[Standard] Nicol Bolas' Rise To Power

[dadbeaver]

Current Version of the Deck:
Nicol Bolas' Rise To Power

The strategy of the deck is to use Diabolic Tutor and pull from tomorrow to draw as foretold in the early game. Then use as foretold to build up time counters on it and play Nicol Bolas, The Deceiver. Meanwhile, I play less costly creatures while as foretold builds up to 8 time counters so I can play Bolas. However if that fails, I use ghirapur orrery to play 2 lands each turn, and use cards like Attune with Aether and Pyramid of the Pantheon to give me land. Since Nicol Bolas, The Deceiver needs red and black mana to be played I have Cultivator's Caravan, Oasis Ritualist, Painted Bluffs, Pyramid of the Pantheon, and Gift of Paradise to give me mana of any color. To draw Bolas I use cards like Diabolic Tutor, Pull from Tomorrow, and Visage of Bolas. Once I have Nicol Bolas, The Deceiver out I consistently use its +3 ability which will get rid of my opponents' control and eventually kill them. I also can use Bolas' -11 ability to deal 7 damage to my opponent.

Any Criticism is welcome, as long as it is constructive!

[Soren841]

Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Cruel Tutor

[Soren841]

Also a second Bolas, for consistency, possibly a 3rd in case of removal. And keep an eye out for God Pharaoh's Gift, cuz who knows what it does!

[dadbeaver]

Thanks for the tips! I already have diabolic tutor though, should I add more cards that let me search my deck for any card? I may add another Nicol Bolas, but I didn't want to spend $7 more dollars on the deck if I buy Bolas from card kingdom when I can just use diabolic tutor to search for the card. However, I didn't think about removal so I'll add another one. Good point on God Pharaoh's Gift, it's sure to be a wild card!

Edit: Has Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Cruel Tutor been reprinted into standard?

[Soren841]

I named those tutors because Diabolic Tutor is the worst of the black tutors. Also Cancel doesn't really fit. I would remove Cancel, Switch Diabolic tutor for Demonic Tutor (it's expensive, choose a different one if you aren't willing to invest on this), and add 2 more Bolas and another Visage of Bolas.

[dadbeaver]

Okay, thanks for all the help! One thing though, Demonic Tutor isn't legal in standard and this is a standard deck...

[Soren841]

I don't play Standard, I wouldn't know. What about Vampiric or Cruel Tutor? Even Rhystic Tutor

[dadbeaver]

Nope, the only tutor that I can tell is legal in standard is Diabolic Tutor

[Soren841]

hm..

[dadbeaver]

Should I add torment of hailfire or torment of scarabs?

[Soren841]

That depends on what you want from this deck. Is it a control deck?

[Soren841]

Take a look at my Torment Cycle deck. It's a control deck, with Hailfire as a win-con. If this deck isn't really control they might not be the best cards.

[dadbeaver]

ok, I'll check it out

edit: I decided to go with both, Torment of Hailfire will help me if my plan fails and I need to quickly kill my opponent, and Torment of Scarabs is a nice replacement for Bolas when he is in the graveyard.

[dadbeaver]

Do you know how to update the version? I've made my revisions but it is still showing the first version of the deck.

[Soren841]

Ya post it in a new comment in here