Slave of Bolas

Sorcery

Gain control of target creature. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

DemonDragonJ on Diabolical Machinations

1 year ago

I have replaced Slave of Bolas with Perforating Artist, which reduced the average converted mana cost of this deck from 4.29 to 4.26, since the former card was simply too expensive for its effect and/or did not do enough for its cost.

DemonDragonJ on How Can I Put Perforating …

1 year ago

multimedia, I actually shall replace Slave of Bolas with Perforating Artist, since the former card is a one-shot effect, and it shall still lower that deck's mana curve; and, as for my Tariel deck, True Conviction is one of my favorite cards, and I actually do not believe that I need Perforating Artist in that deck, after all, since it has plenty of ways to make my opponents sacrifice creatures.

DemonDragonJ on How Can I Put Perforating …

1 year ago

I absolutely shall put Perforating Artist into my EDH decks that contain the colors black and red, but I am not certain what cards I should remove to make room for it.

In my Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, already replaced Decimate with the artist, so that is very good.

In my Thraximundar deck, I was first contemplating removing Exsanguinate, since that cards does not contribute to the theme of the deck, but it is still an excellent card, so I am now instead contemplating removing Slave of Bolas, since that card does contribute to the theme of the deck, but is very expensive for a one-shot effect.

As for my Tariel, Reckoner of Souls deck, I am having difficulty finding a card that I can remove, since nearly every card in that deck already contributes very strongly to its theme, so I may not be able to put Perforating Artist in that deck, unfortunately.

What does everyone else say about this? How can I put Perforating Artist into my EDH decks that contain the colors black and red? I certainly would appreciate any suggestions that anyone here has to offer.

DemonDragonJ on Diabolical Machinations

1 year ago

I definitely need to put perforating artist into this deck, but what card shall I remove, to make room for it? I imagine that either Exsanguinate or Slave of Bolas would be my best choices, since the former has little connection to the theme of this deck and the latter is very expensive for its effect.

SufferFromEDHD on NICOL DON

1 year ago

Seize the Spotlight your commander in spell form

Gruesome Encore/Treacherous Urge black Threaten effects

Spelljack big countersteal

Commandeer free big countersteal

Slave of Bolas running the big guy but not running the effect that fits the deck

Overtaker = blue reusable Threaten on a stick

Dominating Vampire = Threaten effect plus shares a tribe with commander

Captivating Crew = reusable Threaten on a stick plus shares a tribe with commander

Beguiler of Wills this effect is permanent

RiotRunner789 on Diabolical Machinations

2 years ago

Power creep is real. I started playing EDH in 2018 and Slave of Bolas was a perfectly fine card. Now it feels suboptimal at best.

RiotRunner789 on Diabolical Machinations

2 years ago

Looking at the deck, I would recommend Make an Example. The floor is normally making each opponent sac their best creature while the ceiling can be monumental.

I'd recommend cutting Brainbite or Slave of Bolas since their similarly costed sorceries and Make an Example should provide more value.

collawolla on Obeka Theft Tribal

2 years ago

just fyi, Obeka cannot be used to cancel "until end of turn effects." These do not use the stack and trigger during the cleanup step. When Obeka taps, she will just make a new cleanup step and all until end of turn effects will still trigger. What you're looking for is "at the beginning of the next end step." or "at end of turn." Because all instances of "at end of turn" have been oracled to "at the beginning of the next end step." You've got it right with Kiki-Jiki, Zara, and Puppeteer Clique for instance. Obeka has no real synergy with Act of Treason, Coercive Recruiter, or Traitorous Blood and the like however, aside from stealing temporarily to make clones of someone's creature. Basically always avoid "until end of turn." Some good examples of theft spells that she works splendid with are Treacherous Urge, Macabre Mockery, Gruesome Encore, and Slave of Bolas.

It's pretty disappointing because she's really only viable with like 10 different theft cards, so theft is only ever great as a sub-theme for Obeka.

You can also use her to cancel out bad ETBs such as in Boldwyr Heavyweights like in your maybeboard, Eater of Days or Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. This is kinda dicey however if you're mixing a lot of end step effects and bad etbs as you'll tap in response to the ETBs then leave the end step effects to still trigger on the very next end step, which will be your opponent's. "At end of combat" triggers such as those on Flamerush Rider also work with her as they use the stack on the End of Combat step.