The reason keyrunes, not even most just Rakdos Keyrune really, are played is because mana rocks have to be spectacular in some fashion to be playable. Keyrunes serve double duty as creatures, Rakdos has a very good body in 3/1 First Strike but the others are mostly underwhelming. The same goes for Altar of the Lost, it's rather underwhelming since it only serves to pay for Flashback. It's too gimmicky is the gist of it. We don't really need it to play multiple colors, Grey Aven's list is four colors and plays spectacularly.
Grey Aven's list in the opening post could surely support a fifth color, but there doesn't seem to be a need honestly. There doesn't really seem to be anything compelling one to play Green. Plenty of redundancies in the other four colors. Gatecrash might have some nice Green goodies, I'm really hoping it does, but there's nothing particularly compelling about the color at the moment. Seems fitting, considering Green's history with spells has never been particularly notable.
An Idea I've entertained but not put to much through into would be a possible 5 color Burning vengance variant. Altar of the lost allows for flashbacks at least to be of all 5 colors. That seems to open up to all the different cheap flashback cards.
Or is it to slow or suckish? No artifact hate bouncing around at the moment....
Has any thought been given to Mass Appeal? I feel like if you've stalled out against a Thragtusk/Centaur Healer/Restoration Angel/Whatever board state, it'll give you some gas. It would seem you could easily draw 3 or 4 cards with it. Though I've not playtested yet, so I'm not sure if it'll consistently be a better Divination.
I feel like if you run White then Selesnya Charm would be a favorable replacement for Titanic Growth because of the combined versatility and trample. Perhaps?
If you don't mind them I'm a big proponent of Enter the Dungeon and Shahrazad as tools for aggro. Shahrazad isn't quite as good because it takes so long but they're both great for aggro decks.
I finally have all the components in the mail for this. I'm a bit upset it took so long, but it's fine. I've also made some changes for the new set and because of some availability issues.
Now, I'm not quite sure what's what with this yet, my cube has sadly not been able to come together yet, but I'd probably do it like this:
Crippling Fatigue is the only black card in the pack, besides Dross Golem which I predict will wheel, and sends a pretty clear signal while also being a removal spell I get to use TWICE. Feeling confident.
I just passed some nice white and red, so I'll probably pass on Lancer and Seraph, but the green I passed wasn't anything to write home about, so I feel good picking up a Civic Wayfinder to keep my options open. Though I thought about the Web, I like the fixing a bit more.
Now we have some goodies. Nothing spectacular, but a number of role players. The Elf, Tusker, Signet, and Rager all seem lovely for this midrange Rock type deck that's coming together. I'll wheel the Rager I bet because black has been sparse and I'll probably get at least one of the green ramp elements, since there's so many, so I'm looking at the Arbor Elf because I'm of the opinion that it's the best option and helps me hit the three drop slot that is oh so important in this deck type.
Now is when I begin to wonder if black is open or not. Nobody seems to be taking red, but I've passed some red that makes me wonder if moving in now would be the best idea. The burn looks tempting, maybe play the Branching off a splash. Wurm seems easy to replace so I'm not looking to pick that up quite yet and Umbra is not quite what I'm wanting. In the interest of trying things out I'll take the Viridian Longbow as a bit of utility maybe. Seems like it might work out.
So I'm confident that green is open enough that I can pick up the Wolf now. I may be overvaluing it, but I'm of the opinion that it's very good. UR seems like I could've done better there, but I'll stick to my guns. I'll snag up the Darkthicket Wolf because it's a bit more resilient than the Marauder.
So it's a midrange Gb thing going on, I'm digging it.
Here we have a five color brew I came up with based on the 35 creature decks that sometimes made showings in ALA-ZEN standard. It basically just runs the best creatures it can and brute forces past disruption. Tier one archetype? Probably not. Viable for play? I'd like to think so. Though at the moment my goldfishing shows a need to lighten up on life loss. Confidant+Shocks and Fetches is rough. I can't think of a better way to fix the five colors, though I've thought about coupling Reflecting Pool with Ancient Ziggurat or possibly cutting Confidant. Your advise is appreciated.
This is a rough draft of what I'd do. Main wincon is Colonnade with a mill plan B. Jace's ultimate should win you the game if it gets to that point.
Rune Snag and Cryptic should be able to stop the big problems of Karn and anything else that comes up. Leyline stops burn, and always ends up having some incidental advantage. Fogs are fogs, I picked Lullaby because it has the chance to do double duty and Charm is a bit more versatile than others. As I said before, Jace acts as a plan B win condition with Mine and he also can do some one sided mining. I'm thinking it's probably pretty okay. I seem to remember some UW Turbo Fog decks back in LOR-ALA standard like this.
Grey Aven's list in the opening post could surely support a fifth color, but there doesn't seem to be a need honestly. There doesn't really seem to be anything compelling one to play Green. Plenty of redundancies in the other four colors. Gatecrash might have some nice Green goodies, I'm really hoping it does, but there's nothing particularly compelling about the color at the moment. Seems fitting, considering Green's history with spells has never been particularly notable.
What would you want green for? Ray of Revelation?
I get the feeling they meant Natural End.
4 Temple Garden
2 Gavony Township
12 Forest
Of course, I may be wrong.
EDIT: What are people using for a sideboard? What are some problem matchups or cards?
RTR Changelog
Shu Cavalry -> Chapel Geist
Fledgling Griffin -> Azorius Arrester
Wei Ambush Force -> Dead Reveler
Skittering Skirge moved to 2 CMC section
Goblin Bushwhacker -> Gore-House Chainwalker
Strangling Soot -> Rakdos Shred-Freak
Noggle Bandit -> Chemister's Trick
Crippling Fatigue is the only black card in the pack, besides Dross Golem which I predict will wheel, and sends a pretty clear signal while also being a removal spell I get to use TWICE. Feeling confident.
I just passed some nice white and red, so I'll probably pass on Lancer and Seraph, but the green I passed wasn't anything to write home about, so I feel good picking up a Civic Wayfinder to keep my options open. Though I thought about the Web, I like the fixing a bit more.
Now we have some goodies. Nothing spectacular, but a number of role players. The Elf, Tusker, Signet, and Rager all seem lovely for this midrange Rock type deck that's coming together. I'll wheel the Rager I bet because black has been sparse and I'll probably get at least one of the green ramp elements, since there's so many, so I'm looking at the Arbor Elf because I'm of the opinion that it's the best option and helps me hit the three drop slot that is oh so important in this deck type.
Now is when I begin to wonder if black is open or not. Nobody seems to be taking red, but I've passed some red that makes me wonder if moving in now would be the best idea. The burn looks tempting, maybe play the Branching off a splash. Wurm seems easy to replace so I'm not looking to pick that up quite yet and Umbra is not quite what I'm wanting. In the interest of trying things out I'll take the Viridian Longbow as a bit of utility maybe. Seems like it might work out.
So I'm confident that green is open enough that I can pick up the Wolf now. I may be overvaluing it, but I'm of the opinion that it's very good. UR seems like I could've done better there, but I'll stick to my guns. I'll snag up the Darkthicket Wolf because it's a bit more resilient than the Marauder.
So it's a midrange Gb thing going on, I'm digging it.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Ancient Ziggurat
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Arid Mesa
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Forest
Here we have a five color brew I came up with based on the 35 creature decks that sometimes made showings in ALA-ZEN standard. It basically just runs the best creatures it can and brute forces past disruption. Tier one archetype? Probably not. Viable for play? I'd like to think so. Though at the moment my goldfishing shows a need to lighten up on life loss. Confidant+Shocks and Fetches is rough. I can't think of a better way to fix the five colors, though I've thought about coupling Reflecting Pool with Ancient Ziggurat or possibly cutting Confidant. Your advise is appreciated.
4 Etheral Haze
4 Holy Day
4 Dawn Charm
4 Pollen Lullaby
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Howling Mine
Planeswalkers
4 Jace Beleren
Enchantments
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Lands
3 Celestial Colonnade
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Mystic Gate
3 Plains
3 Island
This is a rough draft of what I'd do. Main wincon is Colonnade with a mill plan B. Jace's ultimate should win you the game if it gets to that point.
Rune Snag and Cryptic should be able to stop the big problems of Karn and anything else that comes up. Leyline stops burn, and always ends up having some incidental advantage. Fogs are fogs, I picked Lullaby because it has the chance to do double duty and Charm is a bit more versatile than others. As I said before, Jace acts as a plan B win condition with Mine and he also can do some one sided mining. I'm thinking it's probably pretty okay. I seem to remember some UW Turbo Fog decks back in LOR-ALA standard like this.