Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver: Legendary Planeswalker - Bolas, Hour of Devastation. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {5}{U}{B}{R}
- Mana value
- 8
- Type
- Legendary Planeswalker - Bolas
- Colour identity
- Blue, black and red (UBR)
- Loyalty
- 5
- Rarity
- Mythic
- Set
- Hour of Devastation (HOU)
- Released
- 2017-07-14
- Collector number
- 205
- Artist
- Svetlin Velinov
Build around this card with Grover
About Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver is a Magic: The Gathering card, a mythic rare blue, black and red legendary planeswalker from Hour of Devastation (HOU), an expansion set released in July 2017. It is collector number 205 in that set, with art by Svetlin Velinov. It costs {5}{U}{B}{R} (five generic, one blue, one black and one red mana) to cast, for a mana value of 8. It enters with 5 loyalty. Its colour identity is blue, black and red. It is legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and Penny Dreadful. Hour of Devastation is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $9.70 (normal finish, as of 2026-08-30).
Card text
[+3]: Each opponent loses 3 life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent of their choice or discards a card.
[−3]: Destroy target creature. Draw a card.
[−11]: Nicol Bolas deals 7 damage to each opponent. You draw seven cards.
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $9.70 (as of 2026-08-30).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Pioneer | Legal |
|---|---|
| Modern | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Penny Dreadful | Legal |
Official rulings
Four official rulings apply to Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver, newest first.
- In a multiplayer game, each opponent in turn order makes their choice for Nicol Bolas's first ability, then all of the actions occur simultaneously. Opponents will know choices made by earlier opponents when making their choices, although a card chosen to be discarded this way isn't revealed until it's discarded.
- If the target of Nicol Bolas's second ability becomes illegal, the ability doesn't resolve and you won't draw a card. If that target is legal but can't be destroyed, most likely because it has indestructible, you still draw a card.
- While resolving Nicol Bolas's first ability, your opponent chooses a card to be discarded without revealing it, chooses a nonland permanent to be sacrificed, or chooses to do neither. Then that player discards that card, sacrifices that permanent, or loses 3 life. Your opponent can always choose to lose 3 life, even if they have cards to discard or nonland permanents to sacrifice.
- If Nicol Bolas's third ability causes each opponent to have 0 or less life, but it also causes you to try to draw more cards than you have in your library, the game ends in a draw.
Similar cards
Other planeswalker cards with a blue, black and red colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.