Destructive UrgeDestructive Urge | Art by Andrew Robinson

Hello, and welcome to Am I the Bolas? This week, when you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail!

This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some Magic 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?"

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.

I'm Mike Carrozza and this is my echoverse twin.

She is everything I'm not. 

(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)

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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.

No Bolas. Straight to the chase. I think you did the right thing here. It feels ridiculous to have people begging to have their board completely wiped to move onto the next game. I understand if it's been a long game and people are tired, maybe they want to end the game. I'll concede to that. But you know who else could concede? Your tired opponents. Even if you have the best shot at a win, if you don't feel like putting people through it that way, then you don't have to overload your VandalblastVandalblast.

Your reasoning is sound. This would fall under mass land destruction. Although, technically, because it's not in your deck and your cards alone that add up to MLD, that means your Bracket 2/3 deck is still in that camp. It just had an opportunity to play higher than its bracket's rules because of this series of events.

I think this situation's a bit of a nothing burger, and if it had resulted in your opponents crashing out, then I'd be confused and wondering if your friend is okay in their personal life. I get wanting to face your opponents at the height of their abilities, but sometimes, winning a particular way can feel like a loss to a lot of people. If there's a no holds barred experience to be had that's going to be in higher brackets and it's fair to want to play within your lane. The novelty of the moment is fun and interesting, but having just played a game where an opponent played Mycosynth LatticeMycosynth Lattice into overloaded VandalblastVandalblast, I can tell you it's a lot less interesting than you'd think. It's something that you can technically come back from and it can be exciting to try! Who knows if my top decks are all lands and my hand is gas? Let's find out, it could be fun! It's more of a prolonged scoop of a game if you don't hammer the nail in the coffin quickly following this. Surely, you win out big time, but really it wasn't your deck doing its thing that took the W, but rather someone else's piece that tipped the scales and I know a ton of people who prefer not to take the win if this is how they do it.

It'd be a whole other story if you played the Lattice and VandalblastVandalblast in your own deck then didn't pull the trigger when the time came and it was acceptable according to the table, I guess? Would it, though? Your house ban list includes ArmageddonArmageddon, for god's sake. You're supposed to be playing Bracket 2/3. I don't think you could be the Bolas either way you go. It seems your pals were on board and it was the reckless inclusion of Mycosynth LatticeMycosynth Lattice against a red player that brought this possibility on. You didn't pack the two-card ArmageddonArmageddon, so you're off the hook in terms of the plan.