#TeamBolas (Standard MTG Deck)

Partially an excuse to take a break from the Hostage Takers and Scarab Gods that I'm so fond of, just about everything minus the mana base was chosen in imitation of Bolas for a Better Tomorrow. I'm sure miles will vary.

Rationale:
Counterflux for Disallow
Devour Flesh for Battle at the Bridge: I valued the life gain foremost, and this one just gets better over time.
Murder for Unlicensed Disintegration
Think Twice for Censor: Opted for an option that my opponent's had to play around. Might have become Sword-Point Diplomacy.
Barter in Blood & Dreadbore for Cut, Hour of Devastation, Supreme Will, & Torment of Hailfire: These were the hardest to replace. I knew I wanted to include the last two, but in the future Vraska's Contempt comes in here somewhere.
Mystic Retrieval for Commit: Not quite a right fit, at least the handfill is still on our terms.
Liliana of the Veil for Chandra, Torch of Defiance: I'll take a flavor fail over Liliana, Death's Majesty, who doesn't play as well here. Still makes card advantage and kills creatures, with an ultimate that wins games.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker for Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah: Hail Bolas!
Chromatic Lantern for Pyramid of the Pantheon: An early play that fixes our mana, then all but guarantees casting Bolas.
Gilded Lotus for Chandra, Torch of Defiance: More of her for her ramping here.
Staff of Nin for Search for Azcanta : I really miss the damage, but at least we get early card filtering. If it weren't for the Chandra's we'd very well be looking at Vance's blasting cannon here.

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FNM Top Eight [2-2-1] 12/15/2017 — Dec. 17, 2017

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First trial of the deck. Assembled with heartfelt thought the night before. Couldn't find where I'd left my Sorcerous Spyglasses for the sideboard.

**Round One 0-2 vs Abzan Snakes**
Game 1 (mull) saw the hilarious experience of Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons with no creatures to play with. Removal traded one-for-one until we hit Topdeck mode, where I promptly drew nothing but lands while a second Samut, Voice of Dissent cut me down.
Game 2 saw issues with drawing land, particularly a second red source, but ultimately it came down to me making a misplay where I counted Samut rather than eat six before killing it. Shields down, Vraska, Relic Seeker appeared (I swore I thought he was on five mana), and even with Chandra's help I couldn't draw a solution in time.

**Round Two 1-1 vs UW Control**
Game 1 was fantastic. His creature removal was useless and Bolas ended up the first permanent on the board. He ate some cards before Cast Out hit him. Next turn Chandra landed and Commit / Memory busted Bolas out of the slammer. After eating more cards, my opponent conceded.
Game 2 was loooong. We both had a Search for Azcanta ^Flip, but my Crook of Condemnation ensured that only one flipped. I couldn't draw a wincon, and had a means of killing his few wincons as well. Kefnet the Mindful Commit / Memoryed, then exiled with Lost Legacy. Pulled a similar trick later on The Locust God, but named Approach of the Second Sun to hit his main wincon. He had one in hand, and after shuffling, it was conveniently replaced by that singleton The Locust God. Game ended on turn three of time in the round thanks to that luck.

**Round Three 1-0-1 vs UB Gifts**
Game 1 (his mull) was awfully straightforward, one-for-one removals until Gift of the God-Pharoah was cheated out with Gate to the Afterlife. My response after was hit him with Torment of Hailfire, leaving him with no cards, no board, and at one life. Turned back into removal business as usual until Lord Bolas showed up to kill him.
Game 2 (his mull) was more of the same, with a Lost Legacy after Gift shutting down his main engine. This time though, my wincons stayed well hidden, and Cut / Ribbons wasn't enough to end it while in turns. Shout out to Battle at the Bridge for MVP in both games, which ended respectably with me at 19 and 29 life.

**Round Four 2-0 vs ???**
Paired down against a friend and his experimental deck. With it treating him poorly tonight, he decided our time would be better spent hanging out.

**Top Eight 1-2 vs Ramunap Red**
Game 1 I would have mulled had I known what I was facing. Three of my five taplands were among my first four land drops, meaning I was too slow to interact well and dead around turn 6.
Game 2 goes to Battle at the Bridge and Crypt of the Eternals. Chandra fueling two Cut / Ribbons may have ended it, but the 7 life gained mattered as it ended with me at 3 life.
Game 3 was annoying. He landed a turn two Sunset Pyramid and most turns were spent watching him outdrawing me while I dealt with threats. Another got countered at some point, and I tried killing a Bomat Courier with Battle at the Bridge x=4 to entice him to toss a hand of four away for two new ones. Naturally, he drew the other two Pyramids. Outdrawn, including being stuck at five land up until the final turn, meant that I made him work for it, but ultimately, it didn't matter.

Notes for the next time I revisit this deck:

Work on the lands. At least twice I had to wait on a Chandra until I could manage a second red source.

Add Vraska's Contempt. Needs more planeswalker removal, and the lifegain doesn't hurt.

Battle at the Bridge was excellent (favorite one -9'd a Samut), and Cut / Ribbons does work.

Still wouldn't mind Sword-Point Diplomacy and Vance's Blasting Cannons ^Flip. SPD is really good at reducing life early for later Hailfire and Ribbons, while VBC feels almost poetic with one mode helping to get to Bolas, and the flip being easily triggered with his +2 when you're in game ender mode.

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Revision 1 See all

(7 years ago)

+4	Never / Return	maybe
+2	Sword-Point Diplomacy	maybe
+1	Vance's Blasting Cannons ^Flip	maybe
+2	Vraska's Contempt	maybe

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 8 Rares 12 - 5 Uncommons 0 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.66
Tokens	Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance
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