach even with the sorcery speed restriction.

ETB/Death triggers to consider: Baleful Strix , Vindictive Lich , Disciple of Bolas , and Vendilion Clique .

Feel free to check out my list for ideas and there's also a maybeboard and over 100 comments to sift through for more ideas. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Got 99 Upvotes And A Bitch Ain't One - Marchesa

SueMe on Hogaak: My Favorite (Infinite) Combo Deck

1 month ago

Hi 3n3rgy2, thanks for the suggestions!

There's no particular reason for why these dredgers aren't in the list. In fact, after thinking on it, I've decided to include Golgari Grave-Troll , as it pairs nicely with our discard package, and helps Hogaak's delve in the early-game. What I also like about it, is it can serve as a proxy for our Big Fella , and be that juicy Disciple of Bolas target when we have no other option.

Stinkweed Imp isn't so bad, but as of now, I'm unconvinced that it's utility is worth its slowness. Maybe you can convince me otherwise...?

Thanks again for taking a look at my list, and for your contribution!

FenIsABasicSwamp on Rainbow in the Dark: Haakon Reanimator Combo

6 months ago

Hey Pheardemons yeah of course I remember you. I've been wondering how your deck ended up being for you. This is by far one of my favorite decks and the deck I've invested the most time into in the last 3 years. I'm glad you came back to the game.

1) Why Wasteland? You may have noticed that all of the cards in this are German foil for the most part. I has been nearly impossible to get either Wasteland or Strip Mine in German, or foil for that matter. I like the art on EMA Wasteland more than any of the stripmines and it felt appropriately thematic for a character like Haakon, who's epithet being "Stromgald Scourge" suggests he would leave a Wasteland behind his army. Also, rarely does an occasion arise in EDH where I want to destroy a basic over a non-basic anyways, and I recently found an opportunity to get a foil borderless German Wasteland from the new Zendikar set.

2) Emergence Zone is amazing and should be played in all monocolor decks that can sustain one more colorless nonbasic. Also, there's a minor subtheme of lands being playable from the graveyard with Crucible of Worlds in this deck to support the overall discard theme. So the Zone is not necessarily a one-off use.

3) Fetches for the same reason as emergence zone: playing lands from the graveyard and if I get it going with Crucible and Ghirapur Orrery, I can really get some deck thinning going on by pulling lots of swamps out of the library. Why the two that I have and not the others? I don't have German foils of Prismatic Vista, Bloodstained Mire, and Marsh Flats is the easy answer; also theres a point where I worry about reducing the number of overall Swamps in the deck, but maybe that's erroneous since each fetch doubles as a swamp. The other real reason is that I have all the German foil snow-covered swamps and wouldn't have any other use for them if I took them out of this deck for the other fetches.

4) I haven't really gotten to use K'rrik since I put him in the deck. Took a while to source a German one and then get it altered and Corona has severely impacted how much I actually play EDH nowadays. We'll see how impactful the life loss is, but as with all such things you have to strike a balance between your greed to play stuff out with him and putting yourself in a dangerous situation. Lifelink is generally not the way I plan to recover from things like K'rrik, rather cards like Disciple of Bolas and Disciple of Griselbrand are usually more useful for gaining relevant amounts of life back. I rarely find myself attacking unless it's to get a sword trigger.

5)Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder has been in earlier iterations of this deck but his sac trigger from making too many thrulls makes him less attractive unless you can play something like Conspiracy so that he doesn't make thrulls anymore. Abhorrent Overlord is a key piece to generating a massive number of dudes to be sac fodder to an altar to make infinite mana. Since the point is to get to a play where I can just keep sacing and replaying cards from my graveyard with Haakon and Ashes of the Fallen, Overlord does that better than any other card in monoblack.

6)Bitterblossom would serve no valuable purpose other than the Contamination lock and I prefer not to play really "mean" magic like that. Contamination is not usually in the deck but I wanted to try it out because its art seems really fitting for Haakon once again as the Scource of a place. Also, it's a good card for helping a black deck catch up that is playing from way behind "better" decks.

7) Being that this deck hovers between $2-3k, I think it's safe to say that money is not a factor. I generally don't like playing tutors and already play way more in this deck than in a normal one of my decks because it's inherently so handicapped. Razaketh has been in it before and I may put him back in, it's just very easy to win outright with him on the battlefield.

8) Ghirapur Orrery has maybe backfired once on me, it's a careful balancing act. It backfired spectacularly on Justin Parnell in SCG's CMDRVS show. His opponent got a Bojuka Bog on the extra land drop and nuked his graveyard. I never play Lifeline until I'm ready to take advantage of it, and preferably when I have Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet out so that it doesn't work for opponents. Haven't really gotten to use Tombstone Stairwell because of the pandemic.

9) Null Profusion is amazing and underplayed. Play Reliquary Tower or Anvil of Bogardan afterwards and the time stamp of the last card replaces the reduced hand size with infinite hand size and now you just draw cards for every card you play. Works great with Haakon playing cards from your graveyard and Crucible of Worlds doing the same.

10) Yawgmoth is a great extra free sac outlets. Sac outlets are always the most important thing to have in a monoblack deck, especially one's that draw you a card and can potentially be removal too. His proliferate ability lets me immediately ultimate Liliana, Defiant Necromancer often too. He's generally my favorite black creature of all time.

11) Always always dredge Stinkweed Imp. More cards in your graveyard is always the goal for Haakon. The best is dredging him, discarding him to Skirge Familiar, and then drawing again from something else to dredge him again.

12) Creature tutors like Fleshwrither are always more appealing to me in Haakon because I can replay them from the graveyard. Fleshwrither isn't a good card per se, but it is a pet card and also just fantastic and frequently reusable. I can get graveyard hate (Kalitas), ramp (Crypt Ghast), or card draw (Disciple of Bolas) with him so he's very flexible depending on what point in the game I'm at.

13) Conspiracy isn't actually in this deck and Cryptbreaker is here as a discard outlet to help me get Haakon in the graveyard as well as be a infinitely castable creature from the graveyard with Haakon/Ashes out and Phyrexian Altar. That gives me all the draws I could need or infinite Gravestorm for Bitter Ordeal when it's in the deck.

14) I have recast Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger probably 5 times in a turn from the graveyard with this deck before. He's amazing and all I've needed. I prefer not to use stuff like Oblivion Stone or All is Dust that a lot of my deck wouldn't dodge as well, and since my wincon is a black enchantment Decaying Soil, I would have few options to recover from it if I was forced to use those. Scour from Existence isn't here because I don't like using over-costed one-off spells. I can tutor for Ulamog and use him repeatedly.

These were good questions and I appreciate you reading my bio and asking questions respectfully. Your manner of asking demonstrates thoughtful consideration of the deck instead of pushy insistence of a different viewpoint. Ultimately there's no "right" way to build an EDH deck, although there are objectively more optimal ways to design them. I have a passing interest in optimization, but am mostly making choices to balance synergy with flavor and a fun play experience.

DawnsRayofLight on Marquis De Chainer, Sadism 101

6 months ago

Mastermind's Acquisition Is a great card to combo with Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. You can make a 15 card board and put some cards in to help against certain decks that gives chainer some issues (blue white control--Nevi's Disc, Hero's Downfall and the like, Sword of Sinew and Steel, etc.) it allows you to run 15 extra cards without having them eat up space in your deck.

Attrition and Overseer of the Damned is a fun combo. I have gotten tons of use out of attrition.

The Rings + Basalt combo is nice, but I ended up dropping it out of mine. It is nice if you play Torment of Hailfire and Exsanguinate but I went more control than combo after a while.

Thought-Knot Seer is great for some recurring hand hate

Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools has been an all-star in my deck, you could also add Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Ineffable for more pointed permanent destruction

Flesh-Eater Imp is also a fun sac outlet and an alternative win con.

Volrath's Stronghold is good for saving some of your cards from graveyard removal and I have been debating Phyrexian Reclamation and or Tortured Existence. Fortunately I have not seen too many EDH decks with a lot of dedicated grave hate.

Disciple of Bolas is also an all star card, he keeps chainer going like you wouldn't believe

kpres on Tide Pod Breakfast

7 months ago

Muldrotha Combos

Doom Whisperer and Second Chance --> Unlimited extra turns and a way to get below 5 life while finding what you need.

Time Sieve and Myr Battlesphere --> Unlimited extra turns for every turn.

Magus of the Will is budget Yawgmoth's Will on a body that can be reanimated by Muldrotha. It lets you play instants and sorceries in your graveyard. Usually these will be big reanimation spells. Very effective with Splendid Reclamation and Early Harvest. You need to reanimate all lands in the graveyard and untap most of them in this way, but once you do you have access to a lot of mana and the ability to play the rest of the good stuff in the graveyard such as Rise of the Dark Realms. This leads to the big finisher:

Reanimate all creatures and bring back Prime Speaker Zegana, Sewer Nemesis, and Laboratory Maniac --> Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your graveyard. If that number is bigger than your library, you win. Add Disciple of Bolas to double the card draw.

Fleet Swallower is good for getting your graveyard going, and can be used as an attack against opponents' decks as well. Between this and Traumatize, these are the ways to get started.

Winnieblues on "Sleep Paralysis Demons" - Chainer - EDH PRIMER

7 months ago

Hey DemMeowsephs, thanks for the suggestions:

Dark Ritual, I was running this in my old Toshiro Umezawa deck (which could easily cast it twice), but I never found it to be worth a slot. That deck (and this one) wasn't really designed to ramp out the commander, or get a game-winning combo going early on, so I found that I'd rather have a mana rock than a single turn ritual effect.

Bubbling Muck, This one on the other hand looks much more suited to this deck. I'm still in the early days of testing this list, but I'm sure i'll proxy it at some point to give it a try. I could see this as a late-game enabler that gives me a TON of mana to cast Chainer and use him to reanimate a few Creatures on the same turn. Great suggestion!

Thought Vessel, Hmmm, this is kind of a "win more". I also don't mind discarding down to hand size because it lets me put high CMC Creatures into my graveyard so I can reanimate them with Chainer for only 3CMC. I'm also hesitant to add any more rocks that can't tap for black mana

Read the Bones and Sign in Blood, I love these cards, and I do want to add them in, but for this initial build I'm fousing more on Creatures that give me effects like this (like Disciple of Bolas), or engines that work well in longer games (like Phyrexian Arena, because this deck tends to take a while to get to a state where it can win.

Vendetta, I think I already have too many dedicated removal spells, and this one eats away at my health (which Chainer already does a LOT), and my Meta has a lot of Black in it.

Dimir Machinations, I like Transmute spells, but I prefer ones that I can hardcast for a good effect. Shred Memory is good emergency graveyard hate, and Dimir House Guard is an evasive, regenerating Sac outlet, and both have a wide range of situational and outright powerful tutor targets. Dimir Machinations is just never worth hardcasting unless someone has used a Vampiric Tutor on a mainphase, but that's an unlikely corner case. I also don't have too many goot targets at 3CMC, Dead of Winter would be the main one that might be worth spending 3 mana to fetch out, but this deck prefers to loop Plaguecrafter to clear a board.

I'll have to have a look through all your primers, they look really cool and very detailed! I'm assuming you need an upgraded account to set styles like you have.

sigiledwatch on Jarad vod Savo

8 months ago

you have very few card draws in your deck for my liking i suggest Ohran Viper Disciple of Bolas Elder Gargaroth Ripjaw Raptor and Treeshaker Chimera as card draw on creatures. i love your addition of Clackbridge Troll as conditional card draw on a creature that can be used as fodder for jarad too.