Before I begin this article, I need to mention some things I failed to in my GP: Minneapolis report/article. Much thanks to Josh Heggen, my longtime friend from Waukesha, who drove to Minneapolis - and even more thanks to Matt Gruel, who put us up in his apartment on Friday night. Matt not only had comfortable couches, but also went through a huge box of cards to loan Josh Heggen and Jake Schenk cards for their decks. In addition, he had Mike's Hard Lemonade in the fridge waiting for us, and even bought us breakfast Saturday morning on the way to the event. Because of Josh and Matt, my trip and stay in Minneapolis was an excellent one; thanks, guys!

Invasion Block Constructed and Limited both gave everyone a headache from the word"tempo" being used in every other sentence. The format was filled with cards that could give you tempo advantage, and keeping the tempo is what won you games. There were cards that could turn the tempo in your favor, like Jilt, which was a huge swing, bringing you back from near death to an even or potentially advantageous board position. In 5-Color, having tempo on your side is a vital thing as well. Keeping an opponent on their heels while using any number of the card-drawing spells to keep you ahead is an excellent strategy for beatdown.

My deck has taken a turn from its blue-based control that I used to place 2nd in 5C Worlds this past year, to a green/blue mid-range hybrid. The deck is now a cross between Invasion Block's"Liquid Tempo," credited to Bill Flemming in Brian Kibler's article, and"ConTroll," credited to Brian Kowal from the UBC season. This is the closest decklist I can find online of Brian's creation and is an article by Adrian Sullivan regarding the potential of the deck in a past Standard season. The Corrupter shows several of the cards that were changed, so you can almost gather an entire list from reading this excellent piece. (Of course, when does Adrian ever write anything bad?) Both decks are based on quick beatdown with green creatures and backed up by controlling blue cards, often countermagic, to start off with an advantage and keep tempo throughout the game.

My 5-Color deck is much the same way, though I generally go for card-drawing over heavy counters. While as usual, I don't have some of the cards I need for this deck, you can see the similarities between my 5-color deck and the sixty-card decks from the past. Saga Block and Invasion Block made such a huge impact on this format that now entire"archetypes" are being built around those old concepts.

This deck is very primitive, and I'll be working in the upcoming weeks to add some of the cards I want, like Albino Troll, Gaea's Skyfolk, more Masticores and Morphlings, along with other cards that I may find that work well. I'm not going to lie to you; I may or may not follow this up with another article about this deck - but for now, you get a partial list.

Green
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Skyshroud Elite
4x Diligent Farmhand
2x River Boa
4x Utopia Tree
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Yavimaya Elder
4x Thornscape Battlemage
4x Avenging Druid
2x Spike Weaver (on the verge of getting the axe)
4x Blastoderm
2x Krosan Beast

Then some non-creature stuff;
4x Sylvan Library
Restricted cards and an Abundance

Diligent Farmhand may be a bit of overkill, but with no dual lands, I like to get the mana I need at any given time.

Blue
4x Merfolk Looter
4x Ophidian
4x Man-O'-War
4x Serendib Efreet
1x Morphling
4x Arcane Denial (the only counter in the deck, but I'll test Mystic Snake, Lilting Refrain, and Mana Leak)
4x Impulse
4x Repulse
4x Fact or Fiction
4x Concentrate (I don't own duals, otherwise this would be Allied Strategies)
1x Treachery (foil)
Braingeyser, Stroke, Mystical Tutor, and other restricted goodies

Red

Much like red got added to"Liquid Tempo" later in the IBC season, red is a growing influence in my 5-Color deck. I like lots of burn in here, as it clears the way - or can be used to finish an opponent later in the game, especially against control decks.

4x Lightning Bolt
4x Incinerate
4x Firestorm (I'm usually playing two-on-two team games and this card is a monster)
4x Prophetic Bolt
4x Flametongue Kavu
4x Hull Breach

The black and white are minimized in this deck, though I'm sure that Questing Phelddagrif would be solid, but will probably be surpassed by Mystic Enforcer from Odyssey. I don't have any Enforcers yet, so I'll make due with some of the white creatures in the deck as they stand.

White

Lots of Disenchanting things, namely Dismantling Blow
4x Eladamri's Call
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Academy Rector, Questing Phelddagrif, Serra Angel

I've only got one Armageddon in this deck, but would like to up the count to two or three. I'm still playing a Wrath of God and a Rout for those situations where my opponent(s) are just overwhelming me with fatter guys like Spiritmonger, Lightning Angel, Mystic Enforcer, and Multani, Maro Sorcerer.

I really love Call in this deck, and in fact I only own three. The Call often gets me a Blastoderm, but can save my ass by finding a Man-O'-War, Academy Rector, or Flametongue Kavu.

The black consists of restricted cards and some other useful stuff. Spite/Malice has taken over instead of Terminate because of its versatility; Skeletal Scrying is proving to be an excellent card, nearly the quality of Braingeyser. I've only got two in the deck now, but will be adding a third when I get one. Paying life isn't too bad in this deck as it usually has early defenses up - and with so much mana, the Scrying can often draw me lots of cards in the mid-game.

Artifacts
4x Mox Diamond (only have two of these... I will be buying the others from StarCity this week)
4x Mind Stone
4x Fellwar Stone
1x Masticore
1x Citanul Flute
2x Zuran Orb

This deck needs very few artifacts, but if I add more threshold-based creatures, I may play Millikin as another way to reach four mana on turn three.

Now, the more I think about this, the worse of an idea it becomes, however, I'd like to see what some of you are playing for 5-Color out there. So if any of you would like to send your decklists to me for suggestions or just for the whole world to see, send them to me. Assuming I get submissions, I'll review a deck or two a week as an article here at StarCityGames.com, and your entries may fuel others to write, give feedback, or attempt to improve on your idea.

You can send your decklist to me at Team_Apathy@excite.com. Be sure to include a full decklist, your name and where you play (city, state) and any info you'd like others to know about your deck (where you got the idea, cards you'd like to play but can't find/afford, what cards you have tested or are testing now in the deck).

The"ConTroll Tempo" deck seems like an excellent one against control decks because of its tough, early creatures, and the amount of card drawing it packs to stay in the late game. I'm glad I went back to playing creatures after Worlds, since control just isn't that much fun for me in this format, and this deck likes to turn its guys sideways every turn.

Kurtis"Fat Man" Hahn
Creator of 5-Color Magic
Team_Apathy@excite.com
FiveColorFat on AIM
FiveColor on IRC

P.S. - A couple of quick thoughts on the Invitational.

I had intended to write an article or three, reviewing the Invitationalist's 5-Color decks. After starting an article, I got incredibly frustrated, compounded by continually thinking that I had been part of the biggest sham in Invitational history, as Kai Budde won by conceding in game three of the final format. I thought that some of the 5C decks were good, but in general looked rather mediocre, more than likely due to these players' inexperience with the format, and lack of available testing. Congratulations to Kai Budde, 2001 Invitational Champion, as he certainly did earn the honor.

I hope to see 5-Color back at the Invitational in the near future, and while Randy Buehler certainly did his best adapting the format for Rosewater's tournament; perhaps the win condition didn't work out as he or I anticipated. Additionally, the coverage at the Invitational was very weak. Every one of these matches is a feature match, and while Matt Vienneau and Andrew Johnson were both there, rarely were there two matches from the same round - and if there was, often Shvartsman was helping out. Next year, WotC, cover the All-Star Game will All-Star coverage!

I'll be skipping PT: New Orleans this weekend, as I'm unqualified, and don't want to take the car trip to play only in the Masters Grinder. I will, however, be making the trip to GP: Atlanta in the middle of November, and hope to see some of you there. If you've got a 5-Color, and plan on being in Atlanta, make it a point to find me and challenge me to a game.