"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
About three years ago, I had put together a list for my Grixis Discard-themed deck based around Nicol Bolas. The deck essentially uses the best discard spells and Specters to empty cards out of my opponents hand, The Rack effects to punish them for a lack of cards in hand, and board control spells to punish anyone who has the gall to cast spells out of their hand to avoid the discard effects.
With the upcoming release of Amonkhet and the revelation that Nicol Bolas is the antagonist, my hope is that we get some more sweet Bolas-themed cards to put in the deck.
The deck has had some cards go in and out of the deck, and being 3-color there are a ton of “staples” that I want to run but cannot find room for them. My current deck configuration looks like this; note that it is currently one card over the limit.
The deck basically operates like a normal discard deck; go after the opponent’s cards in hand, force them to play them out faster than they normally would, then punish them with sweepers or Rack effects. All the bounce spells are there to combo either with Nicol Bolas, to combo with late-game discard spells that might otherwise be dead draws, and to help make sure that discard triggers for things like Waste Not or Megrim still happen.
I’m looking for advice from anyone else who runs Nicol Bolas as a commander, some suggestions on which card to remove to get down to 99 in the maindeck, and any other suggestions for things that might fit the theme that I might have missed. Thanks. Card Choice Explanation
These cards will do some good work in reducing the number of cards in your opponent's hands. They are specifically chosen because they affect all players or have other useful modes (specifically creature kill or bounce). Your hope is that you can hold onto these till after you've bounced some cards back to your opponent's hand. It is often a good strategy to hold onto these and let your opponent's play spells out of their hand naturally; once they are down on cards, these can be backbreaking in knocking the last few cards out of their hand and disrupting whatever plans they might have had.
These are the real heavy-lifters in the deck, providing early pressure on both your opponent's life totals and their hands. Okiba-Gang Shinobi is especially devious here, with cards like Solemn Simulacrum, Mulldrifter, or Venser, Shaper Savant as great cards to ninja out.
Single-shot or combat-damage discard effects will only get you so far, so you need to pack additional ways to make sure your opponents are discarding cards. Nezumi Shortfang is great in that it turns itself in a Rack effect once you've emptied someone's hand. Painful Quandary works much the same way, although most people will just choose to pay the 5 life unless they are way up on cards.
Chains of Mephistopheles is a card that many people don't have experience with, so it deserves its own paragraph of discussion. In essence, it shuts down card draw outside of the first card drawn during the draw step. In order to draw a card at any other time, a player must first discard a card. If they have no cards in hand, they get milled for 1. This is a card that you drop once you have everyone's hand emptied to keep them all in range of your Rack effects, and you need to be careful as to when you play it so that you don't shut off your card draw engines prematurely. Note that Necropotence does not draw the cards (they are put into your hand), so they are not affected by the Chains effect.
Once you have emptied a players hand, these become consistent damage sources turn after turn. Note that Storm World affects all players, including you. All the other cards affect only your opponents, but The Rack only affects one opponent.
All these cards net you value for making the opponent discard cards. Nezumi Graverobber doesn't have an explicit discard trigger, but he will help you reap the rewards once he is flipped to Nighteyes the Desecrator.
Once you have established your discard effects, opponents will rush to empty their hands in order to not lose to your discard. The bounce spells then come in and undo all their hard work, and in conjunction with your repeatable discard effects become virtual removal. A card like Devasation Tide or Cyclonic Rift can become especially deadly when followed up by the threat of a Nicol Bolas attack.
This is in addition to all the previous card mentioned that have modes that would otherwise count as removal. Again, players will try and play their hands out faster than normal, so they will often play right into your Wraths. The counters are usually reserved for card draw or to protect a key permanent.
These are all part of the plan to out-resource your opponent. I'm currently using Armillary Sphere and Gem of Becoming because the deck specifically wants lots of land of very specific colors. Memory Jar also has the effect of triggering your Megrim or Geth's Grimoire multiple times.
As you can see, many of the chosen cards can fulfill multiple roles and fit in multiple categories. The key is to use cards that offer the most bang for your buck while at the same time offer the most flexibility.
I really like this list a lot. Pretty sure I've never seen Hypnotic Specter look really solid in an EDH list before. Especially not in a multiplayer list. Kudos.
Myriad Landscape is notably absent here. That card is soooort of like a Temple of the False God that taps for colored mana. And since the types of cards you run get better in multiples, how about Clever Impersonator to copy a specter, rack or miscellaneous giant monster?
As for cuts, Wash Out is a little narrow for my liking. There are some boards where it will be the same as Evacuation and it will always clear out a hoard of tokens, so it's at least got something going on. Baral's Expertise seems like an upgrade, even though it's capped at bouncing 3 things. Also, while this is a point of contention for many people, I maintain that Night's Whisper in a deck with a great mana base is better than Armillary Sphere. They have a similar effect on the keepability of two-land opening hands and on smoothing out the first couple turns of the game. However, Night's Whisper is always a good card to see whereas Armillary Sphere is a poor mid- to late-game draw. A similar argument could be used to compare Painful Truths to Gem of Becoming, but I get that the latter is on theme in this deck.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Getting non-combat damage through with Nicol Bolas is a tried-and-true way to maximize his ability; we used to have to use stuff like Fire Whip or Pandemonium if we wanted to avoid having to actually connect via combat. Since the deck relies so little on actually playing Nicol Bolas, I think I'm going to pass on most of these. Nicol Bolas is threatening just being in the Command Zone; jus tthe threat of him coming down makes people play differently. Its usually only after I've done some significant work that he makes an actual appearance, usually to help clean up the mess and gloat.
I really like this list a lot. Pretty sure I've never seen Hypnotic Specter look really solid in an EDH list before. Especially not in a multiplayer list. Kudos.
I didn't expect to like the Specters, but they end up playing an important role. They are a very real threat on their own and they put a lot of pressure on people to act before they are ready.
I didn't even consider it. I've never really run it in any deck, but I like it so I may try it out here.
And since the types of cards you run get better in multiples, how about Clever Impersonator to copy a specter, rack or miscellaneous giant monster?
Playing a Clone effect or two might not be a bad idea, and Clever impersonator would make the most sense given the wide range of targets he can copy.
As for cuts, Wash Out is a little narrow for my liking. There are some boards where it will be the same as Evacuation and it will always clear out a hoard of tokens, so it's at least got something going on. Baral's Expertise seems like an upgrade, even though it's capped at bouncing 3 things.
Wash Out almost always names green... it may as well be Hibernation. I think that if I did go with something else, I'd probably go with Æther Gale or Ætherspouts (or some other cards with an "Æ" just because I can), although I am becoming a fan of Baral's Expertise and I think Distorting Wake would be an option as well.
Also, while this is a point of contention for many people, I maintain that Night's Whisper in a deck with a great mana base is better than Armillary Sphere. They have a similar effect on the keepability of two-land opening hands and on smoothing out the first couple turns of the game. However, Night's Whisper is always a good card to see whereas Armillary Sphere is a poor mid- to late-game draw. A similar argument could be used to compare Painful Truths to Gem of Becoming, but I get that the latter is on theme in this deck.
I like the idea of going with a draw spell over Armillary Sphere, but since I'm playing blue I should probably go with something better. Maybe See Beyond or Preordain. I may even look at moving up to 3 CMC with Thirst for Knowledge or Compulsive Research.
I like the idea of going with a draw spell over Armillary Sphere, but since I'm playing blue I should probably go with something better. Maybe See Beyond or Preordain. I may even look at moving up to 3 CMC with Thirst for Knowledge or Compulsive Research.
Going up to 3 is fine for this sort of thing in most decks and you've certainly called out the dope blue cards of that variety. However, I'd argue that Night's Whisper is simply the best of the bunch because it's always +1 card and only costs 1B. Sure, a lot of the time that doesn't matter - especially if we're comparing to Preordain - but in this multiplayer attrition-based grindfest format we play in, going up a card is worth a lot. And if you're trying to use a cheap draw spell to fix up a sketchy keep, costing 1B is way better than 2U. But do feel free to just cram all of these cards in your deck. Good early, good late, good times.
Edit: What does See Beyond offer over Night's Whisper in an 8 Swamp / 5 Island deck with nothing it actively wants to put back into the library?
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I love discard, so it's always nice to see someone trying it in multiplayer. Have you considered Wei Night Raiders? Unblockable discard is always fun!
I had not considered it. I'm not convinced that is is better than the other options I'm currently running, but it is good to know that this option exists. I often forget that P3K cards even exist...
Absolutely nothing... I was just thinking out loud as I was typing that post. This deck really just wants to make sure it hits all its land drops and fixes its mana, which is why I've gravitated towards Armillary Sphere and Gem of Becoming. There are definite reasons to want to shelve both for Night's Whisper and Compulsive Research (or maybe even Probe), or even go a different direction with Mind Stone and Everflowing Chalice. I really appreciate the suggestion, as it is making me reassess some of my fundamental assumptions behind what I do during deck building. I'm going to Ponder is some more as a I play the deck and try to figure out what I should do.
There are times when Night's Whisper and the like will just naturally fail to find you any lands, so I can appreciate the stability of Sphere and Gem. Always hitting land drops and fixing your colorsis definitely appealing.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
So I resisted updating this deck when Amonkhet came out with the knowledge that Hour of Devstation was going to be a "Nicol Bolas" set and I wanted to know exactly how many cards I would want before starting to update the deck. It ended up that I didn't really want anything from Amonkhet, but Hour of Devastation had plenty of goodies. These are the cards I considered:
Hour of Devastation Consign//Oblivion - If the discard on Oblivion hit every opponent, this would be a no-brainer. As it is, it fits the theme but is not good enough to actually make the deck long term I think. Dreamstealer - A "Specter" with Menace is good, but also having Eternal makes this really good. Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Slam-dunk both flavor-wise and theme-wise. The +1 is exactly what the deck wants to do, and the other three abilities are all worth having. Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver - The +3 is solid and will likely make my opponents lose 3 life as I pressure their board and hand, but the big payoff is the ultimate. It also wouldn't feel right not having all three Bolas PWs in the deck. Razaketh, the Foulblooded - I think that with all the other expensive cards going into the deck, there is probably not going to be room to add this in. You can only run so many 7+ drops, even in EDH... The Locust God, The Scarab God, The Scorpion God - I decided against putting any of these into this deck. They are all great cards, but in the end they don't really do anything special for the deck. I already had a home in mind for Locust (Ni-Mizzet) and Scarab (Oloro Zombies), so I wasn't worried abut trying to include them in here. Torment of Hailfire - I'm cooler on this than I had originally thought, but I can see where it might make some sense in this deck. If I'm pressuring their hand, they won't have many cards to discard to this and I can do either a ton of damage to their board or damage to their life total. The deck isn't running Cabal Coffers or Exsanguinate so I'm wondering whether I want (or need) this in the deck. If I end up in the market for a big finisher, perhaps I go with this as a more flavorful alternative to Exsanguinate. Visage of Bolas - So as a mana rock this is terrible, but as a mana rock + tutor for Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver it is worth considering.
In the end I decided to go +1 Dreamstealer, +1 Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver, and +1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. To make room, I went -1 Gwendlyn Di Corci (not bad as a free-to-use Disrupting Scepter with legs (pun intended), but overall worse than other things in the deck), -1 Chains of Mephistopheles (confusing for some opponents, hard to keep track of sometimes, and I would sometimes not be able to maneuver into position where I could play it profitably), -1 Rise/Fall (really neat card that would stay in the deck if it had Fuse, but is otherwise not needed), and -1 Remand (was an iffy inclusion to begin with). This allowed me to also add in another mana rock in Talisman of Dominance to help pay for all the high CMC cards I added (although the overall average cost of cards in the deck is really not so high).
Commander 2017 Kess, Dissident Mage - I have 21 Instants/Sorceries in the deck, but not all of them are things that I want to replay on my turn. Kheru Mind-Eater - Even if it was only "just another specter" at 3 mana, it would be something I would strongly consider. Given that I can play the exiled cards, and it seems like a slam dunk.
Ixalan Chart a Course - I like the idea of running a 2-drop draw spell like this here. I was previously considering Night's Whisper, and this is likely better. Raiders' Wake - The exact kind of card that this deck wants. River's Rebuke - Only hitting one player can be a problem, but it may also be a feature given the right situation.
Rivals of Ixalan Angrath, the Flame-Chained - the +1 is exactly the kind of effect that this deck wants. Arterial Flow - Making each opponent discard is what we want from cards like this, and 3 mana is below cost. It's just a matter of whether the higher priced options that I'm already running are better or not.
Armillary Sphere - It was between this and Solemn Simulacrum and I decided to cut the Sphere. Tasigur's Cruelty - A fine spell, but I decided that it wasn't necessary. The Rack - This one was painful as it is one of the signature cards for the deck, but in multiplayer this ends up not doing enough since it only affects one player.
So Dominaria has plenty of Bolas-themed cards and some interesting cards to look at:
Blink of and Eye: I've been wondering if I should ditch Counterspell and Dissipate for this card and Into the Roil as a way of being more proactive with the deck. I would still have a few other ways to counter spells in the deck for late-game shenanigans, but this way I would be able to get my Specters in more frequently.
Settle the Score: With 5 walkers in the deck, this was at least worth a look. I think this is borderline playable if you have all the Nicol Bolas PWs in your deck and have a slot dedicated to spot removal.
The Eldest Reborn: Another Bolas-themed card that also works thematically. I'm not very sure about Sagas in general, however this one at least affects the board immediately and there will likely be some juicy targets for Chapter III.
About three years ago, I had put together a list for my Grixis Discard-themed deck based around Nicol Bolas. The deck essentially uses the best discard spells and Specters to empty cards out of my opponents hand, The Rack effects to punish them for a lack of cards in hand, and board control spells to punish anyone who has the gall to cast spells out of their hand to avoid the discard effects.
With the upcoming release of Amonkhet and the revelation that Nicol Bolas is the antagonist, my hope is that we get some more sweet Bolas-themed cards to put in the deck.
The deck has had some cards go in and out of the deck, and being 3-color there are a ton of “staples” that I want to run but cannot find room for them. My current deck configuration looks like this; note that it is currently one card over the limit.
Updated through Rivals of Ixalan, 1/28/2018
8 Nicol Bolas
Creatures - 18
2 Nezumi Shortfang
2 Nezumi Graverobber
3 Dreamstealer
3 Hypnotic Specter
3 Sedraxis Specter
3 Kheru Mind-Eater
4 Liliana's Reaver
4 Disciple of Bolas
4 Lavaborn Muse
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Rackling
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Blazing Specter
4 Blizzard Specter
5 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
5 Mulldrifter
6 Crosis, the Purger
6 Consecrated Sphinx
Enchantments - 9
1 Shrieking Affliction
1 Storm World
2 Waste Not
2 Liliana's Caress
3 Megrim
3 Warped Devotion
3 Necropotence
4 Raiders' Wake
5 Painful Quandary
Planeswalkers - 5
3 Liliana of the Veil
5 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
7 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
8 Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
8 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Counterspell
3 Capsize
3 Recoil
3 Crosis's Charm
3 Dissipate
3 Soul Manipulation
4 Cryptic Command
5 Mystic Confluence
5 Evacuation
Sorceries - 10
4 Syphon Mind
4 Wash Out
4 Damnation
5 Skull Rend
5 Slave of Bolas
5 Dark Intimations
5 Devastation Tide
7 Cruel Ultimatum
8 Treasure Cruise
8 Decree of Pain
Artifacts - 12
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Dimir Signet
2 Rakdos Signet
2 Izzet Signet
3 Gem of Becoming
3 Coalition Relic
3 Wheel of Torture
4 Geth's Grimoire
4 Noetic Scales
5 Memory Jar
1 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Graven Cairns
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Temple of the False God
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
8 Swamp
5 Island
2 Mountain
7/20/2017:
+1 Dreamstealer
+1 Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
+1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
+1 Talisman of Dominance
-1 Gwendlyn Di Corci
-1 Chains of Mephistopheles
-1 Rise//Fall
-1 Remand
1/28/2018:
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+1 Raiders' Wake
+1 Kheru Mind-Eater
-1 Armillary Sphere
-1 Tasigur's Cruelty
-1 The Rack
The cards that didn’t make it, but have seen recent play are as follows:
1 Dream Salvage
1 Pauper’s Cage
1 Quest for the Nihil Stone
1 Shrieking Affliction
1 Dire Undercurrents
1 Repeal
1 Into the Roil
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Urza’s Guilt
1 Anvil of Bogardan
1 Guul Draz Specter
1 Scythe Specter
1 Burnished Hart
1 Withered Wretch
1 Spell Crumple
1 Dismal Failure
1 Aether Gale
1 Shriekmaw
1 Vandalblast
1 Distorting Wake
The deck basically operates like a normal discard deck; go after the opponent’s cards in hand, force them to play them out faster than they normally would, then punish them with sweepers or Rack effects. All the bounce spells are there to combo either with Nicol Bolas, to combo with late-game discard spells that might otherwise be dead draws, and to help make sure that discard triggers for things like Waste Not or Megrim still happen.
I’m looking for advice from anyone else who runs Nicol Bolas as a commander, some suggestions on which card to remove to get down to 99 in the maindeck, and any other suggestions for things that might fit the theme that I might have missed. Thanks.
Card Choice Explanation
Discard Spells
These cards will do some good work in reducing the number of cards in your opponent's hands. They are specifically chosen because they affect all players or have other useful modes (specifically creature kill or bounce). Your hope is that you can hold onto these till after you've bounced some cards back to your opponent's hand. It is often a good strategy to hold onto these and let your opponent's play spells out of their hand naturally; once they are down on cards, these can be backbreaking in knocking the last few cards out of their hand and disrupting whatever plans they might have had.
Specters
These are the real heavy-lifters in the deck, providing early pressure on both your opponent's life totals and their hands. Okiba-Gang Shinobi is especially devious here, with cards like Solemn Simulacrum, Mulldrifter, or Venser, Shaper Savant as great cards to ninja out.
Repeatable Discard effects
Single-shot or combat-damage discard effects will only get you so far, so you need to pack additional ways to make sure your opponents are discarding cards. Nezumi Shortfang is great in that it turns itself in a Rack effect once you've emptied someone's hand. Painful Quandary works much the same way, although most people will just choose to pay the 5 life unless they are way up on cards.
Chains of Mephistopheles is a card that many people don't have experience with, so it deserves its own paragraph of discussion. In essence, it shuts down card draw outside of the first card drawn during the draw step. In order to draw a card at any other time, a player must first discard a card. If they have no cards in hand, they get milled for 1. This is a card that you drop once you have everyone's hand emptied to keep them all in range of your Rack effects, and you need to be careful as to when you play it so that you don't shut off your card draw engines prematurely. Note that Necropotence does not draw the cards (they are put into your hand), so they are not affected by the Chains effect.
Rack Effects
Once you have emptied a players hand, these become consistent damage sources turn after turn. Note that Storm World affects all players, including you. All the other cards affect only your opponents, but The Rack only affects one opponent.
Discard Triggered Effects
All these cards net you value for making the opponent discard cards. Nezumi Graverobber doesn't have an explicit discard trigger, but he will help you reap the rewards once he is flipped to Nighteyes the Desecrator.
Bounce
Once you have established your discard effects, opponents will rush to empty their hands in order to not lose to your discard. The bounce spells then come in and undo all their hard work, and in conjunction with your repeatable discard effects become virtual removal. A card like Devasation Tide or Cyclonic Rift can become especially deadly when followed up by the threat of a Nicol Bolas attack.
Disruption/Removal
This is in addition to all the previous card mentioned that have modes that would otherwise count as removal. Again, players will try and play their hands out faster than normal, so they will often play right into your Wraths. The counters are usually reserved for card draw or to protect a key permanent.
Card Advantage
These are all part of the plan to out-resource your opponent. I'm currently using Armillary Sphere and Gem of Becoming because the deck specifically wants lots of land of very specific colors. Memory Jar also has the effect of triggering your Megrim or Geth's Grimoire multiple times.
As you can see, many of the chosen cards can fulfill multiple roles and fit in multiple categories. The key is to use cards that offer the most bang for your buck while at the same time offer the most flexibility.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
I really like this list a lot. Pretty sure I've never seen Hypnotic Specter look really solid in an EDH list before. Especially not in a multiplayer list. Kudos.
Myriad Landscape is notably absent here. That card is soooort of like a Temple of the False God that taps for colored mana. And since the types of cards you run get better in multiples, how about Clever Impersonator to copy a specter, rack or miscellaneous giant monster?
As for cuts, Wash Out is a little narrow for my liking. There are some boards where it will be the same as Evacuation and it will always clear out a hoard of tokens, so it's at least got something going on. Baral's Expertise seems like an upgrade, even though it's capped at bouncing 3 things. Also, while this is a point of contention for many people, I maintain that Night's Whisper in a deck with a great mana base is better than Armillary Sphere. They have a similar effect on the keepability of two-land opening hands and on smoothing out the first couple turns of the game. However, Night's Whisper is always a good card to see whereas Armillary Sphere is a poor mid- to late-game draw. A similar argument could be used to compare Painful Truths to Gem of Becoming, but I get that the latter is on theme in this deck.
Getting non-combat damage through with Nicol Bolas is a tried-and-true way to maximize his ability; we used to have to use stuff like Fire Whip or Pandemonium if we wanted to avoid having to actually connect via combat. Since the deck relies so little on actually playing Nicol Bolas, I think I'm going to pass on most of these. Nicol Bolas is threatening just being in the Command Zone; jus tthe threat of him coming down makes people play differently. Its usually only after I've done some significant work that he makes an actual appearance, usually to help clean up the mess and gloat.
I didn't expect to like the Specters, but they end up playing an important role. They are a very real threat on their own and they put a lot of pressure on people to act before they are ready.
I didn't even consider it. I've never really run it in any deck, but I like it so I may try it out here.
Playing a Clone effect or two might not be a bad idea, and Clever impersonator would make the most sense given the wide range of targets he can copy.
Wash Out almost always names green... it may as well be Hibernation. I think that if I did go with something else, I'd probably go with Æther Gale or Ætherspouts (or some other cards with an "Æ" just because I can), although I am becoming a fan of Baral's Expertise and I think Distorting Wake would be an option as well.
I like the idea of going with a draw spell over Armillary Sphere, but since I'm playing blue I should probably go with something better. Maybe See Beyond or Preordain. I may even look at moving up to 3 CMC with Thirst for Knowledge or Compulsive Research.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Going up to 3 is fine for this sort of thing in most decks and you've certainly called out the dope blue cards of that variety. However, I'd argue that Night's Whisper is simply the best of the bunch because it's always +1 card and only costs 1B. Sure, a lot of the time that doesn't matter - especially if we're comparing to Preordain - but in this multiplayer attrition-based grindfest format we play in, going up a card is worth a lot. And if you're trying to use a cheap draw spell to fix up a sketchy keep, costing 1B is way better than 2U. But do feel free to just cram all of these cards in your deck. Good early, good late, good times.
Edit: What does See Beyond offer over Night's Whisper in an 8 Swamp / 5 Island deck with nothing it actively wants to put back into the library?
I had not considered it. I'm not convinced that is is better than the other options I'm currently running, but it is good to know that this option exists. I often forget that P3K cards even exist...
Absolutely nothing... I was just thinking out loud as I was typing that post. This deck really just wants to make sure it hits all its land drops and fixes its mana, which is why I've gravitated towards Armillary Sphere and Gem of Becoming. There are definite reasons to want to shelve both for Night's Whisper and Compulsive Research (or maybe even Probe), or even go a different direction with Mind Stone and Everflowing Chalice. I really appreciate the suggestion, as it is making me reassess some of my fundamental assumptions behind what I do during deck building. I'm going to Ponder is some more as a I play the deck and try to figure out what I should do.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
EDIT: There's also Aether Gale for bounce, Raven's Crime/Words of Waste/Scepter of Fugue for discard, Charmbreaker Devil/Rekindle the Flame for persistence Dimir Machination/Clutch of the Undercity for transmute. Sorin Markov quickly ends one player by putting his/her life at 10 with your discard damage going.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Hour of Devastation
Consign//Oblivion - If the discard on Oblivion hit every opponent, this would be a no-brainer. As it is, it fits the theme but is not good enough to actually make the deck long term I think.
Dreamstealer - A "Specter" with Menace is good, but also having Eternal makes this really good.
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Slam-dunk both flavor-wise and theme-wise. The +1 is exactly what the deck wants to do, and the other three abilities are all worth having.
Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver - The +3 is solid and will likely make my opponents lose 3 life as I pressure their board and hand, but the big payoff is the ultimate. It also wouldn't feel right not having all three Bolas PWs in the deck.
Razaketh, the Foulblooded - I think that with all the other expensive cards going into the deck, there is probably not going to be room to add this in. You can only run so many 7+ drops, even in EDH...
The Locust God, The Scarab God, The Scorpion God - I decided against putting any of these into this deck. They are all great cards, but in the end they don't really do anything special for the deck. I already had a home in mind for Locust (Ni-Mizzet) and Scarab (Oloro Zombies), so I wasn't worried abut trying to include them in here.
Torment of Hailfire - I'm cooler on this than I had originally thought, but I can see where it might make some sense in this deck. If I'm pressuring their hand, they won't have many cards to discard to this and I can do either a ton of damage to their board or damage to their life total. The deck isn't running Cabal Coffers or Exsanguinate so I'm wondering whether I want (or need) this in the deck. If I end up in the market for a big finisher, perhaps I go with this as a more flavorful alternative to Exsanguinate.
Visage of Bolas - So as a mana rock this is terrible, but as a mana rock + tutor for Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver it is worth considering.
In the end I decided to go +1 Dreamstealer, +1 Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver, and +1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. To make room, I went -1 Gwendlyn Di Corci (not bad as a free-to-use Disrupting Scepter with legs (pun intended), but overall worse than other things in the deck), -1 Chains of Mephistopheles (confusing for some opponents, hard to keep track of sometimes, and I would sometimes not be able to maneuver into position where I could play it profitably), -1 Rise/Fall (really neat card that would stay in the deck if it had Fuse, but is otherwise not needed), and -1 Remand (was an iffy inclusion to begin with). This allowed me to also add in another mana rock in Talisman of Dominance to help pay for all the high CMC cards I added (although the overall average cost of cards in the deck is really not so high).
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Commander 2017
Kess, Dissident Mage - I have 21 Instants/Sorceries in the deck, but not all of them are things that I want to replay on my turn.
Kheru Mind-Eater - Even if it was only "just another specter" at 3 mana, it would be something I would strongly consider. Given that I can play the exiled cards, and it seems like a slam dunk.
Ixalan
Chart a Course - I like the idea of running a 2-drop draw spell like this here. I was previously considering Night's Whisper, and this is likely better.
Raiders' Wake - The exact kind of card that this deck wants.
River's Rebuke - Only hitting one player can be a problem, but it may also be a feature given the right situation.
Rivals of Ixalan
Angrath, the Flame-Chained - the +1 is exactly the kind of effect that this deck wants.
Arterial Flow - Making each opponent discard is what we want from cards like this, and 3 mana is below cost. It's just a matter of whether the higher priced options that I'm already running are better or not.
EDIT:
So I went with +1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained, +1 Raiders' Wake, and +1 Kheru Mind-Eater. In order to make space, I had to cut the following:
Armillary Sphere - It was between this and Solemn Simulacrum and I decided to cut the Sphere.
Tasigur's Cruelty - A fine spell, but I decided that it wasn't necessary.
The Rack - This one was painful as it is one of the signature cards for the deck, but in multiplayer this ends up not doing enough since it only affects one player.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Blink of and Eye: I've been wondering if I should ditch Counterspell and Dissipate for this card and Into the Roil as a way of being more proactive with the deck. I would still have a few other ways to counter spells in the deck for late-game shenanigans, but this way I would be able to get my Specters in more frequently.
In Bolas's Clutches: Bolas-themed, but I don't think it is better than another Bolas-themed card in the deck Slave of Bolas.
Settle the Score: With 5 walkers in the deck, this was at least worth a look. I think this is borderline playable if you have all the Nicol Bolas PWs in your deck and have a slot dedicated to spot removal.
The Eldest Reborn: Another Bolas-themed card that also works thematically. I'm not very sure about Sagas in general, however this one at least affects the board immediately and there will likely be some juicy targets for Chapter III.
Urgoros, the Empty One: I really like the ability, but at 6-mana it would need to compete with Crosis, the Purger and Consecrated Sphinx so I don't see myself running this.
So overall, Dominaria was a little disappointing for this deck, so I'm going to hold off making any changes till after the next Dominaria set.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections