The following decks both made Top 8 at the 5-Color World Championships at GenCon. Mike Krumb played a blue-based beatdown deck that used Reckless Charge - a card that is seeing a surprising amount of play in the format. Krumb's deck is based on Jim Braatz's "5-Color Skies" deck .

4 Cloudskate
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Thought Eater
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Rishadan Airship
4 Thought Devourer
2 Serendib Djinn
4 Counterspell
4 Memory Lapse
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
4 Mana Drain
4 Psionic Blast
3 Standstill
2 Misdirection
2 Repulse
2 Evasive Action
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Treachery
1 Rushing River
1 Intuition
1 Windfall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

4 Flametongue Kavu
1 Fledgling Dragon
1 Frenetic Efreet
4 Reckless Charge
4 Fire/Ice
3 Prophetic Bolt
1 Gamble
1 Wheel of Fortune
3 Firestorm

4 Soltari Trooper
4 Mother of Runes
3 Lightning Angel
4 Armageddon
3 Tithe
1 Wax/Wane
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Moat

4 River Boa
4 Gaea's Skyfolk
3 Mystic Enforcer
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Land Grant
1 Regrowth
1 Crop Rotation
1 Berserk

4 Dauthi Horror
4 Fledgling Djinn
4 Skulking Ghost
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Contract from Below
3 Vindicate
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor

4 Mox Diamond
4 Fellwar Stone
3 Jeweled Bird
1 Chaos Orb
1 Black Vise
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire

87 land
40 Duals
6 Island
6 Painlands
5 CIP tapped Lands
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Dustbowl
4 Faerie Conclave
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

With Bob Maher making his professional return at Worlds in Sydney, he was unable to defend his title in Milwaukee. So without a deck, I borrowed Bob's recursion deck and lost in the first round of the Top 8.

Bob's deck seems to be less focused than last year's version, and needs to decide if it wants to beat down or if it is a control deck. This deck has tons of potential, but Bob admittedly didn't put as much work into it as he would have liked over the past year.

1 Sol Ring
5 Mox
1 Black Lotus
4 Mox Diamond
4 Fellwar Stone
1 Zuran Orb
3 Jeweled Bird
1 Chaos Orb
1 Null Rod
3 Masticore
1 Grinning Totem
1 Memory Jar

4 Contract from Below
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Mind Twist
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Rhystic Tutor
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Tainted Pact
4 Buried Alive
1 Living Death
1 Divining Witch
4 Ashen Ghoul
4 Krovikan Horror

4 Tolarian Winds
4 Flux
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Intuition
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Attunement
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Evasive Action

The card that was horribly lacking was a Wonder: Bob and I talked about playing one, but never put one in, and even with the Moat in the deck, didn't think it was necessary. I found out how necessary it was, as I had several Wurms sitting, waiting on a Disenchant for my opponent's Moat. If the deck wants to remain a card-drawing control-style deck, two more Attunements would be good additions.

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Werebear
4 Hermit Druid
4 Wall of Roots
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Uktabi Orangutan
4 Roar of the Wurm
2 Yavimaya Elder
1 Regrowth
1 Fastbond
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 Crop Rotation
1 Genesis

The Genesis was a great late addition, and it brought back many game-winning Mystic Enforcers and Masticores. The Yavimaya Elders seem unnecessary with only six basic lands in the deck, and they may be better served as Avenging Druids.

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Firestorm
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Gamble
1 Recoup
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Anger

As much as I would have liked a Wonder, Anger was very amazing. Often times I would flashback a 6/6 into play and smash face with it immediately. The Anger gives control decks issues, as their instant-speed removal is usually fairly lacking.

4 Disenchant
1 Seal of Cleaning
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Moat

What the deck really needed in white was a"comes into play" enchantment-killing creature - either Cloudchaser Eagle, or more than likely, Monk Realist. One of them would have been invaluable, and certainly would have gotten me past the quarterfinals.

1 Pernicious Deed
3 Vindicate
4 Mystic Enforcer
4 Stormbind

It's been a long time since Stormbind has seen wide-range play, but this deck just excelled with it. Creatures could never kill you with multiple walls and Krovikan Horrors and Ashen Ghouls on the ground, so turn after turn, Squees got shot to the opponent's head, and Stormbind really made for some quick games; without it, the end result would have been less favorable.

The land base uses the full forty dual lands and several Mirage fetch lands. Krosan Verge is pretty slow in this deck, and if the deck speeds up, they should come out. If you are trying to play a control deck though, four is the number you will want.

The deck plays no library manipulation like Sylvan Library or Scroll Rack, which are normally so common to 5 Color decks nowadays. Attunement and four copies of Bazaar of Baghdad, however, are great card advantage in the mid-game and always swing the game in your favor.

Look for September to be a busy month for 5-Color. Cards trying to get unrestricted include Quiet Speculation (at the cost of banning Recoup), Restock, and Divining Witch. Stay posted to 5-Color.com around the first of the month to keep current with what is going on.

Kurtis "Fat Man" Hahn
www.5-color.com
Team_Apathy@excite.com
FiveColorFat on AIM