Combining Colors, to have five or not to have five? -TheRareHunterHunter

The best way to playing a deck incorporating all Civilizations is actually to not include all Civilizations in your deck.

This may sound akward, and perhaps you're even disappointed with my answer, but if you have the forgiveness to hear me out, I beckon you to.

Civilizations may begin to understand the specific arts of another, which isn't uncommon during a war. The subtle tactics of one side are best kept safe from enemy's notice, as they kill gradually, yet if one side impresses the other with a conspicuous, grand attack, they can expect their strategems to be studied and utilized against them. Well, that really only applies to Duel Masters in the categories of the strengths that Civilizations share and the next tournament-winning deck.

Anyway, Light Civilization is a noteable society for copying the enemy's way of fighting, which is reasonable with their technology; I imagine that observation becomes a simple task for them.

The main advantages of Light are: tapping, blocking, spell-searching, and untapping themselves. Their combined disadvantages are few in comparison, except for the fact that a duelist running a mono-light deck may become a little too blocker-happy. Diamond Cutter may solve this problem, but early offensive creatures are essential. There are cards capable of immeditately disengaging blocker threats. One needs to keep up with the game from the beginning! Combine Light cards correctly and you could have a threatening mono deck, but that's aside from my main point.

Light is known to have the greatest blockers of any Civilization. They can attack other creatures and recieve no boost in cost nor overall penalty due to this effect. I understand that they can't attack players, but I mean that not being able to attack the player is not a penalty to being able to attack a creature. Perhaps the only letdown of these terrific advantages is the increased rarity when compared to the non-agressive Water Civilization blockers, but if money is no option in deck-building, then there really is no problem. Light Civilization also has a wider variety of blockers than in any other Civilization, meaning you can pick and choose based on your priorities in-game.

But blocking isn't what made me note their observational technology nor their knack for picking up other Civilization's tactics. It's cards such as Ethel, Star Sea Elemental, Sonic Wing, Laser Wing, Hanusa, Radiance Elemental and Lah, Purification Enforcer that make this clear.

Ethel, Star Sea Elemental, Sonic Wing, and Laser Wing obviously make up for Light's lack of usual unblockables, a key strength of the Water Civilization. These cards are expensive and best used at the end of the game for the final touch to a win, although always waiting until the end to start attacking is a bit questionable, as a shield trigger from any Civilization can immediately ruin your plans.

Hanusa, Radiance Elemental and Lah, Purification Enforcer seem to resemble any of the more offensive Civilizations. They come at a discount for more power. The great thing about the Light Civilization is that it involves both the extraordinary defense and the normal to extraordinary offense. However, the power house offense is few throughout the Light Civilization, yet very critical to pulling off effective taps in hopes of destroying a creature. Hanusa, Radiance Elemental and Lah, Purification Enforcer are the ones designated for power in the Light Civilization, and there are more possible choices.

Now onto a Civilization with completely different views and ways of fighting, the Darkness Civilization. Unlike the Light Civilization, Darkness relies on the strength that it was given, not another's way of solving a war situation. This makes them unique.

Darkness is based on creature destruction, hand destruction, (I believe that combined this tactic is called "control) lesser blockers, (Some are offensive, but they just don't match up overall to Light Civilization's blockers, in my opinion) and fast, powerful creatures. (This advantage automatically has a disadvantage, as there is usually a creature sacrifice involved) Darkness is a great Civilization addition to any multi-colored deck, especially in coordination with the swarming ability of the Fire Civilization or the highly capable blockers and diverse abilities of the Light Civilization.

In my opinion, running a Light-Darkness-Fire deck incorporates the most powerful elements of the game. Light for blockers abd assistance in attack, Darkness for control and assistance in attack, and Fire for swift attack. Simple, yet effective. The only element this deck is missing is Nature's mana-gathering, but that brings me to another point.

Nature strongly resembles Fire in it's ability to summon strong, small creatures at the beginning of the game, so a swarm element comes into play. Also, the creatures such as Roaring Great Horn, Deathblade Beetle, and Fighter Dual Fang are the power-packed double-breakers that resemble Fire Civilization's strongest forces. Playing Nature can override the need of Fire to swarm, but Nature doesn't have the creature-destroying properties of Fire such as Tornado Flame. Darkness was intended to handle this position, however, so a Darkness-Nature-Light deck would work well. But Nature wouldn't neccessarily eliminate Fire as an option, exactly. Fire could have support creature-destroying cards, and it's range of creature-powering cards such as Magma Gazer is something to consider.

Water has the most unblockable creatures and cards that make your deck an open index with drawing and searching abilities. It's an excellent support Civilization. Strong unblockables such as King Depthcon and Crystal Lancer don't always need a blocker to fend off opponent's attacks, however, the basic unblockables such as Candy Drop, Faerie Child, and Tropico need to be defended. This is reasonable, because if you're trying to win, you'd rather have a strategy that can make you win sooner, which means having out less mana. So King Depthcon and Crystal Lancer are valuable options for late in the game, but blockers can help protect unblockables as they begin gnawing at the opponent's defenses earlier on.

Prolonging the game can allow you to summon the high-costing greats of the Water Civilization, but instead of waiting for the chance, make the priviledge come to you! Take thought in the advantages of the Nature Civilization! Another ideal deck could be Water-Nature-Light for this reason! It doesn't have the normal creature destruction that Darkness or Fire could supply, yet Light and their tapping abilities along with strong creatures such as Hanusa or Fighter Dual Fang are capable options!

To analyze a Water-Nature-Light deck further, it must be seen as a versatile deck. The main civilizations to break your opponent's shields shall be Water and Nature, yet Nature would more prefferably be the primary offense. Light becomes another Civilization for sheild-breaking later on in the game. The most effective way to carry out your offensive line up is to make sure every civilization pitches in.

In this sort of deck, however, it's safest if shield-breaking placed in priority after you've attacked and destroyed your opponent's creatures. You may have blockers out, but after your opponent destroys them all or bounces them all in one turn, you're subject to an onslaught of six or more creatures, and that can often be the end of the game unless you're lucky enough to muster a shield trigger. But skill throughout the game with the cards you've assembled due to luck of the draw is more reliable than shield trigger-luck, because you get to see what cards you get with the luck of the draw. Four Holy Awes doesn't guarantee one shall be set as a shield. And even then, being able to draw it when you need it rather than waiting for it as a shield can be essential.

Though one should be cautious about having too many high-cost cards in their deck, they should not deny a specific card just because it costs too much and you already have your deck loaded down. If you really need a card, just make room for it. On a regular basis, the high cost cards shall help you more later in the game than those costing 1, 2, or 3. The super rare cards tend to become repeditive as they are based upon power, but adding one from each Civilization in your deck only gives you a better chance of wielding that power.

Implementing all Civilizations isn't always so bad. The reason tri and quad-colored decks work so well is because, once you've gotten a mana of every Civilization out on the field, you can cast spells and summon creatures of any of those Civilizations afterwards. Notice that the normal disadvantage to multi-colored decks is that you'd prefer a mana of every color out on the field, and not having one of every color is such a temporary setback, yet still aggravating.

When looking at your hand, remember that you are basically looking at mana cards and cards you're going to use, even if you can't differentiate at the moment. This can be the most annoying setback to multi-colored decks of all. This is the difference between keeping your best cards in your hand for use late in the game or playing them as mana for earlier creatures to save yourself when they're your only option. You can't save your entire hand for playing unless you are involved in the final stages of the game. Even then, it is difficult to play them all simultaneously if you refuse to play mana, and there are several good cards which get you ahead of the competition for only one turn. Also, with a multi-colored deck, summoning valuable evolutions in attempt to avoid summoning sickness involves having two of the same color mana down, one for the first creature and one for the evolution, so a combination of similar Civilization cards is hard to pull off in such a deck.

Don't just narrow your selection of cards to the specialties of each civilization if you don't intend to run all five Civilization types. By doing such a thing and only running two or three Civilizations, your deck has an unavoidably obvious weakness. That weakness is the combined defficiency of the Civilizations you have chosen. Also, you are taking away the advantages from Civilizations such as Light who import other Civilization's powers. (Sorry about my constant allusion to Light in this manner, it's just the most obvious example) Also, in attempting to do this, you lower your chances of pulling a card out of a single booster pack that you would consider using.

When dueling, remember to think ahead. If you're afraid that your opponent has a shield trigger down, think about the fact that, no matter what, your opponent is going to be out one or two shields when you attack. There is no way around attacking shields. You must finish the game by doing so. It's a lot better to experience a setback near the beginning of the game than during the last, critical moments.

As a final tip, you don't have to listen to everything I suggested. This game has no one theory to solve for a guaranteed victory, so expirement yourself. It's much more fun than reading every boring detail of this essay.

Questions, comments, or the fact that you're bored, you can contact me one of two ways, unless you geniusly find another way...

therarehunterhunter@yahoo.com

Or you can IM me on AIM at PheoGarurumon

-TheRareHunterHunter