Blame it on the Rain...bow?

I never seriously began to experiment with 5-Colour "Rainbow" decks until I crossed the country and settled in Western Canada once more. I had a Rafiq of the Many deck that was mostly foiled out and that could really lay the hurt on someone. I was content with that, but had acquired one of each ABUR dual land, had all the fetches, and had collected one of each RTR block shockland in foil.

So, with an optimized mana base in the bag already, I took the plunge. Mostly as a deckbuilding exercise.

I upped the land count to 40. The mana was good, but I've always said that the best mana accel is never missing a land drop. I rounded out my lands with Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Gemstone Mine, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, along with one of each basic land. Urborg is in there so I can tap fetchlands for mana if I'm low on life, or want to save them to make Elemental Tokens with Titania, Protector of Argoth. Urborg is in there as a trial, as I normally run a Reflecting Pool in its place. I was considering making it a rotating utility land spot. Halimar Depths, Kher Keep, Flagstones of Trokair, Shizo, Forbidden Orchard... lots of possibilities.

From there, it was a matter of finding fun/cool/powerful cards to build the deck. In its current version, the Commander is Horde of Notions. Not because there are a huge number of Elementals, but the 2 that I have are worth bringing back, especially with the potential to cast them at instant speed from the graveyard. Titania is 10 power for 5 mana and a life if my deck's been working alright, and you still Cascade twice with Maelstrom Wanderer if you cast him for free from the graveyard.

I wanted to showcase all of the coolest planeswalkers I could in the deck. So I went through all of them, and made a pile. Some seem suboptimal, but I either had a SDCC promo or they fill some important niche role in the deck. Liliana of the Dark Realms, for example, is awesome for hitting land drops, and with Urborg out, she can provide a massive boost to one of my creatures, or take out an opponent's indestructible blocker. Not bad utility, if she seems narrow at first glance.

If the deck was going to be "Superfriends," then running Rings of Brighthearth (lets me grab two lands for one fetchland activation, too!) and The Chain Veil makes sense. Both cards are outstanding in the deck. To protect the team, I picked up a Moat as a gift to myslef to commemorate winning a significant legal battle. The rest of the money had to go toward responsible, adult things, but my fiancee said I could have one high-end card. Power is banned in Commander (for the most part), so I went with something I know I'd play. Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Elspeth, Sun's Champion help make Moat a little more one-sided.

With a bunch of planeswalkers, and DK already having a mostly evil-themed 5-Colour deck, I decided I'd run good or apparently good-aligned legends for most of my creature base. Captain Sisay, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Linvala. Titania. Venser. I also opeted for a couple neutral ones, like Vendilion Clique, Zegana, and Maelstrom Wanderer. In fact, the only one you could make a case for being evil is Thraximundar (Marchesa has some evil motives, but the lore we have suggests she's not wholly evil; Thassa is aloof, and Sakashima is actually chaotic good). Thraximundar is in there to clear blockers. Drana was in his spot, but she doesn't quite make the same impression, even if she's better with Moat. If there are any suggestions, let me know!

Finally, a few non-legendary utility creatures. Loyal Retainers is kind of a no-brainer. Bloom Tender makes too much mana in this deck to not run. Chromanticore should have been legendary so it could be the general. And Clever Impersonator is amazingly useful.

As an aside, I tried to avoid any card with CCC in its mana cost, where C is a coloured mana symbol. So, no Sorin Markov, no Avacyn, no Cryptic Command. The mana base could probably handle it, but I opted not to take risks. It sucks to have a hand full of awesome cards and be unable to play them.

So, with all that in mind, we have a deck that looks like this:

5 Colour EDH Deck

 

General: Horde of Notions (foil)

 

Creatures:

 

Captain Sisay (Invasion, foil)

Maelstrom Wanderer (Commander's Arsenal, foil)

Thraximundar (Alara Reborn, foil)

Marchesa, the Black Rose (foil)
 

Thassa, God of the Sea (foil)

Sakashima, the Imposter (foil)

Vendilion Clique (Judge foil)

Titania, Protector of Argoth

Sigarda, Host of Herons (foil)

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (foil)

Prime Speaker Zegana (foil)

Venser, Shaper Savant (Future Sight, foil)

Surrak Dragonclaw (pack foil)

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (Judge, foil)

Linvala, Keeper of Silence (foil)

Loyal Retainers (Commander's Arsenal, foil)

Knight of the Reliquary (Conflux, foil)

Bloom Tender (foil)

Eternal Witness (Fifth Dawn, foil)

Imperial Recruiter (Judge, foil)

Chromanticore (foil)

Clever Impersonator (foil)

 

Planeswalkers:

Elspeth, Knight-Errant (Shards of Alara, foil)

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (foil)

Ajani Steadfast (SDCC 2014 Promo, foil)

Ajani, Mentor of Heroes (foil)

Gideon Jura (Rise of the Eldrazi, foil)

Jace, the Mind Sculptor (Worldwake, foil)

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (foil)

Liliana Vess (SDCC 2014 Promo, foil)

Liliana of the Dark Realms (SDCC 2013 Promo, foil)

Liliana of the Veil (Innistrad, foil)

Sorin, Solemn Visitor (foil)

Chandra, Pyromaster (SDCC 2013 Promo, foil)

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (foil)

Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury

Garruk, Apex Predator (SDCC 2014 Promo, foil)

Karn Liberated (foil)

Venser, the Sojourner (Scars of Mirrodin, foil)

Dack Fayden (foil)

Vraska, the Unseen (Return to Ravnica, foil)

Ral Zarek (foil)

Kiora, the Crashing Wave (Born of the Gods, foil)

Nissa, Worldwaker (SDCC 2014 Promo, foil)

Teferi, Temporal Archmage

 

 

Artifacts:

The Chain Veil (foil)

Rings of Brighthearth (foil)

Crucible of Worlds (Fifth Dawn, foil)

Akroma's Memorial (M13, foil)

 

Enchantments:

Doubling Season (Judge, foil)

Mirari’s Wake (Promo, foil)

Privileged Position (foil)

Moat (English Legends, mint)

 

Sorceries:

Demonic Tutor (Judge, foil)

Austere Command (foil)

Primal Command (foil)

Tooth and Nail (Mirrodin, foil)

Wargate (foil)

 

Instants:

Eladamri’s Call (foil)

Lands:

Savannah (Revised)

Tundra (Revised)

Badlands (Beta)

Taiga (Revised)

Underground Sea (Revised)

Plateau (Revised)

Bayou (Revised)

Tropical Island (Revised)

Volcanic Island (French Revised, white border)

Scrubland (Revised)

Temple Garden (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)

Hallowed Fountain (Return to Ravnica, foil)

Blood Crypt (Return to Ravnica, foil)

Stomping Ground (Gatecrash, foil)

Watery Grave (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)

Sacred Foundry (Gatecrash, foil)

Overgrown Tomb (Return to Ravnica, foil)

Breeding Pool (Dissension, foil)

Steam Vents (Return to Ravnica, foil)

Godless Shrine (Gatecrash, foil)

Windswept Heath (Judge, foil)

Flooded Strand (Onslaught, foil)

Bloodstained Mire (Onslaught, foil)

Wooded Foothills (Onslaught, foil)

Polluted Delta (Onslaught, foil)

Arid Mesa (Zendikar, foil)

Verdant Catacombs (Zendikar, foil)

Misty Rainforest (Zendikar, foil)

Scalding Tarn (Zendikar, foil)

Marsh Flats (Zendikar, foil)

Command Tower (Judge, foil)

City of Brass (Modern Masters, foil)

Mana Confluence (foil)

Gemstone Mine (Judge, foil)

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (M15, foil)

Plains (Judge, foil)

Island (Judge, foil)

Swamp (Judge, foil)

Mountain (Judge, foil)

Forest (Judge, foil)

Foiling out the deck has been a project of mine, and it's there, minus the duals and the new cards that don't exist as foils. I'm proud of the deck, and I play it as much as I can. Some of the cards are a little suboptimal (Chandra probably springs to mind first), but they're pimp, and they're fun. Hit me up with feedback or if you feel there's anything I overlooked, and maybe we can make a little Cockatrice happen soon.