<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Lord of Pain" href="#" target="_blank">The Lord of Pain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CGreg+Staples%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Greg Staples</a></em></p>
<p>Hello, and welcome to <em>Am I the Bolas</em>?</p>
<p>This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some <em>Magic </em>and wondered if you were the bad guy. I'm here to take in your story with all of its nuances so I can bring some clarity to all those asking, "Am I the Bolas?"</p>
<p>I'm ready to hear you out and offer advice. All you have to do is email amithebolas@gmail.com with your story, a pseudonym you want to use, and of course, only include details you don't mind in the column! You might see your story below one day. You might even hear it on the podcast. Which podcast?</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-25893" src="https://commandersherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bolcast_logo430x430-300x300.png" alt="" width="249" height="249" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AmITheBolcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">THIS PODCAST!</a></p>
<p>I'm Mike Carrozza, and, oh my god, what the hell is that?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cat-Gator"></div></div>
<p><i>Is this another </i>March of the Machine<i> team-up card?</i></p>
<p>This week, does your reputation precede you?</p>
<p>(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)</p>
<hr />
<h2>SUBMISSION</h2>
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<p><em>Howdy there Mike!</em></p>
<div dir="auto"><em>First off, I love the article series! It's a great resource for increasing social awareness in pods. Thank you for your service!</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>I host a four-to-five player pod that meets at my house every couple of weeks. Two of the folks I've known and loved and played with for years; let's call them the Faves. The other two are friends of the Faves that I haven't known nearly as long, so let's call them Friends.</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>I buy cards slowly but I've been playing a while - I have 20+ decks now, and only two of them are newer than 18 months. This means that the Faves have lost to all my decks at one point or another. I've also adjusted my decks to mostly remove strategies the Faves tend to be more salty towards so they'll keep having a good time playing against those decks - for example, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Counterspell" href="#" target="_blank">Counterspell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>s, tutored combos, land destruction, etc.</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>Unfortunately, the Faves still remember the various ways I've beaten them before. It comes up when we rib each other at the table, and the Friends are picking up on it.</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>The trend's been building for a while, but it came to a point this week when I brought out my <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic" href="#" target="_blank">Oloro, Ageless Ascetic</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck. The Faves reacted with the kind of "Ohhhh we're in for it" that's usually reserved for Sliver decks. To be clear, the Oloro deck is a solid bracket 3 - it has <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sanguine Bond" href="#" target="_blank">Sanguine Bond</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> / <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Exquisite Blood" href="#" target="_blank">Exquisite Blood</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Test of Endurance" href="#" target="_blank">Test of Endurance</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Felidar Sovereign" href="#" target="_blank">Felidar Sovereign</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but no tutors at all.</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>The Friends picked up on the table talk even though I emphasized it was Bracket 3 and they'd never seen the deck before. One of the Friends <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Demonic Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Demonic Tutor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'d for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Lord of Pain" href="#" target="_blank">The Lord of Pain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, dropped it on turn five, and turned off my deck completely. Through bad luck, I didn't draw any removal except an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ethersworn Adjudicator" href="#" target="_blank">Ethersworn Adjudicator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which got removed by one of the Faves as soon as it hit play. The Friend with LoP won the game from the damage it dealt because it stayed in play the rest of the game.</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>I was extremely salty after that game and trying to hide it, but I don't know how justified my salt is. More than that I don't know how to change the situation. Should I ask the others to follow a more rigid bracket structure? Do I tune my decks back up to match the Friends, even though that feels like an arms race? Is the best solution just to ask the Faves to stop talking up my decks so much so that the Friends don't step on my neck?</em></div>
</div>
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<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto"><em>Thank you!</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>Sincerely,</em></div>
<div dir="auto"><em>Talkin Bout My Reputation</em></div>
</div>
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<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Lord of Pain"></div></div>
</div>
<hr />
<h2>VERDICT</h2>
<p>Thank you for writing and asking me to weigh in on your story. As I mention every week, if folks don't write to me, there's no column, so if you, the reader, want to send me a story, whether it's your own or one from Reddit or a friend's, please send it to amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here.</p>
<p>I appreciate the kind words, TBMR. I'm really glad you've been enjoying the article series. It makes me very happy and I can't thank you enough.</p>
<p>This is such an interesting situation. And while it seems pretty narrow, it's a pretty natural part of any group of pals playing <em>Magic</em> for long enough. Any playgroup is going to have some folks cycle in and out. With this kind of change, the old guards showing the new kids the ropes and part of that is disclosing some deck reputations.</p>
<p>Ultimately, while the growth of the playgroup has changed and morphed to include two new players, your growth as a considerate deckbuilder has not quite been acknowledged. Is it not then worth pointing out to the Friends that the decks have been powered down compared to their memories of them? You're being considerate enough of their fun, I believe a conversation is in order to discuss how they're affecting <em>yours</em>.</p>
<p>I think your suggestion is great. Have a talk with your playgroup (like half the advice given in this series) and chat about how these moments of talking up your deck have been making you feel unfairly targeted by the group and making things a lot less fun.</p>
<p>I've been the boogieman once or twice in my playgroup, and when I've adjusted my playstyle and deckbuilding style, I did suffer through some pretty rough games. But most importantly, I talked to my friends and communicated that this isn't how I play anymore and that they can focus elsewhere. After a while, even my pal who didn't quite believe it stopped coming for me because I wasn't a threat as often.</p>
<p>There's an element of toughing it out that sucks, but it's like growing pains. I don't know how long or how often this has happened before you've written in or since, but I hope it was a short time for you. I understand this frustration and it makes sense. Even if they're right and your deck is strong, sometimes games don't break your way and your creature isn't the most worthy of a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Path to Exile" href="#" target="_blank">Path</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> yet it eats one anyway because someone at the table went "Oh no, <em>that </em>deck?!" before the game.</p>
<p>I will note that, despite the Oloro deck not using tutors, having three "I win the game" buttons that are easiest to achieve when you've got "<em>Eminence - </em>Gain 2 life at your upkeep" in the command zone might still be reason enough for your opponents to have packed an anti-life gain card. To have tutored it up right away is pretty rough though, for sure.</p>
<p>Your previous strategies that you avoid now are some of the more frustrating to play against. If you're the guy countering every spell on any given night, I would probably had a bit of a rib at you myself. I probably wouldn't want to play against land destruction if I wasn't specifically in the mood to give it a go. I don't really like tutors but I especially dislike them when it's for a combo win. I understand where your playgroup is coming from! However, you've taken the time and made the effort to change this when they've expressed themselves.</p>
<p>If you listening and implementing the changes to accommodate them is possible, you can point to that when you ask them for this really simple thing you want from them.</p>
<p>Another thing to do - and I know this literally isn't your speed - would be to build a new deck and begin with a clean slate. Maybe aim for Bracket 2 in your deckbuilding but play like you're in Bracket 4. I recognize that this isn't the most helpful because it doesn't feed directly into what you're doing now and requires more work, but I feel like this might be the out you need.</p>
<p>Your opponents will still know your playstyle, but they won't be able to point to specific pieces in the deck without having played against it first. If they do, then that's an indication of something bigger. Maybe even swap a commander out for another in an existing deck with some other key changes. I think if there's a semblance of newness, they might not be able to keep jumping down your throat about it.</p>
<p>However, mainly, my advice is to have a chat with your pals, maybe even show them the deck lists as proof if they need to see it.</p>
<p>I don't think there are any Bolases here. I'm just glad you lot are having fun together and I hope it changes enough to make you happier.</p>
<p>Thanks again for writing in!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic"></div></div>
<h3>More <em>Bolas</em>:</h3>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="9mDlqgIJOg"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-deal-or-no-deal/">Am I The Bolas? - Deal or No Deal?</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Am I The Bolas? - Deal or No Deal?&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-deal-or-no-deal/embed/#?secret=2JhXiQ8liS#?secret=9mDlqgIJOg" data-secret="9mDlqgIJOg" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="USucN9LrsR"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-salty-for-your-losses/">Am I The Bolas? - Salty for Your Losses</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Am I The Bolas? - Salty for Your Losses&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-salty-for-your-losses/embed/#?secret=1wwcMv0Fuh#?secret=USucN9LrsR" data-secret="USucN9LrsR" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="V6zhCjb93J"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-rolling-for-combat/">Am I The Bolas? - Rolling for Combat</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Am I The Bolas? - Rolling for Combat&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/am-i-the-bolas-rolling-for-combat/embed/#?secret=6QEJsbxxDq#?secret=V6zhCjb93J" data-secret="V6zhCjb93J" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>


Am I The Bolas? - Reputation

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Master of Keys" href="#" target="_blank">The Master of Keys</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Illustrated by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CWisnu+Tan%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wisnu Tan</a></em></p>
<hr />
<p>Hello, and welcome to <em>Am I the Bolas</em>?</p>
<p>This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some <em>Magic </em>and wondered if you were the bad guy. I'm here to take in your story with all of its nuances so I can bring some clarity to all those asking, "Am I the Bolas?"</p>
<p>I'm ready to hear you out and offer advice. All you have to do is email amithebolas@gmail.com with your story, a pseudonym you want to use, and of course, only include details you don't mind in the column! You might see your story below one day. You might even hear it on the podcast. Which podcast?</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-25893" src="https://commandersherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bolcast_logo430x430-300x300.png" alt="" width="249" height="249" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AmITheBolcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">THIS PODCAST!</a></p>
<p>I'm Mike Carrozza and a lot of music I like came out recently.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kefka, Dancing Mad"></div></div>
<p><i>Here's what I look like listening to the new The Callous Daoboys record!</i></p>
<p>This week, teaching and tanking.</p>
<p>(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)</p>
<hr />
<h2>HELLO, MIKE</h2>
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<p><em>First off, I have been enjoying your articles for the better part of a year. I love reading about navigating difficult situations. Hope you get to continue writing these articles for a long time to come.</em></p>
<p><em>I was in a situation at my LGS the other day that although I felt fine about how I navigated the situation, I was left asking myself was there a better way to go about it. The crux of the situation was I was playing a game with two players just learning the game and a third player that is an established player, but wanted to test a new deck. I was able to build up a commanding position which I used to take out the established player and proceeded to purposely take myself out of the game in order to let a newer player have a chance to win.</em></p>
<p><em>To give the full picture of the story, I have been playing Magic since 2011 and Commander since 2018. The established player happens to be one of the store owners' children so I have played against him a few times and I would say we are friendly to each other each time. I will refer to him as J.</em></p>
<p><em>Prior to starting this game, I was actually helping J find some cards for the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zur the Enchanter" href="#" target="_blank">Zur the Enchanter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck he had just put together, particularly a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghostly Prison" href="#" target="_blank">Ghostly Prison</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from a stack of </em>Champions of Kamigawa<em> they had just gotten in. I love anything to do with Kamigawa so I was more than happy to look through cards. Shortly after we finished failing to find a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghostly Prison" href="#" target="_blank">Ghostly Prison</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, some people came into the store asking to play a game and if we would be up for helping some of their friends learn to play. We both said sure.</em></p>
<p><em>One thing I really love about my LGS is that they keep about a dozen or so precons that they will let people freely play with. The two new players grabbed from these the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bello, Bard of the Brambles" href="#" target="_blank">Bello, Bard of the Brambles</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuma, Proud Protector" href="#" target="_blank">Yuma, Proud Protector</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck. I followed suit to keep it fair picking up the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aminatou, Veil Piercer" href="#" target="_blank">Aminatou, Veil Piercer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. J was excited to try his new Zur deck.</em></p>
<p><em>Once we got started, I expressed that if the new players wanted help, all they had to do was ask. The new players also had a friend sitting out the game to help them along. The early game went on at a typical pace. We all had a few creatures in play and I had <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aminatou, Veil Piercer" href="#" target="_blank">Aminatou, Veil Piercer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> out and J removed. her. I joked about coming for him also since he certainly seemed to have the strongest deck at the table. J tutored a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> out from a Zur trigger which kinda validated my feelings about his deck's power. The new player with the Bello deck had removal and I convinced him to take care of the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. I pointed out to J "hey, that's a game changer, a card so strong that it puts his deck at minimum in bracket three." I could tell J wanted to see his deck really do its thing, but that I was trying to keep him from going off. I told myself this was to let new players get to have some fun, but hey it is also a good strategy.</em></p>
<p><em>The next phase of the game is where I created a crazy dominating board state. I achieved this with the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Demon of Fate&#039;s Design" href="#" target="_blank">Demon of Fate&#039;s Design</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> I had on board, the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Redress Fate" href="#" target="_blank">Redress Fate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> I had from my opening hand and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Master of Keys" href="#" target="_blank">The Master of Keys</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which I had just top decked. After thinking about how the Demon of Fate lets me pay life into the X value of The Master of Keys I thought you know what let's show some new players a crazy play. I paid 23 life to cast <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Master of Keys" href="#" target="_blank">The Master of Keys</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and milled 40 cards. Then I cast <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Redress Fate" href="#" target="_blank">Redress Fate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, bringing back all the enchantments and artifacts from the graveyard to play. Needless to say this was a board state where cards are fighting for space on the playmat and there is almost no hope to catch every trigger. I passed the turn and once it got back to me, I took out J and brought the new players life totals low.</em></p>
<p><em>In order to let the new players have fun, I used the several effects that let me pay life to cast spells to bring my own life total down to one. The Yuma player had been bringing a Desert that pings for one damage in and out of his graveyard the last couple turns so like I was hoping he took me out and won the game. I was able to talk to J after and told him I was so close, but lost to a land coming in.</em></p>
<p><em>Afterwards, I thought it is hard to make a nice game for new players, but also let someone with a deck they are excited to try out when it is a bit stronger than the other decks. Having known J for a while, I knew he wouldn't hold back any big plays even against new players, but then I went and did a really big play and justified that it was to protect the game experience for new players. Then I hoped the new players wouldn't see/feel that I kind of threw the game in hopes they could win.</em></p>
<p><strong><em>So was I the Bolas for targeting J and popping off hard against new players? Or was I the </em><em>Bolas for purposely losing the game?</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Best,</em><br />
<em>Pop-Off Precon</em></p>
</div>
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<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zur the Enchanter"></div></div>
</div>
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<h2>HOWDY, POP-OFF PRECON!</h2>
<p>Thank you for writing and asking me to weigh in on your story. As I mention every week, if folks don't write to me, there's no column, so if you, the reader, want to send me a story, whether it's your own or one from Reddit or a friend's, please send it to amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here.</p>
<p>Readers of the column will recognize elements of this submission from previous entries. Lots of folks have disagreed with me before when I said I think it's fine to sandbag some plays to make sure new players get to experience the fun of <em>Magic</em> by letting them have moments. We've all fallen in love with this game at some point and, while some people contend that it's possible to love the game by losing to something really impressive and cool, I think if people get the chance to actually pull off the cool thing, they'll be hooked. Appreciating the cool stuff that happens when you lose can still be true and can come with time. That's coming from me, the guy who loves to lose to a bunch of stuff he's never seen before.</p>
<p>This story has the added wrinkle of a precon game having an outlier in a newly tuned <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zur the Enchanter" href="#" target="_blank">Zur the Enchanter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck. Immediately at Bracket 3 thanks to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, Zur is a big bad of old times. I remember getting into Commander and Zur being one of the biggest groaners that a player could flip up in the command zone. Add to that the fact that J doesn't pull punches and OP wants to make sure the newbies enjoy the game, we've got a story!</p>
<p>I think that keeping all of this to yourself was the move. If you're hoping to pull something like this off, you don't want the new players to feel like you're a lioness playing with their cub pretending to be scared. Conversely, you don't want the experienced player to feel like you're only taking them out because of the new players. By focusing on J, objectively playing the most powerful of the decks, the rationale holds water.</p>
<p>The big play with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Master of Keys" href="#" target="_blank">The Master of Keys</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was cool as heck, especially since you're showing off how even an entry level product can go off in this awesome game. Bringing yourself to low enough to be killed is fine and playing up being overwhelmed by your board to miss the Desert play might have solidified a fun memory for the new players. I don't think you did anything wrong. Could you have not gone so hard and still shown off how cool things are? Absolutely.</p>
<p>I think the real issue is that the pregame discussion didn't seem to be much beyond picking your decks and offering to help. I understand that J was eager to try out his new deck, but personally, I'd have shelved that plan in favor of grabbing a precon of my own for this game. You're telling me that your family owns the LGS and you play a bunch, but you can't just wait for an appropriate pod to throw down Zur? Come on, buddy! You'll play it soon!</p>
<p>Anyway, lots of people have already expressed that they disagree with me about letting new players win or have their moments by sandbagging plays. Lots of people have also agreed with me on it. Either way, while that's what's being asked about here, I think the bigger deal is the decision to pick Zur for this match.</p>
<p>Not the Bolas for Pop-Off Precon, but J, buddy, come on!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Demon of Fate&#039;s Design"></div></div>


mike carrozza

Am I The Bolas? - Reputation

Am I The Bolas? - Tanking for New Players