Nicol Bolas, the Card Ravager

Commander / EDH Combo Control Discard Mill UBR (Grixis)

Barookie

Land (38)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 3x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Mind Twist
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Instant (19)

• 1x Aetherspouts
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Blink of an Eye
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Counterflux
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Crosis's Charm
• 1x Cryptic Command *list*
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Remand
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Artifact (11)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
• 1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Creature (11)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Deepglow Skate
• 1x Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Kess, Dissident Mage
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Sire Of Insanity
• 1x The Locust God
• 1x The Scarab God

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Stranglehold
• 1x Training Grounds
• 1x Waste Not

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Notion Thief

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"It's self-indulgent, I admit, but I do like to watch my own symphony play itself out." —Nicol Bolas

Introduction

This is my Nicol Bolas, the Ravager/the Arisen deck. I've built this deck around controlling the board and stalling everyone else's plans until I can achieve mine. At which point it's too late to do anything.

Summary

The game plan for this deck is to hold off on transforming my commander while using the multiple combos in it to force my opponents to discard their hand and in turn, any answers to my mischief. Eventually transforming my commander late game and leading up to his built-in win con of blowing up my opponent's library

The Game Plan

Early Game

The early game for this deck can be very important, a big part is planning out how to protect Nicol Bolas until getting his discard engine rolling. Even just successfully casting him once in a game gives you card advantage over any opponent, which can be very useful when in either a multiplayer game, or even a 1v1. Seeing as he costs 4 mana, the earliest Nicol Bolas can be cast is around turn 2, and at the latest turn 5 or 6 if you need to ensure some protection from a Counterspell or something similar. Much of the card synergy in this deck is loosely based around the first one or two mass discards, so Nicol getting removed soon after casting him is nothing too terrible. If the state of the game is not in your favor, some light protection such as Frozen Aether and Propaganda can help a ton. The same is true for casting smaller utility creatures and/or artifacts/enchantments such as Baral, Chief of Compliance, Nephalia Smuggler, Sensei's Divining Top, Panharmonicon, and Training Grounds to be used to their full potential later in the game. Along with these early game set-ups, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver can be used to put a lot of pressure on your opponent(s) early on in the game and distract aggro decks from your life total.

Midgame

****** WIP

Late Game

****** WIP

Combos

Combos that involve Nicol Bolas, the Ravager:

• Deadeye Navigator for cheap repeatable ETB discard triggers from Nicol Bolas.
• Nephalia Smuggler for a repeatable blink to use on my commander each turn.
• Conjurer's Closet to get a free blink on my commander at the end of each of my turns.
• Panharmonicon to double the discard trigger of Nicol Bolas.
• Waste Not to get even more value out of making my opponents discard.
• Baral's Expertise to return some things to my opponents hands as well as Nicol Bolas back to mine, then casting him for free and getting an ETB trigger off of him.
• Phyresis to make my commander into a mini Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon for only 2 mana, if noone has an answer, three hits and that's game.

Combos that involve Nicol Bolas, the Arisen:

• Contagion Engine to control the board as well as give the Arisen another two loyalty counters.
• Forbid to turn my commander's card draw +2 into a free buyback.
• Teferi, Temporal Archmage to give Nicol Bolas loyalty abilites every turn at instant speed.

Combos that don't involve Nicol Bolas:

• Kess, Dissident Mage and Torment of Hailfire/Mind Twist/Dread Summons for multiple casts on game changing spells.
• Training Grounds since almost all of the creatures in this deck have activated abilties that cost colorless mana.
• Cyclonic Rift and Crosis, the Purger to put my opponent's field into their hand and then make them discard it.

Any suggestions on how to improve this deck are greatly appreciated.

Top Ranked	Achieved #9 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.19
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Emblem Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Insect 1/1 UR, Manifest 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	My Decks, Refrence, EDH Wishlist, Fun with Combos and Gimmiks, Interesting Commander Decks, commander deck ideas, Liked Decks, Nicol Bolas, Nicol Bolas, Bolas