In-Depth Analysis of the "5 Colour
decks"
by Alex Murison, MadEntity on IRC
During the reign of Mono Blue decks early in 1997 Green became a strong Metagame
colour. It had several excellent anti-blue creatures (Jolrael's Centaur,
River Boa and Karoo meerkats for example), what Green lacks however could
fill the encyclopaedia Britannica. Stable Creature control, Fying creatures,
versatile and Cheap enchantment/artifact control... Then people
(noticeably Nicoloff, Place and Clarke) noticed the presence of
Birds of Paradise, City of Brass and Undiscovered Paradise. Between these
3 you could run a mono green core with splashes of other colours to make
up for the multifarious deficiencies of Green. 5cg was one of the best metagame
decks of the moment, due to the rarity of Black, the tendancy for Red players
to ignore Birds of Paradise and the Speed that let it crush Blue, while other
weenie Hordes could be taken out by the control. Soon however people began
to experiment with other colours. When Gemstone Mine arrived on the scene,
there was realistically enough lands for other decks to go 5 colour. The
first was the Forgotten Orb Style of Deck (by Team Clean), which recieved
additional benefits to strengthen it against counterpost. Secondly Stasis
decks turned 5 colour for Squandered Resources and often Jokulhaups or Pyroclasm,
something they would have been incapable of doing without the 5 colour
phenomenon. Now as the environment changes and Swords to Plowshares has gone
on it's merry way, White Weenie decks have got the treatment...
The 5 colour Problem
There are so many potential options when designing a 5 colour deck, I have
only detailed the more popular (ok, so stasis isn't exactly popular :P) above,
but they all share several things in common. These can all be summed up by
what I call the 5 colour Problem... In order to see what I mean, you must
first analyse the lands that are used to power your 5 colour spells.
City of Brass - City of Brass deals 1 damage to you when you tap it.
Undiscovered Paradise - Undiscovered Paradise returns to your hand
when you use it.
Gemstone Mine - You can only use it 3 times
Pain Lands - Only provide 2 colours of mana, sting you.
Birds of Paradise - As these are 0/1 creatures they don't have a
particularly long lifespan.
By looking at their disadvantages you can see the main limitations on the
design and play of 5 colour decks:
-All of the disadvantages mount up with time. In a slow game the amount of
damage your city of brass has dealt you, or the fact that you had to lose
the Gemstone Mine etc... mean that you must achieve victory pretty rapidly.
-Non-Basicness. Previously this would not have been a problem, but we are
being bombarded by Dwarven Lightning rods and Wastelands, in addition to
cards like Primal Order and Choking Sands!!! If you can't protect your lands
you're in for a rough ride. Thus a large amount of control is neccesary.
You have to draw them! This may sound obvious, but what happens if you don't
draw your multilands? All 5 colour decks must run very effectively as mono
colour decks if they are to succeed.
This creates the 5 colour Problem, which is basically the balance between
contol and offense. If your 5 colour deck is too aggressive then it is at
great risk from having it's multilands taken out and other more focused weenie
hordes can often beat you. If your 5 colour deck is too controlling, the
small disadvantages from it's lands will mount up and the deck will bring
about it's own end. The best way to play a 5 colour deck is as a Proactive
control Deck.
You may notice that the exception to this is the squandered Stasis deck I
mentioned earlier. Although it doesn't ignore the 5 colour problem, it just
takes a unique approach to it's solution. Remember if the Stasis deck has
it's lock on you, you may as well have just been beaten down by creatures.
If you assume that the Stasis + equipoise/Kismet + squandered Resources Combo
= 20 points of damage then at that stage you have almost certainly won, and
now control is no longer a problem, until then your lock cards act as control
in their own unusual way (or If you use Pyroclasm/Jokulhaups etc...)
"5-Colour" Green
Each of the 5 colour decks has many unique chareteristics. So I will analyse
what are now the 3 most popular 5-colour decks of the moment. 5cg, 5cb and
5cw. First on the list is 5CG. 5 colour Green owes a lot of it's strength
to Quirion Ranger (She's good in Star Trek Voyager isn't she :P). The ability
of the Rangerr allows it to use Mana Birds to generate an obscene amount
of mana in any colour. Meaning Armageddons with only 1 land are possible
and frequent, winter Orbs have absolotely no effect (especially with Undiscovered
Paradises too) and maro's can be played early without losing much p/t!
Green's deficiencies are more numerous than those of any other colour (although
white is catching up...), and the main purpose of the extra colours is to
make up for the losses. Firstly, Red and Black give stable creature control
in the form of Diabolic Edict/Terror and Incinerate/Kindle. Blue can offer
counterspell backup with Power Sink/Meory Lapse (it is unfortunate that Arcane
Denial has gone, I really hope it comes back in 6th edition), as well as
other interesting options such as Tradewind Riders and white gives Disenchant
and Armageddon... The result is a coherent selection of creatures and control,
which are used to control the board while whittling your opponent's life
total away.
The Creatures
River Boa - A 2/1 regenerator with Islandwalk, if you don't like it
there's something wrong with you...
Jolrael's Centaur - Tough and aggresive in one. Hard for blue to deal
with if it doesn't get countered.
Quirion Ranger - She has so many uses its unbelievable, pick a pet
name for her, I can't decide between Kess, Power ranger or Madame FiFi (I
don't expect you to get that one)
Birds of Paradise - These augment the supply of Rainbow mana..
Tradewind Rider - Control and a mini Scimitar, wat more do you want?
Maro - He's big, especially with your Power Rangers/kesses/fiFis.
Derelor - He's big and his disadvantage is negligible, plus he can't
be nekrataaled
Granger Guildmage - Single handedly taking on Weenie hordes, constantly
untapped by Quirion Rangers, and extremely amusing when First Strike kills
a creature :P
Dirtcowl Wurm - Strong with geddon, I personally prefer Derelor.
Support
Winter Orb - Disrupts the opponent's mana supply and thanks to the
Q. Rangers, Undiscovered Paradises and MMMB(irds)o(f)p(aradise) barely hurts
yours.
Armageddon - Everyone knows the strength of this card, plus with the
Ranger/Bird Combo it's very possible to only use up 1 land in the casting!!!
Incinerate/Kindle/Firestorm/Edict - Everyone likes creature control.
Disenchant - Versatile and strong
Memory lapse - Not as good as Arcane Denial but a nice choice nonetheless.
Power Sink - Not as versatile as a lapse, but great when combined
with Orbs, or to tap out a blue player so you can get off the crucial 'geddon.
Propaganda - Stop a weenie rush against you, nice with the Orbs
"Black" 5
Colour
This 5 colour deck is doing quite well for itself right now, with the major
shift from White to Black in creature removal only adding to black's arsenal.
The key to Black 5 colour over Green 5 colour is 187 reatures and Shadow
Guildmage. Nekrataals, Man-o-Wars, Uktabi Orangutans and Cloudchaser Eagles
you have the capacity to destroy practically everything and not lose card
advantage (if WOTC print Fire Imp from partal in the Rath cycle or 6e it'll
be much worse), and if you Shadow Guildmage to put the said creature on top
of your library then you can infinitely kill or bounce a permanant of one
type...
Black 5 colour decks tend to be mostly Black-Blue-Red. Green is used generally
for Uktabi Orangutan and some SB cards and White provides enchantment control
and also burn protection. This is a major advantage as they can use Underground
Riers and Sulfurous Springs for most of their spells making them less vulnerable
to Land Destruction.
One offshoot of Black 5 colour (In Part) is Ertog. Ertog Decks temd to be
U/R/B often with White and green, thus they use a similar mana base to a
Black 5 colour deck...
Creatures
Black Knight - Black Knights are bog standard troopers (much like
Grunts in Quake really), just throw them at the opponent, make him waste
'em and move on to something else, this card is definitely a staple.
Knight of Stromgald - Pump Knights may not get inflatedmuch with pain
lands, CoBs, Undiscovereds and Gemstones providing much of your mana, but
they are still very powerful nonetheless. Once again a staple.
Necratog - Most Black 5 colour decks have a significant number of
creatures (due to the use of 187 cards for control), thus a necratog is a
devastating mid-late game weapon, just like a Black Lhurgoyf really :P
Shadow Guildmage - A Pingy dude and 187 recursion. Unmissable.
Man-o-War - Uktabi Orangutan - Cloudchaser Eagle - Nekrataal - Knight
of the Mists - THE 187 gang, almost all Black 5 colour deks use some
of these...
Suq'Ata Lancer - Speed Knights, they're best used as a filler, in
a VERY critter heavy B5c.
Tradewind Riders - Additional Control and another way to bounce your
187s
Bone Dancer - They have a lovely tendancy to enlarge your army...
Aint half tidy!!!
Support
The Support used is generally similar to that of a G5c deck, with Worbs,
Incinerates, Kindles and Diabolic edicts being the primary form of control.
"White" 5 Colour
The third, common 5 colour deck is white 5 colour. designed around the weaknesses
of White, and also the metagame. Right now, the metagame is all about Black
and Red, (too a lesser extend Blue). No other colour has as much Pro red
or Pro Black as White, White has other nice cards for a 5 colour deck too,
like empyrial Armour, Wrath of God and the best Shadowers in the game. white
5 colour is basically a White weenie with 5 colour support, This time I am
leaving our support, just look at the other two...
Creatures
White Knight - The White Grunt! Boom, ugh!
Order of the White Shield - Pump Knights are good for you!
Soltari Priest/Monk - Shadowers are in genreal pretty Bad, but the
Priest and Monk are very decent. 5cw has enough control to take the rest
of the board while the monk and the priest take control of the opponent.
Man-o'-War - Strong, makes things bounce
Freewind/Duckrider falcon - 1/1 Flying Pro Red/Black, Armour it and
it becomes a lot tougher.
Uktabi Orangutan/ Cloudchaser Eagle - 187s, although you can't bounce
them ery well they are still strong.
Derelor - Get some Phat!!!
Repentant Blacksmith - For those who truly hate Sligh
Master Decoy - If they don't actually kill this gentleman he acts
like a Mini White Vodalian Illusionist.
And that just about wraps up the 4th analysis. Just a final word. just because
Blue or Red 5 colour, or even things like White Black 5 colour aren't listed
doesn't mean they aren't workable. You don't have to be completely original,
but surely it's got to be possible for you to come up with a slightly original
concept :P.
Alex Murison, MadEntity on IRC, Member of team Quad damage
Feel free to E-Mail me at
alexmurison@hotmail.com