Seek Bolas's Counsel MTG Card

Offers significant card advantage by allowing a player to inspect the top seven cards and strategize accordingly. At instant speed, it provides flexibility to play on your terms and disrupt opponent strategies effectively. Restrictive mana requirements and potential discard costs can limit its usage across various deck types.

Seek Bolas's Counsel - Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 (CMB1)

Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 (CMB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 98

Seek Bolas's Counsel - Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021 (CMB2)

Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021 (CMB2)
2021-08-20 - Number 98

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery

Text of card

Choose one at random — • You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, pay . If you don't, you lose the game." • Each player discards their hand. • Planeswalk to Pools of Becoming. (Once there, you can roll the planar die only if you're playing Planechase.) • For each opponent, exile cards from the top of their library until you exile a nonland card. You may cast those cards without paying their mana costs. • Destroy all creatures and non-Bolas planeswalkers. • You get an emblem with "You can cast nonland cards from your sideboard."

Cards like Seek Bolas's Counsel

Seek Bolas’s Counsel is an intriguing strategic spell in the array of MTG card draw options. It parallels to Brainstorm in its ability to manipulate the cards in a player’s hand. While both allow a peek at the top few cards of the library, Seek Bolas’s Counsel has a unique edge; it lets the player look at more cards depending on the total power among creatures they control. In comparison, Brainstorm offers immediate access to three cards, but requires putting two back on top of the library, a significant difference for setting up future draws.

Another card worthy of comparison is Whispering Madness, which, similar to Seek Bolas’s Counsel, affects each player’s hand but in a more disruptive manner by forcing a discard and redraw. Whispering Madness can reset hands entirely, a double-edged sword that can backfire if opponents benefit too greatly from the new hand. It’s also noteworthy that these card effects hinge on the game state, where Seek Bolas’s Counsel is potentially more versatile with the varying creature powers affecting hand reshaping.

Ultimately, each of these spells offers unique advantages based on various playstyles and deck builds. For players leveraging creature strength, Seek Bolas’s Counsel presents a tailored advantage that can greatly impact late-game strategies in MTG.

Cards similar to Seek Bolas's Counsel by color, type and mana cost

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Seek Bolas’s Counsel is designed to delve deep into your library, letting you look at the top seven cards and choose the ones that best serve your current strategy. This can significantly tip the scales in your favor by ensuring you have the right answers or threats in hand.

Resource Acceleration: By granting you the power to sift through numerous cards, Seek Bolas’s Counsel can indirectly accelerate your resources. You’re more likely to find the lands or mana-generating cards needed to execute your game plan ahead of schedule.

Instant Speed: The ability to act at instant speed adds a layer of versatility to Seek Bolas’s Counsel. It allows you to dictate the pace, waiting for the perfect moment to disrupt your opponent’s plans or to maximize the potential of your own during their end phase.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Seek Bolas’s Counsel entails a discard from your hand as part of its casting cost, which may force you to lose valuable cards when playing the card, particularly detrimental when playing with a depleted hand.

Specific Mana Cost: The card’s cost requires both black and blue mana, thus it necessitates a specific dual-color deck build, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a higher mana cost typically associated with impactful late-game spells, there are alternative cards that might provide similar advantages at a lower resource commitment, making Seek Bolas’s Counsel potentially less cost-effective in a tight match where mana efficiency is key.

Reasons to Include Seek Bolas’s Counsel in Your Collection

Versatility: Seek Bolas’s Counsel offers a broad range of strategic plans, fitting effortlessly into control or combo decks that prioritize deep card selection to find key pieces.

Combo Potential: This card opens the door for synergetic plays, particularly in decks that harness the power of large hand sizes or effects that benefit from drawing multiple cards in a single turn.

Meta-Relevance: With a constantly evolving competitive environment, Seek Bolas’s Counsel remains particularly useful for outmaneuvering opponents by offering access to a wide array of answers and threats, ensuring your gameplay adapts to the prevailing deck types.

How to beat

Seek Bolas’s Counsel stands as a unique card within the gameplay of Magic: The Gathering, presenting a challenge with its ability to sculpt the perfect hand for your opponent. As a late-game powerhouse, it can enable a player to dominate by selecting the best of seven cards. Nevertheless, overcoming this card can be achieved by applying pressure early in the game. Cards like Thoughtseize or Duress can disrupt the opponent’s plan by eliminating Seek Bolas’s Counsel from their hand before it can be cast.

Additionally, counter spells serve as a direct answer to negate its impact. Strategic use of cards like Negate or Dovin’s Veto can ensure that Seek Bolas’s Counsel never resolves, blocking the path to that advantageous hand selection. Swift aggression can also be key; deploying a fast-paced deck can potentially outpace the mana-intensive nature of casting a seven-mana spell. Ultimately, the route to triumph against Seek Bolas’s Counsel lies in proactive plays and maintaining control over the game’s flow to prevent your opponent from leveraging its formidable capabilities.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Seek Bolas's Counsel MTG card by a specific set like Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 and Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Seek Bolas's Counsel and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Seek Bolas's Counsel Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2019-11-07 and 2021-08-20. Illustrated by Matt Warren.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019	CMB1		98	2015	Normal	Black	Matt Warren
2	2021-08-20	Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021	CMB2		98	2015	Normal	Black	Matt Warren

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Seek Bolas's Counsel card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2019-11-12	Each player controls the current plane card during their turn.
2019-11-12	If Bolas has you choose the fourth mode, you can’t play land cards exiled this way.
2019-11-12	If a spell has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2019-11-12	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as that of Tormenting Voice, you must pay those to cast the card.
2019-11-12	In a Limited event, each card a player opened (in a Sealed Deck event) or drafted (in a Booster Draft event) is their sideboard.
2019-11-12	One a spell or ability has had a random mode chosen, a player can’t choose to not finish casting or activating that spell or ability unless there’s no way for the player to complete the process. For example, the player can’t choose to not activate mana abilities to pay for the spell.
2019-11-12	One card (Fractured Powerstone) allows you to roll the planar die even if you’re not playing a Planechase game as long as you’ve already planeswalked to a plane card. If you roll the Planeswalker symbol outside of a Planechase game, you’ll planeswalk away from Pools of Becoming, but you won’t planeswalk to a new plane. You’re totally lost, which tends to work out well.
2019-11-12	Pools of Becoming is a plane card that reads “At the beginning of your end step, put the cards in your hand on the bottom of your library in any order, then draw that many cards” and “Whenever you roll CHAOS, reveal the top three cards of your planar deck. Each of the revealed cards' CHAOS abilities triggers. Then put the revealed cards on the bottom of your planar deck in any order.” The second ability can’t trigger unless you roll a planar die.
2019-11-12	The last mode’s emblem doesn’t change when you can cast cards from your sideboard.
2019-11-12	There’s no way to leave Pools of Becoming other than by rolling a planar die or finding an effect that instructs you to planeswalk.
2019-11-12	You can’t choose to roll a planar die (which would allow you to leave the Pools of Becoming or trigger its last ability) unless you’re playing a Planechase game.
2019-11-12	You must cast any of the exiled cards you wish to cast while Seek Bolas’s Counsel is resolving. You can’t cast them later in the turn.
2019-11-12	You planeswalk to Pools of Becoming even if you’re not playing a Planechase game. This planeswalk isn’t represented by a plane card. If you are playing a Planechase game, you planeswalk away from the current plane but you don’t reveal the top card of any planar deck.