Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

Legendary Creature — Elder Dragon // Legendary Planeswalker — Bolas · {1}{U}{B}{R} · Black/Red/Blue commander

Flying When Nicol Bolas enters, each opponent discards a card. {4}{U}{B}{R}: Exile Nicol Bolas, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery. +2: Draw two cards. −3: Nicol Bolas deals 10 damage to target creature or planeswalker. −4: Put target creature or planeswalker card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. −12: Exile all but the bottom card of target player's library.

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What Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen actually does

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

• Triggered ability · etbWhen Nicol Bolas enters, each opponent discards a card.
• Activated ability{4}{U}{B}{R}: Exile Nicol Bolas, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
• Activated ability+2: Draw two cards.
• Activated ability−3: Nicol Bolas deals 10 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
• Activated ability−4: Put target creature or planeswalker card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
• Activated ability−12: Exile all but the bottom card of target player's library.
• Keyword · flyingflying

What a Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen deck needs

Plays as ETB value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• ways to keep the commander planeswalker alive (blockers, fogs, pillowfort), loyalty growth (proliferate, loyalty boosters) and planeswalker synergies — it must survive a turn cycle to work
• blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
• cards that make opponents discard (its payoff is their discards)

The Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 10× Makes opponents discard — the fuel a discard-punishing commander feeds on
• 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
• 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
• 6× Proliferate — every counter already placed is placed again
• 6× Repeat, double, protect or find planeswalkers — the engine around a planeswalker commander
• 6× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
• 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

Best cards for Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

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.

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