Bad Boy Bolas

Commander / EDH* UBR (Grixis)

RagedGarden

Lands (24)

• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Crypt of the Eternals
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Homeward Path
• 3x Island
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Malice

Gods (8)

• 1x As Foretold
• 1x Enter the God-Eternals
• 1x God-Eternal Bontu
• 1x God-Eternal Kefnet
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
• 1x The Locust God
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x The Scorpion God

Nicol Bolas (5)

• 1x Nicol Bolas
• 1x Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
• 1x Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver

Gem of Becoming & Lands (4)

• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Gem of Becoming
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Sunken Hollow

Nicol Bolas Signature (13)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Commence the Endgame
• 1x Crosis's Charm
• 1x Cruel Ultimatum
• 1x Dark Intimations
• 1x Finale of Eternity
• 1x Finale of Revelation
• 1x Hour of Devastation
• 1x In Bolas's Clutches
• 1x Patient Rebuilding
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x The Eldest Reborn
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Tezzeret (12)

• 1x Inexorable Tide
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• 1x One with the Machine
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Planar Bridge
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Tezzeret's Betrayal
• 1x Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
• 1x Tezzeret, Master of Metal
• 1x Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
• 1x The Immortal Sun

Liliana (5)

• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Price of Betrayal
• 1x Settle the Score

Jace (3)

• 1x Jace Beleren
• 1x Jace, Cunning Castaway
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip

Support (2)

• 1x Capsize
• 1x Kess, Dissident Mage

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Mana Artifacts (12)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Obelisk of Grixis
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Visage of Bolas

Liliana's Contract (6)

• 1x Demonlord Belzenlok
• 1x Griselbrand
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• 1x Liliana's Contract
• 1x Razaketh's Rite
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Planeswalker Interaction (5)

• 1x Aether Snap
• 1x Hex Parasite
• 1x The Elderspell
• 1x Thief of Blood
• 1x Vampire Hexmage

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After "War of the spark" and all the Atraxa Superfriends decks there was the idea to build a counterpart to them. I didn't want to build just an anti-planeswalker deck. So I built an Bolas Antifriends deck and I wanted to stick to the lore as close as possible. For sure with some exceptions concerning lands, mana rocks and counter removal. It costed me weeks to read the lore and to find matching cards. I summed up some parts from the MTG wiki to explain features of the deck. Feedback is welcome if there are some errors in it - I did my best. I know the deck is not highly competitive but it works pretty well.

The main idea of this deck is card advantage and use the bolas walkers to make your enemies discarding their hands. Tezzeret is adding a lot of speed casting artifacts and Capsize combined with Paradox Engine is wiping the battlefield.

Mana Base

I'm using only 27 lands which is not that much. That's why I use tiple lands, dualr lands and filter lands not to get mana screwed. For additional mana boost I use Tezzeret and the 13 mana producing artifacts.

A Key to get those lands faster is Gem of Becoming and Grixis Panorama to search my library for

• Fetid Pools
• Smoldering Marsh
• Sunken Hollow

Planeswalker Interaction

This deck was also build to be a counterpart to all the Atraxa Planeswalker decks. So I use cards like AEther Snap, Thief of Blood and Vampire Hexmage to instantly kill other planeswalkers. The Elderspell is also used to kill other (or even my) planeswalkers to put enough counters on my Bolas walkers and use their ultimate effects right after casting them.

Liliana Vess

The connection of Liliana Vess to Nicol Bolas was obvious. She supported Bolas by betraying Jace Beleren and made Jace fight against Tezzeret. Also Bolas freed her from the demonic pact. Price of Betrayal is used against other walkers and Settle the Score for additional counters on my Bolas planeswalkers. Also when Bolas was creating his army of Eternals (Enter the Eternals) she was betraying the Gatewatch. Liliana, Dreadhorde General was Bolas' general on Ravnica but she betrayed him and turned all the eternals against Nicol Bolas and broke her contract. Final Parting is used as 1 of 3 tutor cards.

Liliana's Contract

After the Mending Liliana made Liliana's Contract to secure her power and youth. The four demons were

• Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• Griselbrand
• Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• Demonlord Belzenlok

And Razaketh and Razaketh's Rite are the other 2 tutor cards within this deck. Liliana's Contract is used as an alternative win condition.

The Gods

As Foretold predicts the return of the old Gods.

During Hour of Devastation Kefnet was killed by The Scorpion God and returned during War of the Spark as God-Eternal Kefnet.

Bontu helped Bolas to conquere Amonketh and was ordered to fight her sister Hazoret. But Bolas betrayed Bontu and killed her. So Hazoret was the only god of Amonketh still alive. Bontu was zombified and retured as God-Eternal Bontu during War of the Spark. In the end Bontu bit Bolas and harvested all of the God Pharao's sparks.

I know Ilharg, the Raze-Boar is not connected to Hazoret but I want her as the 3rd god to complete the Grixis colors of War of the Spark. Also The Scarab God and The Locust God are only secondary characters. But the Locust God has a nice synergy with Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur.

Jace

The first part is the connection of Jace and Liliana. The second part in the deck is Jace, Cunning Castaway as a companion of Vraska with the Thaumatic Compass   on her search for the Immortal Sun.

Jace, Cunning Castaway is the key to make multiple copies of Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God

Tezzeret

As a minion of Bolas also Tezzeret's connection to Bolas is pretty clear. All Tezzeret Planeswalkers are used tu speed up artifact spells.

• Tezzeret the Seeker: e.g. to tutor for Sol Ring
• Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
• Tezzeret, Master of Metal
• Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and his minions captured Tezzeret and brought him before Karn. Inexorable Tide is a Jin signature card to boost the Bolas planeswalkers somehow like Tezzeret's Gambit and Paradox Enginge.

After stealing the Immortal Sun Tezzeret left Ixalan using the Planar Bridge.

Nicol Bolas Nicol Bolas Signature

I think there is no need to explain why Bolas or his signature cards are in this deck. All of them are used for card draw, advantage of hand cards or capture other creatures.

I know there are some EDH illegal cards in this deck but my playgroup is fine with it and they fit to the lore. Any feedback is welcome.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	29 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.49
Tokens	Copy Clone, Illusion 2/2 U w/ Phantasmal, Insect 1/1 UR, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Lore Themed