Seek Bolas's Counsel is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
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."
Complete guide
Seek Bolas's Counsel is a chaotic sorcery that forces you to put your fate in the hands of the Elder Dragon himself. Costing Grixis mana, this spell offers six wildly different outcomes ranging from total victory to immediate danger. Because the effect is chosen at random, you must be prepared for any of the schemes Bolas has in mind.
How it Resolves
When you cast Seek Bolas's Counsel, you do not choose the mode. Instead, the mode is chosen at random as the spell begins to resolve. Once a mode is selected, you cannot choose to stop the process or decline to pay mana costs for required actions. The spell then executes the specific instructions of that mode, which could involve creating an emblem, discarding hands, planeswalking, stealing spells from opponents, or destroying the board.
Navigating the Pools of Becoming
If you planeswalk to Pools of Becoming, you enter a unique state. Even in a non-Planechase game, you are now on this plane. This means at the beginning of your end step, you must put your hand on the bottom of your library and draw that many cards. You cannot leave this plane unless a card specifically tells you to planeswalk again or you use a card that allows you to roll the planar die.
Casting from Exile or Sideboard
Two modes allow you to cast cards from unusual places. If you exile nonland cards from opponents, you must cast them immediately during the resolution of Seek Bolas's Counsel; you cannot wait until later. If you receive the sideboard emblem, you can cast nonland cards from your sideboard at any time you could normally cast them, provided you can pay their costs. In Limited formats like Draft, your sideboard consists of all cards you drafted but are not in your main deck.
Common Pitfalls
A common mistake involves the 'lose the game' emblem. If you roll that mode, you must pay {U}{B}{R} at the start of every upkeep; failing to have that mana available results in an immediate loss. Additionally, if you cast a spell with {X} in its cost from an opponent's library, X must be 0. You also cannot play lands exiled by the fourth mode, only nonland spells.
Interaction examples
Demonic TutorIf Seek Bolas's Counsel selects the fourth mode and you exile an opponent's Demonic Tutor, you may cast it immediately for free. You search your library for a card and put it into your hand. Note that you must cast the Tutor while the Counsel is still resolving; if you choose not to cast it then, it remains in exile forever.
Toxic DelugeIf you exile an opponent's Toxic Deluge with the fourth mode, you can cast it without paying its mana cost. However, Toxic Deluge has an additional cost to pay X life. Since you are casting it 'without paying its mana cost,' you still must pay the additional life cost if you want the spell to have an effect, as the free-cast only covers the {2}{B} mana requirement.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Seek Bolas's Counsel
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
Each player controls the current plane card during their turn.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
If Bolas has you choose the fourth mode, you can’t play land cards exiled this way.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
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.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
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.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #12· Wizards of the Coast
The last mode’s emblem doesn’t change when you can cast cards from your sideboard.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #13· Wizards of the Coast
In a Limited event, each card a player opened (in a Sealed Deck event) or drafted (in a Booster Draft event) is their sideboard.
No other card is named in this ruling.
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Meta decks with Seek Bolas's Counsel
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