02.13.02  - I'm gonna have to apologize for not having my usual weekly article in last week... the life of an Investment Banker is often times a real pain in the neck. (It's usually boring too... but that's another story)

Excuses aside, I did have a solid weekend as I got a chance to play in the PTQ! I went 5-2 and BARELY missed top 8 so I guess I shouldn't complain... but I'm gonna anyway. Check back this Friday and I'll have a full tourney report and all the interesting (hopefully) details.

So until then, I figured I'd post my current version of my 5 color deck. I've been playing 5 for over a year now and have been tweaking this version the entire time. Below the decklist I'll comment on the decks strategy and stuff like that. =)


"Aaron's 5"

White:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Savannah Lions
4 Orim's Thunder
4 Armageddon
1 Enlightened Tudor
1 Land Tax
18

Blue:
4 Spite/Malice
4 Sapphire Leech
4 Serendib Efritti
2 Sol' Kanar Swamp King
1 Intuition
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Mystical Tudor
1 Windfall
18

Black:
4 Carnophage
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Contract from Below
1 Demonic Tudor
1 Demonic Consultant
1 Vampiric Tudor
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Pernicious Deed
18

Red:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Jackal Pup
4 Dwarven Miner
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Lava Blister
1 Gamble
1 Recoup
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Kaervek's Torch
36

Green:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Diligent Farmhand
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Rancor
4 River Boa
4 Albino Troll
4 Call of the Herd
4 Ernham Djinn
4 Blastoderm
4 Sylvan Library
1 Abundance
1 Crop Rotation
1 Regrowth
43

Gold/Artifacts:
4 Stormbind
4 Hull Breach

4 Chimeric Idol
4 Felwar Stones
4 Mox Diamonds
3 Masticore
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Vice
1 Zuran Orb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Citanul Flute
1 Memory Jar
1 Grinning Totem
30

Lands:
40 Dual Lands
4 Karplusan Forests
4 Gemstone Mines
4 Mishra's Factories
4 Treetop Village
4 Wastelands
4 Dustbowls
1 Stripmine
8 Forests
8 Mountains
2 Swamps
2 Plains
2 Islands
87

Over time this deck has had many incarnations. It originally started as a LD deck, then a 187 Tradewind/Living Death deck, then a Fattie deck, then just recently it was a Buried Alive/Squee/Ashen Ghoul recursion deck. My version right now really focuses on early creature drops using LD to hamper the opponents game plan. Including the Factory this deck has 33 one-drops to apply pressure early on.

Due to the low mana curve (there's only 4 5cc spells... and no spells that cost 6 or more) I've been able to successfully run a low amount of lands. BE CAREFUL if you are new to 5 color... you'll want more lands in most cases.

Having 40 Dual Lands really helps your mana base. Birds of Paradise, Felwar Stone, Gemstone Mine and Mox Diamond are all excellent as they help get the mana you need early to get your offense up and running. I've currently added Diligent Farmhand as it functions as a one drop as well as a mana fixer. Other options you can use if you can't find these include: Tithe, Harrow, Lay of the Land, painlands, taplands, lair lands, Mirage fetch lands, City of Brass as well as Chromatic Sphere or Barbed Sextant.

Another trick I've learned to 5 color deck building is to commit to a main color. Running an even amount of ALL 5 colors can make it next to impossible to consistently get the necessary mana. I've chosen for my deck a heavy focus on Red and Green and run the absolute minimum (18) of spells in the other 3 colors. By doing this I can build my decks mana so I KNOW I'll have red and green mana so I can always cast the majority of my spells.

LD is really a good form of disruption given the fact it's so difficult to build a solid mana base. Making it harder than it already is for the opponent to get the right mana is evil. Evil or no, it makes the job much easier for your creatures. Cards like Dust Bowl and Dwarven Miner can be especially punishing as they are a "wasteland" effect EVERY TURN! There will be some games tho' where you don't get any early disruption... that's where Armageddon really makes its presence felt!

Recently I've been very happy with my decks performance but there's always room for improvement in this format. I REALLY hate the blue in my deck but have no idea what I should do about it. While expensive for my deck at 4 mana... Spite/Malice has been a good. The ability to stop that key Wrath of God or Firestorm of the opponents is really fantastic. If anyone has a suggestion I'd be happy to entertain it... I'm really not in love with the Sapphire Leech either! Come to think of it Stroke of Genius has never got me more than 2 cards... there's gotta be something better for this deck!

Anyway, be sure to check out the 5 color website for all the rules if you're new to the format. It really is a enjoyable variant that to me has the "old school" feel to Magic that I fondly remember from nearly a decade ago!

Hope this helps... have fun!
Aaron