#five color

Hey guys, check out one of my extremely lore focused Commander decks: The Coalition Rides Again!

I hopped into a Shards of Alara Block Draft on Cockatrice this afternoon and drafted this five-color monstrosity. I’ve never played this Draft format before, so I wanted to test my skills as a Limited player and see what I could do. I first-picked Scourglass, since I knew the Esper shard is artifact-centric, and boardwipes are always good, despite how situational Scourglass can be. My second pick was Vein Drinker, since it looked like a bomb and is still within Esper colors, even if I don’t get to activate the “fight” ability. By the end of pack 1, I had the beginning of an average Esper artifacts deck, but in pack 2, I get passed Maelstrom Angel, and I was like, LET’S DO THIS. I proceeded to prioritize mana-fixing and snatching up any bombs or removal spells I could get my hands on. Those Borderposts and landcycling cards allowed me to run fewer than 16 lands, though my games left me flooded more often than screwed.

My first and only round opponent was running an Esper artifacts list, splashing green for more creatures like Rhox Charger, Waveskimmer Aven, and Vagrant Plowbeasts. I was able to win g1 easily with a t5 Spellbound Dragon, discarding a 4cmc and hitting for 7 before proceeding to cast Exploding Borders for 5 damage. They scooped before I could cast Vengeful Rebirth and dealing even more damage. In g2, I flooded out pretty hard and couldn’t keep my blockers up against an army of artifact creatures and a pair of Path to Exile. It was in g3 where I was able to slam down Maelstrom Angel off a Kaleidostone, but the only card I got to cast for free off the Angel was that first-picked Scourglass that I forgot to side out, before my opponent locked down the Angel with Controlled Instincts. I was mana-flooded and in top-deck mode before I drew Elder Mastery, enchanting Grixis Deathblade which swung in for 6 and forced my opponent to discard the last two cards in their hand: two green creatures they couldn’t cast because they had no green mana. They gave me the GG’s after that.

Some notes from my first Shards of Alara Block Draft:

Five-color is very viable. Prioritize a good balance of mana-fixing, bombs, and removal, and you will go places.

Cycling was awesome in Shards of Alara, is awesome in Amonkhet, and will still be awesome when it makes a return in a future set.