Bolas says: What hand?

[Kaylesh]

Nicol Bolas 100 cards, 0 sideboard 1 {Nicol Bolas} 1 {Akoum Refuge} 1 {Blackcleave Cliffs} 1 {Blood Crypt} 1 {Bloodfell Caves} 1 {Bloodstained Mire} 1 {Cascade Bluffs} 1 {Command Tower} 1 {Crosis's Catacombs} 1 {Crumbling Necropolis} 1 {Darkslick Shores} 1 {Dismal Backwater} 1 {Exotic Orchard} 1 {Forbidden Orchard} 1 {Graven Cairns} 1 {Halimar Depths} 1 {Jwar Isle Refuge} 1 {Leechridden Swamp} 1 {Meteor Crater} 1 {Minamo, School at Water's Edge} 1 {Opal Palace} 1 {Pillar of the Paruns} 1 {Polluted Delta} 1 {Reflecting Pool} 1 {Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace} 1 {Rocky Tar Pit} 1 {Rupture Spire} 1 {Scalding Tarn} 1 {Shimmering Grotto} 1 {Steam Vents} 1 {Sunken Ruins} 1 {Swiftwater Cliffs} 1 {Vesuva} 1 {Watery Grave} 33 lands 1 {Barbed Shocker} 1 {Blizzard Specter} 1 {Corrupt Official} 1 {Cryptborn Horror} 1 {Djinn Illuminatus} 1 {Doomsday Specter} 1 {Drakestown Forgotten} 1 {Echo Mage} 1 {Felhide Spiritbinder} 1 {Fiend of the Shadows} 1 {Guul Draz Specter} 1 {Hamletback Goliath} 1 {Headhunter} 1 {Hellfire Mongrel} 1 {Kederekt Creeper} 1 {Lavaborn Muse} 1 {Lightning Reaver} 1 {Malignus} 1 {Mogis, God of Slaughter} 1 {Netherborn Phalanx} 1 {Scythe Specter} 1 {Sire of Insanity} 1 {Slate Street Ruffian} 1 {Sygg, River Cutthroat} 1 {Vampire Nighthawk} 25 creatures 1 {Alpha Brawl} 1 {Antagonism} 1 {Aqueous Form} 1 {Backlash} 1 {Bituminous Blast} 1 {Bloodchief Ascension} 1 {Breath of Malfegor} 1 {Bulwark} 1 {Cyclonic Rift} 1 {Devour Flesh} 1 {Disaster Radius} 1 {Dismiss into Dream} 1 {Extra Arms} 1 {Fated Conflagration} 1 {Fated Return} 1 {Festering March} 1 {Foul Renewal} 1 {Lightning Greaves} 1 {Liliana Vess} 1 {Liliana's Caress} 1 {Livewire Lash} 1 {Megrim} 1 {Morgue Burst} 1 {Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker} 1 {Noxious Vapors} 1 {Price of Knowledge} 1 {Rakdos Charm} 1 {Reverberate} 1 {Shrieking Affliction} 1 {Skull Rend} 1 {Split Decision} 1 {Storm Cauldron} 1 {Sunken Hope} 1 {Swiftfoot Boots} 1 {The Rack} 1 {Twincast} 1 {Viridian Longbow} 1 {Volcanic Vision} 1 {Waste Not} 1 {Whispersilk Cloak} 1 {Wound Reflection} 41 other spells Sideboard Notes: Try to play top deck mode.

[Kaylesh]

This is a work in progress anarchy deck I'm working on. I'm trying to keep in a discard wincon as that's nice in par with Bolas' ability.

Thing is, I need to cut a load of cards, while maintaining the chaos and survivability.
So I turn to you: what to cut?

[LinkCelestrial]

{Anthroplasm}: Seems bad. It's maybe a big creature? Meh.

{Corrupt Official}: There's another card like this,
{Slate Street Ruffian} if you're interested.

{Grollub}: Just seems all around bad.

{Hostility}: You don't have very many things to trigger it. It may be worth keeping but I'm thinking meh.

{Spellheart Chimera}: Seems mediocre.

{Thought Devourer}: Why, why the hell
{Thought Eater}: are you running these?

{Dismiss into Dream}: This card. This beautiful, game winning card. I just wanted to say it's amaze. Carry on.

{Forced Fruition}: This is very dangerous sometimes. Dunno if I'd run it, yet again idk.

{Planeswalker's Fury}/{Planeswalker's Mischief}/{Planeswalker's Scorn}: These require cards in hand. You do a good job of getting rid of those without these so I think they're not good.

{Prismatic Lens}: {Darksteel Ingot} or something. Please?

{Psychic Theft}: Again you're mostly emptying hands already.

{Reprocess}: Seems bad without flash.

{Sisay's Ring}: {Sol Ring} pls.

{Traveler's Amulet}/{Wanderer's Twig}/{Wayfarer's Bauble}: 0 basic lands.

Suggestions,

{Shrieking Affliction}: I don't need to explain.

{The Rack}: It is one sided sooo...

{Lavaborn Muse}: It's like all of these suggestions are the same. There's also some sort of hound that does the same I think.

{Whispersilk Cloak}: You currently have nothing to protect {Nicol Bolas} with so. Here's this plus unblockable is just nasty.

{Aqueous Form}: Das nasty.

{Swiftfoot Boots}/{Lightning Greaves}: No hexing pls.

A final thought, this deck feels like two contrasting themes, discard and using your opponents hand. I recommended some cuts based on this but hopefully seeing that can help you work it out.

[Kaylesh]

You are absolutely right.
I started the deck with the idea of creating chaos and mayhem.
Then I needed survivability and a possibility to win, so I took Bolas' discard theme.

On the rules thread someone suggested the double cascade commander. Maybe I should split the ideas in twain.

[LinkCelestrial]

It was I that suggested the double cascade. It's a very different deck.

[Kaylesh]

It was I that suggested the double cascade. It's a very different deck.

Ah. Sorry, didn't check back who did.
I was thinking of turning the Bolas deck in an actual hand denial, and then use the cascade commander with the chaos cards, since cascade in itself is also a pretty chaotic mechanism.
Flavor win both ways, and it keeps me building

To answer why use {thought eater} and {tought devourer}?
To play with {confusion in the ranks}.
Put those in with one player, that player discards his hand.
It does totally conflict with some other things I was doing though, so they'll have to wait until the {goblin auctioneer} deck gets a try.

[Kaylesh]

{dismiss into dreams} singlehandedly kills any voltron tactic. I figured it is pretty evil.

[Kaylesh]

Major update.
Used Link's suggestions and gonna make this a discard deck.
More value for {cauldron of storms} and other bounce stuff.
Suggestions on how to get Bolas to deal damage to every player without sac?
There is that card from Origins that's really nice, {Chandra's ignition}, anything else like that?

[rarehuntertay]

Major update.
Used Link's suggestions and gonna make this a discard deck.
More value for {cauldron of storms} and other bounce stuff.
Suggestions on how to get Bolas to deal damage to every player without sac?
There is that card from Origins that's really nice, {Chandra's ignition}, anything else like that?

{Extra Arms}
{Blazing Torch}
{Heavy Arbalest}
{Livewire Lash}
{Razor Boomerang}
{Surestrike Trident}
{Thornbite Staff}
{Viridian Longbow}
{Wolfhunter's Quiver}
All these will allow Lord Bolas to damage opponents without attacking

[Kaylesh]

Major update.
Used Link's suggestions and gonna make this a discard deck.
More value for {cauldron of storms} and other bounce stuff.
Suggestions on how to get Bolas to deal damage to every player without sac?
There is that card from Origins that's really nice, {Chandra's ignition}, anything else like that?

{Extra Arms}
{Blazing Torch}
{Heavy Arbalest}
{Livewire Lash}
{Razor Boomerang}
{Surestrike Trident}
{Thornbite Staff}
{Viridian Longbow}
{Wolfhunter's Quiver}
All these will allow Lord Bolas to damage opponents without attacking

Like, tx. Especially the Lash. Target Bolas, lose your hand!
The {extra arms} is also a nice one, possibly 2 players who discard.
Thanks again for the suggestions.

[LinkCelestrial]

{Power of Fire}, {Lightning Prowess} and {Burning Anger}.

I assumed combat damage. Bolas is disgusting.

[Kaylesh]

Yeah, Bolas is evil.

11 cuts left

EDIT: reworked with more focus on discards. Dropped the inspired critters, fun as they were, because of lack of ways to tap them outside of combat.
Edit2: Final 3 cuts made, {arcane lighthouse} didn't make the finals as I don't target creatures that much.
The rebound exile, while good to get rid of indestructibles, also didn't make it, could go back on that tough. ({Blessed Reincarnation})