How many cards are in Archenemy: Nicol Bolas?

The set contains 106 reprints numbered #1/106–#106/106 with the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas expansion symbol, plus 20 oversized scheme cards and 5 tokens (with an additional 5 tokens using the Amonkhet symbol and numbering). The complete box also includes 10 double-sided tokens in total, 4 deck boxes, a life tracker, and a rules insert.

When was Archenemy: Nicol Bolas released?

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas was released on June 16, 2017, at an MSRP of US$59.99. It was sold as a single box in English only.

How do you play Archenemy: Nicol Bolas?

One player takes the role of Nicol Bolas, using his 60-card villain deck and a deck of 20 oversized scheme cards. The other three players each take a hero deck — Gideon Jura, Chandra Nalaar, or Nissa Revane — and work together as a team to defeat the archenemy. Bolas reveals and activates a scheme card at the start of each of his turns. A key rules update in this set allows any hero-team creature to block attacks against any teammate, making cooperation more effective.

Are the cards in Archenemy: Nicol Bolas tournament legal?

All 106 numbered cards in E01 are reprints. Their format legality is unchanged by appearing in this product — a card legal in Modern before this set remains legal in Modern, and a card that wasn't legal still isn't. The scheme cards are Archenemy-format only and have no competitive format legality.

What makes Archenemy: Nicol Bolas different from the original Archenemy?

The original Archenemy (2010) offered four separate villain decks sold in individual game packs — meaning everyone wanted to be the villain and nobody played the heroes. Archenemy: Nicol Bolas flips this: one villain deck (Nicol Bolas) and three coordinated hero decks (the Gatewatch), all sold together in one box. It also introduced updated blocking rules letting teammates block for each other, and includes 20 all-new scheme cards exclusive to Bolas.

What set is Archenemy: Nicol Bolas connected to story-wise?

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is the annex set to Amonkhet (AKH, 2017) and thematically previews the confrontation depicted in Hour of Devastation (HOU, 2017). The art, setting, and unique basic lands — which show Amonkhet before and after its destruction — all tie directly into Nicol Bolas's plan for the plane and the Gatewatch's ill-fated attempt to stop him.

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas (E01) — Set Guide

Few matchups in Magic's history carry the weight of this one. Archenemy: Nicol Bolas drops you into a battle 25,000 years in the making - one player commands the elder dragon himself, while three friends scramble to stop him as the Gatewatch. Released on June 16, 2017, this 106-card set is a self-contained multiplayer experience, and one of the most thematically focused products Wizards has ever made.

What is Archenemy: Nicol Bolas?

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas (E01) is the second Magic: The Gathering set designed for the Archenemy multiplayer format, released June 16, 2017. The entire product comes in a single box - a departure from the original Archenemy (2010), which sold its four villain decks separately.

Where the original Archenemy gave each of its four villain decks its own theme, this release flips the structure entirely. One player is the archenemy - Nicol Bolas - and the rest of the table plays as a coordinated team of heroes trying to bring him down. It's asymmetric multiplayer by design, and every card in the box is tuned for that exact confrontation.

Format check: This is a dedicated Archenemy product, not a Standard or Draft release. The cards are reprints legal only in the formats they were already legal in - nothing here enters or leaves any competitive format by virtue of appearing in E01.

The complete box contains:

Four 60-card preconstructed decks (one villain, three hero)
20 oversized scheme cards (exclusive to Nicol Bolas's deck)
10 double-sided tokens
4 deck boxes
1 life tracker
1 rules insert

MSRP at launch was US$59.99, and the set was sold in English only.

Themes and mechanics

The Archenemy format - and a rules update

The core of Archenemy is asymmetry. One player is the archenemy, starting with a larger life total and access to a deck of powerful scheme cards that trigger at the start of their turn. The opposing team shares resources, coordinates blockers, and tries to survive long enough to win together.

E01 introduced a meaningful rules change to how blocking works:

When the archenemy attacks any player or planeswalker on the opposing team, any creature a teammate of the defending player controls may be assigned as a blocker by that creature's controller.

This replaces the previous multiplayer blocking convention, which was stricter about which creatures could block which attacks. In plain terms: the whole hero team can throw their creatures in front of Bolas's attackers, even if those creatures don't belong to the player being attacked. It's a small change that makes the cooperative side feel genuinely cooperative.

The decks and their colors

Each character's deck reflects their established color identity in the lore:

Nicol Bolas - the archenemy deck, plus 20 all-new scheme cards
Gideon Jura - white-based, built around creatures and protection
Chandra Nalaar - red-based, aggressive and burn-focused
Nissa Revane - notably blue and green, reflecting her connection to both nature and the æther

The entire Gatewatch team shares one notable restriction: none of the three hero decks contain any black mana. That's a deliberate design choice - Bolas's corruption and darkness are his alone at this table.

Each deck includes a non-premium planeswalker card for its namesake character. The name cards also received new art, giving collectors a reason to look twice.

Scheme cards

The 20 oversized scheme cards are all new to this product, numbered #1/20-#20/20 with the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas expansion symbol. These are exclusive to Nicol Bolas's deck and represent his world-spanning plots unfolding in real time. Schemes are revealed and activated at the start of the archenemy's turn, and they're designed to feel oppressive - which, for a card embodying a 25,000-year grudge, seems appropriate.

Limited and Draft

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas isn't designed for Draft or Sealed play. The product is entirely preconstructed and self-contained - you open the box, hand out the decks, and start playing. There are no booster packs, no draft format, and no Limited environment to speak of.

If you enjoy the experience and want to tune the decks, the hero decks in particular are easy starting points for casual Commander builds - each has a clear color identity and a planeswalker already in the 99.

Notable cards and set contents

The set contains 106 reprints, numbered #1/106-#106/106, all carrying the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas expansion symbol. The scheme cards and tokens use this same symbol, but several other cards in the box use the Amonkhet (AKH) expansion symbol and numbering instead - so don't be surprised to see mixed symbols when you crack the box open.

Among the basic lands, 10 prints are unique to E01, while 13 come directly from Amonkhet. The unique basics are a particular highlight: they're printed as matching pairs, depicting Amonkhet before and after its destruction. It's a subtle piece of environmental storytelling that rewards anyone who lines them up.

Because all 106 numbered cards are reprints, none of them change the legality of any card in competitive formats. Their value is in the thematic packaging and the convenience of having four ready-to-play decks in one box.

Lore and setting

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is the so-called annex set to Amonkhet (AKH, 2017). The packaging art, card imagery, and overall aesthetic pull directly from Amonkhet's Egyptian-inspired plane - golden deserts, towering monuments, the distant silhouette of Bolas's horns on the horizon.

The set specifically foreshadows the events of Hour of Devastation (HOU, 2017), the following set in which Nicol Bolas's plan for Amonkhet reaches its catastrophic conclusion. Playing through this Archenemy product is, in a sense, a dramatisation of that confrontation: the Gatewatch arriving on Amonkhet, confident they can face Bolas, and discovering very quickly that they may have miscalculated.

The matching land pairs - showing Amonkhet intact and then shattered - are the set's most direct nod to that story. They're a quiet acknowledgment that however the game at your table goes, in the canon, Bolas wins.

Lore aside: The "25,000 years in the making" tagline refers to Nicol Bolas's ancient grudge against existence itself - his schemes on Amonkhet stretch back millennia before the Gatewatch ever drew breath. The set wears that history on its sleeve.

Set legacy

Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is remembered fondly as one of the better-executed preconstructed multiplayer products Wizards has released. The original Archenemy had an inherent design tension - four villain decks meant four players wanting to be the villain, which left nobody to play the heroes. E01 solved that by making the hero side genuinely interesting: three distinct characters, three distinct color identities, and a shared goal that actually requires coordination.

The updated blocking rules are a small but lasting contribution to the Archenemy format, making the cooperative team feel more like a team. And the scheme cards - 20 new ones, all Bolas-flavored - remain some of the most thematically resonant scheme designs printed.

For players who want a ready-to-play multiplayer experience with strong lore grounding, this box remains one of the cleaner options on the shelf. It does exactly what it says on the box: it's you and two friends against one of Magic's greatest villains, and it makes that feel like a real event. ✨