5-Color is drastically different from other formats. The 250-card minimum deck size marks the most visible difference, but the inclusion of cards from all tournament legal sets (with current discussion focused on the addition of Portal and Starter) makes for a very deep card pool. Moreover, the inherent inconsistency of the large decks generally allows for a slower game. (Planar Portal’s restriction speaks volumes in evidence of this fact.)

But despite the deck size, the number of cards allowed, and the relatively slower speed of the format, 5-Color nevertheless has a rough metagame and its decks fall into a number of archetypes. As one would expect, the format consists of the three familiar broad archetypes: aggro, control, and combo.

Typically, design of sixty-card decks focuses on playing the most efficient cards in as few colors as possible, due to color consistency concerns. The necessity of color consistency demands the inclusion of cards that would otherwise be appropriate to only certain decks; Savannah Lion is a better creature than Jackal Pup, but Red Deck Wins would not be interested in diversifying its mana base simply to play Savannah Lions on Turn 1. Also, competitive deck design for a sanctioned Constructed format necessarily sacrifices the inclusion of certain cards due to an interest in minimizing the deck’s size. Ravager Affinity decks would play four Shrapnel Blasts if the minimum deck size was greater than sixty cards.

Thus, an initial reaction to 5-Color’s 250-card minimum deck size and mandatory eighteen cards of each color might be one of joy at the immense possibilities present in deck construction for the format. However, 5-Color is more limited than one would initially expect.

First, we’ll address the reasons for this twist. While eight turn 1 plays is a sufficient start for a sixty-card aggro deck’s mana curve, maintaining that same proportion of turn 1 plays in a 5-Color deck requires over 32 cards. While including Kird Apes alongside your Jackal Pups in a red-focused 5-Color deck is exciting, the novelty quickly wears off after you realize how few quality cards exist in the one-drop aggro niche (or, for that matter, in any niche).

Moreover, the forced color diversity hurts a player’s ability to streamline his deck. If your deck maximizes one color and minimizes the rest, you’re still playing seventy-two off-color cards. Given that a deck may play seventy-eight lands (which is admittedly a little high), you’re left with only a hundred cards in your main color. That’s just 40% of your deck; noticeably less than half.

Of course, for each person who bemoans that fact, more people celebrate such color diversity. Rather than wondering whether to splash black for Duress in a red-heavy deck, that decision is easily made. However, being able to play the most powerful cards in each color also has a drawback: everyone else can (and will) play those cards, too.

As a result of the lack of niche-redundancy and the inclusion of the most powerful spells in all of the colors, decks begin to resemble each other. (Interestingly, there are relatively few netdecks in the format. The diversity of cards and metagames, in addition to the limited availability of the bizarre cards the format sometimes requires [though StarCity has them all!] and the sheer inconvenience of typing up or assembling such a large deck all combine to dissuade people from netdecking.) Therefore, a metagame review may be useful in understanding the format.

In most areas, aggro decks dominate. They are relatively inexpensive to build, and they are quick to punish those who think 5-Color is all about Sol’Kanar, the Swamp King. Aggro decks generally break down into five categories:

One of the most common aggro archetypes is Suicide. These decks try to win as quickly as possible through efficient creatures (commonly with drawbacks) and burn. As a result, they minimize the number of lands they play. Since they are looking to gain a tempo advantage, they don’t spend mana on cards like Brainstorm or Nature’s Lore. Accordingly, they compensate for this lack of library manipulation by playing more lands and mana sources than one would prefer. Partially as a result of this conflict, I don’t care for the archetype.

Cards commonly seen in Suicide decks include Jackal Pup and Phyrexian Negator. They generally minimize colors, usually preferring black, though some decks focus on red. Personally, I don’t care for Suicide decks for their single-minded nature and their utter lack of a late game. Again, their tempo focus dominates deck construction: they cannot play much disruption, since disruption doesn’t reduce the opponent’s life total. Since the format is inherently inconsistent (partially due to the lack of niche-redundancy), I view this as another weakness in this archetype.

Among aggro decks, I prefer the 3cc decks. (5-Color decks don’t seem to take names very often.) These decks eschew the single-mindedness of Suicide decks but prefer the tempo gains and lower land count offered by restricting their cards to three, rather than four, mana. As a result, these decks tend to focus a lot on early drops, like Fyndhorn Elves, to start powering out the three-drops on turn 2. Some 3cc decks also play Elvish Spirit Guide to help guarantee the turn 2 three-drop.

These decks focus more on flexibility than their Suicide brothers, embracing the disruption offered to them by this strategic change. Accordingly, these decks commonly play cards like Winter Orb and Tangle Wire. Some of the decks sneak in a four-mana spell like Flametongue Kavu, since such narrow cards are very powerful. However, the 3cc decks generally stay true to their mana curve and end up playing more flexible (though perhaps relatively underpowered) cards like Ghitu Slinger and Rith’s Charm. Personally, though, I enjoy this flexibility in an aggro deck.

The big brother to the 3cc deck is, obviously, the 4cc deck. This deck is willing to wait until turn 3 to drop one of many powerful four-mana spells in the game, care of a second turn mana accelerator. Their land count is slightly higher, but their card power helps compensate for that. These decks commonly use cards like Werebear and Sakura-Tribe Elder as their non-land mana sources.

Four mana buys you a lot of powerful cards, from Flametongue Kavu to Armageddon (and its brother, Ruination). These decks tend to slog out their battles, preferring card advantage through superior creatures, whether that card advantage is through forcing an opponent’s double-block, the use of multiple burn spells to kill the creature, or even the inherent two-for-ones of FTK or Ravenous Baloth. Obviously, these creatures tend to double as individual win conditions; the more aggressive decks tend to win through the number of their attackers, rather than the quality of those creatures.

The last common aggro archetype is the themed deck. These decks generally play creatures that interact well with one another. Typical themes include Goblins, Rebels, and even Relentless Rats. I would additionally include White Weenie in this archetype due to Crusade. Since the decks vary significantly in their themes, they share few cards in common that are specific to this archetype.

Control decks are popular among developing players, who prefer the number of options offered in such decks. As a result of their challenging nature, these decks are probably the most fun to play. Due to the increased mana cost of their spells, I believe this archetype should be the most popular among new players, since the decks are the most forgiving when it comes to suboptimal mana bases.

The most common control deck is the Good Stuff deck. These decks play the most powerful cards printed and rely on those cards to carry the player through. Usually, the deck doesn’t have a specific game plan, and the player simply plays the cards as he draws them.

Doug Linn’s deck, posted earlier this week, would fall into this category. Though Doug feels his deck is aggro-control, his inclusion of cards like Nostalgic Dreams, All Suns’ Dawn, Hull Breach, and Circular Logic speak to it being more like a traditional control deck than a deck in the same vein as Fish, Counter-Sliver, or Miracle Gro. In any case, from aggro cards like Wild Mongrel and Mishra’s Factory to its twenty counters to its Auriok Salvagers combo, Doug’s deck is unlikely to play the same game twice. Though Doug’s deck lacked these cards, other common inclusions in Good Stuff decks are cards like Mystic Snake and Spiritmonger.

Another popular control archetype has been termed one-for-one control (or just 141). These decks focus more on efficiency, rather than raw power, to beat aggro decks. After all, Pernicious Deed probably doesn’t answer a turn 2 Dwarven Miner when you’re on the draw. These 141 decks therefore play efficient creature removal in many forms: Chainer’s Edict, Firebolt, Thornscape Battlemage. As a result, the mana curve in these decks is generally lower than that in Good Stuff decks. Rather than venturing into five mana territory for Spiritmonger and Morphling, these decks are happy to unmorph an Exalted Angel.

GroAtog is another common control archetype. The limited number of creatures in GroAtog (with the obvious inclusion of four Psychatogs) forces it to play a more controlling role than it normally does. Additionally, the deck must play the Mirage fetchlands in addition to the Onslaught fetch lands and the dual lands, in order to meet the two-Island requirement for Gush. Therefore, the deck needs to be able to fight the tempo advantage that the opposing deck will have.

As a result of the decreased creature count, GroAtog plays Quiet Speculation, Roar of the Wurm, and Deep Analysis, as well as Forgotten Ancient. Personally, I supplement the deck with controllish creatures like Ophidian and Shadowmage Infiltrator. Others prefer a more aggressive plan with cards like Flametongue Kavu. Such decks even play Savannah Lions for the three points of power (two for the Lions, one for the Dryad) they provide when cast.

The last commonly seen control archetype is TurboLand. Like GroAtog, the deck changes a bit in adding a hundred and ninety cards. The deck’s combo is watered down a bit, though it does pick up Recycle. Additionally, since Oath of Druids is restricted, the deck cannot play the Battlefield Scrounger it once used. However, it compensates for the dilution by playing more like a control deck. Furthermore, the slower nature of the format allows it to play Mirari’s Wake, which gives it quite the combo with Rude Awakening.

Which brings us to the last grouping of archetypes: combo. The control section of this review alluded to concerns with the aggro decks; by focusing on beating aggro, control loses much of its typical resiliency to combo. Thus, the stage is set for those people willing to play few creatures in their 250-card decks.

Enchantress decks are played on the fringe of 5-Color, as in most formats. Unfortunately, they also suffer from dilution in having to play significantly more cards in more varied colors. As a result, they often justify specific cards because they are enchantments. While this may be enough to justify a card, it also suggests that the overall power level of the cards is not as high as it would otherwise be. Thus, while Enchantress is a very powerful deck once its engine comes on-line, the deck is otherwise a pile of suboptimal sorcery-speed cards. Enchantress also suffers from a dilution of enchantresses: there are only twelve such effects in a 250-card deck (Argothian Enchantress, Verduran Enchantress, and Enchantress's Presence). Thus, it is quite possible for the deck to not find one of its namesake cards. Relatively unique cards to Enchantress include Planar Portal and Citanul Flute.

Another creature-oriented combo deck is the Auriok Salvagers combo deck. Doug touched on the interaction in his article, so I’ll speak in broader terms. This deck is relatively unplayed due to its inconsistency. Despite evidence to the contrary, the deck relies on a three-card combo: Salvagers, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and a Spellbomb (or Phyrexian Furnace). Though I attempted a Salvagers deck that played Oath of Druids and just three Salvagers as a way to find the Salvagers and mill the two artifacts, I was unsuccessful in that I was still not all but guaranteed a win after I activated Oath. Perhaps this deck should play Trinket Mage.

Monobrown is another artifact combo deck. As its name implies, monobrown attempts to rely on artifacts and minimize the non-blue colors. Rather than relying on a strict game plan, monobrown merely expects to quickly generate large amounts of mana and abuse the cards it draws. To this end, monobrown decks often play Upheaval. Incidentally, some monobrown decks abuse the mana production by casting large beatdown creatures quickly, such as Juggernaut.

Birkenbloom is a combo developed by Matt Birkenbeul: it combines Oath of Lim-Dul and Cadaverous Bloom. Once these two cards are on the table, the player can cycle through his library. First the player uses Cadaverous Bloom to remove a card in his hand from the game for BB. By paying BB to Oath of Lim-Dul, the player draws a card. This process continues until the player reaches a Contract From Below. The player casts Contract and then begins cycling again. Once he hits another Contract, he removes the rest of his hand from the game for twelve black mana and then casts the Contract. By continuing this process the player can, for example, cast a lethal Consume Spirit.

I personally enjoy Birkenbloom a great deal. Unlike some combo decks, Birkenbloom can be built in many different ways. The Midwest decks are almost mono-blue. My decks tend to split mostly evenly between blue, black, and green, since I supplement the Birkenbloom engine with the other part of the classic ProsBloom combo deck: Squandered Resources and Natural Balance.

Dream Halls is the final deck that commonly appears in the 5-Color metagame. These decks attempt to cast their namesake by reaching the requisite 3UU as quickly as possible by playing lands like Saprazzan Skerry, the annoyingly-named Svyelunite Temple, and cards like Ancient Spring. Once Dream Halls has resolved, the player starts casting card drawing spells as it attempts to find a way to win. Since lands are useless at that point, the deck plays Mana Severance as a way to improve its draws; some versions go so far as to play Manipulate Fate.

One problem with Dream Halls decks is that the deck wants to play multi-colored spells. Such spells are not only more easily cast with Halls, but they also make it easier to cast the other spells in the deck. As a result, the deck overall weakens because of the decision to play cards you would not otherwise play. This quirk is best reflected in some version winning through Coalition Victory and a five-color creature like Sliver Queen.

As you can see, the three main archetypes are present in 5-Color. Each archetype also has several options to pursue. Moreover, while I intended this overview to be rather complete, there are certainly other options to pursue, including Madness decks, prison decks, and Worldgorger Dragon decks.

In parting, I urge you to try 5-Color. There’s a reason it’s billed as Magic’s most electrifying format.