Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Nicol Bolas

Nicol Bolas

Nicol Bolas

Legendary Creature — Elder Dragon · {2}{U}{U}{B}{B}{R}{R} · Black/Red/Blue commander

Flying At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Nicol Bolas unless you pay {U}{B}{R}. Whenever Nicol Bolas deals damage to an opponent, that player discards their hand.
Build a Nicol Bolas deck →

What Nicol Bolas actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

What a Nicol Bolas deck wants

The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.

Best cards for Nicol Bolas

Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.

Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch

  1. Secret Tunnel0 mana
  2. Dragon Tempest2 mana
  3. Crash Through1 mana
  4. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive2 mana
  5. Irenicus's Vile Duplication4 mana
  6. Archetype of Aggression3 mana
  7. Frostcliff Siege3 mana
  8. Rhonas's Monument3 mana

Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it

  1. Reality Shift2 mana
  2. Wild Magic Surge2 mana
  3. Pongify1 mana
  4. Rapid Hybridization1 mana
  5. Resculpt2 mana
  6. Defile1 mana
  7. Tragic Slip1 mana
  8. Suspend1 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Do or Die2 mana
  2. Force of Despair3 mana
  3. Blasphemous Act9 mana
  4. Displacement Wave2 mana
  5. Accursed Marauder2 mana
  6. Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
  7. Innocent Blood1 mana
  8. Breaking Point3 mana

Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

  1. Pact of Negation0 mana
  2. Counterspell2 mana
  3. Three Steps Ahead1 mana
  4. Long River's Pull2 mana
  5. Force of Will5 mana
  6. Abjure1 mana
  7. Archmage's Charm3 mana
  8. Cancel3 mana

Find the exact card the plan needs

  1. Demonic Tutor2 mana
  2. Diabolic Intent2 mana
  3. Vampiric Tutor1 mana
  4. Imperial Seal1 mana
  5. Insatiable Avarice1 mana
  6. Diabolic Intent2 mana
  7. Grim Tutor3 mana
  8. Liliana Vess // Liliana Vess0 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Skullclamp1 mana
  3. Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
  4. Curiosity1 mana
  5. Wizard Class1 mana
  6. Black Market Connections3 mana
  7. Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
  8. Morbid Opportunist3 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Hexing Squelcher2 mana
  2. Gleaming Overseer3 mana
  3. Cryptothrall4 mana
  4. Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus4 mana
  5. Lost in the Maze2 mana
  6. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  7. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  8. Eldrazi Monument5 mana

Get ahead on mana

  1. Chrome Mox0 mana
  2. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  3. Mox Amber0 mana
  4. Mox Diamond0 mana
  5. Mox Opal0 mana
  6. Mana Vault1 mana
  7. Sol Ring1 mana
  8. Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing