Grim Tidings #16: Second Reminder for H5C

(Contributed by John Kozlowski)

As promised last week, I played my Second 5C decklist a little more, and I’ve decided its quite playable and fun. I’ll cut to the chase and just publish the entire thing and just comment on a few highlights. Sorry if it just appears as a long rambling list, but hopefully this might give you some ideas for your own H5C (or EDH) deck if you are looking for midrange inspiration for variety or enjoyment. (I sorted it first by color and then by creature/spells. Multicolor spells are mixed in where they are accounted for.)

Second Reminder, 11/5/09

31 WHITE
1 Angus Mackenzie
1 Augury Adept
1 Avenger en-Dal
1 Battlegrace Angel
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Irridiescent Angel
1 Lieutenant Kirtar
1 Mageta the Lion
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Pristine Angel
1 Questing Pheldagrif
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Rubinia Soulsinger
1 Valor
1 Wall of Denial
1 Wall of Reverence

1 Aura of Silence
1 Condemn
1 Decree of Justice
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Kirtar's Wrath
1 Martial Coup
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Resounding Silence
1 Rout
1 Supply/Demand
1 Treva's Charm
1 Wargate
1 Winds of Rath
1 Wing Shards

43 BLUE
1 Arcanis, the Omnipotent
1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn
1 Cephalid Looter
1 Frontline Sage
1 Gomazoa
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Keiga the Tide Star
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sakashima the Imposter
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Thieving Magpie
1 Thought Courier
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Time Elemental
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Vesuvan Doppleganger
1 Vodalian Illusionist

1 Ancestral Visions
1 Capsize
1 Compulsion
1 Concentrate
1 Cryptic Command
1 Deep Analysis
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Future Sight
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Jace Berelan
1 Psionic Blast
1 Reins of Power
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall

1 Bribery
1 Confiscate
1 Control Magic
1 Dominate
1 Mind Control
1 Persuasion
1 Treachery

27 BLACK
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Coffin Queen
1 Filth
1 Fleshbag Maurader
1 Guiltfeeder
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Royal Assassin
1 Sen Triplets
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Vhati il-Dal
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Withered Wretch

4 Grim Reminder
1 Barter in Blood
1 Cruel Tutor
1 Diabolic Servitude
1 Dimir Machinations
1 Esper Charm
1 Mask of Riddles
1 Perplex
1 Seal of Doom
1 Slaughter
1 Sorin Markhov
1 Unscythe, Killer of Kings

26 RED
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Goblin Ruinmaster
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Lightning Angel
1 Progentitus
1 Seige Gang Commander
1 Soltari Guerrillas
1 Vithian Renegades

1 Browbeat
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Cerebral Vortex
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Demonfire
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Gamble
1 Incinerate
1 Naya Charm
1 Punishing Fire
1 Sarkan Vol
1 Slave of Bolas
1 Starstorm
1 Trace of Abundance
1 Wheel of Fate

34 GREEN
1 Bloom Tender
1 Brawn
1 Cold Eyed Selkie
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Lhurgoyf
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Momir Vig, Sinmic Visionary
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Quirion Dryad
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 River Boa
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Sylvok Explorer
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Thornling
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Trygon Predator
1 Ukatabi Oragutan
1 Werebear

1 All Sun's Dawn
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Eureka
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Hurricane
1 Lurking Predators
1 Natural Order
1 Primal Command
1 Recollect
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Wild Pair

29 ARTIFACT
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Masticore
1 Memnarch
1 Pentavus
1 Platinum Angel

5 Shards of Alara Obelisks
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Citanul Flute
1 Expedition Map
1 Forcefield
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Gorgon Flail
1 Heartseeker
1 Legacy Weapon
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Vault
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Nova Pentacle
1 Proteus Staff
1 Quietus Spike
1 Scroll Rack
1 Scythe of the Wretched
1 Spectral Searchlight
1 Sword of Kaldra
1 Veldelkan Orrery

110 LAND
10 Original Dual Lands
10 Ravnica Shock Lands
10 Shadowmoor Hybrid Lands
10 Onsl./Zendikar Fetch Lands
5 Odyssey Dual Lands
5 Planeshift Lairs
5 Zendikar Refuge Lands
5 Time Spiral Storage Lands

1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Tolaria West
1 Treetop Village

1 Ghost Quarter
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Prahv, Spires of Order
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Wasteland
1 Winding Canyons

9 Island
9 Forest
8 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Mountain

Boring Statistical Data
I hate posting big long (boring) highlander decklists, but if you’ve scrolled down this far, I’ll do a quick summarization of why I chose what I did. The deck is your basic Good-stuff deck, choosing from a restrictive cardpool that is not already included in my First Reminder deck. I kept the obligatory 4x Grim Reminders for theme, and a core manabase of 40 dual lands, from the original. Other than that, (and 30 basic lands) the other 226 cards are entirely unique to this build.

This deck is heavily Blue based, moderate Green and White, and nearly minimizes Red & Black. The deck runs on (my) typical 110 land manabase, with and additional 10 artifacts and 5 green accelerants (42%).

The creature ratio stands at 87 creatures, with 16 creature equivalents (54% of spells). A creature equivalent is counted in any situation when a non-creature card generates a token or creature immediately upon resolution. I count any card such as Mind Control, Treetop Village, Kirtar’s Wrath, or Garruk as a creature equivalent, due to the fact that the card can generate a creature with minimal additional investment.

Second Reminder Themes
Being a mostly Blue Deck, one might expect a shload of counterspells and control elements. I play H5C mostly in multiplayer though, so selective countering ability normally isn’t effective when you are facing down 4+ other players. Instead, I tap into Blue’s innate card drawing nature, and get a powerful suite of spells that allow this deck to churn out blockers and/or permanent answers. Remember, the best of the best is already included in my First Reminder, so the overall effectiveness of the card pool is diluted.

I can’t stress the importance of drawing cards enough. When forced into this situation, the best alternative is normally just to draw more cards. One them is bound to help you out.) I was surprised to find as many cards as I did like Cold Eyed Selkie, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Augury Adept, Jushi Apprentice, Arcanis the Omnipotent, and Scroll Rack to specifically help out in this department.

I’m also running an entire suite of Control Magic effects. I think it’s fitting irony that a deck without the best selection of creatures just steals them. I’m running a total of seven stealing spells, including Confiscate, Bribery, and the most surprising, Dominate.

I tried to get as many creatures as possible into the list. When I was given the opportunity to choose between a sorcery or creature that did a similar effect (Indrik Stomphowler vs. Krosan Grip), I normally chose the creature, even if it cost just a little bit more. Knowing that I was already at a disadvantage with the card pool, having something with legs, even a measly 1/1, would help me out in the long term better.

Downside
There is one problem I’ve observed so far with the deck list – the card pool is not necessarily as “prime” as it should be, so getting a match with a Grim Reminder is significantly weaker compared to other Tier-1 H5C’s. I’m not overly worried about this, as there are still 296 other cards to make the game enjoyable for me, even if I don’t get to Remind anyone.

Summary
So there you go: Another 300 card ideas to enhance your casual-competitive gaming nights. Hopefully you’ll find this list somewhat useful is brainstorming ideas for new cards in your exiting decks, not only for 5-Color, but for EDH as well. It presents a great deal of variety for you to “change it up” every once in a while, but maintain the effectiveness of your deck.