Nicol Bolas, Lord of Discard

Commander / EDH Control Discard Exile Multiplayer Sacrifice Specter Stax UBR (Grixis) Wheels

Torekai92

Land (36)

• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 6x Island
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Wheel (7)

• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Dragon Mage
• 1x Jace's Archivist
• 1x Magus of the Wheel
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Whispering Madness
• 1x Windfall

Counters (4)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Negate
• 1x Perplex

Planeswalkers (2)

• 1x Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

Card Disadvantage (16)

• 1x Awaken the Erstwhile
• 1x Blazing Specter
• 1x Burglar Rat
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Fell Specter
• 1x Herald of Anguish
• 1x Hypnotic Specter
• 1x Ill-Gotten Gains
• 1x Nicol Bolas
• 1x Scythe Specter
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip
• 1x The Eldest Reborn
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Draw (7)

• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Geth's Grimoire
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Utility (5)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x The Locust God

Wipes (3)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Filter Out
• 1x Vandalblast

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Ramp / Rocks (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Punishment (6)

• 1x Liliana's Caress
• 1x Megrim
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Raiders' Wake
• 1x Underworld Dreams
• 1x Waste Not

Removal (3)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Hostage Taker
• 1x Reality Shift

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Maybeboard

Punishment (4)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Bone Miser
• 1x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1x Tinybones, Trinket Thief

Draw (1)

• 1x Rhystic Study

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{U}{B}{R} Nicol Bolas causes Nightmares {U}{B}{R}

Concept

I got the bug again and wanted to build a deck with a play style I hadn't done before. I was combing through my collection and happened upon Crosis, the Purger. So I decided to put together a janky discard deck that punishes opponents for discarding. This deck was later updated to be more multiplayer focused and less janky. So now it's basically a Stax deck with wheels, that tries to keep the discard focused on your opponents and punishes them for discarding. There are some cards that discard everyones hand, but only a couple, and we can hopefully recover with draw spells better than our opponents.

Commander

Crosis, the Purger was the original leader of this nightmare. Now i've swapped him out for Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  . Nicol Bolas can be used as the commander as well depending on what you prefer or how you are feeling at the time.

Mana Rocks

Since we don't have {G} for ramp we need some good mana rocks/ramp:

• Arcane Signet, Chromatic Lantern, Commander's Sphere, Dimir Signet, Fellwar Stone, Izzet Signet, Rakdos Signet, Sol Ring, Talisman of Creativity, and Wayfarer's Bauble

Draw

We need to keep cards in our hand to keep cards out of opponent's hands:

• Draw - Mystic Remora, Geth's Grimoire, Commander's Sphere, Waste Not, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Blue Sun's Zenith, Phyrexian Arena, Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Painful Truths, Notion Thief, Syphon Mind, and Nicol Bolas, the Arisen  
• Wheel - Dark Deal, Dragon Mage, Jace's Archivist, Magus of the Wheel, Reforge the Soul, Whispering Madness, and Windfall

Card Disadvantage

Cards that cause your opponent to discard, mill, or lose cards in some fashion:

• Blazing Specter, Burglar Rat, Consuming Aberration, The Haunt of Hightower, Etali, Primal Storm, Fell Specter, The Eldest Reborn, Herald of Anguish, Hypnotic Specter, Nicol Bolas, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  , Scythe Specter, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, Awaken the Erstwhile, Dark Intimations, Ill-Gotten Gains, Torment of Hailfire, and Syphon Mind

Punishment

Cards that punish opponents when cards are discarded or drawn:

• Notion Thief, Fell Specter, Scythe Specter, Underworld Dreams, Liliana's Caress, Megrim, Painful Quandary, Raiders' Wake, and Waste Not

Removal

• Counters - Counterspell, Arcane Denial, Negate, and Perplex
• Removal - Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen  , Hostage Taker, Chaos Warp, and Reality Shift
• Wipes - Blasphemous Act, Vandalblast, and Filter Out

Minor Reanimate/Recursion

Minor reanimate/recursion theme since there should be plenty of targets in opponent's graveyards:

• Nicol Bolas, the Arisen  , Rise of the Dark Realms, The Eldest Reborn, and Ill-Gotten Gains

Win Cons

The main strategy of this deck is punishing opponents for discarding. That being said, having the punishment cards out when you are wheeling opponents is brutal.

Any of the wheels in this deck + the discard punishment cards can lead to turns where opponents lose huge chucks of life per wheel. Or you just straight up do enough damage to beat all opponents.

Comments, suggestions, or upvotes are welcome!

Upvote if you like this deck +1

My Commander Decks

{W}{U}{B}{G}{R} 5 Color Dragon Tribal - Tiamat, Mother of Dragons {W}{U}{B}{G}{R} {U}{R} Niv Mizzet Combo - Niv-Mizzet, Wheel of Pings {U}{R} {G}{W}{U}{B} Atraxa +1/+1 Counters - Atraxa, Queen of Counters {G}{W}{U}{B} {U}{B}{R} Nicol Bolas Discard - Nicol Bolas, Lord of Discard {U}{B}{R} {U}{B} Zombie Combo - Wilhelt, the Zombie Tsunami {U}{B} {G}{W} Selesnya Pauper Tokens - Cadira, Rabid Tokens {G}{W} {G}{U} Big Creatures and Lands Matter - Aesi, Value Snek {G}{U} {R}{W} Boros Voltron - Wyleth, Boros Voltron {R}{W} {B} Mono Black Sacrifice and Aristocrats - Braids, Down the Drain {B} {R} Mono Red Haste and Chaos - Etali, Primal Chaos {R} {W}{U}{B}{G}{R} Multi Color Matters and Big Spells - Progenitus, Soul of The World {W}{U}{B}{G}{R}

Top Ranked	Achieved #72 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #60 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Discard 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Multiplayer 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 year
Exclude colors	WG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.78
Tokens	Insect 1/1 UR, Manifest 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Discard, decks im interested in, EDH, My decks, Decks, Possible Decks, saved decks, EDH, Dragons, X - EDH Inspitation - CONTROL