Hello all. Mundungu is the first to post his decklist, and man, is this a GREAT start! I'll break this down and go card by card.
I have to say first of all, Mundungu, great card choices. There's only a few questionable ones, but I can see solid decisions here. Cards in italics should be maxed out.
White (31)
1 Academy Rector - See Enlightened Tutor.
1 Balance - This could be amazing or a dead draw for you. If you can pull it off more often than not, leave it in.
1 Enlightened Tutor - This is good and it's going to be even better with some of my suggestions.
2 Glimmering Wards - I think you mean Flickering Ward here, not sure. I will say this, if you mean Flickering, I would say to go really light on creature enchantments unless it's Rancor. Rancor is pretty much the only creature enchantment you should run because of mass removal spells. If you do mean Flickering Ward, I would maximize your Mother of Runes slot and possibly Glorious Anthem.
3 Glorious Anthem - I haven't really seen this one yet in play, so I don't know it true effectiveness. However, it can be good. I know one person that played Crusades in a deck where every creature except a few green were all white or white/something. Did him some good occasionally.
2 Inheritance - Funny that you should include this. It was recently talked about on the mailing list for 5-Color. It's not awesome, but it's not bad either. Let me know how it works out for you. If you want, I'll forward all the discussions on it if you send me your email address.
1 Land Tax - Restricted card drawers are always good.
3 Mother of Runes - Great card choice. You would not believe how many times this card has foiled my attempts to break a stall for my Beatdown Collective deck. Really helps you set up control.
1 Opal Archangel - Hrm¡K This one is tough to gauge. Pros and cons with it. Personally, I'd run something that comes into play already like Masticore and beatdown with it. This isn't something I would count on working for you always. I'll say this, Pernicious Deed is amazing against a deck like yours or mine.
4 Savannah Lions (I can't resist a 2/1 for W) - And you shouldn't! I'm actually looking to replace my Soltari Troopers with these guys. Great card choice.
4 Seal of Cleansing - There are advantages to using this over Dismantling Blow in your particular deck. First of all, you can tutor for it with Academy Rector or Enlightened Tutor, which is good. Also, your deck seems to be a slower beatdown deck. This is a good early drop for you. I would consider however changing this to 1 Seal of Cleansing with 3 Dismantling Blow.
4 Swords to Plowshares - The ultimate creature removal spell. Must have for almost any deck.
4 Tithe - Land search is great and necessary! If you're not playing this, then you really should play Land Grant. Tithe is good because if you're behind on land development, the additional Plateau, Savannah, or Scabland is nice. Looking at what duals you have, I think that Tithe was definitely the better choice.
Your white looks good. A few experimental card choices and those will be changed or kept depending on your metagame and experience.
Blue (32)
1 Aura Thief - Oh, cool. I would love to take away someone's Abundance/Sylvan Library combo! Great idea.
3 Cetavolver - I really don't like this card in your deck mainly because your red is almost a minimized color. I think Necravolver would be better for your deck because you can get the white and green kickers, the 2B would only be slightly difficult for you though. Merfolk Looter might be a good replacement if you want to keep a 1U creature in this slot.
3 Clone - These could be good. Generally, the mind frame of people who play 5 is to play consistency over variability. I just checked Crystal Keep and there's nothing out there that says specifically copying a kickered creature is a bad thing to do though.
2 Coud Elemental - Switch this to Cloud Spirit or Rishadan Airship, trust me. Everyone is playing Lightning Bolts and Incinerates, going from 3 toughness to 1 is not going to make a bit of difference and the extra power will be worth it.
1 Fleeting Image - I don't know about this one, other than I'd rather play Cloud Spirit. Let's see what CHA1N5 has to say...
3 Flying Men - Wow, you have these? This is a one drop and a one drop with evasion. I can't say this is a bad card choice, but I'm not sure if it's a great one for putting pressure on your opponent. Every point helps though.
4 Man-o'-War - Card advantage. A 2/2 creature with CIP Unsummon for 2U. I play it, and it's worth it. Also good if you want to rekicker a creature or screw someone else's Phyrexian Scuta.
1 Mimetic Mask - I think you mean Mask of the Mimic. If so, I was in the same boat as you. An unrestricted tutor in a format where tutors are restricted, has to be some good, right? Honestly, I only was able to pull this trick off once with any degree of success or usefulness. I really suggest you cut this because more often than not, you're not going to want to sac a creature to pay the cost or the time you could play will not be helpful at all (like right before a Rout).
4 Ophidian - Solid card choice. Very good.
3 Rayne, Academy Chancellor - Interesting card advantage. Rout, Wrath of God, and Pernicious Deed might foil your plans though. I think I might recommend Karmic Justice instead. Check with CHA1N5 on that one. Also, Standstill is a killer.
2 Rishadan Brigand - I hate to jump on any band wagon, but I've seen him work too well too many times. Morphling is a beat stick. If you're just looking for a solid flyer, I would play Cloud Spirit or Rishadan Airship instead. It's actually fairly easy to deal with single card sacrifices because of the sheer amount of land you're most likely to play.
1 Sand Squid - I recommend Somnophore (
http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/rules/summaries/indexed/rule-cards-S.html#Somnophore) over this. Nice idea though because it removes blockers and big creatures.
1 Saprazan Heir - Standstill. Replace with Standstill. Trust me.
3 Serendib Efreet - Excellent card choice. Just get 4.
Blue looks okay, your card choices could be altered a little bit, but then again, it's your card collection and it's what works for you.
Black (17)
1 Demonic Tutor - Good, if you can, always fill black up with the restricted cards. They're restricted for a reason.
4 Diabolic Edict - Solid creature removal. You've hit some of the best ones with your deck.
1 Diabolic Intent - Those Ravenous Rats of yours (or Flying Men perhaps) will be pulling double duty with this card. Good idea.
1 Paralyze - Some people might look at this card and go, "why?" I look at this card and say, "You're a damned annoying little man, aren't you?"
I have played against a deck with 4 of these. I never, ever draw my enchantment destruction when one of these is in play for some reason. However, if you can, replace it with a Demonic Consultation.
4 Ravenous Rats - Not bad at all. You may want to consider something else though, just to increase pressure on your opponent, such as Fledgling Djinn or Dauthi Horror.
4 Unholy Strength - Extra power helps, it really does. I'm just loath to put it on a fragile creature. I think that I would replace this with Sarcomancy so that you have more one drops if possible. If not, Carnophage always works.
1 Vampiric Tutor - Solid.
1 Yawgmoth's Will - I really need one for my own deck. Solid.
Obviously this is a first 5 deck because of one conspicuously missing card - Contract from Below. Consider this one of the Power 9 for 5-Color and if you get serious about this format, get them ASAP. Every other card drawer in the world looks bad after playing with Contracts.
Red (20)
3 Gorilla Shaman - Solid. Mox Monkeys are good.
3 Flametongue Kavu - Solid. Very good against Wall of Blossoms.
2 Kaervek's Torch - Solid burn.
4 Kird Ape - You may want to exchange this for Skyshroud Elite and then fill the red slots with Incinerates.
4 Lightning Bolt - Solid burn.
1 Rakavolver - I normally would have not recommended this creature, but he's a flying life-gainer. Try him out and let me know what you think.
4 Pyroblast - There are some that swear by this card. At the very least, it's removal and kills Faerie Conclaves.
1 Thunderscape Battlemage - Good card to try out.
Red looks very solid and is well-minimized.
Green (31)
3 Albino Troll - Solid beatdown.
2 Anavolver - For the most part, this guy will most likely be a 3/3 or a 5/5 flyer. If you're going for the 3/3 with versatility, consider Assault/Battery, that way you add more burn to your deck. If you're going for the 5/5 flyer, just put in Mahamoti Djinn. The regenerating part of his ability is not as extremely useful as it might appear.
1 Crop Rotation - Land Grant might be better for you. I really don't think you will need this as much as you think you do, I pulled mine with no issues.
4 Elvish Archer - Solid beatdown.
3 Emperor Crocodile - Fat, cheap creatures never hurt, I would switch these to Blastoderm though. Being unable to target Blastoderm is simply invaluable in 5-Color with all the creature removal available.
4 Ernahm Djinn - Solid beatdown. Phyrexian Scuta is just a wee bit better though.
2 Might of Oaks - With all the higher casting costs in your deck, I think changing this to something cheaper like Giant Growth might be in order, or max out your Wax/Wanes. Card drawing never hurts (Fact or Fiction).
4 Rancor - Solid! Ultimate creature enchantment.
3 River Boa - Solid creature.
2 Thornscape Battlemage - You start playing this guy with full kicker or even just one of the kickers and you will want to maximize these guys.
3 Uktabi Orangutan - Given the amount of white in your deck, I would drop some of these in favor of Thornscape Battlemage for the possibility of extra burn. If you're playing against a lot of artifacts, it's Sex Monkey all the way.
Your green is good. Not a whole lot to say about that.
Gold (14)
4 Armadillo Cloak - Can be good, but I haven't played this personally.
1 Aura Shards - I've had this played against me before. Turning every creature into a CIP Disenchant is good.
4 Recoil - I might recommend something else in this spot, Spite/Malice maybe?
2 Terminate - Good creature removal
3 Wax/Wane - Good card.
Artifact (7)
2 Mox Diamond - Another card that should be considered the Power 9 of 5-Color Magic.
1 Jeweled Bird - Better draw on this quick! Works well with Enlightened Tutor to save your rares.
3 Phyrexian Lens - I'm not to fond of this Standing Stones reprint. Fellwar Stones would be much better. Mana Prism is also another viable option. Sol Grail is possibly better too.
1 Zuran Orb - This card is on my top 10 most hated list, just because every time I get someone down to 1 life, they top deck the damn thing.
Just add some mana artifacts like Fellwar Stone and your artifacts are fine.
Land (48spec + 43 basic) Now it gets chaotic !)
1 undiscovered paradise
1 lotus vale
2 school of the unseen
2 pendelhaven
3 savannah
2 coastal tower
4 tundra
1 taiga
3 plateau
3 scabland
3 underground sea
2 volcanic island
2 elfhame palace
2 yavimaya coast
1 salt marsh
1 rith' grove
1 dromar's cavern
1 Darigaaz's Caldera (BRG lair)
4 Mishra's factory
3 quicksand
1 strip mine
2 wasteland
3 thawing glaciers
6 plains
10 forest
9 Islands
9 swamps
9 Mountain
I'm only going to gloss over the mana mix because it's hard to judge these things. The one card I would remove is Lotus Vale. If your opponent bounces or destroys it, they've just gained at least 2 for 1 card advantage. It's going to happen a lot more often than you think too.
