We are now a full third into the RTR spoiler season, and one deck that has constantly been bugging me as a potential thing is Five Color Control. Now, I don't think we have the perfect Reflecting Pool - Vivid manabase that was of old 5CC in Lorwyn, but we do have some pretty sweet mana with all the duals and obviously Chromatic Lantern. What I want to do today is start looking at each of the colors and see which offer the best cards for us to start building our deck around. So without further ado, let's get digging!
White
Elite Inquisitor
Feeling of Dread
Knight of Glory
Pacifism
Entreat the Angels
Lingering Souls
Oblivion Ring
Rhox Faithmaster
Restoration Angel
Terminus
Blue
Thought Scour
Syncopate
Augur of Bolas
Cyclonic Rift
Snapcaster Mage
Negate
Think Twice
Dissipate
Fettergeist
Forbidden Alchemy
Amass the Components
Jace, Architect of Thought
Lone Revenant
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Jace, Memory Adept
Black
Duress
Tragic Slip
Murder
Tribute to Hunger
Vampire Nighthawk
Liliana of the Dark Realms
Mutilate
Sever the Bloodline
Bloodgift Demon
Curse of Death's Hold
Unburial Rites
Griselbrand
Red
Bonfire of the Damned
Faithless Looting
Devil's Play
Geistflame
Pillar of Flame
Desperate Ravings
Magmaquake
Mizzium Mortars
Searing Spear
Chandra, the Firebrand
Thundermaw Hellkite
Blasphemous Act
Green
Farseek
Gatecreeper Vine
Garruk Relentless
Silklash Spider
Thragtusk
Colorless
Desolate Lighthouse
Nephalia Drownyard
Hellion Crucible
Tormod's Crypt
Elixir of Immortality
Chromatic Lantern
Gem of Becoming
Gilded Lotus
Multicolored
Azorious Charm
Supreme Verdict
Abrupt Decay
Vraska, the Unseen
Dreadbore
Olivia Voldaren
Izzet Charm
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Selesnya Charm
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Huntmaster of the Fells
So the first thing we need to think about when building a control deck is what do we need to beat? There hasn't been a lot of talk about post-rotation decks yet, however there are some that we can expect:
Zombies - Probably BG, but might splash red for Aristocrat, Brimstone, and Bonfire
Jund
Delver - Probably UWR, but a 2 color may work as well
GB Graveyard based deck that could splash any/all of the other colors for various cards
And even if we don't know an archaetype that will be popular, we can at least think of some individually powerful cards like Mizzium Mortars and Abrupt Decay that should change what our answers look like.
After looking at the cards, considering different problems, I know I absolutely want to play White, Blue, and Red:
White:
Terminus is our major winner here. With insanely resilient zombies like Gravecrawler, Lotleth Troll, and Geralf's Messenger, just playing a Day of Judgement is never going to cut it. Now I will also be playing Supreme verdict because the card is still fine, just not the perfect answer. Not being able to be countered vs Delver is INSANELY important, so therefor it deserves its slot.
Blue:
Blue is required to cast the Supreme Verdict, but also I think I want my win condition to be Niv-Mizzet because he can win the game completely by himself after untapping just once with him. Augur of Bolas may not be bad depending on how fast the format gets as the new Wall of Omens. Also, having Think Twice/Desperate Ravings makes Terminus much better. Izzet Charm is also a very powerful and very flexible card that will be very helpful.
Red:
Niv Mizzet again, but also having access to spells like Bonfire of the Damned (probably just a 1-of) and Pillar of Flame will really let us control the board.
Now I am completely torn between playing Black, Green, or neither:
Black:
Black gains us access to Duress, which is huge if the control mirror becomes a thing. Lingering Souls is a nice touch. Also, we gain access to other kinds of sweet removal like Tragic Slip. We also can play Curse of Death's Hold in case a tokens strategy becomes good, and we can finish with Nicol Bolas!
Green:
We don't get much from green, and it may prove to be unnecessary, but I think Thragtusk may just be powerful enough to warrent the addition of the color. When we do add green though, we gain access to Gatecreeper Vine, another pseudo-Wall of Omens that draws us a dual land so we get a little mana fixing.
Now why would we go just 3 colors? It makes for a better mana base. Obviously doing testing will be able to determine which version is the best, but for today I want to write up sample decklists for each of the potential color combinations...
UWR Control
3x Niv Mizzet, Dracogenius
3x Augur of Bolas
3x Terminus
4x Supreme Verdict
1x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Desperate Ravings
4x Syncopate
2x Dissipate
4x Izzet Charm
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Clifftop Retreat
4x Sulfur Falls
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
2x Mountain
1x Plains
4 Color - Green
1x Niv Mizzet, Dracogenius
4x Thragtusk
2x Sigarda
4x Gatecreeper Vine
3x Terminus
3x Supreme Verdict
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Syncopate
4x Chromatic Lantern
4x Desperate Ravings
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
1x Selesnya Guidgate
1x Izzet Guildgate
1x Azorious Guildgate
1x Grove of the Guardian
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Clifftop Retreat
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Sunpetal Grove
1x Sulfur Falls
4 Color - Black
2x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
3x Terminus
1x Supreme Verdict
4x Dreadbore
2x Tragic Slip
4x Syncopate
4x Lingering Souls
4x Desperate Ravings
2x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Izzet Charm
4x Chromatic Lantern
1x Gilded Lotus
2x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
4x Blood Crypt
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Drowned Catacombs
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Nephalia Drownyard
2x Shimmering Grotto
1x Glacial Fortress
So each of these decks have a lot of the same core cards, however they each have different cards to fill in the rest of the package. Are these final lists? Obviously not! We don't even have all the cards in the set spoiled! It's very possible some innocuous common or uncommon is able to fill a significant role in the deck. I do think that a control deck of this nature is very possible to build, and can be a contender in the new format.
But that's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Vraska, the Unseen
Dreadbore
Olivia Voldaren
Izzet Charm
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Selesnya Charm
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Huntmaster of the Fells
So the first thing we need to think about when building a control deck is what do we need to beat? There hasn't been a lot of talk about post-rotation decks yet, however there are some that we can expect:
Zombies - Probably BG, but might splash red for Aristocrat, Brimstone, and Bonfire
Jund
Delver - Probably UWR, but a 2 color may work as well
GB Graveyard based deck that could splash any/all of the other colors for various cards
And even if we don't know an archaetype that will be popular, we can at least think of some individually powerful cards like Mizzium Mortars and Abrupt Decay that should change what our answers look like.
After looking at the cards, considering different problems, I know I absolutely want to play White, Blue, and Red:
White:
Terminus is our major winner here. With insanely resilient zombies like Gravecrawler, Lotleth Troll, and Geralf's Messenger, just playing a Day of Judgement is never going to cut it. Now I will also be playing Supreme verdict because the card is still fine, just not the perfect answer. Not being able to be countered vs Delver is INSANELY important, so therefor it deserves its slot.
Blue:
Blue is required to cast the Supreme Verdict, but also I think I want my win condition to be Niv-Mizzet because he can win the game completely by himself after untapping just once with him. Augur of Bolas may not be bad depending on how fast the format gets as the new Wall of Omens. Also, having Think Twice/Desperate Ravings makes Terminus much better. Izzet Charm is also a very powerful and very flexible card that will be very helpful.
Red:
Niv Mizzet again, but also having access to spells like Bonfire of the Damned (probably just a 1-of) and Pillar of Flame will really let us control the board.
Now I am completely torn between playing Black, Green, or neither:
Black:
Black gains us access to Duress, which is huge if the control mirror becomes a thing. Lingering Souls is a nice touch. Also, we gain access to other kinds of sweet removal like Tragic Slip. We also can play Curse of Death's Hold in case a tokens strategy becomes good, and we can finish with Nicol Bolas!
Green:
We don't get much from green, and it may prove to be unnecessary, but I think Thragtusk may just be powerful enough to warrent the addition of the color. When we do add green though, we gain access to Gatecreeper Vine, another pseudo-Wall of Omens that draws us a dual land so we get a little mana fixing.
Now why would we go just 3 colors? It makes for a better mana base. Obviously doing testing will be able to determine which version is the best, but for today I want to write up sample decklists for each of the potential color combinations...
UWR Control
3x Niv Mizzet, Dracogenius
3x Augur of Bolas
3x Terminus
4x Supreme Verdict
1x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Desperate Ravings
4x Syncopate
2x Dissipate
4x Izzet Charm
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Clifftop Retreat
4x Sulfur Falls
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
2x Mountain
1x Plains
4 Color - Green
1x Niv Mizzet, Dracogenius
4x Thragtusk
2x Sigarda
4x Gatecreeper Vine
3x Terminus
3x Supreme Verdict
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Syncopate
4x Chromatic Lantern
4x Desperate Ravings
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
1x Selesnya Guidgate
1x Izzet Guildgate
1x Azorious Guildgate
1x Grove of the Guardian
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Clifftop Retreat
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Sunpetal Grove
1x Sulfur Falls
4 Color - Black
2x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
3x Terminus
1x Supreme Verdict
4x Dreadbore
2x Tragic Slip
4x Syncopate
4x Lingering Souls
4x Desperate Ravings
2x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Izzet Charm
4x Chromatic Lantern
1x Gilded Lotus
2x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
4x Blood Crypt
4x Steam Vents
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Drowned Catacombs
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Nephalia Drownyard
2x Shimmering Grotto
1x Glacial Fortress
So each of these decks have a lot of the same core cards, however they each have different cards to fill in the rest of the package. Are these final lists? Obviously not! We don't even have all the cards in the set spoiled! It's very possible some innocuous common or uncommon is able to fill a significant role in the deck. I do think that a control deck of this nature is very possible to build, and can be a contender in the new format.
But that's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
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