I think it's worth considering Waste Not

Aside from diabolic tutor you could consider running cards with Transmute to tutor up cards. Dimir Infiltrator Tutors for 2 CMC cards Perplex Tutos for 3 CMC cards Dimir House Guard Tutors for 4 CMC cards

Since a lot of your deck is from 2 to 4 mana I think these would provide cheap efficient tutors.

rick132 while I do like the idea of Waste Not I do not feel like I run enough discard effects to make a decent use of the card. I also like your suggestion of more transmute effects however I feel like the tutors are too strict for me. Diabolic Tutor can fetch anything I need for the current situation. While transmute cards can only fetch a few cards for a few situations.

I love Nicol Bolas! He's the best.

Needs more Apex of Power, Fraying Omnipotence, and Patient Rebuilding. And it definitely needs more Dark Intimations.

I also run Arcbond in my deck 'cause it's a fun surprise way to make everyone discard their hand if they damage Bolas. Chandra's Ignition works as well, but is substantially less flavorful.

Disrupt Decorum isn't as good as Damnation, but it's way more fun.

Alkadron I agree Nicol Bolas is the best ;) Apex of Power I feel is too much mana for too little value. I’ve played it before, it’s very expensive and usually only gets me 2-3 spells. Fraying Omnipotence just cuts the board in half and i feel doesn’t really do a whole lot for me. (Also from a flavor stand point, Bolas is losing power in that art) Patient Rebuilding could be a good value engine and even be a bit political and maybe even a win-con so I might try that one out. I am absolutely disgusted with how cool of a trick Arcbond is and although it does seem cool I think it may be a bit too limited in this deck, but I will have to give it a shot sometime. Dark Intimations is an auto-include and should have been here from the start. Good pointing that out!

I 100% agree with your assessment of Apex of Power, Fraying Omnipotence, and Patient Rebuilding: they're all pretty bad cards, for sure. I just really like the art, and the story they tell in sequence.

Arcbond definitely feels like a gamble, but it's a super fun one. Even when I don't end up casting it, I love having it in my hand.

I highly recommend picking up a Dragon Tempest. I used to run it in mine til I swapped to new Bolas, but it's great cause on etb Bolas will ping a player for 1 causing them to discard and then swing at another for their hand.

Also, Waste Not. Since a lot of Bolas themed cards focus around hand manipulation it adds a lot of value to those abilities.

Mine's not budget by any means, but if you wanna check mine out for long term additions I hope you find something useful. Good luck and enjoy! Nicol's Machinations

And I totally didn't read the other comments first, so by all means ignore the Waste Not suggestion haha

DanteBeleren I’ve been considering tempest for awhile now if I did run it I would probably look for a few more dragons and/or flyers. I actually saw your deck a long time ago and loved your take on bolas. I enjoy your lore decks very much. My only fear of running tempest is that the deck will lean too much towards a dragon deck instead of a bolas flavor deck. I actually plan on swapping to the newer bolas as soon as possible anyway so it may not even be worth the time to devote to this bolas anyway.

When I swapped Bolas I did swap out about 5 cards including Tempest so you need don't to worry too much about, but for this Bolas it's great even if he's the only one dragon. I've never had more than 10 creatures in my list and still ran it with him being the only Dragon because it's THAT good of an effect imo.

Oh cool! And thank you! I've been really lazy lately and haven't updated his description or lists in a while... Whoops lol

I also worship at the throne of the Great One. A worthy pawn could be Plaguecrafter. Even the name is on theme. Other than that, any Grixis deck could use Chaos Warp for problematic Enchantments, Cyclonic Rift because we’re already here, and Vandalblast to put you further ahead. My current Commander, Thraximundar could also serve the Dragon, and keep his hunger for power satiated. Enjoyed the deck, have fun with it!

FogonaFrog66 (Love your usernames reference to Spore Frog) I don’t like Plaguecrafter because I feel like It would be better in a deck with more reanimation. Vandalblast while I do think is a good card I feel might generate a lot of hate towards me and also will not see as much use against green decks due to land-based ramp. While I do like Cyclonic Rift I’m not sure I would run it in a deck with colors that give me access to so many other board wipes, I will consider the card though. I actually have a copy of Thraximundar lying around somewhere, he’s good removal on a creature and it also is on theme with bolas because I believe he actually served him as a general on grixis at some point. I do need a Chaos Warp ASAP since grixis decks have no enchantment removal besides over-costed colorless cards. Great suggestions!

No Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip? I think it'll actually be better and more thematic with him at the helm.

WhichKing I plan on putting him in eventually, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, I do feel like ravager is better in almost every sense so I will put him in as the commander eventually.

I feel like you will need to add in all the Nicol Bolas planeswalkers in here. I am very particular to Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah and should be included in here asap LOL!

Also Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver would be on point with theme as well, since we are in Grixis colors. We need all the mana acceleration ramp, cards like Dimir Signet, Rakdos Signet, Izzet Signet, Talisman of Dominance, and Talisman of Indulgence will help you in casting all the spells since Bolas loves doing things in style.

Some fun cards that go with the flavor are Sadistic Sacrament, Countersquall, Crux of Fate, Imp's Mischief, Slave of Bolas, Cower in Fear, Blood Reckoning, and Sweltering Suns.

Hopefully that helps!

hkhssweiss I will add Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh eventually, I believe he is very powerful and deserves a spot in the deck. I will not be adding Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver as I feel he is not powerful enough for 8 mana.

I do like all of your ramp suggestions and will use them if I feel the deck needs more mana-fixing/ramp.

Sweltering Suns and Cower in Fear are too weak to be good in this deck. Sadistic Sacrament is so cruel and so awesome! That card can single handedly take out an opponents chances of winning so I will definitely throw that card in at some point. Countersquall is an auto-include as it’s an on flavour Negate. I removed Slave of Bolas because I felt it was too much mana for the results it produced. Crux of Fate is definitely strong and I will consider it. The only problem with the card is if I come up against a deck with a large amount of dragons. Blood Reckoning will almost never stop the token decks from killing me so I decide not to run it. Imp's Mischief while on flavour, can easily be replaced with a copy of Redirect so that I don’t lose life. Great suggestions!

Grixis776 No problem glad I can be of some help!

Gem of Becoming can be nice for flavor but otherwise +1 for Grixis/Bolas!

Cool stuff! Love the Bolas theme. I've been tinkering with mine lately, and yours has given me a lot of ideas. Awesome deck!

Excellent deck.

A few reccommendations- Omniscience is excellent in this kind of deck to ignore mana costs. There's even a bolas-themed Masterpiece that would fit the theme. You could also consider other Amonkhet-block Masterpieces for flavor. Again, an excellent deck.

Seraphim7 I already run omniscience, I do slowly intend to acquire the masterpieces overtime, as well as other super expensive bolas flavor cards like the judge promo of Mana Drain .

Oh, whoops! Not sure how I missed that. Sorry.

Supreme Will is a Bolas-themed counter spell that I love. It feels better to hold up than most counter spells because if nothing happens that needs countering, you can just dig 4 deep and grab the best card.