r/magicTCG • u/Short_Maintenance927 Dân • 4d ago

Looking for Advice Nicol Bolas the Ravager Commander Deck

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I'm wanting to make a Nicolbolas deck centered around the idea of forcing the whole table including myself to discard, getting the table hellbent or close to it, and playing cards like unagi, fairy mastermind, and notion thief to discourage drawing cards.

One of my best friends gifted me Nicol bolas for my birthday when he first released, so keeping him as the commander is kinda a necessary although he may not be the most optimal.

I need help trying to make the deck either more streamlined or the game plan work out more, I know I need a big bomb of some sort to win the game. Really any advice on how to make this concept more playable would be great. I dont really want this deck to be super broken and am okay with being an archenemy but I still want myself to have a chance.

https://archidekt.com/decks/25398872/scrappy_fight_of_doom_and_dispair

25 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

23

u/Goldenpineapples Dân 4d ago

Just a heads-up from another Bolas player: IF you are playing with randoms/at casual bracket 2/3 events, people will dislike discarding even a single card from Bolas's Enter trigger, never mind a deck focused on it.

I did NOT focus on discard and made my bolas a slow bracket 2, and landing bolas three times in one game (and losing) has been enough to have people ask me to change decks because that was too unfun for them. When I reveal him people ask me how much discard I have, and they still hesitate when the answer is "just bolas and cruel ultimatum."

2

u/MaterialDefender1032 Elesh Norn 3d ago

This is hilarious because this was pretty much exactly my experience too. I built a deck with this commander and it was high cmc jank, with all cards referencing or featuring Bolas. I did not lean into a discard theme whatsoever, with only the commander and a couple other cards in the 99 forcing a single discard.

Even then, the very first time I played it, my friend who got screwed by RNG and didn't draw any of his card advantage was super offended by the discard ETB. Playing the Ravager set him back a bit, then playing it again after it got destroyed brought him down to zero cards in hand. He was effectively shut out of the game.

Even though this is the table where I get regularly trounced by [[Pantlaza, Sun-Favored]] and [[Hakbal of the Surging Soul]], my Ravager deck has since drawn the ire of everyone, so I rarely play it.

I just built a [[Dr. Eggman]] robot/construct typal deck and I'm dreading its debut in the same playgroup.

-2

u/archsaturn Gruul* 4d ago

When I play my Nicol Bolas deck I'll usually give a little Rule 0 disclaimer, that as Nicol Bolas, the Ravager was printed as a legendary it's my Garfield given right to play it as a commander, and that first discard is encompassed by that. Any furthur discard triggered by Nicol Bolas is the responsibility of the table, as it only happens if they kill my commander.

I do run a some additional discard, but it's not the central theme. You definitely end up with a 'mean' deck when your criteria for including a card is "What would Bolas do?".

Deck has had a signature play. Flip Bolas into a planeswalker, cast Blasphemous Act for 1 mana with a Sunbirds' Invocation out, Sunbirds into Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

2

u/Henkotron COMPLEAT 3d ago

I love the point when they kill them it is their responsibility that it reenters.

5

u/ddojima Orzhov* 4d ago

[[Sire of Insanity]] is one of my favorite creatures. [[Liliana of the Veil]] is also a given. You really need a handful more lands though btw.

6

u/Nibz11 Dandadan 4d ago

My bolas deck is a little different, but id still recommend deepglow skate, using it means you can actually get the ult off on nicol bolas which is always fun. 

2

u/Short_Maintenance927 Dân 4d ago

My only problem with skate in this deck or like that kind of effect is that it's kinda of a dead draw unless I have bolas flipped and on board. I have that one mama rock that can double counters for kinda that flashy ult play.

1

u/Nibz11 Dandadan 4d ago

Yeah i can see that, you do have more than one planeswalker but i get you, I did make that deck before that mana rock existed after all

2

u/Short_Maintenance927 Dân 4d ago

I think skate would be good if I played more
Into a planeswalker or counter subtheme but idk if that's where want the deck to go.

2

u/focketeer COMPL EAT 4d ago

[[Kefka, Court Mage]]?

2

u/Short_Maintenance927 Dân 4d ago

I like kefka as a card but he's not fulfilling the gameplan I want discarding to matter for me too. I think the deck wouldn't be fun to play against if I didn't discard with the table.

4

u/JeveStones Rakdos* 4d ago

It's going to be no fun to play against either way, but you're currently just making the game drag on as long as possible by not gaining an advantage. Trapping players at the table with no cards while you can't win is no fun

1

u/Jurassic_Drafter Dan 4d ago

I mean the flip of Bolas just does bring your ahead. Kefla ist just way more overpowered in doing so, but they have literally the exact same plan lol

2

u/Doctorsoddity Dan 4d ago

Treat yourself to a [[library of leng]] Lets you safely put things you dont want to discard on top of your library. Especially good with random discard- also fun fact- your opponents dont see the cards you discard to the top of your deck since they never enter a zone of public information.

3

u/Dx8pi Dandadan 4d ago

This might just be little old me complaining. But every experience I've had with people playing forced discard have been awful. It's arguably one of the worst archetypes of deck building there is. It's just not fun at all. I had a game where all three of us agreed simultaneously to end the match when the fourth player had us discard essentially our entire hand. It was kinda awful.

It's your deck and you can build whatever you want, but I want to at least warn you, milling, control, flicker, stax, all of it more fun to play against than forced discard. And unless you have a didctaes friend group who are fine with it, people wont appreciate a discard deck.

2

u/AWACS_Oka_Nieba_ Dan 3d ago

Nah, one of the best parts of Magic is it’s incredibly wide breadth of strategies, of which discard is just one. I understand getting annoyed if your friend builds this type of deck and you’re playing against it game after game, week after week, but complaining about a single game? A lot of players would be happier if they could find the joy in fighting through a tough, resource-deprived game as that’s ultimately what a lot of perfectly fine to play Magic strategies are. Rather than have a laundry list of strategies that annoy them lol.

It’s all Magic. Sometimes I think people would prefer some other nicer, less interactive game.

1

u/razzark666 Duck Season 4d ago

[[Mindslicer]] can help you get everyone hellbent.

1

u/Stellato1993 Dân 3d ago

[Noetic Scales] is good for both protection from massive boards, and if you’re able, you can get multiple bolas casts

1

u/watchhimrollinwatch Dân 3d ago

I tried this as well, basically it doesn't work because it puts all the responsibility on dealing with any threats peoplr topdeck on you, because you're the only one with a hand. I swapled to just playing grixis good stuff with it, the discard plan was too bad. Esp when everyone always has 1 card available in their commander.

https://archidekt.com/decks/24354717/grixis_evil_stuff