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Why the name BG 5s?
Because everything revolves around the number 5 in this deck. Your creatures will cost 5 (not really; they get discounted.) Your win conditions is hitting face four times with 5 attack creatures. And Feral Kodama, one of the defining cards of the deck, is all about the number 5. 5 faeria cost, 5/5 stats, hits for 5 damage, and heals you for 5.
Those are a lot of 5s.
Deck Overview
I believe this to be a very strong and versatile deck with various win conditions based on different matchups. This deck can potentially outheal any other deck in the game, and can drop 1 midrange sized threat every single turn to overrun your opponent.
A lot of times you will want to build towards your opponent. That way, you can abuse Ancient Boar’s Dash ability, as well as abusing your opponent’s land for your creatures to land after jumping with Triton Banquet. One important thing that has to happen in order for the deck to not run out of fuel quickly is the make sure you get periodic Ancient Heralds summoned, in order to get the two faeria discount, and be able to summon an overstatted five drop for three faeria instead.
Mulligan Phase
Always Keep:
- Ancient Herald
- Ancient Beastmaster
- Verduran Force
Sometimes Keep:
- Grove Guardian
- Tyranax
- Elderwood Embrace
- Triton Banquet
Don’t Keep:
- Ancient Boar
- The Emperor’s Command
**Mulligan tips for this deck: **
You will want to try and find an Ancient Herald as early as possible in order to get the discount train rolling. Buffs are only good if you get an early game creature (Ancient Herald, Ancient Beastmaster, Verduran Force). If you don’t have an Ancient Beastmaster or Ancient Herald in your opening hand, you should only keep Verduran Force and mulligan away everything else.
Main Win Condition: Beatdown
This deck can be used as a beatdown deck very efficiently. Boasting a large roster of overstatted 5 drops and powerful yet efficient support cards allow you to make many value trades, all the while slowly building up your midrange board power to finally bash your opponent’s head in come late game.
The main gameplan for this type of win condition is to set up a discount train from Ancient Herald as fast as possible. Set up a collector in the back lines while aggressively creating lands towards the opponent
Main Win Condition Cards for Beatdown:
- Feral Kodama
- Ancient Boar
- Verduran Force
- Ancient Herald
- Elderwood Embrace
Secondary Win Condition: Survival
This deck can be used as a strong survival deck, as well. Feral Kodama grants limitless healing (provided it gets to hit your opponent’s orb). A lot of times, you will take this approach to tempo decks you simply cannot outspeed, or the majority of rush decks.
Main Win Condition Cards for Survival:
- Feral Kodama
- Tyranax
- Ancient Herald
- Elderwood Embrace
- The Emperor’s Command
Tertiary Win Condition: Tempo/Rush Hybrid
This deck can be used as a tempo/rush hybrid deck very efficiently. Triton Banquet and the ability to gain massive value from undercosted or overstatted creatures makes it hard for your opponent to play a creature without it getting value traded into. The plan in Tempo/Rush is to focus on well control and make a bunch of early value trades to stabilize a strong midrange sized board before SMOrcing with no regret.
The main gameplan for this type of win condition is to set up a discount train from Ancient Herald as fast as possible in order to fuel the “play a big threat + value clear an opponent creature every turn” game plan. Set up a collector in the back lines while aggressively creating lands towards the opponent, and utilize Triton Banquet for value trading and threatening face damage after the aforementioned trade.
Main Win Condition Cards for Tempo/Rush:
- Verduran Force
- Ancient Boar
- Triton Banquet
- Ancient Herald
Popular Matchups (BG5 : x_deck)
- B Reaver - 90 : 10
Notes: Can out tempo and out damage very quickly; save Emperor’s Command for Forbidden Libraries. - RY Burn - 90 : 10
Notes: Can take out Grim Guards and Shedim Brutes in one shot; taunt prevents face hits; Feral Kodama heals back all damage taken - R Rush - 85 : 15
Notes: Make value trades early on and secure board first; Feral Kodama heals back all damage taken - R Combat - 80 : 20
Notes: Red Combat does not deal well with jumping Verduran Forces. - GY Sac - 80 : 20
Notes: Save Emperor’s Command for Shaytan Assassins; this deck can out tempo and set up faster early damage against GY Sac. - Mono Green - 70 : 30
Notes: Somewhat depends on who gets the first value trade, other than that, this deck can somewhat out tempo the classic slow/ramp-style monogreen. May be hard to win games once Thyrian Golems come down, so you may have to aim to end the game before then. - Path to Face - 70 : 30
Notes: Land block PTF, set up Grove Guardians and bulky creatures to block before heading towards face with Kodama. - Y Rush - 65 : 35
Notes: Matchup somewhat depends on opening hand. If you have Tyranax, Ancient Herald, and Grove Guardian, your hand should play itself. - RG Crackthorn - 60 : 40
Notes: Can out-contest the board very easily, and having jumping big creatures is very dangerous. Crackthorn is good against Rush, so make sure to have a sufficient faeria lead before going all in. - GB Jump - 50 : 50
Notes: Very very draw dependent. If your opponent lands a Frogify and then subsequently value trades, you will probably lose. - RB Tortoise - 50 : 50
Notes: Again, depends on what your opponent runs. This deck isn’t weak to Garudan or Firestorm; however, it is weak to multiple Ogre Battlers that can easily 2-for-1 your cards. - B Jump - 35 : 65
Notes: Frogify is terrifying against Green. - Y Fly - 20 : 80
Notes: Last Nightmare is balanced. - Y Tempo - 20 : 80
Notes: How do my opponents always top deck Last Nightmare?
Possible Card Swaps
- I think it may be a good idea to swap out Ancient Beastmaster for Crystal Flowers if you find that you are struggling with the Tempo gameplan.
Post Script Notes
This guide will be periodically updated (along with the decklist) as I continue to refine this deck. So far I have tested it on the ranked ladder with great success. (2018-05-12 20:58:58EST: Roughly 40 games played with this deck.)
