Planeswalker Challenge - Dragon-God (Casual)

Created for the Planeswalker Challenge - build a deck for any Planeswalker that is thematic, fun to play and accessible.

The simple rules of the challenge:

1. Choose your Planeswalker.
2. Your deck must include 3 copies of that Planeswalker (or, for those that already have theme decks, you can include 1 copy of that Planeswalker and the 2 cards from that deck that tutor that Planeswalker).
3. Your deck cannot include other Mythic cards, and can only include up to 4 Rare and 16 Uncommon.
4. Your deck can only include cards from the same block (or set, post-blocks) as your Planeswalker.

The guidelines for the challenge:

1. Try to create a deck that really shows off what your Planeswalker can do, and that suits their personality.
2. Try to stick to a colour identity that is thematic for your Planeswalker.
3. If your Planeswalker is aligned with a particular faction, try to include only cards from that faction and 'neutral' cards, not cards from other factions.

About this deck:
Bolas more than makes up for his awkward casting cost with some pretty great abilities - +1 to draw a card AND your opponent exiles a card from their hand or a permanent, -3 to destroy target creature or Planeswalker, and his -8 just wins the game unless your opponent has a legendary creature or Planeswalker. Tasty. Bolas also gets the loyalty abilities of all other Planeswalkers on the battlefield (so your opponent's Planeswalkers as well, if they have any), which is a nice bonus.

So Bolas likes to draw cards, exile and destroy stuff, and target legendary creatures and Planeswalkers in particular to win the game. I've set about designing a deck to do that, while including a thematic chunk of Bolas' army of Eternals.

First I've tried to make sure there's a good mana base so that we can be sure of casting Bolas. In addition to the useful Gateway Plaza, I've included the more Planeswalker focused Interplanar Beacon, and then a few copies of Mana Geode for good measure.

While we're building up to casting the big bad, we might as well amass an army, and that's what Grim Initiate, Lazotep Plating, Aven Eternal, Vizier of the Scorpion, Honor the God-Pharaoh and Herald of the Dreadhorde are here for. I'm looking at the creatures in this deck as very disposable, using them as chump blockers (very effective ones, once you have a Vizier of the Scorpion) to keep Bolas safe until he can win the game. That's not to say that you can't roll over your opponents with a massive zombie army if you like.

Card draw comes from Honor the God-Pharaoh and Augur of Bolas, with a little Scry added in from Mana Geode and Ral, Storm Conduit. Ral is here thematically, as an unwitting pawn of Bolas in the lead up to War of the Spark, but also because of his great utility - he gives you a bit of extra ping damage from your instant and sorcery spells, and he can copy spells which is always nice. However, he also has a whopping +2 loyalty ability which Bolas can copy to accelerate you towards the Dragon-God's ultimate ability.

To make sure that the ultimate wins you the game (or just to deal with problematic creatures) I've included Tyrant's Scorn and Spark Harvest. Use them wisely to guarantee your victory! Also remember that Lazotep Plating can be a powerful (if somewhat limited) counterspell.

In this deck I've stuck to Bolas' Blue-Black-Red colour identity, and I've avoided giving him cards thematically linked with the good guys!