Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

I went to the midnight release for Conflux at a store outside Cincinnati back in 2009. I was still a novice back then, and it was my first draft. The first booster pack I opened had a card that was unlike any other card I had seen before. I decided to pass on it, because I had no idea how I would be able to use it in any matches that night. That was a colossal mistake, because that card was Nicol Bolas. I redeemed myself somewhat when I bought a few more booster packs after being eliminated from the tournament. In one of them was Child of Alara, and in another one was Progenitus. So I didn''t come away completely empty-handed that night. Anyways, I finally decided to just buy one, and I look forward to using it.

The best planeswalker in EDH format... In my opinion. Hard to play in 1v1 matches just because of it being 8CMC, let alone the {UBBR} portion of it; unless you're playing Dream Hallls, Eureka, or W/E. My favorite planeswalker artwork by far, and my favorite EDH general waaaaay back when I played Iceage, Mirage, Tempest, etc.

This card is ridiculous... +3 destroy noncreature permanent is amaizing and his -2 should be -4 cause its so cheap and when you do his -9 you basically win the game.

lol man, Nicol is TEH MAN
come on, he's the Archenemy and stuff. He's badass.
The mana cost is a weakness.

i love how everyone says "by the time u have 8 mana u should already win"...u must be those hardcore tournament players who dont play for fun. lighten up. he's in my eldrazi deck which spawns lands and uses maelstrom angel (GREAT COMBO!). his blow up ability in combination with annihilator is a killer...he's easy to cancel/spell pierce/regress/even spellstutter sprite (if u have the right amount of fairies on ur field)...he's not that broken. I LOVE this planeswalker and everyone fears him...especially when they have never seen this card before. i just used him to steal a platinum angel yesterday...done deal. my suggestion: if you run him, have something to counter an instant spell (dispel is 1 blue...perfect) that will negate him.

Nicol Bolas is the best planeswalker out there!
Game winner!

I rate this a 5 for being the most powerful Planeswalker. I see a lot of comments stressing about it's cost. Yes it's 8 of mana, but so what. Is it really that hard to amount 8??? No. the fastest I've played the Nicol Bolas was on turn 3. There are all kinds of ways to have mana acceleration. In my case a "Dark Ritual" and a "Culling the Weak"; and Nicol Bolas was in play.

No card in magic the gathering is unbeatable, but it definitely is an awesome planeswalker and real fun to bring out to the battlefield.

so the person says he rated it bad because its soo good (broken). I don't get that logic and its not unbeatable

its 8 mana to cast for one and there is a turn delay to use the second ability.

Counterspells, Pithing Needle, Oblivion Ring, Maelstrom Pulse can deal with this just fine in type 2 and depending on the situation burn and creatures attacking can offset it enough to delay the devestating last ability

its a great card that can win a game for you but its not unstopable or crazy enough to be broken

This card, much like most of the plainswalker cards, are game breakingly powerful and difficult to deal with unless you build specifically to do so. This is the best of the bunch. Get this guy out and the game is pretty much over.

this with guilder bairn

If you're playing with old cards, and would like to stick to a mono-black deck, then 'Sulfur Vent' non-basic land will help solve the problem of bringing him out. Combine this with a couple Dark Rituals and you can bring him out VERY early.
Granted, this will require some pretty lucky draws.

The amazing construct of the physical entity is well above the level of the thunderheads! When calling out for a rule violation, your opponent cant even see what is below the surface of the water. And by the time they do, your already in the correct plane of existence. That means the core group could hurt him for more than half of your power in one swoop, for sure if you fly in. Keep the damage steady, and the minute you sense his weakness, drop the anvil like the blooddthirsty lichens of old. Wait for him to recover, then explain what happened, cuz he sure wont remember!

"Yeah, I gave it one star. Why? because this is the most broken card in MTG history. The ability he gets +3 for should be at least -1. The -9 ability might as well say you win the game. If you think the price to summon is a weakness I've got three words Tooth and nail."

I think the guy that said this needs to do his research, first of all Tooth and Nail is creatures only and it only costs 1 less to play. Yeah hes a really strong card but come on...IT'S NICOL BOLAS! Of course hes suposed to be powerful besides he is delt with rather easily. First of all if your playing standard there is no way you should let your opponant make it to 8 mana capacity. If they have that kind of mana they are ether close to death anyway or you are. Secondly if your not playing standard there is about a zillion ways to deal with him. Vindicate is an easy fix to the bolas problem and it only costs 3. Seeing is how hes the oldest most powerful being in the ENTIRE multiverse, i think he has earned being such a strong card. I rate him 5 stars for obvious reasons, i hope other people can see that he is not "the most broken card in MTG history".

Considering I'm playing prismatic, I could hypothetically pull this out on turn 6 with some of my cards

Number 1 card ever made a kick in the face to anybody. Opening season and major game over. The destroy and gain control makes you not to even want to play anything. Planeswalkers worst nightmare he can destroy any non creature permanent and gain 3 . The best thing to do is destroy him right away or enchant him so abilities cant be played. My favorite to use on him is Avarice Totem exchange control of Avarice Totem and target non land permanent then use Nicol Bolas on avarice totem and hes all yours payback time.

The best Planeswalker I own and didnt expect to get it foiled, but its not worth playing, Darksteel Colossus is a faster way to win then this guy, 11 mana you say is a BAD idea, well, there is a card called Tinker that will fix that RIGHT up and then you want to play Copy Artifact, then... yeah enough said here, even a first time play will know what to do.

How do you determine his abilities? they confuse me >.>

Great Card, Broken Card watever i love this guy

BTW Tooth and Nail doesnt work on this guy because he is a planeswalker not a creature

I love it for my 5 color legendary dragon deck. Regarding the tooth and nail comment, I don't think it works with that because it is a plainswalker, not a creature.

The text might as well say,"When Nicol Bolas comes into play, you win the game."

actually wog, evacuation, martial coup, hallowed burial, and runed halo are all t2 ways to stop progenitus.

well yeah, but absolutely NOTHING touches progenitus once it comes out. only way to permanently get rid of progenitus is to remove it from the game, from the hand or deck. but regardless, this is a insane card, every time he comes out, i win. he's also a planeswalker killer, because planeswalkers are still non-creature permanents. and as for him being easy to get rid of, so is any planeswalker. so you just keep a counter or two in your hand, countersquall is a good card for that.

Not the most tournament-viable card. That being said, I will still be putting any I can get my hands on in my deck, because he's just that cool.

Ridiculous. I've been eyeing this thing since i saw it, and i pull it in the first single pack i bought. I bought the jund and UBR deck for the set, a fat pack and a single pack and got him in the single. No joke. Just hope he ain't countered. But since Red has shunt, black has Dash Hopes, and Blue has everything, it'll be no problem.

easy kill...sac child of alara...XD also HE CMC IS 8 MANA. IF YOU CANT AMASS AN UNBEATABLE FORCE ON TURN 8 THEN YOUR DOING SOMETHING WRONG!(YES I'M SHOUTING) RUSH HIM ON THE TURN AFTER YOUR OPPONENT PLAYS HIM OR for 5 colors put out child of alara bone splinter the child and kill ALL PERMANENTS still counts a permanent, he is very VERY easy to kill. i will still give him 5 stars because he has a cool metro scarf XD

Arguably the best? No. This is the best, no question. First off, and in my opinion one of the most important things, is the fact that Nicol Bolas does not die. When you're gaining three counters a turn...that's like trying to kill an opponent who gains 3 life per turn, or can choose to instead steal one of your creatures. Threaten-style? No. The creature *stays* on your side of the field. This was obviously engineered so it just couldn't die. You can pluck your opponents (targetable) flying creatures straight to your side of the board. The last ability is not necessarily game, but it comes close. Discarding your hand hurts, but it isn't game. Taking 7 life is even less fun, but a lot of decks are running life-gain as a minor theme (Primal Command, Ajani Vengeant, Kitchen Finks), and last, 7 permanents late-game is just all of your lands and maybe some tokens. The reason his last ability doesn't hit as hard as you would think is that it gets activated on turn...10. At the very best. But if you can get this to stick against a control deck (Faries not included: they'll just kill your planeswalker...but you kill their Bitterblossom before they can do anything!), you'll win. And even though 8 mana is a lot, most games get to the point where you play him, and once you do, you'll win. I speak from personal experience: I pulled one at the Pre-Release and won all 5 games I played. Crazy and obviously, utterly, totally, etc., etc., broken.

LOL tooth and nail won't work...but if u use that maelstrom angel thing to attack u can play the planeswalker for no cost....that is broken

One of the elder dragons of the Legends/Chronicle set has come back in Time Spiral and now as a Conflux planeswalker, and he comes back as one of the most powerful planeswalkers to date. He's got a loyalty of five, which will probably jump to eight when he takes out one of your opponent's non-creature permanents. What's especially useful (if not overpowered) is that he can destroy enchantments with his primary ability, something that's nearly impossible with blue/red/black. He can also take control of creatures, which is nice. Finally he can do 7/7/7 to your opponent; damage, discard, permanent sacrifice if you wish, to fork over 9 loyalty to use the final ability. The only downside I can see is that he needs 3 colors of mana to put into play, but the Alara block has done many things to make that quite easy.

gamewinner. you can get his big hit very fast and keep him alive while screwing over your opponent with destroy. amazing card

Did some one say Mana Leak?

high cost but could see him being used in a fun hellcarver summining trap type deck packed full of high things like emrakul,ect

Too bad though that a card like Vampire Hexmage can just come into play and in the same turn kill off Nicol Bolas or any other planeswalker very easily. Only way to save your planeswalker from Hexmage is to counter Hexmage (and unless I'm understanding stack rules wrongly), boomeraning your planeswalker in response to Hexmage sacrificing itself and targeting your planeswalker. Other than that, once Hexmage is out, your planeswalker is as good as dead.

Nicol Bolas isn't broken. He's meant to be great, but his manacost is pretty high, which justifies his powerful abilities. A great support for stalled matches, and a fine late game threat. Planeswalkers aren't overpowered, people simply don't play with enough countermeasures in their decks to handle them.
If you're concerned about 'walkers killing you, I suggest you get some Vampire Hexmages, Worldquellers, Oblivion Rings, burn spells or some Vindicates or Pure//Simples. There are plenty of answers for Planeswalkers, but many people don't realize that and start complaining about the 'walkers being overpowered.

Nicol Bolis, Planeswalker has to be one of the best planeswalkers so far. Has no one heard of doubling season? When using this combo the only other planeswalker that's final ability rivals his is Ajani Goldmane and I think I would rather use Nicol's final. Anyone who thinks that 8 mana is bad hasn't been playing any really good mana accelerator decks recently. I could have him in play turn 4 in my 5 color bloom tender deck. Tell me that isn't crazy? Even worse I can use his final ability on turn 5 if I used doubling season. 7 life, cards, and permanents turn 5? There is no way you recover in time from that one.

yea, wow, theres a tooth and nail card, the summoning will be its greatest weakness soon because the series mirrodin is nearly illegal, so shut up and stop complaining just cause u dont have one and even if u did u never could summon him. he is a great card, but he is easy to kill as well

tooth and nail only summons creatures from ur hand or deck if u search for them, a planeswalker is not a creature. yes there is a nicol bolas creature but not this card. and even if it was a creature its much easier to piper it in or defense of the heart. read the cards and understand them before commenting. and i gave this card 4 stars, because it is a great card but the 8 mana cost pulls down its greatness i know plenty of people who can kill u before turn 8 so thats how it got the 4 stars sry.

It is an overpowered card, but that's what you would expect from someone who is both the original dragon AND the original planeswalker. Also, about the Tooth and Nail thing, it only works for creatures. Last I checked, Planeswalkers were Planeswalkers, not creatures.

Expensive.....but in my mind arguably the best of the Planeswalkers.

i give it a 3 because all of the alara block planeswalkers are so cheap i like them but the design make them to powerfull the main 5 are the best and most well balanced and the zendikar ones are good but a little weak cause they take a while to get ultimate. but still a great buy but you might make some enemys from the cheapness of this card

To those that say he is broken I disagree, I happen to believe that for what he costs his abilities seem fairly well balanced. As said previously tooth and nail doesn't work and there are multiple ways of dealing with progenitus as mentioned previously as well.

Once he hits the board it is very very hard to lose except to something equally expensive to cost and flashy ala sphinx of the steel wind, progentius (etc). The ultimate doesn't really do anything since they'll just sac land.

Saying that though I'd still prefer playing elspeth on t3/t4 off hierarch.

ok nicol chew on prgenitus lol i mean he cant gain control of him even if u have 20 life nicol cant prgeitius so i give 3 stars

I feel I need to address the comment on the fallacy or perception if someone has 8 mana/lands they should've won or lost the game by then. Back when shards was just released, cruel control mirrors was excruciating slow and took long time to play through. Recently as I watched 2 friends deck-testing for a PTQ, on one of those days they spent 4 hours going through just 5 games of a 5CC Mirror and both had enough mana to cast broodmate/cruel without problems.

Then in extended we see wizards just grind their opponents out with card advantage/quality generated from riptide + clique/sprite, while tron aims for much more than 8 mana for slaver lock.

If you've had the time to assemble enough land to play him and get him in your hand, you should have already won our lost. Sarkan Vol overrules Bolas anyday.

Planeswalkers are broken. Exhibit A.

okay but I dont see the greatness in this card. most of all the summoning cost is way to much for its punney abillity.I think I speak for everyone... bad card .

Yeah, I gave it one star. Why? because this is the most broken card in MTG history. The ability he gets +3 for should be at least -1. The -9 ability might as well say you win the game. If you think the price to summon is a weakness I've got three words Tooth and nail.