Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker card art

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Legendary Planeswalker — Bolas MV 8

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

What it does

+3: Destroy target noncreature permanent.

−2: Gain control of target creature.

−9: Nicol Bolas deals 7 damage to target player or planeswalker. That player or that planeswalker's controller discards seven cards, then sacrifices seven permanents of their choice.

Rulings

3 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2009-02-01

    The control-change effect has no duration. It will last until the game ends or the affected creature leaves the battlefield. It may be superseded by a later control-change effect.

  • 2012-07-01

    For the third ability, if the player is an illegal target when the ability tries to resolve, the ability doesn't resolve and none of its effects will happen. No damage will be dealt, no cards will be discarded, and no permanents will be sacrificed.

  • 2012-07-01

    If the damage from Nicol Bolas's third ability is prevented or redirected, the rest of the effect will still happen. Specifically, the number of cards discarded and permanents sacrificed isn't tied to the amount of damage dealt.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 1
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Every version of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

7 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.