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The Dreadhorde

Commander / EDH Bracket 4 UBR (Grixis)

smilkows

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Creature (9)

Planeswalker (20)

Land (37)

Artifact (13)

Instant (12)

Sorcery (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  Flip

Commander is: Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  

Game Changers: 4 Cyclonic Rift Fierce Guardianship Grim Monolith Narset, Parter of Veils

August 2024 Power Level according to Cards Realm: 8

As of 2023 Power Level according to Cards Realm: 6 Power Level according to EDH power level calculator : 6.70

Goal: To control the board state with counter magic and wrath effects. Once clear, play a haymaker like The Locust God (or any god creature really), Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (or any Bolas), to close out opponents.

The Super Friend Variant: I enjoy super friend variant decks in commander and this is my version for Nicol Bolas. Spark Double has made cloning planeswalkers possible and as such allows Clever Impersonator to clone the non legendary copy. Volrath's Stronghold and Phyrexian Tower make those types of value plays recursive and are essential to this deck.

On Planeswalker Synergy: The Chain Veil and Deepglow Skate have been all stars. I used to try just one or the other, but you want both. Deepglow Skate causes many planeswalkers to reach their ultimate on its own and repeatedly if it is cloned. At the moment, both are included. There is a not quite infinite combo using either Grim Monolith, Gilded Lotus, (or even you could substitute a Basalt Monolith if you do not have the Grim Monolith) with The Chain Veil and either Tezzeret the Seeker or Teferi, Temporal Archmage in play. The planeswalker can untap the mana rock and the chain veil numerous times and this usually enables many shenanigans. Edit: Chandra, Legacy of Fire can make the above an infinite combo if the planeswalker count is four or greater; Ral Zarek can help the Tezzeret the Seeker + Teferi, Temporal Archmage become infinite with the aforementioned combo.

Hour of Devastation, the set and the card, each added a lot of value. The three Grixis Gods (The Scarab God, The Locust God, and The Scorpion God) are exactly the type of finisher + stabilizing effect this deck wanted at the time. While The Scarab God and The Scorpion God each have been removed for other cards, I don’t anticipate The Locust God leaving. When you combine The Locust God with other value cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Dack Fayden, or Nicol Bolas, the Arisen   you have a stream of tokens for offense or defense. Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh has been a fun card and has excellent synergy along with Angrath, the Flame-Chained, and Torment of Hailfire. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a classic go to stabilizer rounding out the synergy on game winning top end threats.

Regarding Counter Magic: This deck runs 7-10 Counterspell cards. Summary Dismissal and Mindbreak Trap are used to deal with spells that cannot be countered. Others are just efficiently costed or useful model spells that can answer some more difficult to deal with threats like enchantments. Blast Zone was also included for this reason at one point. Force of Will is not included as I do not own one and Force of Negation I am considering to add to the deck. It is just a matter of obtaining a foil copy and then determining what it will swap in for.

Regarding Life Gain: Exquisite Blood is being removed for An Offer You Can't Refuse. It was helpful, however I try to bring a decent number of counterspells to control some tempo and keep some one hit KO decks from winning too early. Exquisite Blood is great, but makes for some awkward plays and is difficult to recur if answered. The deck really can use some life gain to help with the life loss. At the moment Wurmcoil Engine, Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge, Geyadrone Dihada (removed for Ichormoon Gauntlet, and Elixir of Immortality each help in this regard. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse would also be a consideration for the list, but I try not to use her or Nekusar, the Mindrazer much. They are very efficient in Windfall “wheel” decks, which this list is NOT. As such, the “wheel” decks can be a turn away for some players or new opponents. As such I try not to run many such effects or decks in that space.

Alternate and Past Card Considerations: This is a list of cards that I played heavily in the deck prior to Ixalan. That set brought a rule change to planeswalker cards as legendary and has been huge. The super friend variants in commander can take advantage of this change, but more so in colors like GW where Captain Sisay can tutor a planeswalker.

I mention the above as I have a few different card choices I have played and removed over time depending on my local meta:

A) Empress Galina - the repeatable Control Magic enabler that now can target planeswalkers. Currently not included.

B) Hellkite Tyrant and Revel in Riches - These cards work together as an alternative win condition and a way to deal with an artifact heavy meta. My play group has not used too many artifact lists so they are removed for now.

C) Chaos Maw, Thunder Dragon, and Massacre Wurm are cards I have played in place of Mogis, God of Slaughter in the past. Mogis provides an indestructible body that is difficult to remove from play and provides decent board control. The others were wrath options during the creature/token heavy meta of a few years back.

D) Marchesa, the Black Rose - she was my original Grixis commander. In that list I used to run a three card combo of Gravecrawler + Diregraf Captain + Phyrexian Altar, which could go infinite. It could also be a four card combo as I also ran Vela the Night-Clad, but it would require at least some other zombie creature in play in order to recur the gravecrawler an infinite # of times. Eventually, I removed her and all of these cards as they took up a lot of room and wasn’t the focus of the deck that I was trying to build. The last of these cards were replaced with Chandra, Torch of Defiance during Kaledesh block.

E) Glen Elendra Archmage and Rhystic Studies were occupying a flex spot, which then became Consecrated Sphinx. However each were removed when Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God made his debut and the deck has not missed any of these.

F) Dack Fayden was a useful card to swipe artifacts and draw cards. However, he made awkward card draw plays since this is not really a graveyard value list. He has been removed for Jace, Cunning Castaway who is part of an infinite combo with Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God.

As evidenced by the above there are many ways to construct and/or improve the deck. Be it with the meta or play style preferences. I hope this list has at least generated some ideas.

Current Conclusions: At present I am pleased with the current evolution being the discard and board wipe variant it is at today. This is likely my favorite edh deck to play.

While I enjoy this take of Nicol Bolas I also welcome new ideas and strategies that could make it better for a future incarnation of where it could be as strong or stronger. Previously, “The Dreadhorde” was known as “Wrath of Bolas.” The name “Wrath of Bolas,” was back when it had 10 plus Wrath spells.

Thanks for reading!

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96% Casual

Competitive