Hand Control by DrBean

Format: Commander

Commander: Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 34

Deck overview

This deck is a Grixis discard control strategy led by Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. The game plan focuses on stripping opposing hands through targeted and symmetrical discard while breaking parity using powerful reward engines. Early turns establish mana fixing and deploy continuous tax pieces like Oppression or Narset, Parter of Veils. By turn 4, casting Nicol Bolas forces card loss across the table and presents a potent flying threat. On turn 5, the deck pivots into game-winning positions with Tergrid, God of Fright to steal discarded cards, or by locking opponent draws entirely with Teferi's Puzzle Box. Once opponents have no cards in hand, life-drain enchantments like Liliana's Caress and Shrieking Affliction quickly finish the game alongside combat damage from transformed Nicol Bolas and reanimated threats.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Alhammarret's Archive
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Anvil of Bogardan
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Badlands
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Blackmail
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodstained Mire
  • 1 Bone Miser
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Chain of Smog
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Collective Brutality
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Dark Deal
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dauthi Voidwalker
  • 1 Deadeye Navigator
  • 1 Deadly Rollick
  • 1 Deflecting Swat
  • 1 Displacer Kitten
  • 1 Duress
  • 1 Encroach
  • 1 Gemstone Caverns
  • 1 Geth's Grimoire
  • 1 Gitaxian Probe
  • 1 Glasses of Urza
  • 1 Go Blank
  • 1 Grief
  • 1 Hexing Squelcher
  • 1 Hullbreaker Horror
  • 1 Hymn to Tourach
  • 1 Inquisition of Kozilek
  • 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
  • 1 Leyline of the Void
  • 1 Library of Leng
  • 1 Liliana of the Veil
  • 1 Liliana's Caress
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Mana Confluence
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Mind Twist
  • 1 Monument to Endurance
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Multiply by Zero
  • 1 Narset, Parter of Veils
  • 1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen
  • 1 Oppression
  • 1 Orcish Bowmasters
  • 1 Peer into the Abyss
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Pilfer
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Rakdos Charm
  • 1 Raucous Theater
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Seer's Vision
  • 1 Shrieking Affliction
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Steam Vents
  • 1 Stranglehold
  • 15 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Syphon Mind
  • 1 Talisman of Creativity
  • 1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
  • 1 Telepathy
  • 1 Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
  • 1 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
  • 1 The Cruelty of Gix
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Thoughtseize
  • 1 Thundering Falls
  • 1 Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance
  • 1 Tinybones, Trinket Thief
  • 1 Undercity Sewers
  • 1 Underground Sea
  • 1 Unmask
  • 1 Verdant Catacombs
  • 1 Volcanic Island
  • 1 Waste Not
  • 1 Watery Grave