Am I the Bolas? - Constantly Winning... And It's Bad!

June 17, 2026

Am I the Bolas? - Constantly Winning... And It's Bad!

Mentor of the MeekMentor of the Meek | Art by Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss

Hello, and welcome to Am I the Bolas? This week, not pulling punches in mentorship!

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. You might even hear it on the podcast. Which podcast?

THIS PODCAST! Do us a favor a subscribe to us. We've got some fun stuff in the works and it would mean a lot to Michael, Morgan, and I if you did! Become a Bolcut and get into the Bolcast!

I'm Mike Carrozza and it's clobberin' time!

It's Clobberin' Time!

See? I told you!

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

SUBMISSION

Dear Mike,

Just wanted to start by saying how much I enjoy this series. Keep up the good work!

I used to play Magic frequently a couple years ago, but I lost interest at one point and largely stopped. However, about six months ago my interest was rekindled and since then I’ve been pretty much obsessed. There’s only one problem: I don’t know anyone who plays Magic in my area. Thus I did what any normal person would do and convinced a four-person friend group to learn. They have taken to it well and understand how to play, though I make rules clarifications at times and give them occasional tips on strategy. Another important detail is that (as far as I can tell) they genuinely enjoy the game and aren’t just playing for the sake of humoring me.

When we play (roughly once a week), they come over and use decks from my collection of mostly modified precons as well as a handful of decks I’ve built myself. Essentially all the decks are around Bracket 2 or 3 with two or three outliers that I know of.

The issue is this: I keep winning, and I think it’s starting to get frustrating for some of them. Obviously as someone with years of experience compared to about three months on their end, I’ll be the stronger player, but I think even factoring that in, I’m winning more than I should be. I don’t believe in pulling my punches, because I think it’s not only less fun for me but also disrespectful to my opponents. That being said, I also don’t play my absolute hardest; if there’s a chance to do something that’s not optimal but is fun I’ll take it, and when I’m winning I tend to ease up so as not to pile on.

It’s not like the games are blowouts, either; usually, most of the people at the table are winning at one point or another. But somehow I seem to consistently maneuver my way out of bad situations or eke out victory in a tight endgame. I don’t necessarily have the best idea of how all my decks stack up, so there’s a small amount of imbalance in power level, but I’ve also played almost every deck in my collection against them and find myself beating decks I’ve beaten them with, so I think that that also isn’t the main issue.

Knowledge and Power

In my estimation, what ultimately tips games in my favor is my increased experience and knowledge of the game and how it flows. I think my skill at things like how to approach combat, threat assessment, and resource management help me accrue advantages over the course of a game that tip the odds in my favor. I often (less as of late as they get the hang of things, but still to an extent) find myself explaining how to think through combat and what might be a good target for removal in order to help them (to be clear, I never give them overtly bad advice that would help me, I usually only lay out the options and the pros and cons as neutrally as possible and then let them decide).

I’ve also started to notice that they lose a lot of momentum early because of potentially questionable decision-making when it comes to what hand to keep (we play pretty relaxed mulligan rules, essentially equating to “mulligan until you get something playable” with the understanding that you don’t abuse it to get turn one Command TowerCommand Tower into Sol RingSol Ring into Arcane SignetArcane Signet). They often end up not having lands for one of the colors in their identity or not playing anything for the first two to four turns, which means that by the time they’re actually playing cards, I’ve already ramped a few times and have a creature or two on the board. I’m not sure how easy it is to teach them how to do this better, though; I think the sense of a good hand is just something I’ve picked up over time.

Ultimately, our games are pretty casual, so there’s never really been bad vibes or anything, but based on body language and facial expressions, I feel like some of them are getting annoyed that I keep winning.

What do you think? Am I the Bolas for not pulling my punches against competent but inexperienced players, or do I just need to keep teaching them and letting them get experience naturally until our win rates even out?

Thanks,

Decisive Mentor

Warriors' Lesson

VERDICT

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.

I'm really stoked you like the series! Thanks so much for the kind words.

I feel your pain on this one. You dragged your buddies into the hobby and now you feel responsible for them enjoying it, on a level. I get that! You want to do the thing you enjoy, but you worry that if your pals don't start to see themselves get there and beat you, they'll probably be less and less interested in playing. It's a pressure you're putting on yourself, but also one I can't fault you for taking on.

Before giving you my advice and verdict, I do want to bring up a part that stood out to me here:

I don’t believe in pulling my punches, because I think it’s not only less fun for me but also disrespectful to my opponents. That being said I also don’t play my absolute hardest; if there’s a chance to do something that’s not optimal but is fun I’ll take it, and when I’m winning I tend to ease up so as not to pile on.

If you are not playing optimally, this is already, in a sense, a form of punch-pulling. What level of this compromise do you allow yourself to reach? If "do I do the good play or the fun play?" is the question, I'd argue that anything but the "good play" would be a punch pulled. I just wanted to bring up this contradiction because I'm certain the comments would have done it if I hadn't.

You mention that you've figured out their feelings through body language. Allow me to suggest a direct conversation instead. It's really nice that you have a group of friends who learned to play to hang with you and seem to be enjoying themselves! I think you all might be in a tough spot. It's absolutely possible that they're holding their tongue to avoid hurting your feelings and you might be avoiding this conversation to preserve the illusion of a good time. (It might also just be all good and you're worrying for nothing!) I think by trying to "preserve the illusion" you might be harming the health of the playgroup. Offer them a safe space to voice concerns and feelings by opening up the conversation which lets them know it's okay to be honest. If they vocalize frustration with win rate or something like that, then offer solutions, like maybe having a game where everybody plays with hands revealed and you can walk through your thought process in their position. Listen to what they're saying and let that guide you all into the next steps, smoothly.

Everybody's got a different approach to learning a game, so be open to them and what they need. Maybe they'd appreciate some punches pulled, maybe they'd just like to be walked through a mulligan tutorial. Who knows until you speak to them about it? Let them know that you do enjoy hanging and playing with them, but that you want to be sure you're not neglecting their fun.

If your friends do decide this isn't their thing, I really hope you can find an LGS near you to see if you gel with anybody over there and get a new pod going. That said, I do think an honest chat about the state of things is great place to start.

Thanks again for writing in. Not the Bolas.

Great Teacher's Decree

Mike Carrozza

Mike Carrozza is a stand-up comedian from Montreal who’s done a lot of cool things like put out an album called Cherubic and worked with Tig Notaro, Kyle Kinane, and more people to brag about. He’s also been an avid EDH player who loves making silly stuff happen. @mikecarrozza on platforms.

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