Everyone who has ever played this game for any length of time has memories about “the way the game was when they started.” Some may not like the way the game has changed, and others have loved every minute of it. For me, I’ve always been looking forward; I’m eagerly anticipating Shadowmoor when it comes out in May. Still, it’s hard not to think back fondly on the decks you used to play and remember the people you played with. The nostalgia is running pretty thick around here lately. I’ve been playing with some older sets, using cards I used when I was first playing the game. It’s been a blast, and I’m here to share some of that excitement with you.

I remember one of my first artifact decks. I had built it after going to the Fifth Dawn Prerelease, and I remember being extremely excited about all the new cards. I was especially impressed with the sunburst mechanic. I was (quite frankly) getting tired of not seeing colored cards in Mirrodin, and sunburst brought color to the Magic world. Take a walk with me to the past this week in Raiding the Dollar Bins. Back when things weren’t so complicated. Back to Sunburst Saturdays.

Magic: the Gathering is a fairly fickle game. It’s always changing, always moving down some predetermined path, onward and onward. Soon, we’ll be seeing Shadowmoor in early May, followed by its only expansion Eventide in late July, and then we’ll be on to see Rock, Paper, and Scissors at the end of the year and the beginning of 2009. It’s only March of 2008, and already we’re looking towards 2009! (Well, me especially. I’m already getting tired of all this election crap.)

Sometimes though, I prefer to slow down and look at all the old stuff. Like back when Prophecy was a new set, and Avatar of Might was my favorite creature. Back when I was recurring Spore Frog every turn and I was attacking with my lone foil Rhox (back when I thought I could sacrifice a creature and then regenerate it, or when I thought Rhox was unblockable). As wrong as I was, those were fun times.

Mirrodin block, however, is oftentimes the block I’d prefer to forget. I started playing a few casual tournaments at my local card shop right before Mirrodin came out, and I really enjoyed Onslaught block. But with Mirrodin, everything changed.

Maybe it was the new artifact world. Perhaps it was the new card face. Whatever it was, it was disconcerting. It made me uneasy. As Darksteel rotated in, I realized the power of Skullclamp, and really enjoyed how good it was (until I realized how utterly broken it was), but soon I was back to feeling uncomfortable. As people slowly caught on to Ravager Affinity, I could feel the fun slipping out of the game as more and more people started to play it, or play decks specifically designed to beat it.

But, if you’re like me, you don’t give up on a game because one little thing has made it not fun in a specific setting. You just take it someplace else. And I did: To my living room.

You see, it was then that I started to host Magic and Pizza nights for all the guys at school and all of my friends who played Magic. Just after the Kamigawa prerelease, during a night full of Mountain Dew and purpose, I built and played this monstrosity based on the sunburst cards of Fifth Dawn.

Let’s have a look, shall we?

The idea here is pretty simple. You want to build up to having lands of all 5 colors, and then you want to play out your creatures like Etched Oracle and Skyreach Manta. It doesn’t seem like a very good deal to get a 5/5 flier for WUBRG, but when you can effectively have five mana, one of each type as early and consistently as turn 3, then you don’t complain.

The real powerhouse of the deck is Pentad Prism. With the Prism in play, two of your opposing lands turn their mana into two different colors of mana the next turn. Which means that even if you don’t have the fifth land to complete the set, you still have four different colored mana on turn four, letting you make a 4/4 Etched Oracle with one mana left to spare (in case your opponent is holding something like Electrostatic Bolt).

Channel the Suns also fills a role here, and most often it replaces Pentad Prism if you can’t find one. Energy Chamber refuels your Prism, and it makes your Oracles and Skyreach Mantas bigger every turn. It’s a great card to see after you’ve played your first creature, or are looking to push through a little more damage. Likewise, Power Conduit was added to the deck to move counters around, mostly between Prisms and creatures, or from Mirrodin’s Core to anything a bit more useful. It’s a great way to get an extra bit of power and toughness before combat.

Your creatures are pretty much all based on sunburst, with the exception of Synod Centurion. The Centurion is a great creature that’s really efficient as long as you have other artifacts in play, which shouldn’t be a problem. Considering that you’ll be playing (hopefully) an Energy Chamber or Pentad Prism turn two, playing out the Centurion shouldn’t give you any grief.

Your major beater in this deck is the Ugly Dog himself, Solarion. Solarion will normally come into play as a 5/5 for this deck, and in a couple of turns he can be downright disgustingly large. Skyreach Manta and Etched Oracle also can put the hurt on an opponent, although Etched Oracle is more for drawing cards than playing the beatdown.

Finally, a suite of land-search fills out the deck to give it a little more consistency, due to the funky mana base. Kodama’s Reach is an amazing card for this deck, because you can find those two basic lands that you need. Sakura-Tribe Elder can make a chump block before finding that last land that you’ll need for five color fun.

Things to Remember

1) Use Power Conduit before you do things. Those things include attacking, removing four counters from Etched Oracle, and tapping Solarion. Moving a counter from Mirrodin’s Core to an Etched Oracle can keep the Oracle alive. This is a good idea. As a neat combat trick, use the Power Conduit to keep your creatures alive through crafty counter moving. If your 4/4 Etched Oracle is being blocked by a 1/1 and your 5/5 Solarion is being blocked by a 5/5, spread the love and give one of the Oracle’s counters to your Solarion so he can live to see another day.

2) Sakura-Tribe Elder really shouldn’t stick around in the early game. He’s great against Aggro decks in the early game when they’re beating down with a Kird Ape or Watchwolf because he can block and then find you a land. But if your opponent isn’t doing any attacking (they’re playing a Control or Combo deck), I’d suggest sacrificing him at the end of your opponent’s turn anyway; you need the variety of lands more than you need a 1/1.

3) Don’t forget about Mirrodin’s Core. It seems silly, but if you aren’t going to use it by the end of your opponent’s turn, make sure you tap it to get a counter. You never know when those counters will come in handy.

Card Suggestions

It’d be foolish for me to not at LEAST mention Doubling Season. Since you’re running a counter-intensive deck, Doubling Season has the potential to let you put a 10/10 flier into play for five mana. What kind of crazy talk is that?

For lands, I could go on and on and on, but a good idea might be to use something like Glimmervoid, and replace some of your basic lands with artifact lands. That way, you’ll have a good multicolor land and you won’t lose it. City of Brass or Grand Coliseum would also work well for this deck.

Coretapper can act like a turbo-charged Llanowar Elves when Pentad Prism is in play. Likewise, cards that like charge counters are good for this deck.

If you’re not a fan of Solarion, check out Clockwork Dragon or a creature like Tek or Draco who can take advantage of all of the different lands you’re using. These artifact creatures can also catch counters from Energy Chamber, and they’re all pretty powerful rares.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip with me down memory lane. Next week, I’ll be doing a reader request, and from there you’ll get to see what finally happened with that poll from a few weeks ago. Until next time, remember that playing a good casual deck is merely a dollar bin away.

~Death_By_Beebles

Alex Hoffman has been parading around with the pseudonym of Death_By_Beebles for three years now. He’s a writer for Magic Deck Vortex, and can often be found tinkering with his latest decks and studying for biochemistry. He is the author of Raiding the Dollar Bins and Going Blind series at MDV, and the recent startup series Pauper Chronicles. Alex likes kittens, reading, and generally enjoying life. He doesn’t like Brussels sprouts. You can send him deck ideas, combos and suggestions at deathbybeebles@yahoo.com.

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Articles Spotlights from 2008:
How to Win with Milling: A Guide to a Slow Painful Death
Memories of an Old Magic Player 10: The Outsiders Journal #3.
The Apprentice Magician, Part Three.
Class-Wars Deckbuilding Contest Results!
Tribal Coffee: The Smaller Tribes.
[Mini-Article] Controlling the Game: Without Blue.
Raiding the Dollar Bins: Return of the Vault Ninja.
A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
More Evil Than Evil.
Memories of a Jarhead.