Hey all, and welcome to another Magic Deck Garage.  Before I get started this week, I need to let y’all know that I’m doing to GenCon this week, so if you don’t get a response to your e-mail, it’s probably because I am out of town, gaming it up.

This week, I got an e-mail from Corey who is looking for help with his Sunburst deck.  Below is his e-mail:

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This is Corey, a friend of marks. and he told me alot of good stuff about you, so please see if you can help me out with my sunburst deck.

Creatures:

1 Bringer of the Red dawn 

1 Bringer of the Blue dawn

1 Bringer of the Green dawn

1 Bringer of the Black dawn

1 Bringer of the White dawn

4 Suntouched Myr

4 Skyreach Manta

2 sawtooth thresher

2 Suncrusher

2 Arcbound Wanderer

1 Solarion

1 Etched Orcal

1 Lunar Avenger

other spells

2 Channel the Suns

4 wayfers bauble

4 Energy Chamber

2 Clear Water Goblet

1 Sword, Helm and, Shield of Kaldra

1 Fist of Suns

2 Pentad Prism

1 Door to Nothingness

1 Dark steel Forge

1 Mind Slaver

lands

4 islands

4 swamps

4 mountains

4 forests

4 plains

thats it so please help me out here

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Let’s just jump right to it.  First things first, I want to drop a couple of the more sub-par cards.  Let me ask this: why play Lunar Avenger when you could spend the same mana on Solarion?  Solarion is strictly a better card, I think, so…

-1 Lunar Avenger

+1 Solarion

Next, Suncrusher is going to make the trip.  As much as I don’t mind paying a bit extra for cards with cool effects, Suncrusher tips the scales at nine mana, meaning he will rarely get into play.

-2 Suncrusher

As much as I like the idea of drawing cards, I don’t like losing my creatures to do so.  Etched Oracle does just this – draw three cards, but at the expense of the creature that you worked so hard to get out.

-1 Etched Oracle

The final card to get cut is Sawtooth Thresher.  We already have quite a few large creatures, and the ability attached to the Thresher just isn’t quite good enough.  Its great when the card first gets into play, but after one or two uses, what good is it?

-2 Sawtooth Thresher

Next, a couple of the Bringers are *really* good.  Later on, I’ll be making green the “primary” color of this deck, so the most obvious slot goes to Bringer of the Green Dawn.  Since we all know that drawing cards is a good thing, an extra Bringer of the Blue Dawn can make its way in.  Finally, because Tutors are never a bad thing to have, Bringer of the Black Dawn also gets his count upped a bit.  To help make room, we’ll drop Bringer of the Red Dawn and Bringer of the White Dawn.

+1 Bringer of the Black Dawn

+1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn

+1 Bringer of the Green Dawn

-1 Bringer of the Red Dawn

-1 Bringer of the White Dawn

So what are we doing with the now empty slots?  We’ll be putting in a bit of insurance in the form of Joiner Adept.  What happens if Corey gets a creature heavy draw with not enough mana help?  Joiner Adept rescues him from a bad situation!

+4 Joiner Adept

Since this deck’s focus is on making sure that all five colors of mana are available, why not up the count of Channel the Suns to four?  The card does exactly what this deck wants, and it allows Corey to drop his Bringers on Turn Four.

+2 Channel the Suns

If you have been following closely, you’ll notice that this deck is really top-heavy when it comes to casting cost.  This is pretty unavoidable when focusing on Sunburst, so we’ll have to make due.  One card that can help is already on Corey’s list: Pentad Prism.  With two different lands, this card, and Channel the Suns in hand, Corey can pretty much play anything in his deck that he wants on Turn 3, so let’s up the count to four.

+2 Pentad Prism

Continuing to go down the decklist, something jumped out at me as out of place: the pieces of Kaldra.  Although I will admit that they can have a powerful effect if they are all in play at one time, you are required to have all three to be truly obscene.  With this in mind, alongside the fact that we have limited space with which to work, I am cutting Sword of Kaldra, Shield of Kaldra, and Helm of Kaldra.

-1 Helm of Kaldra

-1 Shield of Kaldra

-1 Sword of Kaldra

Another card that seems out of flavor to me is Mindslaver.  I realize that with Bringer of the White Dawn in play, you can get an infinite lock.  However, I also think that this trick is only worth doing if you are focusing your deck around it.

-1 Mindslaver

The next card to get cut is Fist of Suns.  Since most of Corey’s cards already get to come into play for just WUGRB, then he has no real use for it.

-1 Fist of Suns

Next on the hit-list is Darksteel Forge.  Much like Suncrusher (see above), nine mana is a bit too much to be paying for anything, especially cards that don’t win you the game the turn they come into play.

-1 Darksteel Forge

I really hate to do it, but Door to Nothingness doesn’t make the cut, either.  With a ten-mana activation cost in a deck that is trying to win much, much earlier, it doesn’t really do the job as well as it should be.  The fact that it comes into play tapped and gives Corey’s opponent a turn to react is also a major drawback.

-1 Door to Nothingness

I am not a huge fan of life-gain unless it is attached to another benefit.  Think about Renewed Faith or Exalted Angel – both have huge benefits attached to what they normally do.  How often do you see Gerrard’s Wisdom going off and winning a game?  Thus, even though it completely fits, out goes Clearwater Goblet.

-2 Clearwater Goblet

As a final touch, I’m adjusting the mana situation of the deck to help guarantee that the right mana is available to pay for Channel the Suns and Joiner Adept.  Also note that City of Brass has made the cut to help pay for any color that is absent.

4 City of Brass

6 Forest

3 Island

3 Mountain

3 Plains

3 Swamp

This change wraps up work on Corey’s deck.  Below is the final decklist.

CREATURES (22):

2 Arcbound Wanderer

2 Bringer of the Blue dawn

2 Bringer of the Green dawn

2 Bringer of the Black dawn

4 Joiner Adept

4 Skyreach Manta

2 Solarion

4 Suntouched Myr

 OTHER (16):

4 Channel the Suns

4 wayfers bauble

4 Energy Chamber

4 Pentad Prism

LAND (22):

4 City of Brass

6 Forest

3 Island

3 Mountain

3 Plains

3 Swamp

Now, if all goes well, Corey will be able to have 5/5+ creatures running rampant as early as Turn 3 while his opponent struggles to keep up.  I hope that helps, Corey, and good luck!