EDH Optimizer
Bolg of the North
Legendary Creature — Goblin Soldier · 3BR
Color identity: Black · Red · Rakdos
Bolg of the North is Rakdos (black and red): its deck can only run cards of those colors plus colorless ones.
Rules text:
When Bolg enters, you may sacrifice another creature. When you do, Bolg deals damage equal to that creature's power to another target creature. If excess damage was dealt this way, amass Goblins X, where X is that excess damage. (Put X +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. It's also a Goblin. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Goblin Army creature token first.)
Reference price of the card: €0.07
Average lands in decks for Bolg of the North: 35
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Build your Bolg of the North deck step by step, with in-depth analysis and AI optimization of your list.
🛠️ Build a deck for Bolg of the North 📥 Analyze my deck🎲 How the average Bolg of the North deck starts over 4,000 games
The list people actually play (the 99 most-included cards, with its average land count), simulated with the EDH Optimizer engine: hands, mulligans, lands, curve and commander. It does not model opponents; it measures whether the plan gets going.
Deck health of the average list: B (66/100)
- Consistency40
- Speed51
- Interaction59
- Resilience70
- Closing100
See the cards of the average deck · 99 cards, 36 lands (19 nonbasic, 9 Swamp, 8 Mountain)
Goblin-town Flunkies · Tidings of War · Fearsome Goblin Pair · Goblin Plate Mail · Misty Mountains Raider · Rage into the Valley · Bothersome Noisemaker · Azog, Moria's Ruin · Gathering of Darkness · Great Ugly-Looking Goblin // Clap! Snap! · Sol Ring · Arcane Signet · Along the Crooked Way · Bolg's Company · Gundabad Opportunist · Stony-Voiced Goblins · Down, Down to Goblin-town · Crude Bent Blade · Front Porch Sentries · Ragged Short Spear · Stir Up Trouble · The Great Goblin · Snowslope Hunter · Bilbo's Deadly Slice · Rhovanion Rampager · Blasphemous Act · Feed the Swarm · Reverent Howl · Talisman of Indulgence · Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted · Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain · Pinecone Strike · Rakdos Signet · Smaug's Fury · Boggart Cursecrafter · Bolg, Erebor's Reckoning · Chaos Warp · Krenko, Mob Boss · Ravening Warg · Burn, Burn, Tree and Fern · Grishnákh, Brash Instigator · My Precious // Allure of Power · Dark Ritual · Gnashing of Teeth · March from the Black Gate · Uglúk of the White Hand · Boggart Mischief · Fall of Cair Andros · Foray of Orcs · Giant's Boulder · Smaug, the Great Calamity // Spew Flame · Terminate · Fellwar Stone · Skullclamp · Widespread Brutality · Abrade · Deadly Dispute · Gollum, Silent Slinker // Meager Meal · Skirk Prospector · Victimize · Goblin Matron · The Black Arrow · Mind Stone · Goblin-town · Command Tower · Dragonskull Summit · Smoldering Marsh · Blood Crypt · Foreboding Ruins · Path of Ancestry · Tainted Peak · Bloodfell Caves · Rakdos Carnarium · Sulfurous Springs · Evolving Wilds · Temple of Malice · Graven Cairns · Shadowblood Ridge · Bojuka Bog · Exotic Orchard · Canyon Slough · Haunted Ridge
🃏 Recommended cards for Bolg of the North
The highest-synergy cards in decks for Bolg of the North, with their inclusion rate.
| Card | Inclusion | Synergy |
|---|---|---|
| Goblin-town Flunkies | 75% | +70% |
| Tidings of War | 73% | +69% |
| Fearsome Goblin Pair | 72% | +67% |
| Goblin Plate Mail | 70% | +67% |
| Rage into the Valley | 69% | +64% |
| Misty Mountains Raider | 69% | +64% |
| Bothersome Noisemaker | 66% | +60% |
| Gathering of Darkness | 61% | +57% |
| Azog, Moria's Ruin | 64% | +57% |
| Goblin-town | 62% | +56% |
| Great Ugly-Looking Goblin | 59% | +55% |
| Gundabad Opportunist | 52% | +51% |
| Stony-Voiced Goblins | 51% | +49% |
| Along the Crooked Way | 53% | +49% |
| Down, Down to Goblin-town | 49% | +47% |
| Front Porch Sentries | 47% | +46% |
| Crude Bent Blade | 47% | +46% |
| Bolg's Company | 51% | +44% |
| Ragged Short Spear | 42% | +41% |
| Stir Up Trouble | 41% | +39% |
| The Great Goblin | 40% | +38% |
| Snowslope Hunter | 39% | +37% |
| Bilbo's Deadly Slice | 38% | +37% |
| Rhovanion Rampager | 34% | +31% |
💰 The best cards for your Bolg of the North deck, by budget
Three tiers based on the maximum price PER CARD you are willing to pay. Paste your list and hit Optimize: you pick that cap and the AI only suggests swaps that fit under it.
Tier 1 · Budget up to €2/card
The most value for almost nothing. Coming from a precon? Start here.
- Goblin-town Flunkies
- Tidings of War
- Fearsome Goblin Pair
- Goblin Plate Mail
- Rage into the Valley
- Misty Mountains Raider
Tier 2 · Balanced up to €10/card
The real step up: pieces that are no longer cheap but still sensible.
- Skullclamp
- Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
- General Kreat, the Boltbringer
Tier 3 · No cap no cap
The cards your price cap was hiding from you.
- Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted
- Bolg, Erebor's Reckoning
- Warg Rider
Reference prices (cheapest English printing). They change daily.
♾️ Known combos with Bolg of the North
- Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood → Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite lifegain
- Pitiless Plunderer + Ashnod's Altar + Reassembling Skeleton → Infinite colorless mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith → Infinite colorless mana
- Warren Soultrader + Gravecrawler + Blood Artist → Infinite death triggers, Infinite creature ETB, Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers, Infinite storm count
- Warren Soultrader + Gravecrawler + Zulaport Cutthroat → Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers, Infinite death triggers, Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite storm count
- Pitiless Plunderer + Reassembling Skeleton + Phyrexian Altar → Infinite death triggers, Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers
Other commanders
Frequently asked questions
What is Bolg of the North's color identity?
Bolg of the North is Rakdos (black and red): its deck can only run cards of those colors plus colorless ones. Color identity comes from every mana symbol on the card, including those in the rules text, not just the casting cost.
What turn does Bolg of the North come down, and how often does the deck get stuck?
In the average Bolg of the North deck (the 99 cards most played with it, with 36 lands), simulated 4,000 times, the commander comes down on turn 4.7 on average and is on the battlefield before turn 7 in 97 % of games. It misses at least one land drop in the first six turns 21 % of the time and floods 21 %. Deck health: B (66/100).
How many lands should a Bolg of the North deck run?
Real Bolg of the North decks run 35 lands on average. That is a starting point, not a rule: a lower curve can shave one or two, big-mana builds want more. The EDH Optimizer simulator tells you, over 10,000 games, how often you get mana screwed or flooded with your exact count.
What are the best cards for Bolg of the North?
The three highest-synergy cards are Goblin-town Flunkies, Tidings of War, Fearsome Goblin Pair. This page lists the top 24 with their real inclusion rate in Bolg of the North decks.
What combos does Bolg of the North have?
Bolg of the North has 6 known combos. The most popular one is Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood. Note that two-card combos raise your deck's bracket, so it is worth knowing which ones you are running before you sit down.
How much does a Bolg of the North deck cost?
You can start cheap: Goblin-town Flunkies, Tidings of War, Fearsome Goblin Pair are under €2 each. The "Level up" section on this page splits the best cards into three price caps PER CARD (up to €2, up to €10 and no cap), and the optimizer only suggests swaps that fit the cap you pick.